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

Comeback 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 historical baseball statistics anywhere. Listed below in chronological order are the players chosen by The Sporting News as recipients of the Comeback Player of the Year Award.

"You know what that tells you? It (winning the Comeback Player of the Year Award) tells you were terrible the year before." - Rick Sutcliffe (in early 1992 [he won]) in the Cultural Encyclopedia of Baseball (J.Light, 1997)

Comeback Player of the Year Award by The Sporting News © In Chronological Order
Year	American League	Team(s)	Year	National League	Team(s)
1965	Norm Cash⁽¹⁾	Detroit	1965	Vern Law⁽¹⁾	Pittsburgh
1966	Boog Powell⁽¹⁾	Baltimore	1966	Phil Regan⁽¹⁾	Los Angeles
1967	Dean Chance⁽¹⁾	Minnesota	1967	Mike McCormick⁽¹⁾	San Francisco
1968	Ken Harrelson⁽¹⁾	Boston	1968	Alex Johnson⁽¹⁾	Cincinnati
1969	Tony Conigliaro⁽¹⁾	Boston	1969	Tommie Agee⁽¹⁾	New York
1970	Clyde Wright⁽¹⁾	California	1970	Jim Hickman⁽¹⁾	Chicago
1971	Norm Cash⁽²⁾	Detroit	1971	Al Downing⁽¹⁾	Los Angeles
1972	Luis Tiant⁽¹⁾	Boston	1972	Bobby Tolan⁽¹⁾	Cincinnati
1973	John Hiller⁽¹⁾	Detroit	1973	Davey Johnson⁽¹⁾	Atlanta
1974	Fergie Jenkins⁽¹⁾	Texas	1974	Jimmy Wynn⁽¹⁾	Los Angeles
1975	Boog Powell⁽²⁾	Cleveland	1975	Randy Jones⁽¹⁾	San Diego
1976	Dock Ellis⁽¹⁾	New York	1976	Tommy John⁽¹⁾	Los Angeles
1977	Eric Soderholm⁽¹⁾	Chicago	1977	Willie McCovey⁽¹⁾	San Francisco
1978	Mike Caldwell⁽¹⁾	Milwaukee	1978	Willie Stargell⁽¹⁾	Pittsburgh
1979	Willie Horton⁽¹⁾	Seattle	1979	Lou Brock⁽¹⁾	St. Louis
1980	Matt Keough⁽¹⁾	Oakland	1980	Jerry Reuss⁽¹⁾	Los Angeles
1981	Richie Zisk⁽¹⁾	Seattle	1981	Bob Knepper⁽¹⁾	Houston
1982	Andre Thornton⁽¹⁾	Cleveland	1982	Joe Morgan⁽¹⁾	San Francisco
1983	Alan Trammell⁽¹⁾	Detroit	1983	John Denny⁽¹⁾	Philadelphia
1984	Dave Kingman⁽¹⁾	Oakland	1984	Joaquin Andujar⁽¹⁾	St. Louis
1985	Gorman Thomas⁽¹⁾	Seattle	1985	Rick Reuschel⁽¹⁾	Pittsburgh
1986	John Candelaria⁽¹⁾	California	1986	Ray Knight⁽¹⁾	New York
1987	Bret Saberhagen⁽¹⁾	Kansas City	1987	Rick Sutcliffe⁽¹⁾	Chicago
1988	Storm Davis⁽¹⁾	Oakland	1988	Tim Leary⁽¹⁾	Los Angeles
1989	Bert Blyleven⁽¹⁾	California	1989	Lonnie Smith⁽¹⁾	Atlanta
1990	Dave Winfield⁽¹⁾	California	1990	John Tudor⁽¹⁾	St. Louis
1991	Jose Guzman⁽¹⁾	Texas	1991	Terry Pendleton⁽¹⁾	Atlanta
1992	Rick Sutcliffe⁽²⁾	Baltimore	1992	Gary Sheffield⁽¹⁾	San Diego
1993	Bo Jackson⁽¹⁾	Chicago	1993	Andres Galarraga⁽¹⁾	Colorado
1994	Jose Canseco⁽¹⁾	Oakland	1994	Tim Wallach⁽¹⁾	Los Angeles
1995	Tim Wakefield⁽¹⁾	Boston	1995	Ron Gant⁽¹⁾	Cincinnati
1996	Kevin Elster⁽¹⁾	Texas	1996	Eric Davis⁽¹⁾	Cincinnati
1997	David Justice⁽¹⁾	Cleveland	1997	Darren Daulton⁽¹⁾	Philadelphia & Florida
1998	Bret Saberhagen⁽²⁾	Boston	1998	Greg Vaughn⁽¹⁾	San Diego
1999	John Jaha⁽¹⁾	Oakland	1999	Rickey Henderson⁽¹⁾	New York
2000	Frank Thomas⁽¹⁾	Chicago	2000	Andres Galarraga⁽²⁾	Atlanta
2001	Ruben Sierra⁽¹⁾	Texas	2001	Matt Morris⁽¹⁾	St. Louis
2002	Tim Salmon⁽¹⁾	Anaheim	2002	Mike Lieberthal⁽¹⁾	Philadelphia
2003	Gil Meche⁽¹⁾	Seattle	2003	Javy Lopez⁽¹⁾	Atlanta
2004	Paul Konerko⁽¹⁾	Chicago	2004	Chris Carpenter⁽¹⁾	St. Louis
2005	Jason Giambi⁽¹⁾	New York	2005	Ken Griffey, Jr.⁽¹⁾	Cincinnati
2006	Jim Thome⁽¹⁾	Chicago	2006	Nomar Garciaparra⁽¹⁾	Los Angeles
2007	Carlos Pena⁽¹⁾	Tampa Bay	2007	Dmitri Young⁽¹⁾	Washington
2008	Cliff Lee⁽¹⁾	Cleveland	2008	Fernando Tatis⁽¹⁾	New York
2009	Aaron Hill⁽¹⁾	Toronto	2009	Chris Carpenter⁽²⁾	St. Louis
2010	Vladimir Guerrero⁽¹⁾	Texas	2010	Tim Hudson⁽¹⁾	Atlanta
2011	Not Yet Announced^(10-2011)	--	2011	Not Yet Announced^(10-2011)	--
Year	American League	Team(s)	Year	National League	Team(s)
Comeback Player of the Year Award by The Sporting News ©

The American League players with the most Comeback of the Year Awards are Norm Cash & Bret Saberhagen with two each. Their National League counterparts are Andres Galarraga & Chris Carpenter with two each also and these four join the lone player from both the junior & senior circuit to win two, Rick Sutcliffe.

Throughout the years there have been many versions of the Comeback Player of the Year Award. The Associated Press, The Baseball Writers Association of America and the actual teams have each had one, stopped, started again and experimented with the award. Only The Sporting News and more recently, the Players Choice Awards version have stood the test of time.

Do you know why each of the player above won? Was it due to an amazing comeback? Return from injuries? A breakout season after one or more disappointing season? Something else? Share your knowledge with fellow (serious) fans on our message board.

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