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SPORTSTuesday 17 November 2015
Cubs’ Bryant, Astros’ Correa voted top MLB rookies
MIKE FITZPATRICK This Feb. 26, 2015, file photo, shows Carlos Correa of the This 2015 file photo shows Chicago Cubs’ Kris Bryant, who was
AP Baseball Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Chicago Houston Astros, who was selected as the AL Rookie of the Year selected as the NL Rookie of the Year on Monday, Nov. 16,
Cubs third baseman Kris Bry-
ant was a unanimous pick on Monday, Nov. 16, 2015. Associated Press 2015. Associated Press
as NL Rookie of the Year,
and Houston Astros short- 2012 amateur draft, made Correa received 17 firsts Houston’s only previous salary in the majors. Chi-
stop Carlos Correa was vot-
ed the AL honor. his debut June 8 and hit .279 and 13 seconds for 124 Rookie of the Year was cago brought up Bryant af-
Bryant made his debut on
April 17 and became an with 22 homers, 68 RBIs and points. Cleveland shortstop Jeff Bagwell, who won the ter ensuring he cannot be
NL All-Star. The 23-year-old
hit .275, leading big league 14 steals, helping the Astros Francisco Lindor was sec- 1991 NL honor. Bryant is the a free agent until after the
rookies with 26 homers, 31
doubles and 99 RBIs as Chi- make their first postseason ond with 13 firsts, 14 sec- Cubs’ sixth winner and first 2021 season, and Houston
cago returned to the play- appearance in a decade. onds and two thirds for 109 since catcher Geovany gave Correa his debut after
offs for the first time since
2008 The youngest position play- points, and Minnesota des- Soto in 2008. making sure he won’t be ar-
He received all 30 first-place
votes for 150 points from the er in the major leagues, he ignated hitter Miguel Sano Bryant and Correa each bitration eligible until follow-
Baseball Writers’ Associa- had the $507,500 minimum ing the 2018 season.q
tion of America in balloting turned 21 in September. was third with 20 points.
announced Monday. San
Francisco third baseman
Matt Duffy was second with
70 points and Pittsburgh in-
fielder Jung Ho Kang third
with 28 points.
Correa, the top pick in the
AP Exclusive: A Soviet sprinter who said no to steroids
MISHA DZHINDZHIKHASH- Associated Press correspondent Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili matter what I did, nothing spoke to me in a harsh
VILI worked. The problem was tone, but perhaps seeing
Associated Press holds a 1970 photo, showing him running during the All- that my start was too slow. the stubbornness in my
TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — The My new trainer suggested eyes, she switched tactics
story of my close call with Union track-and-field youth competitions in Leningrad, I start taking anabolic ste- and told me that taking
doping in the Soviet Union roids to put on the muscle anabolicsteroids could
began in 1967, when I now St. Petersburg, Russia, in Tbilisi, Georgia, Monday, mass I needed to get up cause impotence. That
was 17 and had just re- to speed more quickly. I did it for me. I refused to
turned home from training Nov. 16, 2015. Associated Press had all but agreed, es- take the steroids and be-
camp, deeply disappoint- pecially after he assured gan to train even harder.
ed not to have made the cused on my setting new Also in 1967, I was part of me that all famous ath- However, I soon began to
national youth track team. Georgian records in the the Georgian team that letes, particularly in track, notice that many of my
I was the 100-meter and 100 and 200 meters before took bronze in the 4x100 took steroids. He told me I competitors around the
400-meter champion for I turned 18. I had slacked relay in the first national would be sure to make the Soviet Union were seeing
runners 17 or younger in off in the 200 in the Geor- youth games, held in Kiev. national team, and prom- sharp improvements in
Georgia, which at the gian championships, fin- To set the Georgian record ised to provide imported their times. My trainer at-
time was one of the 15 re- ishing second, but the in the 100, I only needed drugs, which were of a tributed this to doping. But
publics that made up the shorter sprints were still my to cut my time by one better quality than those my mother’s authority was
Soviet Union. strength. tenth of a second. But no produced in the Soviet higher.
Determined to make the Union. I continued to run on the
national team, consisting Even though I was per- Georgian team, transi-
of four runners at each dis- suaded, I decided to ask tioning to the junior com-
tance, I switched to a new my mother, who was a petitions for athletes 19 or
trainer who had recently well-known doctor. She younger, and I ran for a
come to Georgia from was horrified! She cat- while even after entering
Russia. egorically forbade me to Georgia State University in
My new trainer was fo- take steroids. At first she Tbilisi.q
