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Kenney earns 2004 HMWL MVP award November 18, 2004 | By Justin Hastings If you can't win the championship, at least bring home some hardware. Will Kenney did exactly that after the HMWL announced that he had won the 2004 MVP award. "Of course a championship would have been better," said Kenney. "but this is probably the biggest event of my sorry life." Kenney was both a stud at the plate and on the mound this season. Kenney lead the league in five offensive categories (runs, hits, total bases, triples, homers) and three pitching categories (wins, ERA, WHIP). Some think Kenney's numbers are a bit skewed, as many of his pitching appearances occurred before the switch to the new wiffleball. But in two appearances with the new balls (the regular season finale and the 2004 HMWL Championship), Kenney threw ten innings, going 1-1 with 16 strikeouts and a 1.50 ERA. The ever-modest Kenney mentioned that "everyone knows the real MVP is Mrs. Hastings's cookies." Never one to bring attention to himself, he thanked League President Justin Hastings for "the whole fixing the vote business." Kenney was not the only one happy with the award voting. There were three other award winners, including Craig Hastings's 2004 Performance of the Year award. This award was a cake-walk, as Hastings's game-winning, walk-off homer in the 2004 HMWL Championship sealed the deal before the votes were ever tabulated. The award will take a back seat to Hastings's championship victory of this year. Rich McMackin also made an appearance in the winner's circle this year. In a brand-new award (the Play of the Year award was eliminated do to a shortage of defensive plays), McMackin won the first-ever Offensive Player of the Year award. This award was a long-time coming, as many players in the league decide against pitching. Others do not fair as well on the mound as they did on the plate, but their year still merits mentioning. This year, the "bat man" award was highly deserved of McMackin as his offensive numbers were competitive with league leaders in significantly less at bats. McMackin may have been off his pitching game this year, but his bat still speaks loudly. To round out the 2004 awards, Justin Hastings took home his first Error Boy Award since 2000 (which, in all honesty, doesn't really count in retrospect). Although Hastings's numbers weren't as amazing as his counterparts, many of his votes came because most of Hastings's work came with the new wiffleballs. "I worked real hard this year with the transition," said Hastings. "I got a lot of outs this year in the field, so I owe some of this award to the people who played behind me." Hastings finished the year with a 4-1 record and a 2.92 ERA to go along with a HMWL record three saves. "The three saves are a big deal to me. There were a lot of times this year where I got big outs in big situations and the saves show that." Asked if the award helped soften the 2004 Championship loss, Hastings replied with, "no, but it's still a nice accomplishment. |
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Awards
in a nutshell: » Will Kenney now has the title of 2004 Most Valuable Player. This is Kenney's first MVP award and first HMWL awards overall. » Rich McMackin wins the first-ever HMWL Offensive Player award. This is McMackin's sixth HMWL award overall. » Craig Hastings ran away with the 2004 Performance award. His championship-winning homer clinched the voting before the ballots were released. This is Craig's second Performance award (he won it in 2000 for throwing a perfect game) and second award overall. » Justin Hastings won a tightly-contested Error Boy award. This is Hastings's second Error Boy award (2000) and fourth HMWL award ever. |
