Los Angeles Dodgers Have a Long List of Rookie of the Year Winners
1960 RF Frank Howard
.268/.320/.464, 23 HR, 77 RBI, 1.9 WAR
Frank Howard was a 6’7”, 255-pound athlete who was an All-American in baseball and basketball at The Ohio State University. He was good enough at basketball to be drafted by the Philadelphia Warriors of the NBA, but chose baseball over basketball and signed with the Dodgers in 1958. In two minor league seasons before joining the Dodgers for good in 1960, Howard hit a combined 80 home runs. He was named Minor League Player of the year in 1959 by The Sporting News. Howard led the Dodgers in home runs and was second on the team in RBI in his rookie year. His 23 home runs were 10 more than the player with the second-most home runs, Wally Moon.
1965 2B Jim Lefebvre
.250/.337/.369, 57 R, 12 HR, 69 RBI, 4.6 WAR
When Jim Lefebvre won the NL Rookie of the Year Award in 1965, there was another rookie second baseman who also had a good year. Consider the numbers for these two players:
157 G, 631 PA, 57 R, 12 HR, 69 RBI, 3 SB, .250/.337/.369, 4.6 WAR
157 G, 708 PA, 100 R, 14 HR, 40 RBI, 20 SB, .271/.373/.418, 5.7 WAR
That looks like a slam-dunk for the player listed second, so how did Lefebvre win the award? Perhaps it had to do with the caliber of his team. Lefebvre’s Dodgers were 97-65 and won the National League pennant. The player listed second was on the Houston Astros, who were 65-97 and finished 32 games out. His name is Joe Morgan. He turned out to be pretty, pretty, pretty good.
1969 2B Ted Sizemore
.271/.328/.342, 69 R, 4 HR, 46 RBI, 5 SB, 4.1 WAR
The Dodgers previous Rookie of the Year Award winner, Jim Lefebvre, was still with the team in 1969 when Sizemore came up. Lefebvre had been worth an average of 3.1 WAR per season in his first three years, but struggled in 1968, hitting .241/.304/.343. He continued to struggle in 1969 and was replace by Sizemore, who then went on to win the Rookie of the Year Award.
Sizemore started his rookie year at shortstop before replacing Lefebvre at second base. He was more solid than spectacular, earning value with his bat and glove. Sizemore spent two seasons with the Dodgers before being traded to the Cardinals, where he spent the bulk of his career. Sizemore’s Rookie of the Year Award was the seventh for a Dodgers player and the fourth for a Dodgers second baseman.