Bay Named NL Rookie Of Year
11/8/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Nov. 8, 2004
By RONALD BLUM
AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - Oakland Athletics shortstop Bobby Crosby was just a vote shy of being a unanimous pick for AL Rookie of the Year, and Pittsburgh Pirates and former Gonzaga University outfielder Jason Bay won the NL award Monday.
Crosby received 27 of 28 first-place votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America for 138 points. Chicago White Sox closer Shingo Takatsu received the other first-place vote and finished second with 44 points, followed by Baltimore pitcher Daniel Cabrera with 29 points.
Bay, the first Pittsburgh player and first native Canadian to win the NL award, got 25 of 32 first-place votes and 146 points. San Diego shortstop Khalil Greene received seven first-place votes, 24 seconds and one third for 108 points, and Padres reliever Akinori Otsuka was next with 23 points.
Bay hit .282 with 26 homers and 82 RBIs. The 26-year-old from Trail, British Columbia, had the most homers by an NL rookie since Albert Pujols hit 37 three years ago. Bay started the season on the disabled list while recovering from surgery on his right shoulder and didn't play his first major league game of the season until May 7.
Bay was an All-West Coast Conference first-team pick in his senior season of 2000, and capped his senior season with 80 hits, 15 home runs, 60 runs scored and a .388 average to rank in the top 10 on the Gonzaga single-season charts in those four categories.Pittsburgh had been the only pre-expansion team without a rookie of the year, with four players finishing second: first baseman Donn Clendenon (1962), second baseman Johnny Ray (1982), pitcher Mike Dunne (1987) and outfielder-first baseman Orlando Merced (1991).
Crosby, 24, took over Oakland's shortstop job from 2002 AL MVP Miguel Tejada, who signed with Baltimore. Crosby hit .239 with 22 homers and 64 RBIs, his average the lowest for a non-pitcher given the award.
He led AL rookies in hits (130), doubles (34) and walks (58), and was third among all AL players with 4.17 pitches per plate appearance. However, his 141 strikeouts were the most for Oakland since Jose Canseco's 152 in 1991.
Crosby became the sixth A's player to earn the honor, following Harry Byrd (1952), Canseco (1986), Mark McGwire (1987), Walt Weiss (1988) and Ben Grieve (1998).
