Table for Two: Fred Lynn and Ichiro Suzuki

Mr. Lynn and Mr. Suzuki, your table for two is ready. What could this middle-aged baseball writer be referencing? In Major League Baseball history, only two players have won the Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player in the same season. Those two men are Fred Lynn in 1975 and Ichiro Suzuki in 2001.

The MLB first started naming an American League and National League MVP back in 1911. The exceptions are 1915-1921 (no MVPs named) and 1922-1923 (only one named for both leagues). This is probably the most prestigious individual award to receive in baseball. A bit further down that list is the ROY award. The first one was given in 1947 to none other than civil rights pioneer Jackie Robinson, and it now bears his name. Several Major Leaguers have won both of these honors in their career, but only two players have done it in the same season. Fred Lynn and Ichiro Suzuki, here is your table for two.

First to the Table

Lynn was originally drafted by the New York Yankees in 1970 before heading to the University of Southern California for three years. Then, in 1973, he was drafted by the rival Boston Red Sox. This lefty center fielder came up at the end of the ‘74 season but retained his rookie status for 1975. For all in New England, that became a special year for their Sox.

Lynn was the starter in center on opening day for the eventual pennant winners. His traditional power numbers were decent: 21 home runs and 105 RBIs. However, his other stats were much gaudier and justify his dual-award seasons. He had a 7.4 WAR, which was only behind one other position player in the American League. Then he posted a .331 batting average, good for fourth in the AL. Besides that, he led the Junior Circuit in runs (103), doubles (47), a .566 slugging %, and a .967 OPS. You can tack on a Gold Glove for traversing the uniquely dimensioned Fenway outfield.

This Californian did this all for a team that won the AL East by 4.5 games before vanquishing the Oakland Athletics dynasty in the ALCS. We all know about that epic 1975 Fall Classic, so we won’t relive that for the fans in Beantown. The AL MVP vote really wasn’t that close, and the AL ROY race was a landslide. This banner year made Lynn the first player ever to capture the MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same season.

A Second Reservation

Suzuki’s dynamic 2001 season was the much-anticipated MLB debut of an already established Japanese star. He led the AL in hits (242), batting average (.350), stolen bases (56), and at-bats (692). Like the only other diner at this table, Suzuki also won a Gold Glove. Who could ever forget that laser-beam throw at Oakland early in that year? On top of that, his Seattle Mariners tied a league record with 116 victories. His immediate impact showed that Japan’s best position players could excel in MLB. Up until that point, it was mainly Japanese pitchers who came to America.

Now … the argument of whether Ichiro should have qualified as a genuine rookie is a whole other article, but he easily won the ROY over CC Sabathia. He won the AL MVP by a much closer margin over Jason Giambi. This made the lefty bat wizard only the second and most recent player to win the MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same season.

This magical season marked the first of 10 consecutive 200-hit/.300-average years for this contact specialist. In 2004, he set the single-season record for hits (262). After a brilliant 19-season career, Suzuki became the first Japanese-born player to be elected to the Hall of Fame in 2025.

Will We Get a Third?

This is very hard to prognosticate because you never know how a rookie is going to perform. Plus, for a rookie to perform at an MVP-level is extremely rare. Some recent stars that came close were Albert Pujols in 2001, Mike Trout in 2012, Aaron Judge in 2017, and Pete Alonso in 2019. Actually, last season Nick Kurtz gave it a decent run with an AL ROY and a 12th-place AL MVP finish. My guess is it will happen again because some of the college players entering MLB are uber-talented and have tons of premium experience at a young age. Until then, the table for two MVP/ROY winners in the same season is lonely with just Lynn and Suzuki.