MLB Prime 9: Greatest Rookie Seasons

[Music] welcome to prime nine the countdown show that covers the very best in baseball guaranteed to start arguments not endless this week it's the nine greatest rookie seasons of all time why nine that's baseball nine players nine innings prime nine our ground rules for this episode are pretty basic you had to have played in the modern baseball era which we defined as since 1901 of course you had to have had an outstanding rookie season in the major leagues [Applause] baseball fundamentals 101 pitching got him swinging kidding though as you'll see there's one pretty obvious candidate whose rookie year transcended the game and remember even if you played pro ball in another country or league you're still considered a rookie your first year in the majors this was a really tough category the only man to ever hit 400 in his rookie season is not one of the top nine the guy who stole more than 100 bases in his first campaign is not on the list and neither is the player who set the rookie record for home runs bart mcguire with his major league rookie record 39th hobros don't believe it well that's what makes prime nine so much fun so let's get it on with the greatest rookie seasons of all time starting with number nine on prime9 now people forget about mike piazza he was an afterthought the best thing about him when he came in major league baseball was his godfather was named tommy lasorda matter of fact that's how he got on the team mike piazza the catcher from albuquerque getting his first trip to the plate the dodgers drafted him as a favor by lasorda to his friend he was a 62nd round pick thanks to an offer by the godfather the dodgers couldn't refuse i said how about if i brought a catcher in here and he hit the ball like that would you want to go see him play or would you try to sign him now oh if he was a catcher i'd try to sign him now i said then sign him he's a catcher he said he's not a catcher he's a first baseman i said he's a catcher now roads signing to look back and and realize that there haven't been too many low rounds especially past you know the 20s and 30s that have played in the major leagues and and i'm extremely proud to be one of those few guys mike quickly shed his late round label and this ball is gone becoming just the fourth national league rookie catcher to make the all-star team [Applause] and by now he was gaining a reputation as one of the game's most dangerous hitters [Music] [Applause] there's one sign that mike piazza you never want to see as a pitcher when he would swing and his head would go straight down almost as if he's looking at the barrel of the bat you knew the ball was leaving the ballpark even as a rookie he seemed to be very polished and very confident in what it was that he was trying to do just a sensational rookie year by mike piazza his numbers for a catcher were phenomenal for a rookie catcher they were off the charts all of a sudden this rookie hits 35 homers knocks in 112 runs and that's 318. not many rookies have a season in which they hit 30 homers have 100 rbis and bet over 300. not only does he hit well but hit it hit with power and he played every day played a decent catcher there goes the runner and there's a perfect throw this was a guy you could say you know he's got a potential to be the next johnny bench and he sticks around a little bit well mike did stick around long enough to have some high praise cast his way he'll be remembered as one of the greatest offensive catchers if not the greatest catcher to swing a bat ever in 1983 the mets were sick losing 26 more games than they won but then they called up a doctor and in 84 19 year old doc gooden fixed them right up one thing that kept going through your mind when you saw dwight goodness is this guy really 19 19 years old and he's throwing that hard he's got that much command and he's got that much poise it was just phenomenal [Applause] when doc was 19 it very much looked like men against boys but in this case it was a youngster who was the man and it was grizzled major league hitters who were the boys [Applause] he had that big curve ball that guys just couldn't hit curveball gets mumphrey electric fastball got a dynamite breaking ball and he got excellent control and he's just a little on the mean side which equals a great pitcher [Applause] good made history halfway through the year when he became the youngest player ever picked for the all-star team and good strike doc mowed down the stars and his star shown even brighter in new york to see a kid take them out with the level of electricity in the ballpark we all thought we were going to see a no-hitter there is no question that he would win we wanted to be there in case the incredible happened there it is well i was fortunate enough to be broadcasting the mess games when dwight gooden set the all-time strikeout record for ricky the roy goodin has set a new major league record for strikeouts by a rookie pitcher and you have just witnessed striking event number seven i'm joe dimaggio and i reported to the new york yankees in 1936 but he didn't just slip into town joe had some impressive credentials including a record 61-game hitting streak in the pacific coast league dimaggio was a rookie season in 1936 he came in with a lot of ballyhoo he had been a great player on the san francisco seals in the pacific coast league and when the yankees purchased his contract and he was going to come up to play in 1936 that fact was trumpeted joe dimaggio joined the yankees in 1936 and was an instant star so this guy was a special talent from the word go so when he broke in and did very well with the yankees it was no surprise and there it goes he was the perfect guy for the perfect time in the perfect town and though just a rookie he fully understood the task at hand everybody that came to the yankees and put on those pinstripes knew that they had to do a job that this was a very serious ball club right from the start jolt and joe personified pinstripe pride and he soon sees the spotlight from the legendary team captain the new rookie dimaggio very quickly became the face of the franchise he was recognized as the yankee star in the time of lou gehrig it was the dimaggio yankees not the blue cherry yankees he put together a debut season for the ages including a team record for home runs by a rookie he had 29 home runs 125 rbis and was off to the races that coincided with the fact that the yankees were in the first of what turned out to be four consecutive world championship teams and the yankees with the coveted title world's champion joe ushered in a new dynasty with rings his first four years as a yankee and nine world titles in just 13 seasons while he was with the yankees the yankees were the dominant franchise in baseball by almost a galactic difference which is why i think he was the perfect player in the perfect time in 2001 at the age of 27 and after winning seven straight batting titles in japan this transcendent baseball talent traveled halfway around the world to test his medal against the very best the game had to offer the major leagues well there was a lot of skepticism surrounding ichiro because there had never been a position player from japan who'd ever succeeded in us baseball we were told that he was bigger than the emperor in japan and come spring training it did seem that way as the crush of media overwhelmed the seattle camp as we get towards the end of spring training i think the real itchy rope stepped up and went into his rookie season running on all cylinders in the game's first japanese position player made an immediate impact with his amazing speed everyone learned quickly but if you didn't get ichiro with a clean hard throw no matter where it was hitting the infield he was going to be on with an infield single intimidated people on the base pass because he can steal second and third at any given time and there he goes and it pitches inside turns into second base and he's got it stolen you know he can steal bases incredible defense and he makes the chance a rocket for a throwing iron and everybody in american lincoln and baseball found out early in the season what kind of arm this guy had playing the oakland a's terence long is on at first base each goes on in right field there's a base hit the right field and icho came up with the ball terence long the rounded second ichiro threw a seed all the way to third base terence long turned around and looked to him as if who in the world threw that ball through something out of star wars he also won over the fans with the most all-star votes in 2001. and he didn't stop there [Applause] he led the league in batting average hits and stolen bases and led his team to new heights 116 wins that's the most wins in baseball history and here he is first time player and he goes out there and wins a banning title he goes out there becomes the american league brookie of the year and he goes out there wins the american league mvp award and a bad first year in the major leagues number five fred lynn entered his rookie season of 75 brimming with confidence thanks to his big league sneak preview the season before i did come up at the end of 1974 for the old proverbial cup of coffee and got my feet wet a little bit and found out that i could hit he is one of the smart gun in a long time i don't know how old he was at the time but he seemed like a 30 year old veteran sweetest swing around swung slightly up on the ball very natural for him and tremendous power for a guy that wasn't that big for boston fans lynn was a matinee idol young and talented he was perfectly cast for the role he's about six feet one handsome and hollywood looks as they say from the boston red sox outfielder fred lin he was a great player he played the outfield with gusto he saved the boston red sox pitching staff a lot of runs beyond his superb defense lin became the first rookie ever to lead his league in slugging and even got to experience a fall classic a 1975 world series featuring the boston red sox and the cincinnati reds wow that was quite a series and i was a part of it number 19 fred lynch i never saw anybody have a year like this kid from the opening day of the season to the last lin became the first man ever to win rookie of the year and league mvp owners the same year to be a broker here and mvp not too many people got that kind of numbers to do that it was the best thing that happened to us and now yeah our next rookie seemingly came out of nowhere from relative obscurity in mexico fernando valenzuela emerged as the story of the 81 season and it all began on opening day when the 20 year old took the mound as the surprise starter [Applause] [Music] i gave the assignment to fernando the young rookie and did he pitch a good game he fits the great game fernando valenzuela has opened the 1981 season with a shout out but that was just the beginning for fernando kicked off his rookie year at a frenetic pace with eight straight winners he's retired 12 men in a row he was off to a series of performances that left people wondering if he had discovered some sort of a new wonder pitch what i remember was throwing a screwball that no human being could hit here's the 2-2 pitch on the way swung on and missed strike 3. fernando had this thing where he looked up to the sky and you never really saw his eyes this combination of style and success [Applause] created a pop culture phenomenon one that went beyond l.a fernando mania wasn't hype i mean it was really a big big deal it happens in the media market with the greatest number of hispanics so the buzz in town was cross-cultural but while others elevated him to sainthood fernando remained firmly on the ground he was what he was i mean he was a big old kid and he'd do kid stuff like tap you on the shoulder and turn around and he knew it was him opposing hitters sure knew who it was every time he took them on as fernando put together one incredible season led the majors in shutouts led the majors in drawing power and to top off his rookie year he led the dodgers to the title by winning three postseason games 1981 the year of fernando valenzuela in the spring of 2001 albert pujols came into the cardinals camp as a 21 year old 13th round draft fish six weeks later he was in the lineup to stay well he had a great spring and that's why he's with the big club that ball hammered and we have a tie game first career big league home run it will not be nearly the last his lightning quick bat soon earned him a nickname they call him thunder because the way he hits the ball it just explodes like thunder you know he was hitting the balls out to right field like a left-handed hitter let's see what albert does here booholes has done it again it's a home run for albert so you just sat there in amazement night at the night what it reminded me of was george brett it seemed like he hit every ball on the notes when he swung the bat he hit the ball hard and that's what pujols reminded me of discipline and strength helped albert hit for both average and power his rookie year defying logic he seemingly never went into a slump i think like any rookie it kind of catches everybody by surprise because you think oh he's not going to keep this up it was amazing period to see him go through a campaign where nobody could figure him out [Applause] the consistency was amazing he came out and uh really showed that he was a veteran type player pools a high drive wow today pujols is the only man ever with 30 home runs and 100 rbi in his first eight seasons he's probably going to have if he stays healthy the key to any record books potentially within his grasp [Applause] we now return to prime nine focusing on the greatest rookie seasons in baseball history to qualify for this show the player had to kick off his big league career with a bang and our first seven players did just that now it's time for the very best two rookie seasons that in the long history of the game rise above the rest we begin with number two long before his name became synonymous with hitting ted williams plied his craft in his hometown of san diego it was on this field the legend was born he was constantly swinging about in the playgrounds in the ball fields wherever he was he kept swinging perfecting that talent he began to blossom in the pacific coast league where this hitting prodigy caught the eye of the boston red sox and in 1938 at the tender age of 19 he boarded a train with a future teammate on route to his first big league cap when we got down to a spring train and joe cronin's sitting on the bench right almost where you go into the clubhouse joe i says like to have you meet ted williams and joe says to ted well we're real happy to have you with the club and ted come back with a high sport i guess that got him a trip to the minor leagues pretty quick in the minors he had just destroyed the record book so he came up he was ready he knew he could do it the year was 1939 and williams was determined to dominate the american league is no rookie ever had even when he was a young man he had a great idea they throw in where i'm swinging and i'll be swinging might mean the old vlogging ted always preached you've got to see the ball see the ball otherwise you won't hit diddly-doo this gangling youngster of the boston red sox ted williams spins around like a truck to complete the follow through which leaves him wound up like a corkscrew but that's where he gets his tremendous power in his rook a year he set a freshman rbi record which still stands ted drove in 145 runs and hit 31 home runs while batting 327 and that was just phase one of his plan a lot of williams success could be attributed to a vow that he made to himself i wanted to be known as the greatest hitter that ever lived and as the first full century of baseball came to a close ted got to hear those words echo throughout the land ladies and gentlemen the greatest ted had the greatest hitting season for a rookie but another had the greatest impact thank you very much mr ricky i am certainly delighted with my contract it's hard enough to be a rookie in the major leagues jackie robinson also had the weight of an entire race on his shoulders to pick one black man out of the world to do what jackie robinson did and probably nobody could have done it but that's how tough jackie robinson was they did everything imaginable to break jackie but he would not break he was expected to exemplify first-class behavior while often being treated like a second-class citizen he oftentimes couldn't stay in the same hotel as his teammates he couldn't eat in the same restaurants as his teammates yet he was expected to walk across those lines and compete and did he ever leading the league in steels while leading the dodgers to the world series but it was his work as an agent of social change that truly stood out that was the beginning of the civil rights movement that was before brown versus the board of education that was before sister rosa parks say i'm not gonna move in the back of the bus today yeah that started the ball rolling what jackie did opened the door for others i think it was just a wonderful thing that a jacket came along then we had somebody look up to his pioneering effort while just a rookie was so profound that 50 years later he received a unique commemoration in honor of jackie major league baseball is taking the unprecedented step of retiring his uniform number number 42 from this day forward will never again be issued by a major league club jackie was the first ever rookie of the year that honor now bears his name for so many reasons he had the greatest rookie season of all time here's a black man playing major league baseball for the first time all the people that he had to contend with who did not like him yet this man got out there and played baseball at a high quality in his first year that has got to be the greatest rookie season ever and it's not even close still today jackie's legacy lives on in many ways including of course the annual jackie robinson day when players throughout the league honor him by wearing number 42. we had a jackie robinson dog beyond all the numbers it's doubtful that any player in history had a greater impact on the game than jackie that's our prime nine what's yours

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Id: T33izna9ed8

Length: 23min 31sec (1411 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 20 2021