Todd Worrell, the St. Louis Cardinals reliever,...

Todd Worrell, the St. Louis Cardinals reliever, was named National League rookie of the year, falling one vote short of being a unanimous selection in balloting by the Baseball Writers Assn. of America.

Worrell, a 27-year-old right-hander out of Biola College, got 23 of 24 first-place votes. Second baseman Rob Thompson of the San Francisco Giants was runner-up in the voting.

After being called up for the final 17 games and playing a significant role in the Cardinals’ march to the 1985 pennant, Worrell was with the team from the beginning in 1986 and had a league-leading 36 saves and a 2.08 earned-run average.