During the April 6, 2009 regular season opener against the Washington Nationals, Ramírez hit his first career grand-slam off of Washington reliever Steven Shell. On July 5, 2009, Ramírez was the NL starting shortstop for the 2009 All-Star Game. On September 6, against the Nationals, Ramírez hit his 100th home run of his MLB career, becoming the fourth quickest shortstop in terms of games played to reach that milestone (Alex Rodriguez, Nomar Garciaparra, and Ernie Banks). With a batting average of .342, Ramírez won his first batting title. He recorded 106 RBIs (sixth in NL), stole 27 bases (fifth in NL), and scored 101 times (eighth in NL). He won the Silver Slugger Award at shortstop, and came in second to Albert Pujols for NL MVP.