2019 MLBoyfriend Of The Year & Award Winners

For the first time, I'm naming an MLBoyfriend of the Year. And the winner is... Minnesota Twins Manager, Rocco Baldelli.

You may be surprised that the winner is not one of my MLBoyfriends of the week from this season or even a player. I had been looking for a chance to name Baldelli my MLBoyfriend all season. From the start, it was clear the rookie manager had made a huge impact on the Twins. Baldelli led the Twins through an amazing season with his supportive "millenial" style. He deservedly won the American League Manager of the Year award.

The icing on the cake is that Rocco Baldelli is a stone cold fox. His eyes alone could have won him the MLBoyfriend of the Year award.

It was a great night at Target Field when I got Rocco's baseball card as the give-away.

View this post on Instagram

As a gay, I have to say that the give-away at the #TwinsGame tonight might be better than the great cap I got at #TwinsPrideNight. #TwinsPic #BaseballZaddy #MLBoyfriend

A post shared by Koko Hogan (@koko_hogan) on Aug 6, 2019 at 5:29pm PDT

Rocco Baldelli is also, apparently, a good guy. Being nice to kids is a great way to earn points in my book.

we met Rocco Baldelli tonight at dinner. he could not have been nicer and my 7yo baseball loving dude is over the moon. pic.twitter.com/eoI3CP62z0

— Zach (@floyding) October 13, 2019

Congratulations, Rocco Baldelli! You my MLBoyfriend of the Year. I couldn't be happier with my selection for the first winner of this prestigious award.

Several of my 2019 MLBoyfriends won MLB awards. Let's close out the year by taking one last look at those winners.

Pete Alonso*: National League Rookie of the Year

José Altuve: American League Conference Series MVP

Cody Bellinger: National League MVP; NL Golden Glove, Right Field

Nelson Cruz: AL Silver Slugger, Designated Hitter

Howie Kendrick: National League Conference Series MVP

Anthony Rendon: NL Silver Slugger, 3rd Base

Kolten Wong: NL Golden Glove, 2nd Base

Christian Yelich: NL Hank Aaron Award; NL Silver Slugger, Outfield

Congratulations to the MLB award winners and all my MLBoyfriends. Thanks for another great season. See you in 2020.

*Okay, technically, Pete Alonso was never my MLBoyfriend this season; however, I did have a lot of very nice things to say about him in my All-Star Break post. Also, I couldn't pass up the chance to post about Pete Alonso participating in my favorite new celebration in baseball, players losing their shirts after a walk-off. This video seems like the perfect way to end my last post of 2019.

World Series: Juan Soto

I had pretty much chosen Juan Soto as my MLBoyfriend for the World Series after his incredible performance in Game 1.



Sure, other players for the Washington Nationals caught my eye...

I certainly had to consider World Series MVP Stephen Strasburg.

Adam Eaton had a great series and is quite the zaddy to boot.

Speaking of zaddies, a MLBoyfriend winner from earlier this postseason, Howie Kendrick, hit what would turn out to be the World Series winning home run.

I've had my eye on Anthony Rendon since the second week of the season when I chose him to be my MLBoyfriend even though the scrappy Washington Nationals were not playing like a championship team early in the season.

It's been a couple of years since Ryan Zimmerman has been my MLBoyfriend. He has a lot going for him: he's been with the Nationals from the very start; he hit the most symbolically important home run of the series; and he looks like this in uniform...

Of course, I alway super happy to see Sean Doolittle, former MLBoyfriend, the stalwart of the Nationals bullpen, big LGBTQ+ ally, and hot nerd.

Finally, there was long-time MLBoyfriend favorite Max Scherzer. Just days after barely being able to move his throwing arm, Scherzer gutted it out for five innings in final game. 

So many worth contenders, but none of them shook me from my initial pick, Juan Soto.

Postseason, Week 3: José Altuve

José Altuve might be the obvious choice for my MLBoyfriend this week, but still, he's the right  one. The American League Conference Series MVP and two-time MLBoyfriend was a powerhouse and a joy to watch in the series.

Altuve hit .348 in the ALCS, with three RBIs and two home runs. It was the second of those home runs--the one the won the series for the Houston Astros--that clinched his status as the MVP. His teammates were literally jumping for joy as he rounded the bases.

Speaking of his the Astros home-run celebration, Altuve kept his teammates from ripping off his jersey, a recent MLB "tradition" that I wholly support. He ended up rounding third in this adorable manner:

Postseason, Week 2: Howie Kendrick

The Washington Nationals weren't even supposed to make it to the postseason much less defeat the dominant Los Angeles Dodgers in the the National League Division Series. Yet, they did both. And there's no better representative of their improbable journey than Howie Kendrick.

This headline tells the story: Howie Kendrick goes from postseason zero to hero for the Washington Nationals with one swing. To say Kendrick's postseason had been lackluster would be an understatement. He made some key mistakes. Then, in game 5 of a tied series, he did this in the 10th inning:



That's right, a grand slam. In this picture, you can see that Kendrick's grand slam had on of his teammates literally jumping for joy.

Howie Kendrick is 36 years old and a 14-year veteran of Major League Baseball. He said in an interview after the game that it was "probably the best moment" of his career. There's no "probably" about it; this is how Kendrick will be remembered in baseball history.

Postseason, Week 1: Ryan Helsley

Ryan Helsley is my MLBoyfriend of the week because he had the courage to speak out against racism. I worked on this post for about half an hour, and realized I was going to bury the lede way too deeply.* So, let me put this upfront, Ryan Helsley, a member of the Cherokee Nation, got my attention and won my heart when he had this to say about the Atlanta Braves' horrible "Tomhawk Chop":

“I think it’s a misrepresentation of the Cherokee people or Native Americans in general. [It] just depicts them in this kind of caveman-type people way who aren’t intellectual. They are a lot more than that. It’s not me being offended by the whole mascot thing. It’s not. It’s about the misconception of us, the Native Americans, and it devalues us and how we’re perceived in that way, or used as mascots. The Redskins and stuff like that. ...That’s the disappointing part. That stuff like this still goes on. It’s just disrespectful, I think.”

Ryan Helsley is a rookie who just played his first postseason game. He showed a lot of strength and civility in what has to be a both a very exciting and stressful time. That makes his stand all the more impressive.

Congratulations, Ryan Helsey! You are my MLBoyfriend.  Before this season began, I said I would keep an eye out for "My Ethical MLBoyfriend", and you definitely fit the bill. Plus, you're super cute.

UPDATED 10/9: I didn't include the Atlanta team's official response to Ryan Helsley's comments in this post. I was skeptical, to say the least, that they "appreciate and take seriously Mr. Helsley's concerns". I was equally leery of MLB Commisioner Rob Manfred saying that the ball team has "taken steps to take out" the Tomahawk Chop chant. The headline of Deadspin's post on Sunday about the chant and Helsley's response to it summed up my feelings: "Braves Give Lie To Rob Manfield's Insistence That The 'Tomahawk Chop' Is Being Discouraged". In short, I didn't think Helsley's comments would have any effect.

I am happy to report that I was wrong. Ryan Helsey's criticism has actually caused the Atlanta organization to make some positive changes. 

Misters October 2019

MLB's regular season has ended, but my work here goes on. Let's take a look and see which of my MLBoyfriends made it to the postseason this year.

The Milwaukee Brewers

Christian Yelich

Yelich actually won't be playing in the postseason, but, despite his injury,
he just won the NL Batting Title. He definitely deserves credit for helping
the Brewers win a wild card spot.

The Washington Nationals

Anthony Rendon

Max Scherzer

The St. Louis Cardinals

Dakota Hudson

Kolten Wong

The Houston Astros

José Altuve

The Los Angeles Dodgers

Cody Bellinger

Kiké Hernández

Joc Pederson

The New York Yankees

Masahiro Tanaka

GleyberTorres

And finally, it's not surprising that my hometown team has the most MLBoyfriends of the year. Here they are....

The Minnesota Twins

Byron Buxton

Due to injury, Buxton will not be playing in the postseason;
however, he's such a favorite of mine, I still had to include him.

Nelson Cruz

Ryan LaMarre

Eddie Rosario

If you haven't seen this amazing catch Rosario made last week,
go check it out here.

SPECIAL POSTSEASON BONUS
Although, I haven't chose Brian Dozier as my MLBoyfriend this year (it's been two years since he won the title), I couldn't pass up the chance to give him a shout out this week. I kind of hate the pre‐planned locker room celebrations. They are just so generic. However, when the Nationals clinched a wild card spot, Brian Dozier found a way to kick things up several notches, and I really appreciate it.

Check out the video of his celebration--complete with twerking--in this tweet:

Brian Dozier.

We're speechless.

We're without speech.pic.twitter.com/Dh5UdQm4gk

— Cut4 (@Cut4) September 25, 2019

Congratulations to all my MLBoyfriends going into the postseason! I look forward to seeing you all on the field in the next month.

Week 26: Ryan LaMarre

The Twins have new player to help them finish out the season. Ryan LaMarre was actually on the Minnesota roster last year before he was traded to the White Sox, and now he's come back just in time to go to the postseason.

LaMarre didn't have a lot of plate appearances last week, but he did well with the ones he had. He went 3 for 8 with a .375 average and 1.194 OPS. He even had one home run which also gave him his only run and only RBI for the week.



However, none of that is the reason I'm choosing LaMarre as my MLBoyfriend today. The real reason is that I went to my last regular season home game at Target Field on Thursday, August 19, and got to see Ryan play in person. Here are a couple of photos I took of him at the plate.

First of all, I really appreciate that he's wearing the traditional pantaloons and stockings. I've made my peace with the fact that most players wear full-length pants on the field. But, I really love it when guys kick it old school.

Still, that's not even my favorite thing about LaMarre. He won my heart with his choice of walk-up music. Turn up the volume on this video I shot.

That's right, LaMarre chose "Bad At Love" by Halsey! I love that song. Plus, Halsey is openly bisexual and the lyrics of the song reflect that. I not saying LaMarre is sending some secret queer message with the song. It's just really cool of him to pick it.