Gonzalez, Tulo made Rockies MVP history
With Carlos Gonzalez finishing third and Troy Tulowitzki coming in fifth earlier this week, two Rockies players finished in the top five in voting for the National League Most Valuable Player Award for the first time in the franchise’s 18-year history.
Indeed, there have only been three other years when two Rockies finished in the top 10 in the MVP vote. In 1997, Larry Walker was the only Rockies player to win the award, and Andres Galarraga finished seventh.
Ellis Burks was third and Galarraga was sixth in 1996. Dante Bichette was second in 1995 and Walker was seventh. (Bichette was a stronger candidate than Reds shortstop Barry Larkin, who won the MVP with 281 points, 30 more than Bichette. But this was the first year of Coors Field, then an untamed beast long before the humidor, and Bichette was harshly penalized for playing his home games there).
Matt Holliday was second in the MVP voting in 2007. But the next highest Rockies player was Tulowitzki, who was 18th and Brad Hawpe was 24th.
The only other Rockies to finish in the top five were Todd Helton, who was fifth in 2000 when no other Rockies player received a vote, and Tulowitzki, who was fifth in 2009 when votes also went to Helton (13th), Huston Street (25th) and Hawpe (tie, 28th).
