By AP/KWMU
St. Louis, MO – Cardinals' first baseman Albert Pujols was named National League Most Valuable Player on Tuesday. He's the first Redbird to win MVP since Willie McGee in 1985.
The 25-year-old first baseman, who just completed his fifth season in the bigs, beat out Andruw Jones of Atlanta for the honor. Pujols hit 41 homers, had 117 RBIs, scored 129 runs and hit .330.
Pujols says he would rather have had the Cardinals win the World Series than get the individual honor, but there's always next year.
Manager Tony La Russa says Pujols is the best player he's ever managed.
Pujols will also get a $200,000 bonus for winning the award. It marks the 15th time a Cardinal has been named league MVP.
| NL MVP Award Voting | ||||
| Player (team) | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total |
| Albert Pujols (StL) | 18 | 14 | - | 378 |
| Andruw Jones (Atl) | 13 | 17 | 2 | 351 |
| Derrek Lee (Chi) | 1 | 1 | 30 | 263 |