For some of us, our favorite Cubs player to earn Rookie of the Year will always be Henry Rowengartner, but the Cubs' dreamy-eyed young third baseman and outfielder, Kris Bryant, earned the real thing today by vote of his National League peers in Sporting News's annual poll.
Bryant ran away with the award, scoring 127 votes out of 167 total. He had an incredible year at bat, with 26 home runs and 99 RBIs (the latter a Cubs franchise record for a rookie)—and remember, the team waited nearly two weeks past opening day to call him up. Maybe this recognition will help Chicagoans learn to recognize his face.
Sporting News announces its AL and NL Managers of the Year tomorrow, and first-year Cubs skipper Joe Maddon should be in the running. All the more reason we really can't wait till next year.