Today MLB announced the American League and National League Rookie of the Year Award winners.

 

 

 

Andrew Bailey, the Oakland Athletics’ 25 year-old right-handed reliever out of Wagner College, received AL honors while Chris Coghlan, a 24 year-old left fielder for the Marlins from Palm Harbor, Florida won the  NL award.  

 

The Rookie of the Year Award is very important, if you ask me. But I was watching ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption show this evening and they didn’t even make mention of the winners until the very end of the program.

 

In fact, it was almost as if they announced the winners in passing and the hosts of the show had never even heard of Bailey and Coghlan; they didn’t even know which teams each winner plays for!

 

 

 

I’m sorry, but that is ridiculous. Tony Kornheiser guessed that Coghlan was on the Padres while Michael Wilbon suggested Bailey was on the Royals.

 

I just find that sad; if I were one of these two young men, I would be very upset. Every young player loves watching themselves on ESPN and to think if either Bailey or Coghlan turned on Pardon the Interruption tonight….neither host even knew who they were.

 

Coghlan had a respectable season, making his MLB debut on May 8. He set a new franchise record for consecutive, multiple-hit games; Coghlan hit more than once in a game eight straight times this year.

 

 

 

At the conclusion of the season, Coghlan finished with a .321 average (which led all rookies) nine home runs and 47 RBIs.

 

That’s impressive, wouldn’t you say? I’d say that is enough to be called Rookie of the Year.

 

Bailey also posted stellar numbers this season, nailing down 26 saves for the Athletics this year. He went 6-3 with a 1.84 ERA coupled with 91 strikeouts in 81 1/3 innings pitched. He also was selected to the All-Star Game this year and got to participate with the game’s best players in St. Louis this past summer.

 

 

 

Like Coghlan, Bailey was impressive. He earned it.

 

But I just find it unfortunate that there are people who had no idea who these kids are and almost made the whole thing into a joke; I mean Kornheiser and Wilbon guessing which teams these players are on?

 

Give me a break.

 

Jackie Robinson was the first ever Rookie of the Year in 1947, as the honor was the brainchild of the Chicago chapter of the Baseball Writer’s Association. For the first two years of its existence, the award was given to one player but in 1949 one player from each league was given the title.

 

Along with Robinson, a number of other influential and famous players have been the given Rookie of the Year Award. I’m talking Cal Ripken, Jr., Eddie Murray, Carlton Fisk, Rod Carew, Luis Aparcio…

 

And even our very own Derek Jeter. (Incidentally Jeter is the last Yankee player to win the award)

 

Jeter was so humble when he won the award in 1996; I remember him saying something like, “I think I had some help with the voting.” The Yankee Captain had won the award unanimously, hitting 10 homers and averaging .314 with 78 runs and 183 hits.

 

 

 

He beat out James Baldwin of the Chicago White Sox, 104 points to 64.

 

But what if Jeter had won the award and nobody knew who he was or even what team he was on? Or TV hosts basically joked about the fact that they had no idea where he came from?

 

I just found that to be in bad taste. I normally think the banter and humor on Pardon the Interruption is funny, but tonight I was not really laughing. I was actually quite upset.

 

But it’s alright–Andrew and Chris are taking home the hardware, not ESPN. So even though they may have been slighted a little bit, they still get the last laugh.

 

Congrats to both Bailey and Coghlan. You guys have earned it. Tomorrow MLB will announce the Cy Young Award winners.

 

Will CC Sabathia be Cy Cy Sabathia?  Or Will Zack Greinke take it home to Kansas City? Tune in tomorrow. Same (baseball) bat time, same channel.