The Baseball Writers Association of America today announced Cleveland Indians Manager TERRY FRANCONA has been selected the American League Manager of the Year, beating out Boston’s John Farrell and Oakland’s Bob Melvin.

Francona was listed first on 16 of the 30 ballots submitted by two writers representing each league city, second on 10 and third on two to score 112 points, based on the 5–3–1 tabulation system. It marked the first time in his 13-season managerial career that Francona received first-place votes in AL Manager of the Year balloting despite having taken the Boston Red Sox to World Series championships in 2004 and ’07. Francona never finished higher than fourth place in Manager of the Year voting previously, which he did three times.

In his first season managing Cleveland, Francona led the Indians to a 92–70 (.568) record and a berth in the American League WildCard game as the Indians became the first Major League team since 1971 to end the season with a 10-game winning streak. The 24-win improvement over 2012 (68–94) matched the largest year-to-year win improvement in the history of the franchise, joining the 1986 Indians. 2013 marked the sixth time Francona has led a club to the postseason and the ninth straight season in which a Francona-managed team has won at least 86 games, the sixth-longest such streak in MLB history.

Today’s award is the first earned by Francona over his 13-year Major League Managerial career and marks just the second time an Indians Manager has been selected, joining ERIC WEDGE in 2007. The BBWAA began voting on the Manager of the Year Award in 1983.

Active win leaders among MLB Managers:

Bruce Bochy 1,530

Mike Scoscia 1,233

Buck Showalter 1,163

Terry Francona 1,121

Ron Gardenhire 998

— Cleveland Indians Baseball Information staff