Rookie of the Year: Stan Bahnsen, 1968

Pitcher, New York Yankees

Age:  23

Bats – Right, Throws – Right

Height: 6’2”    Weight: 185

Prior to 1968:

Bahnsen, from Council Bluffs, Iowa, starred in baseball and basketball at that city’s Abraham Lincoln High School and spent a year playing baseball at the Univ. of Nebraska, where he earned All-Big 8 honors and was nicknamed “The Bahnsen Burner”. Chosen by the Yankees in the fourth round of the 1965 amateur draft, he was 2-2 with a 2.72 ERA for Columbus of the Class AA Southern League and 6-3 with a 2.06 ERA in the Florida Instructional League  in ’65 and moved up to the Toledo Mud Hens of the Class AAA International League in 1966 where he put together a 10-7 tally that included a no-hitter, with 151 strikeouts in 170 innings and a 2.91 ERA and earned a late-season call-up to the Yankees. In four appearances, the hard-throwing Bahnsen compiled a 1-1 record with 16 strikeouts in 23 innings. Following a mediocre spring in 1967 he was sent back to the International League with the Syracuse Chiefs and produced a 9-11 record with a 3.52 ERA. He was able to earn a spot in the Yankee rotation for 1968.

1968 Season Summary

Appeared in 37 games

[Bracketed numbers indicate AL rank in Top 20]

Pitching

Games – 37

Games Started – 34 [10, tied with Jim Merritt, Chuck Dobson & Jim Hunter]

Complete Games – 10 [14, tied with Earl Wilson & Dick Ellsworth]

Wins – 17 [6, tied with Mickey Lolich]

Losses – 12 [19, tied with six others]

PCT - .586 [10]

Saves – 0

Shutouts – 1

Innings Pitched – 267.1 [6]

Hits – 216 [4]

Runs – 72

Earned Runs – 61

Home Runs – 14

Bases on Balls – 68 [15, tied with George Brunet & Gary Bell]

Strikeouts – 162 [14]

ERA – 2.05 [6]

Hit Batters – 2

Balks – 1 [7, tied with many others]

Wild Pitches – 4

Midseason Snapshot: 7-5, ERA - 2.09, SO – 72 in 120.1 IP

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Most strikeouts, game – 12 (in 9 IP) at Boston 8/1

10+ strikeout games – 1

Fewest hits allowed, game (min. 7 IP) – 2 (in 7 IP) at Minnesota 8/19

Batting

PA – 98, AB – 81, R – 4, H – 4, 2B – 0, 3B – 0, HR – 0, RBI – 3, BB – 6, SO – 49, SB – 0, CS – 0, AVG - .049, GDP – 0, HBP – 0, SH – 10, SF – 1

Fielding

Chances – 50

Put Outs – 15

Assists – 32

Errors – 3

DP – 1

Pct. - .940

Awards & Honors:

AL Rookie of the Year: BBWAA

AL ROY Voting:

Stan Bahnsen, NYY: 17 of 20 votes, 85% share

Del Unser, Wash.: 3 votes, 15% share

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Yankees went 83-79 to finish fifth in the AL, 20 games behind the pennant-winning Detroit Tigers.

Aftermath of ‘68:

Bahnsen struggled in 1969 while adjusting to the lower pitcher’s mound, and his record dropped to 9-16 with a 3.83 ERA and 130 strikeouts in 220.2 innings. He bounced back with 14-win seasons in 1970 and ’71 and was traded to the Chicago White Sox in 1972 where he was part of a rotation anchored by durable left-handed knuckleballer Wilbur Wood. Bahnsen was 21-16 with a 3.60 ERA for the ’72 White Sox, who were in contention for most of the season, and followed up with an 18-21 record in 1973 in which he pitched a career-high of 282.1 innings. He spent one more year in Chicago before being dealt to Oakland during the 1975 season. He went a combined 10-13 with a 4.36 ERA. The A’s began using Bahnsen as a spot starter and long reliever in 1976 and he compiled an 8-7 record with a 3.34 ERA. He was traded to Montreal in May of 1977 where he became a starting pitcher again and was 8-9 with a 4.81 ERA. It was back to the bullpen in 1978 where he was utilized as both a closer and middle reliever. The result was a 1-5 record with 7 saves and a 3.84 ERA. He became a set-up man in combination with LHP Woodie Fryman in 1979 and remained in that role until released by the Expos after the 1981 season. He spent time with the Angels and Phillies in 1982 and was with Class AAA Oklahoma City in ’82 and Portland in 1983.  Overall in the major leagues, Bahnsen compiled a 146-149 record and struck out 1359 batters over the course of 2529 innings pitched with an ERA of 3.60. His record with the Yankees alone was 55-52 with 534 strikeouts and a 3.10 ERA. Bahnsen went on to play in the Florida Senior League in 1989 and with a team in Haarlem in the Netherlands where he was a player/coach at age 48.

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Rookie of the Year Profiles feature players who were recipients of the Rookie of the Year Award by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (1947 to present). The award was presented to a single major league winner from its inception through 1948 and from 1949 on to one recipient from each major league.