The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year Award
Professional baseball sports award
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year Award was presented annually by The Sporting News[a] to a player in Minor League Baseball deemed to have had the most outstanding season. It was awarded annually starting in 1936,[1] and was last known to have been awarded in 2007.[2]
| Sport | Baseball |
|---|---|
| League | Minor League Baseball |
| Awarded for | Player of the Year |
| Country | United States, Canada, Mexico |
| Presented by | The Sporting News[a] |
| History | |
| First award | 1936 |
| First winner | Johnny Vander Meer |
| Most wins | Gene Conley (1951, 1953) Sandy Alomar Jr. (1988, 1989) |
| Most recent | Jay Bruce (2007) |
Winners
The first winner of the award, Johnny Vander Meer, subsequently pitched in Major League Baseball (MLB) and is best known for pitching back-to-back no-hitters in 1938. Several winners of the award are inductees of the National Baseball Hall of Fame: Johnny Bench, Vladimir Guerrero, Derek Jeter, Pedro Martínez, Tim Raines, Jim Rice, and Phil Rizzuto. Two players won the award twice: Gene Conley (1951, 1953) and Sandy Alomar Jr. (1988, 1989). There was one tie, occurring in 1988 when Alomar Jr. shared the honor with Gary Sheffield.[3] Each winner of the award went on to play in MLB, with the exception of Jason Stokes, who won the award in 2002 while in Class A and later reached the Triple-A level.[4]
| ‡ | Member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame |
|---|---|
| ^ | Multiple award winners in the same season |
See also
Notes
- In 2002, The Sporting News adjusted their name to Sporting News.