Masterpiece Theater

[Knuckles]

November 20 hasn't been a very busy day over the years, but this birthday to Alistair Cooke and anniversary of the death of both Leo Tolstoy (1910) and General Francisco Franco (1975) certainly provides one set of highlights I consider a "masterpiece." On this day in 1985, Don Mattingly (.324 with 145 rbi and 48 doubles and 35 homers among his 211 hits) received the AL MVP award.

Kenesaw Mountain Landis, baseball's first commisioner, was born November 20, 1866.

Former ballplayer and Yankee Manager Clark Griffith was born on this day in 1869.

Billy Martin was named AL Manager of the Year on this date in 1980. Unfortunately (from our perspective) it was for the job he did managing the Oakland A's.

Current Yank bench coach Don Zimmer was hired to manage the Cubbies today in 1987.

Current free agent with one foot in the Bronx Roger Clemens was suspended for the first five games of the 1991 season and fined $10,000 on 11/20/90 due to his actions in Game 4 of 1990's ALCS.

And in 2001 Ichiro became only the second player in mlb history to win the MVP in the same year that he had already won the Rookie of the Year Award, duplicating Fred Lynn's feat from 1975.

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!

[mr.roy]

I think Fred Lynn is the only person to do it.
I didn't consider Ichiro a rookie.
He had several years in Japan as a pro. And a pretty darn good one, I might add.
MLB was silly to give him rookie status. Soriano was a true rookie in every sense of the word.
Talk about a shallow, meaningless award. It's more of a joke.

I guess if Giambi goes to play in Japan, he would be able to win their Rookie of the Year Award, right?
Another joke.

[Knuckles]

Originally posted by mr.roy
I think Fred Lynn is the only person to do it.
I didn't consider Ichiro a rookie.
He had several years in Japan as a pro. And a pretty darn good one, I might add.
MLB was silly to give him rookie status. Soriano was a true rookie in every sense of the word.
Talk about a shallow, meaningless award. It's more of a joke.

I guess if Giambi goes to play in Japan, he would be able to win their Rookie of the Year Award, right?
Another joke.

On the one hand, I agree. But on the other, can I reserve final judgment until next year? If it's Matsui in 2003, and he's a Yankee, I might feel differently.

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!

[BobbyMurcerFan]

Originally posted by mr.roy
I think Fred Lynn is the only person to do it.
I didn't consider Ichiro a rookie.
He had several years in Japan as a pro. And a pretty darn good one, I might add.
MLB was silly to give him rookie status. Soriano was a true rookie in every sense of the word.
Talk about a shallow, meaningless award. It's more of a joke.

I guess if Giambi goes to play in Japan, he would be able to win their Rookie of the Year Award, right?
Another joke.

I agree with Ichiro not being a rookie. But Soriano also played pro ball in Japan, so I don't really think he was one either.