my vote is for Fred Lynn, he was actually a "rookie" at age 22 and was also the first ROY and MVP. Ichiro had a great "rookie" season but had already spent 7 seasons in japan and was a ready made player when he came to the US and had his first season as a Mariner. Not to take anything away from Ichiro, he had a pheonominal rookie season and is a perenial allstar, but he was already primed for the leap to MLB and was in his prime when he had his rookie season. I think it is a shame that roger marris has an * next to his name and Ichiro doesn't, I think the rules should be ammended and made to reflect these two glaring diffrences.
2006-06-29 16:35:07 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Sports ➔ Baseball
Lynn had the better rookie season. Ichiro played several years in Japan at the top level of their league. Rookies should not include overseas players who have played above the minor leagues.
2006-07-06 13:13:31 · answer #1 · answered by Daniel Z 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
You make a good case for Fred Lynn, but since the Japanese leagues are not considered major leagues Ichiro Suzuki was a legitimate major league rookie in 2001. Notice that this question was not significant when Kazuhiro Sasaki won the Rookie of the Year award in 2000. (And I observe you are only considering position players. Many pitchers, like Sasaki, have won the award. Maybe it was Fernando Valenzuela or Dwight Gooden who had the best rookie season ever in MLB. I won't open up yet another can of worms by discussing pre-1947 rookies.)
Ichiro also won the batting title in 2001 and led the AL in stolen bases with 56, so had a better rookie season than Lynn.
Which takes nothing away from Fred Lynn, a player whom I always liked.
Would you put an asterisk next to the name of the very first Rookie of the Year, Jackie Robinson? A former Olympic athlete, he played two years for Kansas City of the ***** American League, which may well have been better than the majors, plus a year for the Montreal Royals (the Dodgers' AAA team), before joining the Brooklyn Dodgers. He, too, was primed for the leap.
And the asterisk was removed from Roger Maris long before McGwire and Sosa were doing their thing. Besides, everyone knows Ford Frick put it there out of jealousy over Maris breaking Ruth's single-season home run record. Had Mickey Mantle done it that year under the same conditions (he almost did, but was injured late in the season), i.e. in more than 154 games, there would have been no asterisk.
So I have to go with Ichiro Suzuki, and no asterisk.
[116 wins and Ichiro's achievements are not important because the Mariners didn't win the pennant? That's like saying Ernie Banks doesn't belong in the Hall of Fame because he played his entire career for the pennant-less Cubs. And there was only one round of playoffs when Fred Lynn was a rookie.]
2006-06-30 00:20:33 · answer #2 · answered by BroadwayPhil 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The bottom line is that Fred Lynn helped get his team to the World Series and Ichiro didn't. Rookie of the Year and MVP, it won't ever be done again, there are too many people that are always going to be better than the Rookie of the Year. Ichiro had a shot, but his team didn't get anywhere.
2006-06-30 01:11:58 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
there is no longer an asterisk on maris and has not been for some time.
lynn had the better rookie year for the reasons you list, he was younger, had the pressure of playing in boston as opposed to seattle.
ted williams had a better rookie season than both as did many others through the years. and it wasn't lynn alone that took them to the ws in 75, he had a lot of help.
williams was virtually alone save an aging foxx in 39.
YEAR TEAM G AB R H 2B 3B HR
1939 Red Sox 149 565 131 185 44 11 31
RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG AVG
145 344 107 64 2 1 .434 .609 .327
ted gets my vote....
moe berg the spy was on that team too, he could speak seven languages....
2006-06-29 23:53:05 · answer #4 · answered by oeddie99 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As far as the MLB is concerned its Ichiro.
Lynn had a great rookie year, but can't fault Ichiro....
2006-07-06 20:07:37 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Joe Dimaggio-1936-1951, had a pretty good rookie season...
G-----R-----RBI-----AVG
138---132----125-----323
2B----3B-----HR-----OF Assists
44-----15-----29------22
One of the rare feats in baseball is to hit more HR(in one year) than the number of times a player strikes out....Dimaggio hit 361 HR and struck out 369 times "for his career"...He accomplished the feat 7 times in 13 seasons, including 1941 when he hit 30HR and struck out only 13 times...Joe missed the 1943-44-45 seasons due to WWII...
Joe D was easily one of the greatest ball players of all time...Even greater was his attitude towards the game and his teammates...When ask by a writer, why he went so hard on every play..."Some kid might be watching me play for the first time" was Joe's response...
2006-06-30 12:29:38 · answer #6 · answered by jack 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Fred Lynn. Next question.
2006-06-30 18:42:26 · answer #7 · answered by bigboat_65020 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ichiro! He was my favorite rookie! He rocks!
2006-06-29 23:38:03 · answer #8 · answered by hillbilly 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think Puhols had a better rookie year (.329/ .403/ .610 / 37 HR's / 130 RBI's) than either of them.
2006-06-30 00:42:02 · answer #9 · answered by Anon28 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
YOU RIGHT FRED WAS ONE OF GREATLESS PLAYER
2006-06-29 23:50:42 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋