Ryan Howard of the Philadephia Phillies was selected by the Major League Baseball players to receive the Player of the Year Award. Howard also won the National Leagues Outstanding Player award.

This is caused a lot of jubilation amongst the Phillies as it keeps their hopes alive for playoff in the National League Wild Card race.

Howard was also the National League Player of the Month for August and September. He set a club record for hitting the maximum number of home runs in a season. He beat the record of 48 home runs set by Mike Schmidt in 1980. Ryan Howard, a first baseman, also won the 2006 Home Run Derby at the PNC Park in Pittsburgh when he hit a total of 23 home runs to beat David Wright of the Mets.

Howard was selected to in his first All Star game and played in the Major League Baseball All Star Series in Japan which the MLB won. He won the Japan All Star Series Most Valuable Player award.

Howard is the fourth player from Phillies to win the Players Choice Award and the first ever player from Phillies who has been named the Player of the Year as well as National League Outstanding Player.

The winners of the Players Choice Awards are selected by all Major League baseball player through a secret ballot which is supervised by KPMG LLP, the financial firm. The winner has to chose a charity organization of his choice to receive a grant from the Players Trust which is not for profit foundation created and run by the players. The charity will receive a grant ranging from $20,000 to $50,000.

About the writer: Nigel Kerry is an American free lance writer born in \r Los Angeles, California. Kerry writes among others for Sportus.com \r - Sportsbook reviews, UsBookies.com - \r Sports Betting Online and \r Get-best-mortgage-loan.com - Mortgage lenders, get the best mortgage loan

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