NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Baseball players no longer would receive

bonuses for winning the Most Valuable Player, Cy Young or rookie

awards bestowed by the Baseball Writers' Association of America

under a rule passed Wednesday.

Starting in 2013, players with such bonus clauses in their

contracts will be banned from receiving votes for any BBWAA awards.

The lag time is designed to give agents and teams an opportunity to

adapt to the ban; only a handful of players are already under

contract for 2013.

Hall of Fame voting is not affected, nor are manager of the year

or non-BBWAA awards such as the World Series MVP or Gold Glove.

"When we first started giving out these awards it was just to

honor somebody. You got a trophy, there was no monetary reward that

went with it," BBWAA secretary-treasurer Jack O'Connell said. "I

honestly don't think people vote with that in mind. But the

attachment of a bonus to these awards creates a perception that

we're trying to make these guys rich."

The vote was 41-21 on the rule, which was brought up by The

Associated Press several years ago. The BBWAA appointed a committee

to discuss the rule with the commissioner's office and the players'

association.

"We've been on record for the past 20 years as being opposed to

bonus clauses related these awards," O'Connell said. "The idea

behind this was to toughen our stance against these clauses."

Gene Orza, the chief operating officer of the players'

association, declined to comment. Rob Manfred, baseball's executive

vice president for labor relations, did not immediately respond to

an e-mail seeking comment.

Many veterans have award clauses in their contracts, some for

honors bestowed by The Sporting News and Baseball America, others

for postseason awards given by Major League Baseball, such as World

Series MVP. Some are small -- at least relative to the multimillion

salaries -- but others are worth millions.

New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez earned a $1.5

million bonus for winning the AL MVP in 2007, and Boston Red Sox

pitcher Curt Schilling has a clause in his agreement for next year

that would pay him $1 million if he receives even a single

third-place vote for the Cy Young Award.

"The Schilling thing is disturbing because he doesn't even have

to win," said O'Connell, noting that Schilling joked about a

kickback to the voter if he collected the bonus. "That's something

that none of us finds very funny."

Although the policy was first floated two years ago, Schilling

responded with a 1,000-word, four-font, two-color posting on his

blog, 38pitches.com.

"To think that these guys ever approached this as anything

other than them being touted as the 'experts' on who wins what is

[untrue]," he wrote. "Add to that I seriously doubt anyone ever

looked at this from a perception standpoint and thought wow, they

are making this guy rich. I would disagree.

"The only step that hasn't happened yet is to stop them from

voting on awards altogether. They shouldn't do it. Anytime someone

is allowed to vote on this, on the Hall of Fame ballot, and that

person injects personal bias into their vote, they should lose the

privelage [sic]."

David Schwartz, whose clients include Rudy Seanez and Josh Paul,

said the rule would benefit the owners and hurt mid- or low-level

players who perform better than expected.

"It seems like ownership put the writers up to this," Schwartz

said. "It seems like the real beneficiaries here are owners who

don't have to pay bonuses to players who've had good years. Players

who have award-winning seasons ought to be rewarded for it."