Jones Honored with Legacy Award

The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum will honor Chipper Jones as one of its 2008 Legacy Award winners.

As the National League batting champion, Jones will receive the Walter "Buck" Leonard Award. The Museum annually presents the Legacy Awards to the top performers from the National and American Leagues.

Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols and Twins catcher Joe Mauer have been named this year's Oscar Charleston Legacy Award winners. This award is the Museum's top honor, and it's presented to the best player from both the NL and AL. Charleston was a Negro League outfielder who has been compared to Willie Mays.

Each of the Legacy Awards winners will be recognized on Jan. 10 during a ceremony at the Gem Theater in Kansas City, a venue across the street from the Negro Leagues Museum. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Museum, which keeps alive the legacy of men and women who played, coached or owned teams when baseball was a segregated sport.

This marks the second year that MLB.com will sponsor the Sam Lacy Legacy Award, which is reserved for a baseball writer who embodies the pioneering spirit of Lacy, a Hall of Fame sportswriter whose half-century of work for the black press beat the drum for equality in the sport.

This year's Lacy Award will be presented to Chris Murray, a sportswriter for The Philadelphia Tribune. Murray has written extensively about baseball for The Tribune, a black weekly.

This year's other Legacy Award winners include:
Josh Gibson Award -- presented to the NL and AL home run leaders
Recipients: Ryan Howard, Philadelphia Phillies; and Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers

Bullet Rogan Award -- presented to the NL and AL pitchers of the year
Recipients: Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants; and Cliff Lee, Cleveland Indians

James "Cool Papa" Bell Award -- presented to the NL and AL stolen base leaders
Recipients: Willy Taveras, Colorado Rockies; and Jacoby Ellsbury, Boston Red Sox

Walter "Buck" Leonard Award -- presented to the NL and AL batting champions
Recipients: Chipper Jones, Atlanta Braves; and Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins

Andrew "Rube" Foster Award -- presented to the NL and AL executives of the year
Recipients: Doug Melvin, Milwaukee Brewers; and Tony Reagins, Los Angeles Angels

Charles Isham "C.I." Taylor Award -- presented to the NL and AL managers of the year
Recipients: Lou Piniella, Chicago Cubs; and Joe Maddon, Tampa Bay Rays

Larry Doby Award -- presented to the NL and AL rookies of the year
Recipients: Geovany Soto, Chicago Cubs; and Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays

Hilton Smith Award -- presented to the NL and AL relievers of the year
Recipients: Jose Valverde, Houston Astros; and Francisco Rodriguez, Los Angeles Angels

John Henry "Pop" Lloyd Award -- presented in recognition of baseball and community leadership
Recipient: Curtis Granderson, Detroit Tigers

Jackie Robinson Lifetime Achievement Award -- presented to an individual for career excellence in the face of adversity
Recipient: Cito Gaston, manager of the Toronto Blue Jays

John "Buck" O'Neil Award -- presented to a local or national corporate/private philanthropist for outstanding support of the NLBM
Recipient: Jon Wefald, president of Kansas State University

By Mark Bowman
MLB.com

Mark Bowman is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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