In the National League we have pitcher John “The Count” Montefusco of the San Francisco Giants, who cruised to the rookie-award by posting a record of 15-9 with a 2.88 earned run average and a very impressive 215 strikeouts.
He also chipped in four shutouts over his 34 starts, completing 10 of them while throwing 243.2 innings, even finishing fourth in the league Cy Young race.
In the American League, of course it was all about “Mr. World” that year, rookie superstar Fred Lynn, who also took home the MVP Award, thus becoming the first player ever to pull that off.
In his monstrous rookie season, Lynn helped the Red Sox to a World Series berth by hitting .331 with 21 homers and 105 runs batted in along with a league-leading 103 runs scored and 47 doubles.
The man was a beast!
On top of all that he even took home a Gold Glove, something he’d do three more times in his 17-year career that spanned 1974 to 1990.
Of the two, Lynn definitely had the star-power throughout his career, but Montefusco also put in some time as a Major Leaguer, finishing up his Big League tenure in 1986 after a few seasons with the Yankees.
