Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award

In Major League Baseball, the Rookie of the Year Award is given each year to one player from each league as voted on by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA). The award was start in 1940 by the Chicago chapter of the BBWAA. They selected a winner every year from 1940 through 1946.^[1] The award became national in 1947; Jackie Robinson, the Brooklyn Dodgers' first baseman, won the first award. One award was presented for both leagues in 1947 and 1948; since 1949, the honor has been given to one player each in the National and American League. At first, the award was known as the J. Louis Comiskey Memorial Award, named after the Chicago White Sox owner of the 1930s. The award was renamed the Jackie Robinson Award in July 1987,^[2] 40 years after Jackie Robinson broke the baseball color line.

Of the 128 players named Rookie of the Year, 19 have been selected for the National Baseball Hall of Fame—Jackie Robinson, seven American League players, and eleven others from the National League. The award has been shared twice: once by Butch Metzger and Pat Zachry of the National League in 1976; and once by John Castino and Alfredo Griffin of the American League in 1979. Members of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers have won the most awards of any team (with 16). This is twice the total of the New York Yankees (eight), who have won the most in the American League. Fred Lynn and Ichiro Suzuki are the only two players who have been named Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player in the same year. Fernando Valenzuela is the only player to have won Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young Award in the same year. Sam Jethroe is the oldest player to have won the award, at age 32,^[3] 33 days older than 2000 winner Kazuhiro Sasaki (also 32).^[4] Michael Harris III of the Atlanta Braves and Julio Rodríguez of the Seattle Mariners are the 2022 winners.

1. ↑ Vass, George (July 1998). "History of the rookie award filled with controversy". Baseball Digest. 57 (7): 26. ISSN 0005-609X.
2. ↑ "Sports News". Associated Press. 1987-07-14.
3. ↑ Goldstein, Richard (2001-06-19). "Sam Jethroe Is Dead at 83; Was Oldest Rookie of the Year". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
4. ↑ Cour, Jim (2000-11-07). "Sasaki voted AL Rookie of the Year". Associated Press.