USD Magazine Spring 2017

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player has ever in consecutive seasons won the Golden Spikes Award—given to the best player in college baseball —Minor League Player of the Year and then Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player awards in the major leagues. Until Kris Bryant. It’s easy to look at Bryant’s gaudy numbers over that unprecedented stretch—and the .292 aver- age, 38 home runs and 102 RBI he posted in that magical, mystical Cubs season are a good place to start —and conclude that Bryant’s bat won him the accolades. But in this particular case, the “V” in MVP stands for versatile as well as valuable. Over the course of the 2016 season, Bryant played at all three outfield posts, every position on the in- field except second base, and when the Cubs were visiting the crosstown White Sox of the American League, Bryant was the designated hitter. He’s only the second player ever to be named MVP after starting at least 30 games in the infield and 30 in the outfield. The other was Stan Musial in 1948. Bryant not only has the “five tools” baseball gurus covet, he’s got a sixth baseball sense. His ability to run, field, throw, hit for average and hit for power is complemented by an intense competitive spirit.

erhaps more than any other sport, baseball loves its records. Baseball is the fantasy league of Euclid and Newton; a game of numbers and statistics. Baseball is Ted Williams hitting .406; Joe DiMaggio’s consecutive 56-game hitting streak; the seven no-hitters thrown by Nolan Ryan. And when the Chicago Cubs won the World Series last fall in a much hyped and well-docu- mented achievement 108 seasons in the making, baseball lost its mind. At the center of the we-won-it-all dog pile that has become as much a part of baseball tradition as peanuts, popcorn and Cracker Jack, Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant celebrated the championship with his teammates. He would soon have another reason to celebrate: a milestone never before achieved in Major League Baseball. MLB stats track back to 1870. In that time, no

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