Rated Rookie

Motherfucking Fred Lynn. Man didn't even warrant his OWN baseball card in 1975, and yet he went on to be the Rookie of the Year AND the A.L. MVP. What the fuck did Terry Whitfield do? And Eddie Armbrister? Other than looking a lot like George Foster, dude was useless.

On this day in 1975, Lynn was named the MVP of the American League, making him, to that point, the only rookie ever to win the award. In my book, he's still the only man to do it - Ichiro did it in 2001, but he was a 27-year-old seasoned professional at the time.

Just as an aside, Lynn has a few other "only''s on his resume as well - he's the only man to win the ALCS MVP as a member of the losing team (with the Angels in 1982) and the only man ever to hit a grand slam in the All-Star Game (1983). He's also the only man, with his fellow outfield-mate and borderline Hall-of-Famer Jim Rice, to ever make me even think about rooting for the Red Sox. Lame though it is, I think I deserve a pass on that, because I was very young and impressionable, and his 1977 All-Star card was dope.