Topps Names San Francisco Giants the 2011 Organization of the Year

Topps has announced that this year's “Organization of the Year Award” goes to the San Francisco Giants. This achievement by the Giants marks the second win for the organization in the last three years.

The Organization of the Year award from Topps dates back to 1966 and highlights the Major League Baseball team that has shown outstanding performance, depth and talent throughout their major and minor league teams. The award is presented annually based on the number of players in the organization that have received Topps awards during the season. Points are awarded in four different minor league categories including: All-Star players, Players of the Month, Trautman Award recipients, awarded to each league's Minor League Player of the Year, and The J.G Taylor Spink Award recipient, awarded to the overall Minor League Player of the Year. Points are also awarded for those players’ selected for Topps Major League Rookie All-Star team.

The Giants’ individual winners included: Gary Brown (Topps 2011 All-Star – California League); Joe Panik (Topps 2011 All-Star / Player of the Month – Northwest League); Jose Cuevas (Topps 2011 All-Star – Arizona League); Mike Murray (Player of the Month – Northwest League.); Heath Hembree (Topps 2011 All-Star – California League).

The Milwaukee Brewers and New York Yankees have won the trophy five times while Oakland, Baltimore, Montreal and the New York Mets are three-time winners. Anaheim, Kansas City, San Diego and San Francisco also make note as two-time winners of this award. Topps is proud to sponsor annual awards honoring major league rookies, minor league players and baseball scouts. Its extensive awards program is administered by the Topps Sports/Player Licensing Department, under the direction of Joe Ribando.

Past winners:
1966 Baltimore
1967 Los Angeles
1968 NY Yankees
1969 Philadelphia
1970 Los Angeles
1971 Baltimore
1972 Baltimore
1973 NY Yankees
1974 California
1975 San Diego
1976 California
1977 Montreal
1978 Cincinnati
1979 Chicago Cubs
1980 NY Yankees
1981 Los Angeles
1982 NY Yankees
1983 NY Mets
1984 NY Mets
1985 NY Yankees
1986 Atlanta
1987 Milwaukee
1988 San Diego
1989 Milwaukee
1990 Los Angeles
1991 Milwaukee
1992 Milwaukee
1993 Montreal
1994 Kansas City
1995 KC/NY Mets (tie)
1996 Montreal
1997 Los Angeles
1998 Oakland
1999 Oakland
2000 Minn/Seattle (tie)
2001 Houston
2002 Pittsburgh
2003 Milwaukee
2004 Oakland
2005 Arizona
2006 Cleveland
2007 Tampa Bay
2008 Florida
2009 San Francisco
2010 Los Angeles Dodgers
2011 San Francisco