Third baseman receives another honor for outstanding campaign
By Bill Chastain / MLB.com
Longoria already won the American League Rookie of the Year Award and finished 11th in the AL Most Valuable Player Award voting.
The Topps Major League Rookie All-Star Team began in 1959, with Willie McCovey being the first of 15 future Hall of Famers named to the squad (others are Johnny Bench, Rod Carew, Gary Carter, Carlton Fisk, Paul Molitor, Joe Morgan, Eddie Murray, Tony Perez, Kirby Puckett, Cal Ripken, Ryne Sandberg, Tom Seaver, Ozzie Smith and Billy Williams). The Rookie All-Stars will each have a trophy on their 2009 trading card in Topps Baseball, with Series One due out in early February.
Joining Longoria on this year's squad are: Joey Votto, Reds, first base; Alexei Ramirez, White Sox, second base; Mike Aviles, Royals, shortstop; outfielders Jay Bruce, Reds; Denard Span, Twins; and David Murphy, Rangers; Geovany Soto, Cubs, catcher; Brad Ziegler, A's, right-handed pitcher; and John Lannan, Nationals, left-handed pitcher.
The Major League Rookie All-Star Team is one of a number of awards programs managed by Topps to reward and encourage young ballplayers. Since 1959, Topps has annually bestowed honors on Minor Leaguers, baseball scouts and the Baseball Organization of the Year.
Longoria, 23, began the season at Triple-A Durham, but quickly found his way to the Major Leagues when the Rays selected him on April 12 and he joined the team in their 11th game. He played in the next 104 Rays games that followed (103 of those were starts), hitting mostly fifth and cleanup, until he suffered a fractured right wrist when hit by a pitch from Mariners closer J.J. Putz on Aug. 10 in Seattle. He did not return to the lineup until Sept. 13.
Despite missing 30 games due to the fractured wrist, Longoria led all Major League rookies with 27 home runs and a .531 slugging percentage. In addition, he led AL rookies with 85 RBIs, 60 extra-base hits and 238 total bases.
Among the highlights from Longoria's season were two game-winning home runs, the first coming May 9 against the Angels when he hit a walk-off two-run shot off Justin Speier to win it 2-0 and make a winner of James Shields, who threw a one-hitter. The other one came at Oakland when he hit a two-run homer off Chad Gaudin in the 13th inning to give the Rays a 7-5 lead, which they would hang onto for a 7-6 win.
On Sept. 18, Longoria hit three home runs in one game against the Twins, making him the second player in Rays history to accomplish the feat (Jonny Gomes hit three on July 30, 2005). By doing so, Longoria became the first rookie third baseman to hit three in one game since the Braves' Eddie Mathews in 1952.
Longoria played excellent defense throughout the season and finished the season with a .963 fielding percentage, which ranked him sixth among AL third basemen. And he played his first professional game at shortstop on June 29 against the Cubs.
The Topps Company was founded in 1938 as Topps Chewing Gum, and in 1950, added trading cards to its product line; baseball cards appeared in 1951.
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