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White Sox History: Past Rookie of the Year winners

By Kristen Bentley

4 Jul 1995: Shortstop Ozzie Guillen of the Chicago White Sox swings at the ball during a game against the New York Yankees at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois. The Yankees won the game 4-1.
4 Jul 1995: Shortstop Ozzie Guillen of the Chicago White Sox swings at the ball during a game against the New York Yankees at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois. The Yankees won the game 4-1. /
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CHICAGO – OCTOBER 28: Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen waves to fans from a double-decker bus during a ticker-tape parade for the White Sox baseball team October 28, 2005 in downtown Chicago, Illinois. The Chicago White Sox won their first World Series in 88 years after beating the Houston Astros in a four-game sweep. (Photo by Tim Boyle/Getty Images) /

The MLB 2018 Rookie of the Year Awards were announced on Monday and unfortunately, White Sox rookie Daniel Palka did not win.

While the White Sox outfielder and power hitter qualified for the award, he didn’t finish in the top. Instead, the award went to Shohei Ohtani and Ronald Acuna, Jr. instead. And, their wins were not without controversy.

Instead of revisiting the controversy of the 2018 selections, let’s take a good look at the Rookie of the Year winners who were White Sox players. Six men have won the award while wearing the black and white pinstripes, and they were all very deserving of the award.

The six awards ties the storied Chicago franchise with two others in the AL: the Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox. Only the Oakland A’s with seven winners and the New York Yankees with 9 winners have more ROY winners.

Following the White Sox are the teams with five winners, the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins. The Kansas City Royals and Cleveland Indians both have four winners. The Seattle Mariners and Tampa Bay Rays each have three. The Los Angeles Angels, Toronto Blue Jays, and Texas Rangers all have two ROY winners. At the bottom is the Houston Astros with one ROY. This leaves four winners who were on teams that are no longer a part of the AL – the Philadelphia Athletics, St. Louis Browns, Boston Braves, and Brooklyn Dodgers.

When the award was first given, only one player received it for the first two years. Jackie Robinson won the first award in 1947 when he played for Brooklyn. Alvin Dark won it in 1948; he was a right-handed shortstop for the Boston Braves.

Robinson set the stage for the Rookie of the Year award as Dodgers rookies have won the award 17 times. This is the most winners in one team in the MLB. The Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves have the second and third most winners in the NL.

As a fun little trivia tidbit, the ROY award was originally named for J. Louis Comiskey who owned the White Sox.

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