Rookie of the Year Award / Jackie Robinson Award on Baseball Almanac

Rookie of the Year Award / Jackie Robinson Award

The Rookie of the Year Award, or Jackie Robinson Award as it became known in 1987, is given to the individual player from each League who has the best rookie season; pitching, hitting or fielding, that is during his first year of eligibility.

In 1947 and 1948, only one winner was selected from the Major Leagues. From 1949 on, two players have been selected each year one coming from each league, respectively. Since 1980 the members of the Baseball Writers Association of America have named three rookies on their ballots. A first place place vote equals five points, second place equals three points and third place gets one point. Those points are totaled and the winner is announced at the completion of the season.

Eligibility requirements were set forth in 1971 and a rookie was formally defined as a player with less than one-hundred thirty at-bats, a pitcher with less than fifty innings pitched, or anyone with less than forty-five days on any Major League roster.

"Baseball is like a poker game. Nobody wants to quit when he's losing; nobody wants you to quit when you're ahead." - 1947 Rookie of the Year / Hall of Fame First Baseman Jackie Robinson

American League Rookie of the Year Award Winners In Chronological Order
Year	Name(s)	Team^(Quantity)	Position
1947	One Winner	n/a	(See NL)
1948	One Winner	n/a	(See NL)
1949	Roy Sievers	St. Louis⁽¹⁾	OF
1950	Walt Dropo	Boston⁽¹⁾	1B
1951	Gil McDougald	New York⁽¹⁾	3B
1952	Harry Byrd	Philadelphia⁽¹⁾	P
1953	Harvey Kuenn	Detroit⁽¹⁾	SS
1954	Bob Grim	New York⁽²⁾	P
1955	Herb Score	Cleveland⁽¹⁾	P
1956	Luis Aparicio	Chicago⁽¹⁾	SS
1957	Tony Kubek	New York⁽³⁾	SS
1958	Albie Pearson	Washington⁽¹⁾	OF
1959	Bob Allison	Washington⁽²⁾	OF
1960	Ron Hansen	Baltimore^{(2 [1 in St. Louis])}	SS
1961	Don Schwall	Boston⁽²⁾	P
1962	Tom Tresh	New York⁽⁴⁾	SS
1963	Gary Peters	Chicago⁽²⁾	P
1964	Tony Oliva	Minnesota^{(3 [2 in Washington])}	OF
1965	Curt Blefary	Baltimore⁽³⁾	OF
1966	Tommie Agee	Chicago⁽³⁾	OF
1967	Rod Carew	Minnesota⁽⁴⁾	2B
1968	Stan Bahnsen	New York⁽⁵⁾	P
1969	Lou Piniella	Kansas City⁽¹⁾	OF
1970	Thurman Munson	New York⁽⁶⁾	C
1971	Chris Chambliss	Cleveland⁽²⁾	1B
1972	Carlton Fisk	Boston⁽³⁾	C
1973	Al Bumbry	Baltimore⁽⁴⁾	OF
1974	Mike Hargrove	Texas⁽¹⁾	1B
1975	Fred Lynn	Boston⁽⁴⁾	OF
1976	Mark Fidrych	Detroit⁽²⁾	P
1977	Eddie Murray	Baltimore⁽⁵⁾	DH
1978	Lou Whitaker	Detroit⁽³⁾	2B
1979	John Castino	Minnesota⁽⁵⁾	3B
1979	Alfredo Griffin	Toronto⁽¹⁾	SS
1980	Joe Charboneau	Cleveland⁽³⁾	OF
1981	Dave Righetti	New York⁽⁷⁾	P
1982	Cal Ripken, Jr.	Baltimore⁽⁶⁾	SS
1983	Ron Kittle	Chicago⁽⁴⁾	OF
1984	Alvin Davis	Seattle⁽¹⁾	1B
1985	Ozzie Guillen	Chicago⁽⁵⁾	SS
1986	Jose Canseco	Oakland^{(2 [1 in Philadelphia])}	OF
Year	Name(s)	Team^(Quantity)	Position
American League Jackie Robinson Award Winners In Chronological Order
Year	Name(s)	Team^(Quantity)	Position
1987	Mark McGwire	Oakland⁽³⁾	1B
1988	Walt Weiss	Oakland⁽⁴⁾	SS
1989	Gregg Olson	Baltimore⁽⁷⁾	P
1990	Sandy Alomar, Jr.	Cleveland⁽⁴⁾	C
1991	Chuck Knoblauch	Minnesota⁽⁶⁾	2B
1992	Pat Listach	Milwaukee⁽¹⁾	SS
1993	Tim Salmon	California⁽¹⁾	OF
1994	Bob Hamelin	Kansas City⁽²⁾	DH
1995	Marty Cordova	Minnesota⁽⁷⁾	OF
1996	Derek Jeter	New York⁽⁸⁾	SS
1997	Nomar Garciaparra	Boston⁽⁵⁾	SS
1998	Ben Grieve	Oakland⁽⁵⁾	OF
1999	Carlos Beltran	Kansas City⁽³⁾	OF
2000	Kazuhiro Sasaki	Seattle⁽²⁾	P
2001	Ichiro Suzuki	Seattle⁽³⁾	OF
2002	Eric Hinske	Toronto⁽²⁾	3B
2003	Angel Berroa	Kansas City⁽⁴⁾	SS
2004	Bobby Crosby	Oakland⁽⁶⁾	SS
2005	Huston Street	Oakland⁽⁷⁾	P
2006	Justin Verlander	Detroit⁽³⁾	P
2007	Dustin Pedroia	Boston⁽⁶⁾	2B
2008	Evan Longoria	Tampa Bay⁽¹⁾	3B
2009	Andrew Bailey	Oakland⁽⁸⁾	P
2010	Neftali Feliz	Texas⁽²⁾	P
2011	Jeremy Hellickson	Tampa Bay⁽²⁾	P
2012	Not Yet Announced^(11-2012)	--	--
Year	Name(s)	Team^(Quantity)	Position
American League Rookie of the Year Award Winners

National League Rookie of the Year Award Winners In Chronological Order
Year	Name(s)	Team^(Quantity)	Position
1947	Jackie Robinson	Brooklyn⁽¹⁾	1B
1948	Alvin Dark	Boston⁽¹⁾	SS
1949	Don Newcombe	Brooklyn⁽²⁾	P
1950	Sam Jethroe	Boston⁽²⁾	OF
1951	Willie Mays	New York⁽¹⁾	OF
1952	Joe Black	Brooklyn⁽³⁾	P
1953	Jim Gilliam	Brooklyn⁽⁴⁾	2B
1954	Wally Moon	St. Louis⁽¹⁾	OF
1955	Bill Virdon	St. Louis⁽²⁾	OF
1956	Frank Robinson	Cincinnati⁽¹⁾	OF
1957	Jack Sanford	Philadelphia⁽¹⁾	P
1958	Orlando Cepeda	San Francisco^{(2 [1 in New York])}	1B
1959	Willie McCovey	San Francisco⁽³⁾	1B
1960	Frank Howard	Los Angeles^{(5 [4 in Brooklyn])}	OF
1961	Billy Williams	Chicago⁽¹⁾	OF
1962	Ken Hubbs	Chicago⁽²⁾	2B
1963	Pete Rose	Cincinnati⁽²⁾	2B
1964	Dick Allen	Philadelphia⁽²⁾	3B
1965	Jim Lefebvre	Los Angeles⁽⁶⁾	2B
1966	Tommy Helms	Cincinnati⁽³⁾	2B
1967	Tom Seaver	New York⁽¹⁾	P
1968	Johnny Bench	Cincinnati⁽⁴⁾	C
1969	Ted Sizemore	Los Angeles⁽⁷⁾	2B
1970	Carl Morton	Montreal⁽¹⁾	P
1971	Earl Williams	Atlanta^{(3 [2 in Boston])}	C
1972	Jon Matlack	New York⁽²⁾	P
1973	Gary Matthews	San Francisco⁽⁴⁾	OF
1974	Bake McBride	St. Louis⁽³⁾	OF
1975	John Montefusco	San Francisco⁽⁵⁾	P
1976	Butch Metzger	San Diego⁽¹⁾	P
1976	Pat Zachry	Cincinnati⁽⁵⁾	P
1977	Andre Dawson	Montreal⁽²⁾	OF
1978	Bob Horner	Atlanta⁽⁴⁾	3B
1979	Rick Sutcliffe	Los Angeles⁽⁸⁾	P
1980	Steve Howe	Los Angeles⁽⁹⁾	P
1981	Fernando Valenzuela	Los Angeles⁽¹⁰⁾	P
1982	Steve Sax	Los Angeles⁽¹¹⁾	2B
1983	Darryl Strawberry	New York⁽³⁾	OF
1984	Dwight Gooden	New York⁽⁴⁾	P
1985	Vince Coleman	St. Louis⁽⁴⁾	OF
1986	Todd Worrell	St. Louis⁽⁵⁾	P
Year	Name(s)	Team^(Quantity)	Position
National League Jackie Robinson Award Winners In Chronological Order
Year	Name(s)	Team^(Quantity)	Position
1987	Benito Santiago	San Diego⁽²⁾	C
1988	Chris Sabo	Cincinnati⁽⁶⁾	3B
1989	Jerome Walton	Chicago⁽³⁾	OF
1990	David Justice	Atlanta⁽⁵⁾	OF
1991	Jeff Bagwell	Houston⁽¹⁾	1B
1992	Eric Karros	Los Angeles⁽¹²⁾	1B
1993	Mike Piazza	Los Angeles⁽¹³⁾	C
1994	Raul Mondesi	Los Angeles⁽¹⁴⁾	OF
1995	Hideo Nomo	Los Angeles⁽¹⁵⁾	P
1996	Todd Hollandsworth	Los Angeles⁽¹⁶⁾	OF
1997	Scott Rolen	Philadelphia⁽³⁾	3B
1998	Kerry Wood	Chicago⁽⁴⁾	P
1999	Scott Williamson	Cincinnati⁽⁷⁾	P
2000	Rafael Furcal	Atlanta⁽⁶⁾	SS
2001	Albert Pujols	St. Louis⁽⁶⁾	3B
2002	Jason Jennings	Colorado⁽¹⁾	P
2003	Dontrelle Willis	Florida⁽¹⁾	P
2004	Jason Bay	Pittsburgh⁽¹⁾	OF
2005	Ryan Howard	Philadelphia⁽⁴⁾	1B
2006	Hanley Ramirez	Florida⁽²⁾	SS
2007	Ryan Braun	Milwaukee⁽²⁾	3B
2008	Geovany Soto	Chicago⁽⁵⁾	C
2009	Chris Coghlan	Florida⁽³⁾	LF
2010	Buster Posey	San Francisco⁽⁶⁾	C
2011	Craig Kimbrel	Atlanta⁽⁷⁾	P
2012	Not Yet Announced^(11-2012)	--	--
Year	Name(s)	Team^(Quantity)	Position
National League Rookie of the Year Award Winners

During the 1964 season, Tony Oliva of the Minnesota Twins won a batting title making him the first Rookie of the Year with a batting title — a feat not duplicated until 2001 when Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners led the American League with a .350 batting average.

Did you know that Mark McGwire was the first Rookie of the Year Award winner who also led the league in home runs? Too easy? Did you know that from 1940 through 1946 the Chicago chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) selected a Rookie of the Year Award recipient? When they invited all thirty-nine baseball writers to vote in 1947 the official Rookie of the Year Award was born — or the J. Louis Comiskey Memorial Award as it was called at the time.

Chicago BBWAA Rookie of the Year Award
Year	Name	Team	League	Position
1940	Lou Boudreau	Cleveland	AL	SS
1941	Pete Reiser	Brooklyn	NL	OF
1942	Johnny Beazley	St. Louis	NL	P
1943	Billy Johnson	New York	AL	3B
1944	Bill Voiselle	New York	NL	P
1945	Dave Ferriss	Boston	AL	P
1946	Eddie Waitkus	Chicago	NL	1B

The following players were all unanimous selections and appear in chronological order: Frank Robinson, Orlando Cepeda, Willie McCovey, Carlton Fisk, Vince Coleman, Benito Santiago, Mark McGwire, Sandy Alomar Jr., Mike Piazza, Tim Salmon, Raul Mondesi, Derek Jeter, Scott Rolen, Nomar Garciaparra, Albert Pujols and Craig Kimbrel.

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