American Legion Baseball alumni sweep MLB Manager of the Year awards

For the third straight season, both of Major League Baseball’s Manager of the Year winners were former American Legion Baseball players.

Miami’s Don Mattingly (Post 8/Evansville, Ind.) became the fifth man to win both an MVP award and Manager of the Year Award. He led the Marlins to their first playoff appearance in 17 seasons despite playing 49 games in 47 days because of a COVID-19 outbreak in the first week of the season. That outbreak forced a major roster overhaul, but the Marlins still managed to snap a streak of 10 straight losing seasons, earning Mattingly the National League Manager of the Year Award.

After leading Tampa Bay to the American League’s best record and reaching the World Series, the Rays’ Kevin Cash (Post 111/Tampa, Fla.) won the AL Manager of the Year Award. At one point, the Rays’ injured list included 10 members of the projected opening day pitching staff, but Tampa Bay still posted the third-lowest team ERA in MLB, 3.56.

Both managers previously discussed their American Legion Baseball experience. You can hear from Mattingly by clicking here and from Cash by clicking here.

In 2019, Minnesota’s Rocco Baldelli (Rhode Island) and St. Louis’ Mike Shildt (Post 262/Charlotte, N.C.) won Manager of the Year Awards, and in 2018, Oakland’s Bob Melvin (Post 375/Palo Alto, Calif.) and Atlanta’s Brian Snitker (Post 105/Decatur, Ill.) were honorees.

In other MLB awards announced this week, Philadelphia third baseman Alec Bohm (Post 1 Swain Construction/Omaha, Neb.) tied San Diego shortstop Jake Cronenworth for second in the NL Rookie of the Year voting behind Milwaukee reliever Devin Williams.

The Mets’ Jacob deGrom (Post 6/Deland, Fla.) fell short in his bid for a third straight NL Cy Young Award, finishing third behind the Reds’ Trevor Bauer and the Cubs’ Yu Darvish.

DeGrom was 4-2 with a 2.38 ERA and an NL-leading 104 strikeouts this season. He was vying to become just the third pitcher to win at least three Cy Youngs in a row. Fellow ALB alum Greg Maddux (Post 8/Las Vegas, Nev.) won four straight, with the Cubs in 1992 and the Braves from 1993-95. Randy Johnson matched that with four straight Cy Young Awards with Arizona from 1999-2002.