Despite the worst season in the modern SweatSox era, the SweatSox constitution rules that year-end awards must still be handed out. While some honors, like the highly coveted Mr. Hyjinx, can’t be awarded at this time since there are still events like SweatSox Weekend and the NCBL Banquet in play, the rest we can do right now:
The Shaun “K” Accolade
The Shaun “K” Accolade is awarded to the SweatSox player with the most offensive strikeouts each year. It’s named after me (Shaun Keay) since I hold the record for most strikeouts in a season and career, and also to remind people how to pronounce my last name: it’s K, not Key. This year, the winner struck out an impressive 21 times, far short of my single season record of 24.
Winner: Mark Bond
The Someone’s Mom Manager of the Year
The Someone’s Mom Manager of the Year is named after the mother who bridged the gap between the Doug Dorion and Ray Cuthbert runs as manager. Nobody knows whose mom it actually was, but she managed to lead the Whispers SweatSox to a 5-13 record. This year, our Manager of the Year led the SweatSox to a 7-17 record. Someone’s mom must be proud.
Winner: Cory Bond
The Reach Around Comeback Player of the Year
The Reach Around Comeback Player of the Year is awarded to offensive player with the greatest increase in batting average over the past two seasons. Unlike the Manager of the Year that comes down to a team-wide vote, the Comeback Player of the Year is awarded after doing a little bit of math. The winner this year had an increase of .119.
Winner: Ross Hughes
The Most Disimproved Player of the Year
The Most Disimproved Player of the Year is awarded to the offensive player with the greatest decrease in batting average over the past two seasons. Unlike the Manager of the Year that comes down to a team-wide vote, the Most Disimproved Player of the Year is awarded after doing a little bit of math. The winner this year had a decrease of .190.
Winner: Denver Hunt
The Mike Hindmarsh Top Teammate
The Mike Hindmarsh Top Teammate Award is presented to the member of the SweatSox who paid their full fees, but showed up the least. This is the best kind of teammate since we get more playing time, with lower overall team fees. In 2009, Mike Hindmarsh paid his fees, showed up to 3 games, took one of our jerseys, and was never heard from again. In 2014, Andrew Elias paid his fees, provided free team hats to the team, showed up to 1 game (requested to sit that game), partially tore his ACL playing soccer a few days later, and was never heard form again.
Winner: Andrew Elias
The Punch Clock Award
The Punch Clock Award is presented to the member of the SweatSox who plays in the most games that season. This year, just two players were there for every single inning the SweatSox played: Cory Bond and I, Shaun Keay. Somehow though, I only got to play in 20 of those games, while Cory played in all 24.
Winner: Cory Bond
The OMS Award
The OMS Award is presented to the member of the SweatSox with the greatest individual single game performance that season. It’s named in honour of Mark Dorrington for all the times he’s single handedly won games for the SweatSox as our One Man Show. This past offseason, Craig Cornell purchased a revolutionary batting aid with one goal in mind: a grand slam. On opening day, Cornell came through on his guarantee, and finished the game with 6RBI.
Winner: Craig Cornell
The Fastest Man on the Planet Playing for the SweatSox Award
The Fastest Man on the Planet Playing for the SweatSox Award is presented to the fastest man on the planet playing for the SweatSox. We determine who that winner is by looking at who stole the most bases in that year. Mark Bond wins the bronze medal after stealing 8 bases in 21 games, impressive when you consider he had 0 career stolen bases heading into this year. The silver medal goes to Armando Navarro, who stole a modest 16 bases in 22 games. The gold medal goes to a man who stole 18 bases in 18 games.
Winner: Eric White
The Cash Money Homey (Mr. Clutch) Award
The Cash Money Homey Award is presented to member of the SweatSox who finished the season with the most runs batted in. This year the team high in RBI was 13, hit by a second time winner of this award.
Winner: Craig Cornell
The Shannon Rankin Webmaster of the Year Award
The Shannon Rankin Webmaster of the Year Award is named after the webmaster who transformed the SweatSox website from the stats & one line recaps it was when Chris Chapman, Rob Harbic, and Craig Cornell ran the site, into something I (Shaun Keay) could take over and revolutionize. This year, the Rankin goes to the webmaster who expanded his online presence by creating a controversial Twitter account, which of course was then used as website material.
Winner: Shaun Keay (me)
The Murdock
The Murdock is presented to the full-time member of the SweatSox who pays their fees last. It’s named after Travis Murdock, a notorious late/non payer. This year, there were 3 times when we had to collect money, for the regular season, the Nepean Brewers Tournament, and the Kingston Tournament.
Winner (regular season): Ross Hughes
Winner (Brewers Tournament): Martin Trepanier
Winner (Kingston Tournament): Craig Cornell
The GLE
We’ve never really established official criteria for how The GLE is awarded. What we do know is that it must go to a left-handed pitcher on the SweatSox. Half argue that it should go to the lefty with the lowest ERA, while half says it should go to the lefty with more wins than losses. No matter which side you take, the winner remains the same. For the 12th year in a row…
Winner: Cory Bond
The Angry Center Fielder’s Defensive Player of the Year Award
The Angry Center Fielder’s Defensive Player of the Year Award is presented to the SweatSox who defends at a Tier 4 level, while the rest are stuck at a Tier 5 level. This year, the winner played his position (1B) better than any other season. Highlights included multiple “stretch & scoops” including some at extremely clutch times, and this person even mastered the throw to 2nd on a pickoff move, something that’s eluded SweatSox 1st basemen since we were formed back in 1981.
Winner: Shaun Keay (me)
We’re now at the categories where award winners double as our nominees for the Tier II awards.
Tier 2 Sportsmanship and Ability – John Groves
Nobody truly knows how long John Groves has been playing baseball for, but our best guess is somewhere between 70-80 years. John was an integral part of our ’13 dream season run, and while most suffered from a championship hangover, Old Man Groves was swinging like he was in his prime. OMG hit .241, nearly .100 points higher than his career average, and continued to have one of the quickest (and biggest) gloves on the hot corner. In wasn’t his most stellar year on the mound, but we can attribute that to pitching in Winchester, vs Cornwall, and against the Braves (when they were really good). Groves shows up every game with a smile on his face, a positive attitude, and is always willing to take on whatever role is best for the team.
The Matt Robert Sportsmanship & Ability Award
Congratulations to John Groves, who with 28.57% of the team vote, defeated Craig Cornell and 5 others for the “Robert”.
Winner: John Groves
Tier 2 Rookie of the Year – no nominee
Mindy Ruffo would have won it by default had she stepped up and taken an at bat in the protest replay game, but she was too scared.
The Bill Freeman Rookie of the Year
Sorry Mindy. Next time suit up when we tell you to.
Winner: no nominee
Tier 2 Pitcher of the Year – Martin Trepanier
The SweatSox missed the playoffs by just 2 points, but it could’ve been so much worse had it not been for the left arm of Martin Trepanier. Trep led the SweatSox in all major pitching categories: IP (40), K (53), W (3), ERA (1.23), and WHIP (1.20). It’s worth noting in Trep’s 3 losses, the SweatSox scored a TOTAL of 4 runs against some of the league’s best: Amelotte, Barnes, and Beauchamp.
The Lee Shields Pitcher of the Year
Congratulations to Martin Trepanier, who with 78.57% of the vote, defeated Cory Bond and 1 other for the “Shields”.
Winner: Martin Trepanier
Tier 2 Batter of the Year – Martin Trepanier
There weren’t many bright spots on the worst offense in the history of baseball, but Martin Trepanier was an exception. Trep finished with an impressive .348 average, a .444 on base, and a .478 slugging, even leading the team in extra base hits despite a leg injury that kept him off the field for a part of the season.
The Andy Brothers Offensive Player of the Year
Congratulations to Martin Trepanier, who with 46.15% of the vote, defeated Cory Bond (38.46%), and Mark Bond (15.38%) for the “Brothers”. Dishonourable mention to a member of the SweatSox Rookie Class of 2005 who refused to vote for this award; that’s not very sportsmanlike.
Winner: Martin Trepanier
Tier 2 Most Valuable Player – Cory Bond
While Cory is usually a one trick pony (pitching) in the NCBL, this year it was being a quadruple threat that carried him to an MVP nomination. Bond finished with the SweatSox batting title (.300), an NCBL leading 0.00ERA, a near-perfect fielding percentage, all while playing with a broken back, chipped tooth, and constant headaches from managing this merry band of misfits. Our great lefty played every position but catcher, batted everywhere but leadoff, pitched when we needed to break a 14 game losing streak (vs Cornwall), and of course played in all 29 SweatSox games this year.
The Doug Dorion Memorial Trophy
Congratulations to Cory Bond, who with 57.14% of the vote, defeated Martin Trepanier for his 3rd career “Dorion”.
Winner: Cory Bond
