Joe Mauer became only the second catcher in 33 years to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award, finishing first in a near-unanimous vote yesterday.

The Twins star received 27 of 28 first-place votes and 387 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Yankees teammates Mark Teixeira (225 points) and Derek Jeter (193) followed. Detroit first baseman Miguel Cabrera, who received the other first-place vote, was fourth (171).

Mauer became the second Minnesota player to win in four years, following Justin Morneau in 2006. Morneau, a first baseman, gave Mauer a bottle of champagne yesterday at the Metrodome.

Mauer set a major league record for highest batting average (.365) by a catcher and won his third batting title.

Mauer set career bests with 28 homers and 96 RBIs. He was voted to his third All-Star team and won his second straight AL Gold Glove.

Ivan Rodriguez in 1999 had been the only catcher since Thurman Munson in 1976 to win the AL MVP.

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White Sox: Omar Vizquel has agreed to a $1,375,000, one-year contract with Chicago. Vizquel, 42, is an 11-time Gold Glove winner and has played mostly shortstop during 21 major league seasons.