SJL:
It was a battle between teammates as two rookie Pittsburgh outfielders had tremendous debuts in 1977. In the end Larry Leshane took the honor for best rookie player in the SJL, though many insiders believe that teammate Matt Van der Heyden will eventually outshine him.
A pair of starting pitchers who surprised this season- Milwaukee's Mike Coon and Houston's Sandy Morales- rounded out the voting.
MGL:
Detroit's Ren-qing Leong was already a distinguished professional baseball player in his native Taiwan when he signed on top play in the WPK last off-season, and he didn't seem to have any troubles transitioning to the North American version of the game.
A pair of speedy outfielders- John Hemman, also of Detroit, and
Val Guzman of Denver- also got first place votes.