Movie stars have their Oscars, musicians have their Grammy's, and stupid people have their Darwin awards.

A Fantasy Baseball season isn't complete without an awards show.

[Cue schmarmy music]

Now, coming to you live from the second cube of the first row of the second floor of the CBSSports.com building in sunny Fort Lauderdale, it's the Fourth Annual Fannies Fantasy Baseball Awards Show! (Please keep all speeches short and respect the wrap-up sign.)

Fantasy Baseball is a different animal and not everyone in the world understands the pain we go through when our WHIP rises .04 points. "Normal" people aren't familiar with the joys of watching highlights of your second baseman getting 10 total bases in a night.

So these awards are not only to entertain you, the constant reader, but they are also intended to draw opinions from you, so we've added each category to our new message boards for you to vote on.

The envelopes please...

Daniel Okrent is widely considered one of the godfathers of Fantasy Baseball (and many believe Fantasy sports in general) and we are forever in his gratitude. It was in 1980, 27 years ago, when Okrent pitched his new stats-based baseball game to his friends at a New York restaurant called La Rotisserie Francaise.

The book FantasyLand: A Season on Baseball's Lunatic Fringe pointed out that Bill Gamson actually started a game closely related to Rotisserie Baseball back in 1960 with some of his friends. So we're going to name the top two awards after these two gentlemen in recognition of their contributions.

2007 Okrent Award: Best Fantasy pitcher

Jake Peavy, SP, San Diego: He won only 11 games a season ago, and his ERA (4.10) was more than a full run higher than what he put up in 2005 (2.88). But one of the things I kept harping on in the preseason was that the arrival of Greg Maddux on this staff would help Peavy trememdously. Maddux tutored Peavy not only on pitching, but on carrying himself as a staff ace and helping lead a team from the mound. Granted, things didn't work out so well in San Diego's one-game playoff at Colorado, but that didn't erase his numbers over the past six months. Here are some points of interest:

  • Led major-league starting pitchers with a 2.54 ERA.
  • Led the majors with 240 strikeouts -- just one more than Scott Kazmir. He got six strikeouts in the Padres' 163rd game of the season to overtake the Rays' lefty for his second strikeout title.
  • Only seven pitchers threw more innings (career-high 223 1/3), which means his ERA was even more powerful in Rotisserie play.
  • Started the year 9-1 with a 1.98 ERA.
  • From July 27 on no one was even close to Peavy, who went 10-1 with a 2.63 ERA, striking out 104 in 92 1/3 innings, when most owners were battling in their Head-to-Head playoffs.
  • His 1.061 WHIP was the lowest among any pitcher with at least 100 innings pitched.
  • Only two starting pitchers with at least 100 innings, had a lower opponent's batting average against (.208).

AL winner -- C.C. Sabathia, SP, Cleveland: The Tribe's hefty lefty ace came through with his biggest (and healthiest) season to date. He led the majors with 241 innings pitched -- only his second season above the 200-inning mark. I know I'm going to hear from the Chowderheads about Josh Beckett getting robbed for this spot, but Sabathia pitched 40 more innings and had a lower ERA, although Beckett led the majors in wins (20) and was close to Carsten Charles (C.C.) in strikeouts.

Runners-up: Beckett, Brandon Webb, J.J. Putz, John Lackey, Fausto Carmona, Jose Valverde, Johan Santana, Erik Bedard, Dan Haren, John Smoltz and Francisco Cordero.

2006 winner: Johan Santana; 2005 winner: Chris Carpenter; 2004 winner: Johan Santana

Vote for who you think was the best Fantasy pitcher this season!

2007 Gamson Award: Best Fantasy hitter

Alex Rodriguez, 3B, N.Y. Yankees: At the end of April, A-Rod was on pace for 119 home runs and 290 RBI. And then he just fell apart, hitting just 40 homers and knocking in only 122 RBI from May 1 on. Do you realize that even if he missed all of April, he would have still been second in the AL in homers and third in the AL in RBI? This is A-Rod's second Gamson Award over the past three seasons.

  • Led all hitters with 54 homers, 156 RBI and 143 runs scored -- easily the best in each category. He actually had 17 more RBI than the second-best player (Magglio Ordonez, 139).
  • His 818 points in standard Head-to-Head leagues are the best in the majors. As a matter of fact, his 818 Head-to-Head points are the most by any player over the past six seasons.
  • Only two players (David Ortiz and Ryan Braun) with 34 or more homers had fewer strikeouts than A-Rod's 120.
  • He led the majors with a 1.067 OPS, which is the gold standard when measuring a player's impact.
  • He was one of only six players to hit at least 30 homers and steal at least 20 bases (he stole 24). But he was one of only one three to also knock in 100 runs.

NL winner -- Matt Holliday, OF, Colorado: This was incredibly tough to choose between Holliday or Jimmy Rollins. The Rockies' slugger doesn't have anywhere near the speed numbers of the Phillies' shortstop, but he had 43 more RBI and hit 45 points higher. Rollins' 30-SB difference didn't make up the power difference in my mind. Plus, Rollins had Hanley Ramirez and Jose Reyes that were nearly as effective at his position. I imagine this vote will get me the most hate mail.

Runners-up: Rollins, Reyes, Ramirez, Prince Fielder, Ryan Howard, Grady Sizemore, Carlos Pena, Ryan Braun and Chase Utley.

2006 winner: Ryan Howard; 2005 winner: Alex Rodriguez; 2004 winner: Adrian Beltre

Vote for who you think was the best Fantasy hitter this season!

2007 Ty Cobb Award: Best Fantasy combination of speed and hitting

Ty Cobb hit over .400 in a season three times and his 892 career steals was an MLB record for 50 years, making him the model for this award.

Jimmy Rollins, SS, Philadelphia: His 744 Head-to-Head points would have tied Ryan Howard as the best Head-to-Head hitter from 2006. But Rollins' 380 total bases are six behind the majors' leader, Matt Holliday. He joined Curtis Granderson, Willie Mays and Frank "Wildfire" Schulte as the only players in major league history with 20 stolen bases, 20 homers, 20 triples and 20 doubles.

AL winner -- Chone Figgins, 3B, L.A. Angels of Anaheim: It's tough not to give this to A-Rod, but I figure he has enough hardware. Figgins has no power to speak of, but his 41 steals tied for seventh in the majors -- yet he had only 442 at-bats, well below the others because of a hand injury.

Runners-up: Reyes, Hanley Ramirez, Ichiro Suzuki, Carl Crawford, Alex Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson, David Wright, Juan Pierre and Eric Byrnes.

2006 winner: Jose Reyes; 2005 winner: Carl Crawford; 2004 winner: Ichiro Suzuki

Vote for who you think was the best Fantasy combination of speed and hitting this season!

2007 Babe Ruth Award: Best Fantasy power hitter

Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs and registered a remarkable 1.379 OPS in 1927. This award will eventually be named after Bonds (Fantasy owners don't care about steroids), but until then, Ruth continues to be our standard.

Alex Rodriguez, 3B, N.Y. Yankees: See above. A-Rod was actually the sixth overall player chosen on average in last spring's drafts. In, The Earliest Mock Draft Ever, which began last week, he was back to being the No. 1 pick.

NL winner -- Ryan Howard, 1B, Philadelphia: This is a back-to-back win for this award in the NL for Howard. Holliday certainly had a better batting average, and Howard got off to a slow start, but the third-year slugger now has 105 homers and 285 RBI in the past two seasons.

Runners-up: Holliday, Carlos Pena, Prince Fielder, David Ortiz, Ryan Braun, Adam Dunn, Jim Thome and Miguel Cabrera.

2006 winner: Ryan Howard; 2005 winner: David Ortiz; 2004 winner: Barry Bonds

Vote for who you think was the best Fantasy power hitter this season!

2007 Fernando Award: Best Fantasy rookie pitcher

In 1981, Fernando Valenzuela became the only pitcher to win rookie of the year and the Cy Young in the same season. At one point, he allowed only one run in his first 36 innings on his way to winning his first eight major-league starts.

Daisuke Matsuzaka, SP, Boston: Dice-K nearly won the award before he even threw his first pitch this season. They hype coming into April was great and he produced about as good as you could have expected in a pennant race in his first year in a foreign country. He led rookies in starts (32), innings (204 2/3), strikeouts (201) and wins (15). Those numbers would have also led all rookies from a year ago, except for wins (Justin Verlander, 17) Matsuzaka had little competition for this award to be honest.

NL Winner -- Yovani Gallardo, SP, Milwaukee: He actually had the best ERA (3.67) of any rookie in the majors with more than eight starts this season. He also reached 101 strikeouts (one of only six rookies to do so) in only 110 1/3 innings.

Runners-up: Brian Bannister, Joakim Soria, Tim Lincecum, Jeremy Guthrie, Matt Garza, Micah Owings, Kyle Kendrick, Franklin Morales, Hideki Okajima, Kason Gabbard, Peter Moylan, Justin Germano, Jesse Litsch and Joba Chamberlain.

2006 winner: Justin Verlander; 2005 winner: Scott Kazmir; 2004 winner: Zack Greinke

Vote for who you think was the best Fantasy rookie pitcher this season!

2007 Ted Williams Award: Best Fantasy rookie hitter

In 1939, Ted Williams hit .327 with 31 homers and an unreal 145 RBI for Boston. He also scored a still-standing rookie record 131 runs.

Ryan Braun, 3B, Milwaukee: He hit well in spring training, but his defense got him sent back to Triple-A Nashville. Hunter Pence overcame Josh Hamilton's hot start, and Braun overtook Pence's hot start. Had Braun not missed the first two months of the season, he would have finished in the top-five in NL MVP voting -- not just Rookie of the Year. From his call-up on May 25 to the end of the season, only five other hitters (A-Rod, Rollins, Holliday, Howard and Wright) had more Head-to-Head points than Braun. There is no debate, however, that the NL has the much better rookie position players than the AL. Pence, Hamilton, Troy Tulowitzki, James Loney and Chris Young could have won this award in the AL.

AL winner -- Delmon Young, OF, Tampa Bay: He didn't make a huge splash in the majors or on the Fantasy front, but his numbers were still impressive. And that includes the fact that he played in 162 games and didn't throw a bat at an umpire. He knocked in his share of runs (93, only four fewer than Braun) and gets the nod here because of his .288 batting average. But he only hit 13 homers. He should hit twice that number in '08.

Runners-up: Pence, Hamilton, Tulowitzki, Loney, Chris Young, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Josh Fields, Billy Butler, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Reggie Willits, Alex Gordon, Norris Hopper, Yunel Adam Lind, Escobar, Rajai Davis, Mark Reynolds, Akinori Iwamura and Travis Buck.

2006 winner: Hanley Ramirez; 2005 winner: Ryan Howard; 2004 winner: Jason Bay

Vote for who you think was the best Fantasy rookie hitter this season!

I want to thank all of our readers for a great Fantasy Baseball season. I have appreciated your comments throughout the year and I look forward to hearing from you over this long baseball-less winter.

Feel free to send me a question or a comment. Here are a few that you can just clip and paste. "Are you insane?" ... "What are you thinking?" ... "You're an idiot -- but can you tell me if I should make this trade?" ... "I have a beautiful sister that likes Fantasy dorks, want her number?" ... Send your comments, hate mail, credit card numbers and beautiful sister's phone numbers to me by clicking on my Columnist page and sending a note through the feedback form.