Internet Baseball Awards: The 2014 Internet Baseball Award Winners

We are here today to announce the winners of the 2014 Greg Spira Memorial Internet Baseball Awards, an annual tradition unlike many others.

At the end of every season the Baseball Writers’ Association of America announces the winners of their MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, and Manager of the Year awards. It's the time of year in which the feats of those who awed us throughout the season are told and retold, packaged and repackaged, hyped and then hyped some more. The greatest players' greatest seasons are seared into our brains like the sweet charred deliciousness they are.

In that spirit, or perhaps the opposite of it: Prior to revealing the voting in each category, I am including a moment from each winner’s career in which things were not so… glamorous. I could tell you this is because there’s something about the incongruity of putting (one of) the lowest moments of someone’s career next to what is likely their crowning achievement (the season, not the IBA necessarily), but the reality is that I’m a petty man-child who wants people brought down to my level.

So enjoy the videos, the GIFs, the pictures, but also: Enjoy the results of your voting. We're proud to have a process that delivers satisfying, democratic results every year. The further into the past a baseball season sinks, the more we remember each year as "The One When [Awesome Player] Did [Awesome Thing]." Votes like these, awards like these, really are the punctuation of a season. Punctuation is important. Punctuation is what makes this sentence so exciting!

AL Player of the Year
It’s Mike Trout. You knew it was going to be Mike Trout because you internet nerds love him, even though Miggy should have won again. His team played in more playoff games and YES THAT MATTERS. Also, you are all “Trout is so much better on defense, though.” Yeah, well:

I want a slow motion GIF of that as my desktop background.

AL Pitcher of the Year
Corey Kluber edged Felix Hernandez for the IBA's top pitching prize. Let’s go to Corey to see how he’s handling the news:

Energetic as always.

AL Rookie of the Year
Jose Abreu was an unknown to most of us a year before his big-league debut, but he certainly made himself known to this phone box.

AL Manager of the Year
Buck Showalter.

Enough said.

NL Player of the Year
It’s not often that pitchers win MVPs, and while Kershaw is poised to do so this year, he’s already won MVP in our minds and souls. But not in the playoffs. Never the playoffs. MadBum4Lyfe. It’s really difficult to find footage of Kershaw doing bad things or even just falling down like an oaf, even if he is mostly a gangledoof. To that end, this is what I could find:

He threw the pitch that started that whole fiasco, so it’s his fault. Also that part at the end of the play where he tries to get Hanley’s throw but fails miserably. He must reflect on the four to six moments of miserable failure in his life often.

NL Pitcher of the Year
So, again with the difficult-to-find Kershaw moments, but here’s him attempting to knock an apple off Jimmy Kimmel’s head.

Not even close. I bet the hitters are embarrassed they let this guy get them out.

NL Rookie of the Year
Jacob deGrom beats out Billy Hamilton rather handily, which is the right outcome. Not an insult to Hamilton’s season, but deGrom was the better player. Both represented quite well. If there's a surprise, it's the support for Ender Inciarte over some of the other options. Nevertheless, you’re here for deGrom doing something stupid or goofy and I’m sorry to say I can’t deliver. When I tell you that this here internet does not want to make deGrom look bad, I meant it. The best I can offer is this:

The camo is bad, the hair is bad, and worst of all—he’s playing for the Mets. Huge gaffe on his part. I’m still laughing.

NL Manager of the Year
And the NL MoY goes to the purplest one of them all.

Thank you for indulging me on my petty whims, as I attempted to give these players/managers their due, along with a dose of humility. And thank you for voting in the IBAs if you did so. It’s a community effort and we appreciate the time and thought that you put into your ballot, except for those of you who voted for Scott Atchison. Stop that.

Now, in the spirit of democracy, go into the comments and complain about how people voted.