Jackie Robinson was named the first winner of the Major League Baseball’s Rookie of the Year Award, or the J. Louis Comiskey Memorial Award, as it was called at that time.

A 28-year old in only his third professional season, Robinson played first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, a position he had never played before. He led the league in stolen bases and helped the club to their first pennant in six years.

Eligibility requirements were set forth in 1971 and a rookie was formally defined as a player with less than one-hundred thirty at-bats, a pitcher with less than fifty innings pitched, or anyone with less than forty-five days on any Major League roster.

The award was renamed the Jackie Robinson Award in July 1987.

Jackie Robinson game footage