History Of The Award
In 1940, the Chicago chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWA began presenting an informal award to the best rookie in the major leagues. In 1947, the BBWA took over the award in 1947, and in 1949, they split the award, giving one to a rookie from both the National and the American Leagues.
The National League Rookie of the Year Award has been somewhat better than its American League counterpart at picking out future stars: 7 Hall of Famers have won this award (with Jeff Bagwell, Rick Sutcliffe, and Andre Dawson all waiting in the wings - plus the legendary Pete Rose, whose exclusion from the Hall has little to do with his on the field excellence.) Like the American League, there has been only one tie for the award, in 1976, between Butch Metzger of the Padres and Pat Zachry of the Reds.
One interesting note is that the Los Angeles Dodgers produced 4 consecutive Rookies Of The Year from 1979-1982, only to top this feat with 5 consecutive Rookies Of The Year from 1992-1996. They also hold the team record for most Rookies Of The Year with 16 (4 as the Brooklyn Dodgers.)
Winners
Here are the winners of the National League Rookie Of The Year Award, in reverse chronological order:
2007
Ryan Braun, Milwaukee
2006
Hanley Ramirez, Florida
2005
Ryan Howard, Philadelphia
2004
Jason Bay, Pittsburgh
2003
Dontrelle Willis, Florida
2002
Jason Jennings, Colorado
2001
Albert Pujols, St. Louis
2000
Rafael Furcal, Atlanta
1999
Scott Williamson, Cincinnati
1998
Kerry Wood, Chicago
1997
Scott Rolen, Philadelphia
1996
Todd Hollandsworth, Los Angeles
1995
Hideo Nomo, Los Angeles
1994
Raul Mondesi, Los Angeles
1993
Mike Piazza, Los Angeles
1992
Eric Karros, Los Angeles
1991
Jeff Bagwell, Houston
1990
Dave Justice, Atlanta
1989
Jerome Walton, Chicago
1988
Chris Sabo, Cincinnati
1987
Benito Santiago, San Diego
1986
Todd Worrell, St. Louis
1985
Vince Coleman, St. Louis
1984
Dwight Gooden, New York
1983
Darryl Strawberry, New York
1982
Steve Sax, Los Angeles
1981
Fernando Valenzuela, Los Angeles
1980
Steve Howe, Los Angeles
1979
Rick Sutcliffe, Los Angeles
1978
Bob Horner, Atlanta
1977
Andre Dawson, Montreal
1976
Butch Metzger, San Diego (tie)
Pat Zachry, Cincinnati (tie)
1975
John Montefusco, San Francisco
1974
Bake McBride, St. Louis
1973
Gary Matthews, San Francisco
1972
Jon Matlack, New York
1971
Earl Williams, Atlanta
1970
Carl Morton, Montreal
1969
Ted Sizemore, Los Angeles
1968
Johnny Bench, Cincinnati*
1967
Tom Seaver, New York*
1966
Tommy Helms, Cincinnati
1965
Jim Lefebvre, Los Angeles
1964
Richie Allen, Philadelphia
1963
Pete Rose, Cincinnati
1962
Ken Hubbs, Chicago
1961
Billy Williams, Chicago
1960
Frank Howard, Los Angeles
1959
Willie McCovey, San Francisco*
1958
Orlando Cepeda, San Francisco*
1957
Jack Sanford, Philadelphia
1956
Frank Robinson, Cincinnati*
1955
Bill Virdon, St. Louis
1954
Wally Moon, St. Louis
1953
Jim Gilliam, Brooklyn
1952
Joe Black, Brooklyn
1951
Willie Mays, New York Giants*
1950
Sam Jethroe, Boston
1949
Don Newcombe, Brooklyn
Coincidentally, the first two winners of the Rookie Of The Year award (before the award was split into both leagues) were both National League players. They are:
1948
Alvin Dark, Boston
1947
Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn*
* Denotes Hall of Famer.
Source: Major League Baseball - http://www.mlb.com.
See Also:
American League Awards:
National League Awards:
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