That consistency of production paid off Tuesday when Pujols joined exclusive company, becoming the sixth player to unanimously win the National League MVP award and the 10th in baseball history to put a third MVP on his résumé.

AL MVP: Mauer near unanimous winner

Pujols received all 32 first-place votes from members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, joining Stan Musial as the only Cardinals to win the award three times.

The current Cardinals were on Pujols' mind as he talked on a conference call about the award and his place in history.

"I always make a joke that I have 10 fingers, and I want to get nine more rings," said Pujols, who sports a World Series championship ring from 2006. "I want (at least) as many as Derek Jeter has so far (five)."

With 15 second-place votes, NL batting champion Hanley Ramirez, a shortstop for the Florida Marlins who received 233 points and is married to Pujols' second cousin, outpointed slugging first basemen Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies (217) and Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers (203) for second place.

It was a distant second as Pujols garnered the honor for the third time in five years and became the 12th player to be MVP in consecutive seasons. The last was Barry Bonds, who dominated NL voting from 2001 to '04 and was the last to win the award unanimously (2002).

"I'm very humble to receive this award," Pujols said. "You can't do it by yourself. It's up to those guys in front of you and those guys to drive you in. I would say it's a team award."

Pujols, 29, led the majors with 47 home runs, 124 runs scored, .658 slugging percentage and 44 intentional walks. He also led the NL with a .443 on-base percentage, 93 extra-base hits, 374 total bases and 165 runs created.

In just nine seasons in the major leagues, Pujols has already put himself among the elite sluggers in the game.

Only Babe Ruth (1.163), Ted Williams (1.115) and Lou Gehrig (1.079) are ahead of Pujols (1.054) on the career on-base-plus slugging percentage list, which combines a batter's on-base and slugging percentages.

Pujols has 366 career home runs in nine seasons. If he averages 40 a year for the next 10 seasons, he would pass Bonds (762) on the all-time list.

"Hopefully I'll be playing 10, 12, 15 more years," Pujols said. "As long as I can stay healthy and compete."

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NL voting results (First-, second- and third-place votes and total points on a 14-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis):

Player, team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Points Albert Pujols, Cardinals 32 448 Hanley Ramirez, Marlins 15 5 3 3 2 3 1 233 Ryan Howard, Phillies 6 8 7 5 1 3 1 217 Prince Fielder, Brewers 5 9 7 3 1 3 1 3 203 Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies 3 6 5 5 5 1 1 172 Andre Ethier, Dodgers 2 3 2 5 4 5 3 113 Pablo Sandoval, Giants 1 2 5 5 6 1 4 89 Chase Utley, Phillies 2 2 1 5 4 3 1 84 Derrek Lee, Cubs 1 3 3 2 2 5 66 Matt Kemp, Dodgers 2 1 2 3 1 1 2 49 Ryan Braun, Brewers 3 1 2 4 6 43 Adrian Gonzalez, Padres 1 1 3 2 5 30 Todd Helton, Rockies 1 1 1 1 2 28 Chris Carpenter, Cardinals 1 2 1 2 1 25 Adam Wainwright, Cards 1 2 1 2 16 Matt Holliday,Cardinals 1 1 2 15 Jayson Werth, Phillies 1 1 10 Shane Victorino, Phillies 2 8 Tim Lincecum, Giants 1 1 2 8 Yunel Escobar, Braves 1 6 Mark Reynolds, Diamondbacks 1 1 1 6 Joey Votto, Reds 1 4 Yadier Molina, Cardinals 1 3 Miguel Tejada, Astros 1 3 Huston Street, Rockies 1 2 Justin Upton, Diamondbacks 1 2 Ryan Zimmerman, Nationals 2 2 Jeremy Affeldt, Giants 1 1 Chris Coghlan, Marlins 1 1 Brad Hawpe, Rockies 1 1

Contributing: Wire reports