 In 1999 , Rodríguez was selected as the American League MVP . He set a new American League record for home runs in a single season among catchers with 35 . Rodríguez was also the first catcher to have more than 30 home runs , 100 runs batted in , and 100 runs scored in the history of Major League Baseball . In addition , he holds the distinction of being the first catcher in the history of the league to amass more than 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases . From May 8 , 1999 to June 1 , 1999 , Rodríguez had a career high 20 game hitting streak . He had 25 stolen bases , which was fifth most among catchers in the history of the league . He led the league in times grounded into a double play , with 31 . Rodríguez was only the ninth catcher in the history of Major League Baseball to win the Most Valuable Player award , and he was the first to win it since Thurman Munson in 1976 . He was named on all of the ballots , getting seven first place votes and six second place votes . Rodríguez was the sixth Puerto Rican to win the award , and the fourth player from the Texas Rangers to win it . He also won the Silver Slugger Award for the sixth time in a row and was selected Most Valuable Player by Baseball Digest . He was again named to all @-@ star teams by the Associated Press , The Sporting News , and Baseball America . While he was hitting home runs , he wasn 't taking many walks . He is one of only six players active in 2009 who have had at least 30 home runs in a season in which they had more homers than walks ( 34 HR , 24 BB in 1999 ) . The others are Alfonso Soriano ( 39 – 23 in 2002 , 36 – 33 in 2005 , 33 – 31 in 2007 ) , Garret Anderson ( 35 – 24 in 2000 ) , Ryan Braun ( 34 – 29 in 2007 ) , Joe Crede ( 30 – 28 in 2006 ) , and José Guillén ( 31 – 24 in 2003 ) . 
