For the last 19 years, the Tony Conigliaro Award has been given to the major-league player who overcomes adversity through the attributes of spirit, determination and courage. There are other accolades in the baseball world players would rather receive, namely a World Series trophy, MVP, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year honors.

If a player wins the Tony C. Award — named for the former Red Sox player whose promising career was cut short when he was hit in the face by a pitch at Fenway Park on Aug. 18, 1967 — it means he has faced adversity and has overcome it.

Enter Rocco Baldelli.

The Rhode Island native and Tampa Bay Ray was diagnosed with a mitochondrial disease, which causes severe fatigue, and missed the majority of the 2008 season due to the illness. During spring training of last season he didn’t know if he would ever be able to play again, but he made a dramatic return to the lineup in August and helped the Rays reach the World Series.

For his achievements, Baldelli was named this year’s recipient of the Tony C. Award by the Boston Baseball Writers’ Association of America. He will be presented with the honor at the 70th annual writers’ dinner on Jan. 8, 2009 in Boston.

“In a way it was probably the worst year of my entire life, and it ended up being one of the best years,” Baldelli told the Journal recently. “Obviously, everything I had to deal with at the beginning, I was thinking my career was over and not really knowing what would happen next with it. That was really tough for me to deal with. But it ended up being unbelievable. I never expected any of that to happen. It was one of the most special moments of my life just being able to be a part of it.”

Past winners of the Tony C Award include: Jim Eisenreich (1990), Dickie Thon (1991), Jim Abbott (1992), Bo Jackson (1993), Mark Leiter (1994), Scott Radinsky (1995), Curtis Pride (1996), Eric Davis (1997), Bret Saberhagen, (1998), Mike Lowell (1999), Kent Mercker and Tony Saunders (2000), Graeme Lloyd and Jason Johnson (2001), Jose Rijo (2002), Jim Mecir (2003), Dewon Brazelton (2004), Aaron Cook (2005), Freddy Sanchez (2006) and Jon Lester (2007).

For more information and tickets for the dinner, call (603) 594-6427 or send e-mails to agreenwood@nashuatelegraph.com.

jmcdonal@projo.com