Rookie Player of the Year Award by The Sporting News on Baseball Almanac

Rookie Player of the Year Award by The Sporting News

The Sporting News is nothing short of the most respected and legendary magazine / newspaper in sports history. Their coverage of baseball has no rival and they are simply the most respected source of baseball statistics anywhere.

Listed below in chronological order are the rookie players chosen by The Sporting News as recipients of the TSN Rookie Player of the Year Award (1963-2003). From 1946 until 1962, The Sporting News experimented with various rookie of the year awards — sometimes giving it to one player, sometimes giving it to several. During that time frame rookie pitchers and players received the award and they are listed on their own separate page.

"If there was one thing that characterized the nineteen-fifties, it was the Whiz Kids. The Whiz Kids were Robin Roberts, Richie Ashburn and Del Ennis. They were Granny Hamner, Willie Jones and Curt Simmons. All were products of the Phillies farm system, young, exciting players who with a handful of key veterans gave the franchise one of its most beloved teams." - Philadelphia Phillies Website

Rookie Player of the Year Award by The Sporting News © Rookie Pitcher / Rookie Player / Rookie of the Year
Year	American League	Team(s)	Pos	Year	National League	Team(s)	Pos
1946-1962 winners were in the combined Rookie of the Year Award winners.
1963	Pete Ward	Chicago	3B	1963	Pete Rose	Cincinnati	2B
1964	Tony Oliva	Minnesota	OF	1964	Dick Allen	Philadelphia	3B
1965	Curt Blefary	Baltimore	OF	1965	Joe Morgan	Houston	2B
1966	Tommie Agee	Chicago	OF	1966	Tommy Helms	Cincinnati	3B
1967	Rod Carew	Minnesota	2B	1967	Lee May	Cincinnati	1B
1968	Del Unser	Washington	OF	1968	Johnny Bench	Cincinnati	C
1969	Carlos May	Chicago	OF	1969	Coco Laboy	Montreal	2B
1970	Roy Foster	Cleveland	OF	1970	Bernie Carbo	Cincinnati	OF
1971	Chris Chambliss	Cleveland	1B	1971	Earl Williams	Atlanta	C
1972	Carlton Fisk	Boston	C	1972	Dave Rader	San Francisco	C
1973	Al Bumbry	Baltimore	OF	1973	Gary Matthews	San Francisco	OF
1974	Mike Hargrove	Texas	1B	1974	Greg Gross	Houston	OF
1975	Fred Lynn	Boston	OF	1975	Gary Carter	Montreal	OF-C
1976	Butch Wynegar	Minnesota	C	1976	Larry Herndon	San Francisco	OF
1977	Mitchell Page	Oakland	OF	1977	Andre Dawson	Montreal	OF
1978	Paul Molitor	Milwaukee	2B	1978	Bob Horner	Atlanta	3B
1979	Pat Putnam	Texas	1B	1979	Jeffrey Leonard	Houston	OF
1980	Joe Charboneau	Cleveland	OF	1980	Lonnie Smith	Philadelphia	OF
1981	Rich Gedman	Boston	C	1981	Tim Raines	Montreal	OF
1982	Cal Ripken, Jr.	Baltimore	SS-3B	1982	Johnny Ray	Pittsburgh	2B
1983	Ron Kittle	Chicago	OF	1983	Darryl Strawberry	New York	OF
1984	Alvin Davis	Seattle	1B	1984	Juan Samuel	Philadelphia	2B
1985	Ozzie Guillen	Chicago	SS	1985	Vince Coleman	St. Louis	OF
1986	Jose Canseco	Oakland	OF	1986	Robby Thompson	San Francisco	2B
1987	Mark McGwire	Oakland	1B	1987	Benito Santiago	San Diego	C
1988	Walt Weiss	Oakland	SS	1988	Mark Grace	Chicago	1B
1989	Craig Worthington	Baltimore	3B	1989	Jerome Walton	Chicago	OF
1990	Sandy Alomar, Jr.	Cleveland	C	1990	David Justice	Atlanta	OF
1991	Chuck Knoblauch	Minnesota	2B	1991	Jeff Bagwell	Houston	1B
1992	Pat Listach	Milwaukee	SS	1992	Eric Karros	Los Angeles	1B
1993	Tim Salmon	California	OF	1993	Mike Piazza	Los Angeles	C
1994	Bob Hamelin	Kansas City	DH	1994	Raul Mondesi	Los Angeles	OF
1995	Garret Anderson	California	OF	1995	Chipper Jones	Atlanta	3B
1996	Derek Jeter	New York	SS	1996	Jason Kendall	Pittsburgh	C
1997	Nomar Garciaparra	Boston	SS	1997	Scott Rolen	Philadelphia	3B
1998	Ben Grieve	Oakland	OF	1998	Todd Helton	Colorado	1B
1999	Carlos Beltran	Kansas City	OF	1999	Preston Wilson	Florida	OF
2000	Mark Quinn	Kansas City	OF	2000	Rafael Furcal	Atlanta	SS
2001	Ichiro Suzuki	Seattle	OF	2001	Albert Pujols	St. Louis	3B
2002	Eric Hinske	Toronto	3B	2002	Brad Wilkerson	Montreal	OF
2003	Jody Gerut	Cleveland	OF	2003	Scott Podsednik	Milwaukee	OF
2004+ winners are in the combined Rookie of the Year Award winners.
Year	American League	Team(s)	Pos	Year	National League	Team(s)	Pos
Rookie Player of the Year Award by The Sporting News ©

The American League recipient, during their award winning season, with the highest batting average was Al Bumbry with .337 in 1973, the recipient with the most home runs was Mark McGwire with forty-nine (49) in 1987, and the recipient with the most runs batted in was Mark McGwire with one-hundred eighteen (118) in 1987.

The National League recipient, during their award winning season, with the highest batting average was Willie McCovey with .354 in 1959, the recipient with the most home runs was Frank Robinson with thirty-eight (38) in 1956, and the recipient with the most runs batted in was Mike Piazza with one-hundred twelve (112) in 1993.

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