After finishing second last season to Jeff Kent in the MVP voting, Barry Bonds made it easy this year for the writers to crown him the first four-time winner of the MVP award.

And remember, when players such as Joe DiMaggio and Stan Musial became three-time winners, they did it in only an eight-team league. Bonds did it in a 16-team league.

Bonds picked up 30 of 32 first-place votes after setting major-league records for home runs (73), slugging percentage (.863), walks (177), at-bats per home run (6.5) and the NL record for on-base percentage (.515).

Not bad for a 37-year-old outfielder (only Willie Stargell and Dennis Eckersley were older MVP winners).

Bonds now has four MVP awards and has also finished second twice (2000, 1991), fourth once (1994) and fifth twice (1996, 1997).

How does that compare to other players in history? Bill James created a number called "Award Shares" that allows us to do this. An Award Share is the percentage of the total possible points available that a player receives in the MVP voting.

For example, this year there were 448 total points available. Bonds received 438 points, which works out to an 0.98 Award Share. Sammy Sosa received 278 points, so his Award Share is 0.62.

Thanks to the great folks at baseballreference.com, we can easily find calculated Award Shares for all top-10 finishes in the MVP voting.

For instance, here is how Bonds does in his top-10 finishes:

Year   Finish   Award Share
2001    1st       0.98
2000    2nd       0.62
1998    8th       0.14
1997    5th       0.31
1996    5th       0.33
1994    4th       0.36
1993    1st       0.94
1992    1st       0.90
1991    2nd       0.77
1990    1st       0.98
Total             6.33

What Award Shares does is "reward" a dominating MVP season. In all four of Bonds' MVP years, he collected 90 percent or more of the total points. That's impressive.

Let's do another player. Stan Musial not only won three MVPs, but finished second four times. Here are his top-10 finishes:

Year   Finish   Award Share
1943    1st       0.79
1944    4th       0.40
1946    1st       0.94
1948    1st       0.90
1949    2nd       0.67
1950    2nd       0.47
1951    2nd       0.56
1952    5th       0.37
1953    8th       0.18
1954    6th       0.28
1955    8th       0.13
1956    9th       0.18
1957    2nd       0.68
1962   10th       0.06
Total             6.61

Wow. Ten straight top-10 finishes? Wonder if anyone else has done that. Maybe Willie Mays? He won two MVPs. Let's check him out.

Year   Finish   Award Share
1954    1st       0.84
1955    4th       0.49
1957    4th       0.51
1958    2nd       0.55
1959    6th       0.25
1960    3rd       0.46
1961    6th       0.31
1962    2nd       0.72
1963    5th       0.36
1964    6th       0.23
1965    1st       0.80
1966    3rd       0.39
Total             5.91

Mays did indeed have 10 straight top-10 finishes, although his total Award Shares ranks behind Musial and Bonds.

I checked all the three-time MVP winners and as many players as I could think of who might be above 3.00 career Award Shares. Here is a list of all-time leaders (again, top-10 finishes only). If anyone wants to calculate a comprehensive list, please do so and e-mail it along to me; I'll update this story on Tuesday.

Stan Musial        6.61
Barry Bonds        6.33
Ted Williams       6.10
Willie Mays        5.91
Mickey Mantle      5.61
Joe DiMaggio       5.32
Lou Gehrig         5.32
Hank Aaron         4.90
Mike Schmidt       4.75
Frank Robinson     4.55
Frank Thomas       4.25
Brooks Robinson    3.90
Jimmie Foxx        3.70
Yogi Berra         3.63
Hank Greenberg     3.57
Pete Rose          3.36
Ken Griffey Jr.    3.11
Willie Stargell    3.06
Jim Rice           3.05
Roy Campanella     2.34

Tuesday afternoon update
Thanks to all who wrote in. As Jason Brannon mentioned, I could have simply looked on page 2444 of the "Stats, Inc. All-Time Baseball Sourcebook" for career Award Share leaders through 1997. And the book is right on my desk ...

Laurence Hart was kind to update a list with players I omitted. His list was calculated like mine, including just top-10 finishes. Guys he mentioned above 3.00 include Eddie Collins (3.83), Charlie Gehringer (3.40), Rogers Hornsby (3.10), Mike Piazza (3.07) and Reggie Jackson (3.05).

Several of you asked about Eddie Murray. He's at 3.33, including non-top-10 finishes.

If we include non-to-10 finishes, Stan Musial is the all-time leader at 6.97. Others who move ahead of 3.00 are George Brett, Harmon Killebrew, Dave Parker and Joe Morgan.

David Schoenfield is the baseball editor at ESPN.com. He can be reached at david.schoenfield@espn.com.