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Written by Maury Brown
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Wednesday, 05 December 2007 11:53 |
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 The Tampa Bay Rays have been named "Topps Organization of the Year" in an announcement today during the Baseball Winter Meetings in Nashville.
It is the first time the organization has won the award, which dates back to 1966.
The Topps Baseball Organization of the Year Award is presented each year to a Major League organization based on the number of players in their system who have received Topps awards during the past season. Points are awarded for four different minor league categories including All-Star players, Players of the Month, the Trautman and Taylor Spink Award recipients (the former for each league's Minor League Player of the Year and the latter for the Topps overall Minor League Player of the Year), and for Major League rookies who made the Topps Rookie All-Star team.
The Rays’ individual winners were: John Jaso (August Player of the Month / Class AA All-Star – Southern Lg.); Desmond Jennings (June POM - South Atlantic Lg.); Evan Longoria (May POM / Class AA All-Star – Southern Lg.); Maiko Loyola (Class A Rookie All Star – NY/Penn Lg.); Chris Mason (Class AA All Star – Southern Lg.); Mike McCormick (Class A Rookie All-Star – NY/Penn Lg.); Fernando Perez (Class AA All-Star – Southern Lg.); Jason Ragan (Class A Rookie All-Star – NY/Penn Lg.); Justin Ruggiano (August POM / Class AAA All-Star – International Lg.); Emeel Salem (Class A Rookie All-Star – NY/Penn Lg.); Jae Seo (July POM – International Lg.); Dale Thayer (Class AA All-Star – Southern Lg.) and Delmon Young (Rookie All-Star – MLB).
The Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers and New York Yankees have won the trophy five times while Oakland, Baltimore, Montreal and the New York Mets are threetime winners. Anaheim, Kansas City and San Diego are two-time winners.
Topps sponsors annual awards honoring major league rookies, minor league players and baseball scouts. Its extensive awards program is administered by the Topps Sports/Player Licensing Department, under the direction of Adam Zucker.
Topps is an international marketer of entertainment products, principally collectible picture cards, confections and sticker collections.
Past winners:
1966 Baltimore
1967 Los Angeles
1968 NY Yankees
1969 Philadelphia
1970 Los Angeles
1971 Baltimore
1972 Baltimore
1973 NY Yankees
1974 California
1975 San Diego
1976 California
1977 Montreal
1978 Cincinnati
1979 Chicago Cubs
1980 NY Yankees
1981 Los Angeles
1982 NY Yankees
1983 NY Mets
1984 NY Mets
1985 NY Yankees
1986 Atlanta
1987 Milwaukee
1988 San Diego
1989 Milwaukee
1990 Los Angeles
1991 Milwaukee
1992 Milwaukee
1993 Montreal
1994 Kansas City
1995 KC/NY Mets (tie)
1996 Montreal
1997 Los Angeles
1998 Oakland
1999 Oakland
2000 Minn/Seattle (tie)
2001 Houston
2002 Pittsburgh
2003 Milwaukee
2004 Oakland
2005 Arizona
2006 Cleveland
(Source: Topps)
Maury Brown is the founder and president of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football and The Biz of Basketball (The Biz of Hockey will be launching shortly). He is also an author for Baseball Prospectus, Basketball Prospectus and is an available writer for other media outlets. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network.
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