Geovany Soto won the National League Rookie of the Year a couple of seasons back. Starlin Castro might win it this year. If so, that would make two Rookies of the Year on the Cubs’ roster.
Has such a thing ever happened before in Major League Baseball? How about in any other professional sport?
It’s happened plenty of times. Dodgers players won the award every year from 1992 through '96 (Eric Karros, Mike Piazza, Raul Mondesi, Hideo Nomo, and Todd Hollandsworth), so in '97, they had the last five Rookies of the Year on the roster. I see the Dodgers also had four winners from '79 through '82 (Rick Sutcliffe, Steve Howe, Fernando Valenzuela and Steve Sax). There have been a number of times where a team has had two winners in a row.
Lots of times. The Dodgers had 5 straight ROY winners in the 1990s.
How about an NFL or NBA team?
I think David Robinson and Tim Duncan fit.
The Minnesota Vikings currently have ROYs Adrian Peterson and Percy Harvin on the roster.
For another baseball example, the Oakland A’s had 3 straight rookies of the year (Canseco, McGwire, and Walt Weiss) in the late 80s.
And then Crosby and Street in the 2000s.
It’s probably VERY common in the NFL, because there are separate Rookie of the Year awards for offensive and defensive players.
The first two NFL offensive Rookies of the Year were Detroit Lions: Mel Farr and Earl McCulloch. And the first defensive Rookie of the Year was Lem Barney, ALSO with the Detorit Lions.
And the great Steeler dynasty had three guys who’d been Rookie of the Year: Joe Greene, Jack Lambert and Franco Harris.
The1994 Royals had Bob Hamelin (that year’s AL ROY) and Vince Coleman (1985 NL ROY) at the same time
2003-2004 Royals had both Carlos Beltran (1999 AL ROY) and Angel Berroa (2003 AL ROY).
To extend it, the 1990 Royals had Cy Young winners Bret Saberhagen and Mark Davis - both of whom won it in '89.
The 1985 - '87 Orioles had Fred Lynn (1975), Eddie Murray (1977), and Cal Ripken (1983). They also had Al Bumbry (1973) until 1984.
Here’s an interesting one: I wonder how many times the AL and NL rookies of the year from the same year ever wound up on the same team later in their careers. I did find one. David Justice was the NL Rookie of the Year in 1990 (with the Braves). He played for the Indians from 1997 to 2000, and during that time he was teammates with Sandy Alomar Jr., who the AL Rookie of the Year from 1990.
Got another: Frank Robinson and Luis Aparicio (1956 NL and AL) played together for the Baltimore Orioles in 1966 and 1967. Got one near-miss; Pat Listach (1992 AL) was a backup on the Astros for a couple years, joining Jeff Bagwell (1991 NL).
And… Kerry Wood and Ben Grieve (1998 RsOTY), for the 2004-2005 Chicago Cubs, though I’m not sure they were ever both active at the same time.
Starlin Castro won’t win it this year because he’s not a rookie.
My understanding is that he didn’t qualify last year [for reasons that elude me] and thus would be eligible this year.
Nawp. He was 5th in the voting last year. He got over 450 AB.
Here’s an interesting one. Benito Santiago (1987 ROY) played on the 1996 Phillies team along with Scott Rolen. Rolen’s season ended with him getting hit by a pitch and missing the remainder of the year. One more at-bat in 1996 and Rolen would have not been eligible for the 1997 ROY award which he won. Santiago had moved on by that point to Toronto.
Edit: Kerry Wood and Derek Jeter, two former winners, played last year for the Yankees.
Gary Matthews Sr, Bake McBride, and Pete Rose all played for the 1981 Phillies.
I could do this all day.
Rolen still would have been eligible in 1997, since eligibility disappears the next year once you hit 130 ABs before September 1. His injury was on September 7, and he had already accumulated 130 ABs (22 of which were in September).