THE SERVICE TIME CONUNDRUM

MLB’s byzantine service time rules cloud rookie status and now PPI eligibility

- J.J. COOPER

What makes a rookie a rookie? The word itself is younger than baseball. The Oxford English Dictionary’s first reference to a rookie comes from 1868. It appears to have jumped from describing young police recruits and soldiers to being a moniker for baseball neophytes at some point in the early 1900s.

You probably know that Jackie Robinson was MLB’s first official Rookie of the Year in 1947. The award now bears his name. But did you know that at that time, rookie qualification was determined solely by ROY voters?

In the segregation-era 1940s, there was no chance that any voter was going to view Robinson’s time in the Negro American League with the Kansas City Monarchs as enough to disqualify him from rookie status.

But if a voter in 1947 had tried to make that claim and disqualify Robinson’s rookie status, no one could have pointed to a rule one way or another.

In 1950, Cleveland’s Al Rosen led the American League with 37 home runs. He earned MVP votes, but he didn’t get any Rookie of the Year votes. Voters decided his 58 at-bats over the previous three seasons were disqualifying. Red Sox first baseman Walt Dropo’s 44 at-bats the previous year weren’t viewed as a problem. Dropo was ROY.

As a bonus baby, Al Kaline spent the second half of the 1953 season on the Tigers’ roster but then finished third in 1954 ROY voting.

A few years later, Kaline wouldn’t have been eligible. In 1957, rookie qualifications were finally defined. Players could have no more than 75 at-bats, 45 innings or have been on an MLB roster between May 15 and Sept. 1 of any previous season. That rule seemed too restrictive, so it was rapidly changed to 90 at-bats, 45 innings or 45 days on an MLB roster before Sept. 1.

In 1971 it was changed again, to 130 at-bats, 50 innings or 45 days on the roster before Sept. 1. Even with clearly defined rules, there have still been issues.