Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder added another honor to his resume on Sunday.

Fielder, who hit 50 homers and drove in 119 runs, won the Hank Aaron Award as the outstanding offensive player in the National League.

Fielder received 16 percent of the nearly 400,000 votes cast at MLB.com.

Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez won the American League award, then trumped that announcement when his agent, Scott Boras, revealed to Fox Sports reporter Ken Rosenthal that Rodriguez would opt out of his contract with New York and become a free agent.

Here is a transcript from the ceremony, which was held before Game 4 of the World Series Sunday night at Coors Field:

COMMISSIONER BUD SELIG: Good afternoon again. The Hank Aaron Award was created in 1999 to honor the 25th anniversary of Hank breaking Babe Ruth's career home run record.

I must tell you on a personal note that I had the privilege of seeing Hank play his first game and his last game and many in between. While obviously I'm partial and not ashamed to admit that, he clearly, as far as I'm concerned, was the greatest baseball player that I ever saw play, and he was even better off the field.
The interesting part of it was that he's still the same really wonderful human being today that he was back in the '50s, which in this day and age doesn't always happen.

So this award to commemorate his greatness, fittingly goes to the most outstanding offensive performer in each league. It's voted on by baseball fans through MLB.com, the official website of Major League Baseball. This year more than 400,000 votes were cast, and the winners, I'm proud to announce, are Prince Fielder, the Milwaukee Brewers first baseman in the National League, and the New York Yankees' third baseman Alex Rodriguez in the American League. Alex unfortunately cannot be with us today because of prior commitments, but I'm pleased that Prince is here to accept this award from Hank.

Prince, who received 16 percent of the National League fan vote, had an outstanding season for the Brewers. He became the youngest player in Major League history to hit 50 home runs in a season and finished with a National League leading 52. He was second in the league in slugging percentage, third in extra-base hits, tied for third in RBIs and fourth in total bases, a really remarkable year.

Alex Rodriguez received 24 percent of the American League vote. He too had a great year, leading the Major Leagues in home runs with 54, RBIs with 156, slugging percentage at .645. He's a two-time American League Most Valuable Player, and he's in pretty good shape to win a third one this year. This is the fourth time that Alex has won the Hank Aaron Award having won it previously in 2001, 2002 and 2003. I want to thank Sharp for its sponsorship of this award and for its strong relationship with Major League Baseball.

It's very much appreciated.

So it is a privilege, Hank, to turn it back over to you, and this award which I think is really so critical, I think it's really gotten to be one of our great and most meaningful awards, and it's great to do it again this year. Henry?

HANK AARON: Thanks again, Commissioner. Let me again just say that this award is very, very important. Let me thank you, I want to thank the voters, and the reason I want to thank the voters is because this award is very, very important. I know a lot of people think that to hit 50 home runs and to do some of the things that Prince Fielder did this past year is easy. I've seen in my time in the 23 years that I played baseball a lot of guys, a lot of players, hit an awful lot of home runs but couldn't produce in the clutch, could not hit in the clutch.

Prince did that all year. He carried his ballclub all year. And he is a young man, to be honest with you. He's young.

So when you see someone who has the credential that he had and do the things that he did this past year, you have to say that he is on his way to being part of the Cooperstown brigade.
At this time I'd like to thank Prince Fielder and congratulate him on his outstanding year for winning this award. And I want to thank him again for playing in a city which I hold very dear to my heart, and that's Milwaukee. I played there for such a long time. And I do know that if you go there with the idea of playing the way you played this past year that you are loved by the fans of Milwaukee, and they love you. I know I've seen you play many, many times, and they just rave over you. You had an outstanding year.

I also want to thank Sharp for their concern and what they have done and the way they have stood out and presented themselves. I want to thank them, I want to thank all of the people -- I said a moment ago that I'd like to thank the voters because when you bring something new, as the Commissioner brought in a few years ago, people start saying, well, we're getting another award, we're getting another award, we're getting another award. If someone would hold a hand up and say, what was the most important thing, Hank, that you did in your 23 years in baseball, I wouldn't say the home runs, I wouldn't say the batting average, but I would say the runs batted in and the runs scored, because those are the two things that win ballgames. You can hit home runs, you can hit home runs with nobody on base, you can touch home plate with nobody on base, but the most important thing is batted-in runs, especially when you have runners in scoring position.

So again, let me thank Prince Fielder. I want to thank Sharp, I want to thank the voters, and I certainly want to congratulate you, Prince, on an outstanding year, and may God continue to bless you in a city, I think, that always will love you. Thank you.

PRINCE FIELDER: I just want to say thanks to Sharp for the award and thanks to Hank for just saying what he said because that's awesome. I mean, I'm only 23, and when I was in high school I never thought I was going to be able to sit by him and him say all those great things about me, so that's awesome. So I'm just going to keep working hard, and hopefully he'll keep saying those great things.
I'm speechless right now just because I've got a Hall-of-Famer right here. It's just a great day.

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