ST. LOUIS — The Cardinals on Friday announced two big draws for the club’s annual Winter Warm-Up. The club confirmed that two-time National League MVP Albert Pujols will attend and also released the extensive list of auction items that will be available to fans in attendance.

Passes for the 13th annual Winter Warm-Up are still available and may be purchased at stlcardinals.com. Each pass, which is good for all three days of the event, costs $40 for those 16 and older and $10 for ages 5-15.

Kids under 5 are admitted free. Additionally, members of the military, police and fire departments with an active ID will receive one free adult pass, which must be obtained by coming to the Cardinals offices.

The club did not divulge any autograph times for the 2009 Warm-Up, which takes place Saturday through Monday, Jan. 17-19. Proceeds from the Winter Warm-Up benefit Cardinals Care, the team’s charitable arm.

In addition to announcing Pujols’ attendance, the Cardinals also released the list of auction items, and it is lengthy. Among the items available in live auctions on stage over the course of the weekend are autographed, game-used jerseys from Pujols, Yadier Molina, Rick Ankiel and Ryan Ludwick, as well as “broadcaster for a day” and “reporter for a day” packages.

Moreover, autographed baseballs, photos and game-used items from an extremely wide range of Cardinals players will be available at silent auctions over the course of the weekend.

And you thought the awards had dried up for Albert Pujols.

Monday brought one more accolade for the Cardinals superstar, who was chosen as the 2008 Hitter of the Year in MLB.com’s annual This Year in Baseball Awards presented by State Farm. The award was voted on by fans, and a record 12 million ballots were cast — eclipsing last year’s total of 9.6 million.

Pujols beat out nine other contenders, taking 19 percent of the votes to claim his second career win in the Hitter category (2003). Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox came in second, with 16.4 percent, followed by the Twins’ Justin Morneau, at 14.5 percent, and the Phillies’ Ryan Howard, at 13.1 percent. Farther down the ballot were Chipper Jones, Manny Ramirez, Ryan Braun, Carlos Delgado, Josh Hamilton and Mark Teixeira.

“I would say this year was [my] best because of the consistency that I had from Day 1, all the way to the end of the season,” Pujols said recently. “I was really patient at the plate.”

The selection of Pujols ended a trend in the balloting for Hitter of the Year. Each of the previous four winners hailed from the American League East, with Alex Rodriguez winning in 2007, Derek Jeter in 2006, and David Ortiz in 2004 and ‘05. Pujols’ performance, however, was so spectacular as to overcome even Pedroia’s huge built-in fan base.

It made for what was pretty much a clean sweep for the St. Louis slugger. Pujols was named the National League’s Most Valuable Player by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, and he won the Roberto Clemente Award for excellence on and off the field. He was also named the NL or Major League Player of the Year by the Sporting News, the MLB Players Association and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, and was also the NL MVP in Baseball Prospectus’ Internet Baseball Awards.

There was virtually no debate.

And why should there be? Pujols batted .357, second in the NL and the second-highest mark of his career. He finished second in the league with a career-best .462 on-base percentage and led the NL with a .653 slugging percentage that was 18 points off his career high.

And the counting stats weren’t bad, either. Pujols racked up 37 home runs, drove in 116 runs, scored 100 runs, laced 44 doubles and drew 104 walks against 54 strikeouts.

One of the best Pujols posts we’ve seen in a while.  Don’t miss it!  Great work!

2+ months to go until pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training. Albert seems to be healing well from his offseason surgery and the 2008, and two time Most Valuable Player is hungry for another playoff berth. After sitting out in October the last two seasons, you can bet the Birds on the Bat, STL Cardinals will make a run this season. The offseason is going to be interesting, as the Birds look to shore up their 2009 roster. Get all the latest here at www.albertpujolsclub.com !