Baseball Digest's 2004 all-star: rookie team: top first-year players in the majors last season include Jason Bay of the Pirates and Bobby Crosby of the Athletics

Baseball Digest, Jan-Feb, 2005 by George Vass

MOST KNOWLEDGEABLE BASEball fans are aware that no Pittsburgh Pirates newcomer had been anointed National League Rookie of the Year since the award began almost six decades ago until outfielder Jayson Bay won the honor in 2004.

That was puzzling, as well as a trivia highlight, considering that many outstanding young players have flaunted Pirates uniforms since 1947, when the Baseball Writers Association of America gave its initial prize to Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers. (There was a single choice from among rookies in both leagues for the first two years of the award.)

It's possible the inception of the honor came a year too late for the Pirates. There's a good chance that if it had started in 1946, Pittsburgh out-fielder Ralph Kiner would have been the choice. Rookie Kiner led the N.L. in home runs with 23 that year to begin a slugging career that culminated in election to the Hall of Fame.

There have been many fine Pirates rookies since Kiner's time, among them Bill Mazeroski, Dick Groat, Roberto Clemente, Vernon Law, Willie Stargell, John Candelaria, Dave Parker, Rennie Stennett, Al Oliver, Barry Bonds, and Aramis Ramirez.

They all went on to exceptional careers, some gaining major honors such as being named N.L. Most Valuable Player. The Pirates MVPs have been Groat, Clemente, Parker, Stargell and Bonds, (who won his first two in 1990 and 1991 at Pittsburgh, then added four more at San Francisco through 2003). Law was the N.L.'s Cy Young Award winner in 1960.

Mazeroski, Clemente and Stargell, along with Kiner, are commemorated with bronze plaques at Cooperstown despite having been bypassed in the voting for top rookie in their debut years. Being snubbed as a rookie obviously is no barrier to going on to an immensely successful career.

Bay put in his claim for 2004 top rookie honors in the National League. by setting a record of most home runs for a Pittsburgh first-year player when he hit 26.

Bay topped the team mark of 23 shared by Johnny Rizzo (1938) and Kiner.

Though Bay missed a month of the season with a right shoulder injury, he led all N.L. rookies in home runs, RBI, slugging and on-base percentage while batting .282.

Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon hinted that it would have been an injustice if Bay didn't win N.L. rookie of the year honors. In doing so, Bay became the first Pirate and Canadian born player to win the Award. Not even fellow Canadian Larry Walker, a three-time batting champion and the N.L. MVP in 1997, won the rookie award.

"With the number of at-bats he had and the numbers he put up, he deserved it," McClendon said of Bay, his left fielder.

Maybe so, blat there was no shortage of competition that Bay had to overcome. Outstanding rookies were bountiful in both leagues in 2004.

Bay's most formidable challenge came from Padres shortstop Khalil Greene, who finished second in N.L. Rookie of the Year voting. Some enthusiasts have compared Greene's fielding skill to that of Edgar Renteria of the Cardinals and Omar Vizquel of the Indians, and even such past greats as Ozzie Smith and Luis Aparicio.

Greene, 25, the Padres' first-round pick in the 2002 draft, came along fast, playing in only 191 minor league games before winning the major league job last spring. His fielding improved steadily as the season progressed, even if his hitting leveled off after a fine start in which he batted .304 in April. He finished at .273, with 15 home runs and 65 RBI, though an injury sidelined him the final two weeks of the season.

"Khalil is even better than we thought he was defensively," said Padres scouting director Bill Gayton. "There are plenty of clubs who didn't feel as though he's a big league short-stop, and we thought he was.

"I said earlier this (2004) season that there were plays he wasn't making that he's capable of making. Now you're seeing him make those plays. That's what I was talking about. It's exciting."

Greene's second-place finish for the rookie prize also put to rest another tidbit of trivia, which possibly has escaped all but the most learned of fans. While shortstops often have been the rookies of the year--most recent before 2004 was Angel Berroa of the Kansas City Royals in 2003--they've never captured both the A.L. and N.L. honors in the same campaign.

The American League 2004 Rookie of the Year Award winner was Bobby Crosby of the Oakland A's. He not only survived the formidable challenge of replacing departed free-agent superstar Miguel Tejada at shortstop, but in doing so joined Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, Wayne Gross and Mitchell Page on the list of Oakland rookies who've hit at least 20 home runs.

Though Crosby, 24, batted a modest .239, he hit 22 home runs and drove in 64 runs while playing a solid game in the field to help the A's mount a strong, if eventually failed, bid for the A.L. West Division title.

As a media observer noted: "OK, so he (Crosby) won't make anyone forget about Miguel Tejada (who led the A.L. in RBI with 150 for the Baltimore Orioles in 2004 and was the A.L. MVP with the A's in 2002). No matter. He lived up to all expectations, stepping up on a division-contending team."