Malibu resident Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewer outfielder, wins 2011 National League Most Valuable Player Award.
By Arnold York / Publisher
In a close contest with the L.A. Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp in what turned into a two-man race, local Ryan Braun won the 2011 National League Most Valuable Player Award. Braun took 20 of the 32 first-place votes for a total of 388 points by the Baseball Writers Association of American, the official body that awards the MVP.
Braun registered a spectacular season, leading the Milwaukee Brewers to their first division title in 30 years. Kemp, who also had a spectacular season but unfortunately for the hapless and strife-ridden Dodgers, got 332 points from the baseball writers.
The 28-year-old Braun, who is single, but has a girlfriend, lives in the mid-Malibu area. Braun recently signed a 5-year, $105 million contract extension to keep him with the Brewers through 2020.
In his four-year Major League Baseball career Braun’s accomplishments include winning the 2007 National League Rookie of the Year, four appearances as a National League All-Star and four straight seasons with more than 100 runs batted in (RBIs). He’s a Los Angeles product, born in Mission Hills California, a four-year letterman on the Granada Hills High School baseball team where he batted .451 in his senior year. He attended the University of Miami on an academic scholarship, where he won All-American honors for his baseball prowess.
Braun’s father is Jewish, born in Israel and his mother is a Catholic. Braun has been quoted as saying that “I am Jewish” and “I’m extremely proud to be a role model for young Jewish kids”. Through the 2010 season Braun was 2nd for overall batting average for Jewish ballplayers all-time behind only Hank Greenberg.
Ironically, the day before the MVP award was announced Tuesday, Braun was at Bluffs Park for a photo shoot for the Malibu Times Magazine, for the cover story in the upcoming January / February issue of the magazine. Although The Malibu Times doesn’t take any credit for Braun being awarded the National League MVP, the cover story probably didn’t hurt.