TOWER GROVE — Incumbents Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina won the Fielding Bible awards at first base and catcher, respectively, according the annual awards that are decided by a panel of experts and featured each winter in the Bill James Handbook.

Pujols, the St. Louis Cardinals first baseman, has won three consecutive Fielding Bible awards and this is catcher Molina’s second consecutive. Unlike the Gold Glove awards, which are determined by a vote of managers and coaches and given to a player at each position in each league, a Fielding Bible Award is given one to each position. A year ago, Pujols was the only member of the 2006 winners to repeat.

This year there are only two repeat winners from the 2007 awards — Pujols and Molina — and Pujols is the first player to win three Field Bible awards.

“Albert Pujols was the only repeat winner from last year, and it was a landslide,” the awards’ creator John Dewan wrote in last year’s Handbook. “He received the highest vote total of any position (91 out of a possible 100 points) and he received seven of 10 first place votes, plus three additional first-place votes from our three tie-breakers. His excellent defense is beginning to become as well known as his incredible offense.”

The voting was a little tighter this season, Dewan explains:

“He was the only repeat winner last year, and now Albert Pujols is the only three-time winner of the Fielding Bible Award. But this time it wasn’t so easy-Mark Texeira gave him a run for his money. Pujols finished with 90 points while Texeira pulled in 88.”

From Dewan’s explanation of Molina’s repeat victory:

“Maybe his brothers are getting jealous; they’re creeping up on him. But it’s a repeat Fielding Bible Award for Yadier Molina in 2008 (88 points). Jose Molina finished tied for second; with Bengie Molina placing eighth in the voting, it’s the first time any set of two brothers, much less three, have cracked the top ten in our Fielding Bible Award voting.”

More about the awards is available at the Web site that carries the same name.

The Gold Gloves will be announced later in November, with Pujols seeking his second at first base and Molina craving his first at catcher. Molina said coming into the 2008 season that his chief individual goal was winning his first Gold Glove. The Cardinals have two other candidates, of varying chances, for Gold Gloves: third baseman Troy Glaus, who was the finest according to fielding percentage, and Rick Ankiel, who had enough highlights in center to garner votes.

The entire list of Fielding Bible Award winners, by position, according to the release:

• P Kenny Rogers, Detroit (2007: Johan Santana)
• C Yadier Molina, Cardinals (2007: Molina)
• 1B Albert Pujols, Cardinals (2007: ditto)
• 2B Brandon Phillips, Reds (2007: Aaron Hill)
• 3B Adrian Beltre, Seattle (2007: Pedro Feliz)
• SS Jimmy Rollins, Philadelphia (2007: Troy Tulowitzki)
• LF Carl Crawford, Tampa Bay (2007: Eric Byrnes)
• CF Carlos Beltran, NY Mets (2007: Andruw Jones)
• RF Franklin Gutierrez, Cleveland (2007: Alex Rios)

The awards are determined by a vote of 10 panelists, including James and Dewan, and they are based somewhat on Dewan’s innovative work to define and gauge defensive performance beyond the faulty Range Factors and Fielding Percentages of yore. News of the honor was released by ACTA Sports on Thursday in an release also meant to promote the Bill James Handbook 2009 and the forthcoming Fielding Bible II. The release said the official announcement of the awards will come Nov. 1.

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