San Francisco Giants Catcher Bengie Molina Selected 2007 'Willie Mac' Award Winner

09/21/2007, SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco Giants catcher Bengie Molina was elected winner of the 2007 "Willie Mac" Award, the club announced today.

The "Willie Mac" Award is an annual honor bestowed upon the most inspirational player on the team, as voted upon by Giants players, coaches and training staff -- and for the second straight year -- by fans via the internet at sfgiants.com (over 1,600 fans logged in and placed their votes).

The award was established in 1980, in honor of former legend and Hall of Famer Willie McCovey. The winner will receive a plaque prior to tonight's game. Engraved on the plaque are the words "Competitive Spirit, Ability and Leadership" to characterize the qualities both McCovey and the winner exemplify.

Molina, who is in his first year with the Giants, is a two-time Gold Glove winner during 10 seasons in the majors. The 33-year-old currently leads Giants batters with a career-high 80 RBI and a .324 batting average with runners in scoring position. In 129 games overall this year, he is batting .282 with a career-high matching 19 home runs.

Listed below are the previous "Willie Mac" Award winners:

1980 Jack Clark
1981 Larry Herndon
1982 Joe Morgan
1983 Darrell Evans
1984 Bob Brenly
1985 Mike Krukow
1986 Mike Krukow
1987 Chris Speier
1988 Jose Uribe
1989 Dave Dravecky
1990 Steve Bedrosian
1991 Robby Thompson
1992 Mike Felder
1993 Kirt Manwaring
1994 None
1995 Mark Leiter, Mark Carreon
1996 Shawon Dunston
1997 J.T. Snow
1998 Jeff Kent
1999 Marvin Benard
2000 Ellis Burks
2001 Mark Gardner
2001 Benito Santiago
2002 David Bell
2003 Marquis Grissom
2004 J.T. Snow
2005 Mike Matheny
2006 Omar Vizquel

Source: MLB

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