Today in Baseball History – November 25

As I try to revive and think about a new direction for this awful – yeah, I admit it’s awful – baseball blog, I’m going to try a new daily category: Today in Baseball History. It’s pretty straightforward. I pick an event or two that happened on each day’s date in baseball history and write a brief post about it.

Later, if I don’t get bored with this topic, I hope to conduct more research and write more in depth – but not too much – about the event.

Forty-four years ago on this day, Nov. 25, 1970, Yankees catcher Thurman Munson was named American League Rookie of the Year. The backstop finished the season with a .320/.386/.415 slash line, hit 25 doubles and belted six home runs.

Munson’s selection for the award was a near unanimous decision for the Baseball Writers Association. He collected 23 of the 24 first-place votes. Indians outfield Roy Foster got the other top vote.

Defensively, Munson threw out 52 percent of runners who tried to steal against him. The following year, he led the league in that category with 61 percent.