Classic No Mas - Rated Rookie
(I think that I have mentioned in these annals before that my all-time favorite baseball cards were the 1977 Topps cards. I was seven years old, which played a big part in that. But I still think they were great cards, and there were a few in particular that stand out in my mind - Dave Parker, Jay Johnstone (for some strange reason), and maybe my favorite of them all, the Fred Lynn All-Star card. I really loved the way they denoted the All-Stars that year with the bar across the bottom - red for the A.L. and teal-ish blue for the N.L. Anyhoo... here's the November 27th post from last year, heaping some love on ole Freddie Lynn.)
Sheesh, 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 exactly did Terry Whitfield do? And Eddie Armbrister? Other than serving as an excellent George Foster decoy, Ed Armbrister 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 ostensibly 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 young and impressionable, and his 1977 All-Star card was stupid freaky dope.
Sheesh, 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 exactly did Terry Whitfield do? And Eddie Armbrister? Other than serving as an excellent George Foster decoy, Ed Armbrister 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 ostensibly 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 young and impressionable, and his 1977 All-Star card was stupid freaky dope.
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Completely unrelated.... I saw Lute Olson is back from his leave of absence. Did anyone ever find out what his "deeply personal matter" was? Just wondering if it were some Andy Reid-like thing that was covered up by the Arizona press out of respect to Lute. Just wondering....
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