ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, November 15, 1996 TAG: 9611150050
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
Juan Gonzalez of the Texas Rangers beat Seattle's Alex Rodriguez by three points Thursday, matching the second-closest victory margin ever in voting for the American League Most Valuable Player award.
Gonzalez, who hit .314 with 47 home runs and 144 RBI, got 11 first-place votes and 290 points. Rodriguez, who hit a league-leading .358 with 36 homers and 123 RBI, received 10 first-place votes and 287 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers Association of America.
``All year, people talked about Alex as the No.1 contender for the MVP award. Right now, I'm surprised myself,'' Gonzalez said. ``I never talked about winning MVP because a lot of guys had great numbers.''
It was the closest vote since 1960, when Roger Maris beat New York Yankees teammate Mickey Mantle 225-222. The closest AL MVP vote was in 1947, when Joe DiMaggio of the Yankees beat Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox 202-201.
Gonzalez called winning the award ``a wonderful moment in my life,'' saying it was better than his consecutive home-run titles in 1992 and 1993.
``You feel like the best man in the world,'' he said during a telephone news conference from his home in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico.
Gonzalez, 27, was second in the AL in RBI and fifth in home runs despite missing 28 games. He was on the disabled list from May 9-June 1 with a torn left quadriceps muscle.
He credited his conditioning program for his statistics, and said a 50-homer season isn't out of the realm of possibility.
``Nothing is easy in this game. Nothing is impossible, too,'' Gonzalez said. ``I will continue working hard. You never know, next year or 1999, if I hit 50 homers. The big thing is staying healthy, because I have the ability.''
Gonzalez is the second Texas player to win the award, following Jeff Burroughs in 1974. He is the fourth Puerto Rican native to win an MVP, joining Roberto Clemente of Pittsburgh (1966), Orlando Cepeda of St.Louis (1967) and Willie Hernandez of Detroit (1984).
By winning the award, Gonzalez gets a $250,000 bonus added to a $6.7 million salary.
LENGTH: Short : 48 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Gonzalezby CNB