ESPNTheMag.Com Presents: All-World Power Rankings

What's the best rookie season in MLB history?

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Remember "The Gold Dust Twins?" Dustin Rhodes really messed all that up. Wait...

BEST MLB ROOKIE SEASON? HARD TO ARGUE WITH FREDDY LYNN.

[Ed's note: Not sure what All-World Power Rankings is? Please click here.]

Couple of things going on right now in society: Jimmy Fallon's TV show commences tonight, hence beginning his "rookie year" as a talk show host. Baseball's back, and one theme everyone's all over is the notion that rookie Matt Wieters could already be the best catcher in MLB. () The notion of Fallon's debut and the return of bats and balls got us thinking: best rookie season in baseball ever? Since this list has been made before, we'll offer a few thoughts on the side to help ya out socially.

TOP 5
RANK (YESTERDAY)		WHAT	WHY
	1 (14)	FRED LYNN	Two guys have done the whole "MVP" dance in their Rookie of the Year campaign as well: Lynn was the first, with the Sox in 1975. His line: .331, 21 HR, 105 RBI, 103 runs scored. Sidebar for ya: Lynn's in the Red Sox HOF and the College Baseball HOF. Should he be in the HOF?
	2 (410)	ICHIRO	In his first year in the bigs, he missed the single-season hit mark by 15. That's incredible. He also won MVP and ROY at the same time. Sidebar for ya: could the Mariners be considered "a sleeper" in any way, shape, or form this season?
	3 (21)	FERNANDO VALENZUELA	He won ROY and Cy Young at the same time, in '81. Dude tossed 11 complete games and 8 shutouts that season, both of which are quite impressive. Sidebar for ya: is this really the best Dodgers' rookie season ever, or is it…
	4 (127)	MIKE PIAZZA	We put this here because we thought we needed one from the run of consecutive ROY winners that LA had, and Piazza's was fairly impressive: .318, 35 HR, 112 RBI for a guy who looked like a nepotism pick at one point. In reality, though, Jackie Robinson should probably be No. 1 on this list, given what he faced when he became a major leaguer for the first time. Sidebar for ya: where do you have Piazza's post 9-11 HR on a list of "emotional baseball moments?"
	5 (899)	TED WILLIAMS	Probably should be higher. His numbers: .327, with 145 RBIs. Sidebar for ya: is it even possible to put anyone ahead of Williams on a list of "guys who deserved a ring but never won one?"

HONORABLE MENTION
RANK (YESTERDAY)		WHAT	WHY
	18 (144)	WALLY BERGER	Generally little-known player. In 1930, he bashed 38 HR to set a rookie record that Mark McGwire would eventually surpass; Frank Robinson tied Berger's NL record, but no one has yet surpassed it. Sidebar for ya: if Ryan Braun had 15 more games in his rookie campaign, would he have done it?
	28 (701)	LIVAN HERNANDEZ	Season wasn't incredible or anything, but how about his 1997 postseason, eh? That was incredible. Sidebar for ya: is that the best individual postseason pitching run of all-time?

RISING AND FALLING
MOVEMENT		WHAT
		MATT WIETERS (Biggest savior in Balto since Marvin Lewis—er, Ray Lewis.)
		MARTY CORDOVA (His rookie season was actually quite good, but we once heckled him at a game - "Saw your ROY trophy on eBay!" - and he yelled back. That's never fun.)

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