Comeback player of the year

By ALEX RUBIN and ANTHONY SYLOR

Staff Writer and Sports Editor

Judged by JENNIFER GILLAN

Sports Editor

With the baseball season coming to an end, fans are beginning to wonder who will receive awards, such as Comeback Player of the Year.

Rock bottom to the top

ALEX RUBIN

Last season Jason Giambi hit rock bottom, battling injuries and poor play, batting only .210 with 12 homeruns in 80 games. Among the problems Giambi faced was a benign tumor that had to be removed.

At the beginning of this season Jason Giambi was lost. He could not do anything right and the Yankees wanted to send him down to the minor leagues. On May 13, Giambi was hitting .195 with 3 homeruns and 6 RBIs for the season. This was the high water point.

After taking a month to find his swing, Giambi began to find his way out of his slump, culminating in July when he hit .355 with 14 homeruns and 24 RBIs for the month, and was named the American League Player of the Month.

Giambi has 20 homeruns since the all-star break, second only to the Braves' Andrew Jones's 22, and has been on fire in September as he helps lead the Yankees toward yet another playoff appearance.

Giambi has had to persevere and has faced one of the most difficult climbs back to respectability after he admitted to taking steroids. Just ask Rafael Palmeiro, who has not hit a homerun and has fallen off the face of the earth since he failed his steroid test.

What Giambi has done deserves praise and he is the only choice for comeback player of the year.

Just say 'No'

ANTHONY SYLOR

Giambi as the comeback player of the year, what has he come back from, steroids?

Besides the fact that I refuse to reward anyone who has tainted the purity of the game with the use of steroids, the clear answer for comeback player of the year is Ken Griffey Jr.

Having not played in more than 83 games in any of the last three years - due to injuries, not to shooting illegal drugs in his system - Griffey has come back to put up impressive numbers for an entire season.

So what if Giambi has been impressive for the second half? Where was he before the All-Star game?

This season, Griffey is batting .301, has accumulated 92 RBIs and smacked 35 homeruns. Who cares if Giambi is hitting .355 since July, he played so badly in the first three months of the season he is still only batting .282 on the year with 30 homeruns and 79 RBIs, the numbers don't even compare.

On top of that, Griffey has a better slugging percentage, has played in more games, has a better on-base percentage, plays infield without sucking it up and is making an honest run to 550 career homeruns, a feat that most sluggers in the game today juice their way toward.

For comeback player of the year, Griffey is a no-brainer.

Judgment

While the Yankees fan in me loves the idea of another accolade for a pinstripe-wearing slugger, the numbers don't lie. Griffey accomplished what Giambi has and more and did it with raw talent, not an illegal substance. The victory goes to Sylor. Better luck next time, Rubin.