Topps Minor League Player of the Year Award

Topps Minor League Player of the Year Award

Sport	Baseball
League	Minor League Baseball
Awarded for	Player of the Year
Country	United States, Canada, Mexico
Presented by	The Topps Company Minor League Baseball
History
First award	1960
First winner	Al Cicotte
Most wins	Roger Freed (1970, 1976) Sandy Alomar Jr. (1988, 1989)
Most recent	Byron Buxton (2013)

The Topps Minor League Player of the Year Award was presented by The Topps Company in conjunction with Minor League Baseball to a minor-league player deemed to have had the most outstanding season. It was awarded annually beginning in 1960, but has not been issued since 2013. A newspaper report of the 1972 result, the first tie in the award's history, noted that winners were selected via a poll of minor league baseball writers.^[1]

It has also been known, circa 1970 onward, as the J. G. Taylor Spink Award,^[2][a] although use of that naming has been inconsistent over time. Namesake J. G. Taylor Spink was publisher of The Sporting News from 1914 until his death in 1962.

Recipients

This section lists players who have won the award, from its inception in 1960 through 2013 when it was last known to have been awarded. Blank entries indicate a winner is unknown, or the award may not have been issued.

1960–1979 1960: Al Cicotte[3] 1961: Howie Koplitz[3] 1962: Jesse Gonder[3] 1963: Billy Cowan[3] 1964: Luis Tiant[3] 1965: Dave Roberts[3] 1966: Mike Epstein[3] 1967: Félix Millán[3] 1968: Tony Solaita[3] 1969: Danny Walton[3] 1970: Roger Freed[3][4] 1971: Bobby Grich[3][5] 1972: Tom Paciorek[6] & Mike Reinbach[1] 1973: Tom Robson[7] 1974: Jim Rice[8] 1975: Héctor Cruz[9] 1976: Roger Freed[4] 1977: Ken Landreaux[10] 1978: Champ Summers[11] 1979: Dave Stockstill[12][13]

1980–1999 1980: Randy Bass[14] 1981: Mike Marshall[15] 1982: Ron Kittle[16][17] 1983: Kevin McReynolds[15] 1984: Alan Knicely[18] 1985: 1986: 1987: 1988: Sandy Alomar Jr.[19][20] 1989: Sandy Alomar Jr.[20] 1990: 1991: 1992: Tim Salmon[21] 1993: Cliff Floyd[22] 1994: Derek Jeter[23] 1995: Johnny Damon[23] 1996: Andruw Jones[23] 1997: Paul Konerko[23] 1998: Eric Chavez[24] 1999: Adam Piatt[24]

2000–2013 2000: Jason Hart[24] 2001: Josh Beckett[23] 2002: Jason Stokes[25] 2003: Jeremy Reed[26] 2004: Dallas McPherson[27] 2005: Delmon Young[28] 2006: Alex Gordon[29] 2007: Steve Pearce[30] 2008: Mat Gamel[31] 2009: Buster Posey[31][23] 2010: Mike Trout[32] 2011: Matt Moore[33] 2012: Wil Myers[29] 2013: Byron Buxton[33]

1962 recipient Jesse Gonder 2011 recipient Matt Moore

See also

• Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year Award
• The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year Award
• USA Today Minor League Player of the Year Award

Notes

1. This award should not be confused with the BBWAA Career Excellence Award presented annually by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, which was known for over 50 years as the J. G. Taylor Spink Award.

References

1. Matthews, Bob (November 25, 1972). "Reinbach Shared Honor As Top Minor Leaguer". Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester, New York. p. 1D. Retrieved December 14, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
2. "Awards By Topps To Continue". The Berkshire Eagle. Pittsfield, Massachusetts. April 14, 1970. p. 17. Retrieved December 13, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
3. "Scout's Honor". thetoppsarchives.com. March 25, 2014. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
4. "Freed wins minor league award again". The Courier. Waterloo, Iowa. AP. November 16, 1976. p. 23. Retrieved December 14, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
5. "Shortstop Bob Grich Topps Trophy Winner". Green Bay Press-Gazette. AP. November 30, 1971. p. B-11. Retrieved December 14, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
6. "Tom Paciorek Is MVP". The Valley News. Van Nuys, California. November 28, 1972. p. 1B. Retrieved December 14, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
7. "Texas Hand Is Honored". Spokane Daily Chronicle. November 23, 1973. p. 19. Retrieved December 14, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
8. "Sports Roundup". The Tampa Tribune. November 29, 1974. p. 3C. Retrieved December 14, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
9. "Cruz top player". Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester, New York. November 26, 1975. p. 1D. Retrieved December 14, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
10. "Short Cuts". The Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. December 1, 1977. p. 6. Retrieved December 14, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
11. "Champ's Champ". Indianapolis News. November 30, 1978. p. 33. Retrieved December 14, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
12. "Stockstill, Johnson are Minor League 'A' all-stars". Wausau Daily Herald. Wausau, Wisconsin. November 9, 1979. p. 8. Retrieved December 14, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
13. "Dave Stockstill Minor & Mexican Leagues Statistics & History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
14. "(untitled)". The Daily News. Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. UPI. December 6, 1980. p. 10. Retrieved December 14, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
15. "Sports briefs: Baseball". The Daily Dispatch. Moline, Illinois. November 29, 1983. p. 18. Retrieved December 14, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
16. Cowley, Norm (November 26, 1982). "Kittle Topps in the minors". Edmonton Journal. p. F2. Retrieved December 14, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
17. "Edmonton Slugger Top Minor Leaguer". The Republic. Columbus, Indiana. UPI. November 29, 1982. p. 14. Retrieved December 14, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
18. Selman, Jim (April 4, 1985). "Gulden, Knicely cut as Reds trim roster". The Tampa Tribune. p. 5C. Retrieved December 14, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
19. Plaschke, Bill (December 10, 1988). "Padres". Los Angeles Times. p. III-21. Retrieved December 14, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
20. "Briefly: Baseball". The Indianapolis Star. December 7, 1989. p. D3. Retrieved December 14, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
21. Brownlee, Robin (December 3, 1992). "Marlins ink vet Polidor". Edmonton Journal. p. C2. Retrieved December 14, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
22. MacDonald, Ian (December 15, 1993). "Ready to see more action this season". Montreal Gazette. p. F5. Retrieved December 14, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
23. "Posey Named Minor League Player Of The Year". MiLB.com. October 28, 2009. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
24. "Hart named best in minor leagues". Springfield News-Leader. Springfield, Missouri. December 6, 2000. p. 1C. Retrieved December 13, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
25. "Marlins Notebook". Miami Herald. November 10, 2002. p. 5D. Retrieved December 13, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
26. "Barons' Reed earns 'Topp' honor". bizjournals.com. October 27, 2003. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
27. "Former Kernel player named top minor-leaguer". The Gazette. Cedar Rapids, Iowa. October 28, 2004. p. 2C. Retrieved December 13, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
28. "Baseball". Tampa Bay Times. October 26, 2005. p. 3C. Retrieved December 13, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
29. mlblogsroyals1 (October 23, 2012). "Wil Myers wins Spink Award as Topps/Minor League Player of the Year". mlblogs.com. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
30. "Steve Pearce Named Topps/Minor League Player of the Year". oursportscentral.com. October 23, 2007. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
31. Wild, Danny (October 28, 2009). "Giants' Posey wins '09 Spink Award: Catcher skipped Double-A, dominated at San Jose, Fresno". Minor League Baseball. Archived from the original on August 14, 2010. Retrieved June 9, 2010 – via Wayback Machine.
32. "Trout named 2010 Spink Award winner". MiLB.com. October 27, 2010. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
33. "Buxton wins Spink Award as top player". MiLB.com. October 22, 2013. Retrieved December 13, 2020.