After reviewing the careers of 1990s National League Rookies of the Year, let’s move over to the AL…
1990 – Sandy Alomar Jr., C, Indians:
- Kevin Appier, John Olerud and Robin Ventura were among the rookies Alomar beat out for the award that year. While those players had better careers than Alomar, he did turn in a few solid seasons, including in 1990. He was a .290/.326/.418 hitter with 2.4 fWAR then. He wound up playing through 2007 and totaling 13.2 fWAR in almost 5,000 plate appearances.
1991 – Chuck Knoblauch, 2B, Twins:
- The rookie version of Knoblauch was a capable contributor on a Twins team that won the World Series in 1991, when he batted .281/.351/.350 with 2.2 fWAR and 25 steals during the regular season and put up even better offensive numbers in the playoffs. Knoblauch made his first of four All-Star trips the next season, but he really came into his own from 1995-97. During that three-year span, Knoblauch trailed only Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza in position player fWAR (20.6). Nevertheless, after the last of those seasons, the Twins traded him to the Yankees for Eric Milton, Danny Mota and Brian Buchanan. Knoblauch was a member of three World Series winners and four straight AL pennant teams as a Yankee, though his overall production fell and he developed an awful case of the yips as a second baseman. His defensive troubles forced him to move to the outfield for the tail end of his career – which came to a close with the Royals in 2002. Still, Knoblauch was quite successful in the bigs, where he slashed .289/.378/.406 with 39.8 fWAR.
1992 – Pat Listach, SS, Brewers:
Listach beat out fellow speedster Kenny Lofton for this award, hitting .290/.352/.349 with one homer, 54 steals and 3.4 fWAR. But Lofton ended up a far superior big leaguer to Listach, who only played through 1997. Also an ex-Astro, Listach batted .251/.316/.309 with 1.5 fWAR.
1993 – Tim Salmon, OF, Angels:
- This was the first of five 30-home run seasons for Salmon, who put up 31 en route to 4.7 fWAR. For the most part, Salmon was an excellent offensive player during his career – all of which he spent with the Angels from 1992-2006 – evidenced by his .282/.385/.491 line and 299 HRs. He put up 35.4 fWAR along the way and is considered one of the top players in franchise history. However, with Mike Trout now in the fold, Salmon’s no longer the best Angel with a fish for a last name.
1994 – Bob Hamelin, 1B, Royals:
- Hamelin upended eventual greats Manny Ramirez and Jim Edmonds in the voting that season, but it was hardly the start of a storied career. While Hamelin hit .282/.388/.599 with 24 homers and 2.4 fWAR as a rookie, he never reached the 20 mark again through his last season in 1998, and he was a replacement-level player (0.0. fWAR) after his first year. But he’ll always have this, arguably the worst baseball card ever.
1995 – Marty Cordova, OF, Twins:
- Cordova had a few productive campaigns from 1995-2003, but Year 1 was his best. He debuted with a .277/.352/.486 line, 24 homers, 20 steals and 3.6 fWAR. He ultimately finished his career a .274/.344/.448 hitter with 122 dingers, 57 stolen bases and 6.5 fWAR.
1996 – Derek Jeter, SS, Yankees:
- Never heard of him. Seriously, though, 24 years after winning AL ROY, Jeter can be considered one of the most recognizable athletes in history. He went on to a Hall of Fame career, all of which he spent from 1995-2014 with the Yankees (who retired his number), with 14 All-Star nods and five titles. The Captain was a .310/.377/.440 hitter with 260 homers, 358 steals and 73.0 fWAR. As a first-year man, Jeter batted .314/.370/.430, totaling 10 HRs, 14 SBs and 2.2 fWAR.
1997 – Nomar Garciaparra, SS, Red Sox:
- A year after the Red Sox saw an archrival Yankee win the award, they found a shortstop capable of going to to toe with Jeter. Garciappara’s greatest four-year stretch spanned from his rookie season through 2000, during which Jeff Bagwell and Barry Bonds were the only position players to outdo his 27.5 fWAR. A good portion of that (6.4) came during Garciaparra’s first year, when he slashed .306/.342/.534 with 30 homers and 22 steals. Unfortunately, peak Garciaparra didn’t last nearly as long as he should have because of injuries. But he did still manage extremely effective overall production (.313/.361/.521; 229 HRs, 95 SBs; 41.5 fWAR; six All-Star appearances) before his career ended in 2009.
1998 – Ben Grieve, OF, Athletics:
- Grieve was a good hitter throughout his career, which ended in 2005, though never more productive than he was a rookie. He hit .288/.386/.458 with 18 HRs that season. Four years later, the A’s sent Grieve to the then-Devil Rays as part of a trade for Johnny Damon. However, Grieve didn’t provide a ton of value in Tampa Bay. He left the game as a .269/.367/.442 hitter with 118 homers and 6.7 fWAR.
1999 – Carlos Beltran, OF, Royals:
- The start of a Hall of Fame career? Depends on how you view Beltran in light of his sign-stealing issues with the Astros and his fleeting stint as the Mets’ manager. In terms of production, though, he has a strong case, and it all began during a ’99 campaign in which he slashed .293/.337/.454, went 20/20 (22 HRs, 27 SBs) and accrued 4.3 fWAR. Beltran went on to account for 67.9 fWAR as a member of several different teams through 2017, bat .279/.350/.486 with 435 homers and 312 steals, and earn nine All-Star trips.
Salmon batted .294/.396/.532 with 228 home runs from ’93 to 2000, had 6, .900+ OPS seasons, including a 1.024 season in 1995, overall had a 138 OPS+, finished top 10 in MVP voting twice and 14th place in 1998 but never made a single all-star game.
Yeah, amazing. Seems like he always had great second halves.
Salmon and GA were the most underrated players in baseball. Both had their numbers cut short do to injuries.
GA?
Probably Garret Anderson
Ha exactly his point! Garrett Anderson
Tell me about it. Salmon was my favorite player in the ’90s and put up some big seasons, but it’s amazing how he never made an all-star team.
Salmon like a lot other current and former Angels never got the national attention, because of playing for the Angel’s. While other players put up less numbers, get better known because of the team they played for. look at Mike Napoli, most people didn’t know who he was until he was traded. Howie has been clutch his entire career. People didn’t realize it, until last post season.
cry a river, you have the best player in baseball, and I am so sick of hearing about east coast bias, the fact that your team is wasting the best years of possibly the best player ever is not our problem, they have been irrelevant for years, and baseball fans know Tim salmon and Garrett Anderson, those guys were great, there were alot of great outfielders when they played though, so maybe that is why
We’re not wasting Trouts best years. That’s just baseball. Only one team can win a World Series each year. Plus, unlike other team sports, he greatness of players is not determined by team success. The Angels will be fine.
Was truly unaware of how great King Fish was during that long span, Nice drop
The AL was so juiced with hitters in those days a Top 10 MVP placing was almost like taking the entire crown today stats wise –
I wonder if he put up those same stats in the NL during that time if we dont remember him as a bit more today
Unpopular opinion: Garciaparra’s peak was higher than Jeter’s. Jeter obviously wins out with overall career (probably had the best overall baseball career in the past 30 years).
Barry Bonds is on line 1
Albert Pujols is on line 2
Ichiro is on line 3
Ken Griffey Jr on line 4. A Rod on 5. I believe all the lines are full at the moment.
Yeah off the top Jeter falls well behind Barry and Mo, and probably behind Griffey as well (Even if the HOF voters see it differently, which doesn’t matter I suppose since it’s a yes or no question and both are obvious hall of famers) and A-Rod and Ichiro in my opinion as well when you consider what he did overall as a professional. Barry and Mo obviously the greatest overall players of the last 30 years but after that, you’re dealing with starters and the next tier of position guys and it’s very difficult to compare. I guess career WAR probably isn’t the only factor there either, peak and playoff success should be considered as well. I think Halladay, Pedro, Kershaw, and maybe Verlander are in the discussion as well. Basically I guess im saying that I think its 1&2 barry/Mo and then everyone else and Theres no right or wrong order but as for the next tier of hitters i’d probably have to go Junior, A-Rod, Ichiro, Jeter.
I’d put Chip, Bagwell, Verlander, Pujols, Ichiro, Thome, Thomas, Schilling, griffey, Ripken, Trout, and palmeiro above Jeter.
Jeter was a fantastic hitter. But, boy was he terrible at shortstop
What stat did Jeter lead the league in?
Except the years he won a gold glove
Including the years he won the gg. He was pretty much always below average with the glove. He won gg as a popularity contest, never with his actual glove. The stats nver backed it up.
Terrible shortstop? Nonsense!
Pujols, ofc.
Appearances in the NY society pages.
One night stands with models.
Really- average at best. Plays for Seattle were is he. Another MLB player.
I wouldn’t say average player. 3,465 hits (6th all time) .310 average 8 seasons with 200 hits. (10 is the record) 358 steals
I know they are nothing stats… average, hits, steals… but I think those things mean something.
Biggest head. Actually second. Nobody grew a noggin’ like bonds.
Not average, but he did play in Houston. His name was Craig Biggio. Swap spots with Biggio in NY and Jeter in Houston and Biggio get 99% on the first ballot and Jeter takes 3 years to get in.
Jeter isn’t qualified to carry Miggy’s jockstrap.
No was “obviously…one of the greatest overall players of the last 30 years”
Yikes.
Overall and RP in the same sentence? I don’t think so.
Mo *
I mean as you said you don’t think so so I won’t try to change your opinion but him and barry were the most consistently great players of the era for sure. But he was as dominant as anyone. The unanimous HOF vote says something doesn’t it.
Yikes. Bad take.
Pujols was pretty damn consistent with the Cardinals, not so much since joining the Angels.
The bad take is yours and proof in part is your moving of the goal posts. Now you’re talking of his consistency and yes, he was terribly consistent. Not “overall” a great player though as he had but one task. To take the unanimous HOF vote further, are you then arguing that he’s the best player in history since he is the only one to garner that vote percentage?
The vote is a popularity contest. Mo was great and loved by the media and fans. I don’t ever recall anyone booing him. He was the best closer during his career. Some were close, but none better. Jeter was loved by New Yorkers. Fans of other teams thought he was overrated. He was a great player, but other teams had players that had better stats than him. They didn’t have careers as long as Jeter, but at the time, they were as good or better. Garciaparra, ARod, Omar Vizquel, Miguel Tejada, Michael Young, Carlos Guillen, Chone Figgins,
All media talked about was Jeter… there were some excellent shortstops during this era.
I agree with that
How, exactly, are you defining “best”? Most successful in terms of championships? Best player? Guy you like the most? Going by the first, several Yankees can share that success, so what? They were outspending most other teams by 2-3x back then. Once that stopped, the title run stopped. It wasn’t mainly due to Jeter that they won.
By the second, I don’t think he’s top 5 (Trout – already has more fWAR than Jeter, Pujols, Griffey, Maddux, and Randy Johnson are/were all better). That doesn’t even include cheaters like Bonds and Clemens. HOF worthy? Yes. Best career in the last 30 years? Don’t see how. Even if you say it’s a combination of postseason success and how good they were, I’d say that Rivera was more dominant at his position than Jeter was at his.
Jeter was a heck of a ball player but I wouldn’t pull the trigger on the best career in the last 30 years. Bond was a freak for example…. let’s say this… Jeter had a historically good overall career. That way we can lump him in with other greats
If Jeter didn’t play for the Yankees he wouldn’t have half the praise he gets. A great career that was spotlighted because he played SS on the biggest stage in the game. It didn’t hurt he was handsome, humble, and sincere.
In that era of amazing SS in the late 1990s, I’d put him behind AROD, Nomah, Tejada, and Vizquel.
Arod for sure, nomar, probably not, the other two—there is absolutely no way.
Jeter was HOFer in the bedroom too. Some would take that over the on-field stuff … Some, I said …. other people, of course …. not I ……
Jeter was a compiler. 3000 hits means automatic first ballot.
Pujols 656+ HRs, 3,202 Hits, and 2,075 RBIs. He has a .300 BA, .927 OPS, 100.8 bWAR and OPS+ 147… Unanimous first round HOF.
should be or will be
Greg ” Mad Dog ” Maddux would disagree…
Mad Dog has 18 Gold Gloves, 4 Cy Youngs,lead the league in wins 4 times and lead the league in ERA three times while joining the 300 win club, 3k strikeout club and issuing less than 1k walks while playing on the Braves Dynasty after leaving the Chicago Cubs…
Jeter was good but simply not the best career in the last thirty years when you look at Maddux, Bonds and so on…
Maddux had one of the best careers of the last 100 years! The problem with Greg was that unlike Clemens or Pedro, he was the opposite of flashy. He didn’t overpower hitters – he knew how to throw. One of the smartest players I’ve ever seen.
You mean he knew how to “pitch.” “Throw” is the word you use to insult pitchers who don’t do enough to fool batters.
I define best under this premise:
“If you could ask any rookie what they want to accomplish during their baseball career, more or less, you’ll get some or all of these responses:”
-Win a World Series
-Make the Hall of Fame
-Make a ton of money
-Play in the All-Star Game
-Win awards (MVP, Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, etc.)
-Put up statistical numbers.
Yes, as many have pointed out there are a bunch of guys who were more talented and put up better numbers. And as we see with Trout, one player doesn’t automatically make that team a winner.
However, Jeter was fortunate enough to be on teams that CONSISTENTLY went to the postseason and won when they got there. He’s won five rings and played in seven Fall Classics.
I’ve always believed he got a boost in awards and status because he was the face of the Yankees, which he was without any steroid allegations or big-time scandals during his career.
You guys can have Bonds, Pujols, Ichiro, and everyone else. I’m a Braves fan and LOVE me some Chipper Jones and Greg Maddux. BUT if you ask me to pick the career I want to have:
Give me Derek Jeter because I’m always going to be in a position to win, I’ll earn my accolades, make hundreds of millions, and waltz into Cooperstown the first time I’m eligible.
Trout already has a high bWAR the Jeter had his entire career.
Which is more telling of how useless that stat is than anything. Jeter was not the best ever, but he did get well over 3000 hits. Trout has been amazing, but his career is not better thus far than guys with over 3000 hits. He should get there if he stays healthy and productive, but if his career ended today it would not be as good as Jeter’s career or any other 3000 hit player.
Nomar Indeed was a better batter at full strength –
If there ever was a right hander to hit 400 it would have been Nomar in a magical year- Still remember his 25 year where he flirted with 400 for awhile then fell to 372
Steroid era was fun wasnt it…
2000 Nomar = 104 runs 104 rbis 27 hrs 14 sbs 372/434/599 slash Ops 1033
That was good for 9th on the MVP ballot that year in the AL playing a premier position !
GA should have won ROY in 95. BA .321 OBP .352 SLG .505 with OPS .857.
And Johan Santana should have won the CY in 05. We’re even.
Who is GA? Somebody with a long name I’m guessing.
Garrett Anderson he always went by GA
So say Garrett. Geez! GA?
GA! There have not been enough great Angel players to start that Inside Angel Baseball with GA!
I assume Garrett Anderson. Not sure he falls into goes by initials category or how much time they thought they were saving by not spelling out his name. The explanation will probably take longer than just typing out Garrett Anderson in the first place haha
He was called GA for a decade down here – I always though it might be a word play on GQ, but thats just a guess
Guy was smooth in everything he ever did, always smiled and never broke a sweat
He almost carried himself like a toned down Griffey………. smooth/precise but never in your face and always with a smile-
I hate the Angels but I got mad love for GA….very underated player
Garret Anderson was robbed of ROY in ’95. The only reason he lost is because he played 2/3 of the season (106 games), he was called up a few months into the season, but he took the AL by storm. .321 AVG, 16 HR, 69 RBI, .352 OBP, .505 SLG, 3.0 bWAR.
Yet Cordova still put up significantly more WAR? Then he deserved it. Lack of relative counting stats and/or playing time is a very good reason not to pick someone for Rookie of the Year. You have to consider both rate and counting stats for this award. Sometimes you have a winner like Ryan Howard but only when his overall performance in limited time is still impressive enough compared to the competition despite his disadvantage in playing time.
Obviously can’t write an article without saying something about the “Astros cheating scandal”. GET OVER IT. Your Yankees got beat. Beltran’s career was basically over before he came back to the Astros. He is a Hall of Famer.
Nope! No HOF for Carlos.
The scandal was bad, and there’s been exactly zero passage of regular season baseball time since the story broke. It’s going to get talked about. Get over it.
jmavrik? The whole team; liars, cowards, and cheaters. Banned for life. The sour they put on baseball for years. Why did they do this to our game the game we love.
Shame of the them. Ass whipes. And selfish, greedy, frightened little people. Gawd save their souls. As most would not save them
from drowning.
A better team beat the Yankees. Sign stealing been around forever. Yankees would never win without spending much more than any other team. Yankees sign Cole. Was he not a cheater? Y’all said Verlander was. What’s the difference? Yankees and Dodgers can go to hell.
He’s not the slam dunk, no doubter HOFer like the guys that have passed through over the past half decade. There’s a legit debate, but I always felt he should be in on his second or third try.
Then the scandal broke and the worst label you can have in baseball is a cheater. Precedent shows us proven cheaters don’t fare well in HOF voting. If he does get in, he’ll have to wait longer and will have lower vote totals than he would’ve pre-scandal.
Astros didn’t cheat.
Sign stealing has been in baseball since the beginning of time..
Saying players who steal signs in baseball are cheaters is not understanding the game.
In regards to why the Astros and Red Sox were punished is that they used technology to steal signs.
Not cheating as much as taking advantage of the modern game of baseball.
In regards to Beltran.
Smart player and didn’t deserve to be fired by the Mets.
Just ridiculous how the uninformed mob is attempting to seek justice.
Funny thing is it is only helping everyone involved.
Giving them a bigger stage.
Dodger and Yankee fans are trying to find an excuse for their teams losing despite the highest payrolls.
Thanks for GA answer.
Kenny Lofton should’ve won over Listach back in 1992.
No he shouldn’t. Listach had a better year. At least according to the parameters in place for comparing players at the time. Keep in mind WAR did not exist then, neither did defensive stats, so you can only look at old school stats. No one knew that Listach would fall off the face of the Earth. They also didn’t know that Kenny Lofton was not the next Chuck Carr. It’s just one of those things.
Hiflew is correct…
I was just looking back at some Al Mvp awards from late 90-2005 and literally the voters just chased things like Hrs/Rbis….
It seems barbaric just 15-20 yrs later but it really was how they awarded players back then
** Homework- Go look at Nomars 2000 stats and guess where he landed in the MVP race that year
Then look at his 1998 and guess
Scratch your eyes, then focus in on the 98 Hr total….lunacy
Wrong, and this isn’t 20/20 hindsight after seeing how their careers unfolded or anything to do with WAR. Lofton was the better player and was much better defensively. Defensive stats such as errors were clearly in place at the time and Listach made plenty of them.
Perhaps, but offensive performance is much more important than defensive performance at any position other than catcher, something that the definers of WAR have yet to realize.
Vladdy jr. and Griffey jr, had eerily similar rookie campaigns, they were the same age too (Vlad about 6months older).
Vlad. .272/.339/.433/.772 15hr 67RBI 43XBH OPS+106 in 514pa/456AB.
KGJ. .264/.329/.420/.748 16hr 61RBI 39XBH OPS+108 in 506pa/455AB.
I’m not saying Vlad will ever hit like Griffey but I’m definitely not saying he won’t either. Not everyone can come out and hit like Soto, Acuna and Pujols as a 20 year old, but I’m still expecting big things from this kid.
Technically, Pujols was still in Single A most of the year when he was 20. He was an amazing MLB rookie at 21.
minor mistake but in nomar’s section “to to toe” is written instead of “toe to toe”
just something half asleep me found funny
I like Jeter I do, but is he better than or more valuable than sandman, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Ruth, mantle, girffey, big unit,
I like Jeter I do, but is he better than or more valuable than sandman, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Ruth, mantle, griffey, big unit, maddux, cy young, bob Gibson, Nolan, frank Robinson, mike Schmidt, Ted Williams, honus Wagner, Hornsby, Cobb, Roy halladay, Rickey Henderson, Mays, koufax, Hammer Hank, Clemente, pujols, Carl yaz, ichiro, Verlander Big Hurt and so on? He’s a HOFer but not as good as people make him out to be. There are more I missed I just can’t justify putting him in the top 35 players to pick up a baseball.
I count 2 Hall of Famers again; Jeter and Beltran.
Though Alomar, Knoublach, Salmon, and Garciaparra each had great careers
I forgot Carlos Beltran played for the Royals.
That’s funny, that’s always how I remember him!
Beltran was always someone who was highly regarded in baseball but broke out with the Astros in 2004.
One of the craziest seasons I have seen in baseball. Astros were pretty much done right around Labor Day.
Like always a hurricane blessed the city of Houston and the Marlins fell apart.
Never in my life seen a team as hot as the Astros as they were in September going into the playoffs
Main guy was Carlos Beltran. Was killing the baseball.
Finally helped the Astros beat the Braves. Believed we lost 100 consecutive playoff series to them. At least seemed that way.
Knoblauch couldn’t throw the ball to first, but later, he figured out how to throw jabs to his wife
“Jokes” about domestic violence are always a bad idea
Jeter lead with biggest head. Actually second. Nobody grew a noggin’ like bonds.
One Hall of Famer in Jeter. Some solid players and a few players (Listach, Hamelin, Grieve) that ROY was pretty much the highlight of their careers