Oct 26, 2006, 0:20 GMT
St. Louis, MO - Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard and New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees were announced as the winners of the 2006 Hank Aaron Award on Wednesday.
Both players were selected by the fans as the award recognizes the best offensive performer in the National and American League.
Howard, who captured the award for the first time, received 33 percent of all National League fan votes (25,349). The slugger led the majors in home runs with 58. He also led the majors in runs batted in with 149, as well as total bases (383).
Howard's 58 home runs set a new Phillies' team record, breaking Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt's mark of 48.
Jeter, received 29,275 fan votes to account for 37 percent of the American League total. He had the second best batting average in the AL at .343 and finished second in runs scored with 118.
Jeter, a seven-time all-star, picked up his 2,000th hit this season, becoming the eighth Yankees player to achieve the milestone.
This was the first time Jeter was a recipient of the award.
The Hank Aaron Award was first established in 1999 to recognize the 25th anniversary of Aaron breaking Babe Ruth's all-time home run record.
David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox and Andruw Jones of the Atlanta Braves received the award last year.
© 2006 The Sports Network
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