AL rookie of the year is ... not Gordon Beckham
His peers had already spoken, naming Gordon Beckham the top American League rookie twice already this off-season.
On Monday, however, the writers from each American League city saw things much differently, naming Oakland closer Andrew Bailey the 2009 American League Rookie of the Year.
Bailey (13 first place votes), who pitched for the Kane County Cougars in 2007, beat out Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus (8) and Detroit pitcher Rick Porcello (7), while Beckham finished fifth in the voting, garnering a pair of second place votes and 4 third place votes.
The shortstop-turned-third baseman and soon to be second baseman was looking to become the first White Sox player to win the award since manager Ozzie Guillen in 1985.
The eighth pick overall in the 2008 draft, Beckham, 23, hit .270, with 14 home runs, 63 RBI and 28 doubles. He led all AL rookies in doubles, extra-base hits (43) and RBI.
Chris Coghlan, the pesky Marlins leadoff hitter, won the National League Rookie of the Year award in a close vote.
"I couldn't have written it better," Coghlan said during a conference call.
A second baseman in the minors, Coghlan made a hasty shift to left field in May and found a home atop Florida's lineup.
Coghlan edged Philadelphia pitcher J.A. Happ, receiving 17 first-place votes and 105 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Happ, the only player picked on all 32 ballots, garnered 10 first-place votes and 94 points. Coghlan dug himself out of an early slump and had a superb second half. He batted .321 with 9 homers and 31 doubles in 128 games, scoring 84 runs and driving in 47.
Called up from the minors in May, the 24-year-old Coghlan topped NL rookies in batting average, runs, hits (162), total bases (232) and on-base percentage (.390). Though he was left off seven ballots, he became the third Florida player to win the award, joining Hanley Ramirez (2006) and Dontrelle Willis (2003).
Right-handed pitcher Randy Wells of the Cubs finished sixth in the voting
• Associated Press contributed to this report