Hank Aaron Award

The Hank Aaron Award was introduced in 1999 to honor the 25th Anniversary of Hank Aaron breaking Babe Ruth's all-time home run record. It was the first major award to be introduced in more than thirty years and it recognizes the best overall hitter in each league.

During the 1999 season, winners were determined by assigning a pre-determined number of points for each hit, home run, and run batted in. During the 2000 season and subsequent years, the play-by-play broadcasters and color analysts from each club's radio and television stations will vote for three players from each league. Each first place vote will receive five points, each second place vote receives three points, and a third place vote receives one point. Starting in 2003 the same points were distributed and made up 70% of the player's total; however, fans accounted for 30% of the remaining votes which were taken via MLB.com's website.