| Al Rosen | |
|---|---|
 Al Rosen, circa 1953 | |
| Third baseman | |
| Born:(1924-02-29)February 29, 1924 Spartanburg, South Carolina, U.S. | |
| Died: March 13, 2015(2015-03-13) (aged 91) Rancho Mirage, California, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| September 10, 1947, for the Cleveland Indians | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| September 30, 1956, for the Cleveland Indians | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .285 |
| Home runs | 192 |
| Runs batted in | 717 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Albert Leonard Rosen (February 29, 1924 – March 13, 2015), nicknamed "Flip" and "the Hebrew Hammer", was an American professionalbaseball player andexecutive. He played his entire career inMajor League Baseball (MLB) as athird baseman for theCleveland Indians from 1947 to 1956.
After serving for four years in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Rosen returned to become a stand-out for the Indians on both offense and defense. A four-timeAll-Star, he was the first rookie to lead theAmerican League in home runs, going on to drive in 100 or more runs for five consecutive years and twice led the league inhome runs and twice inruns batted in (RBIs). Rosen was a member of the1948 World Series winning team, and won the 1953 ALMost Valuable Player Award.
Following two decades as a stockbroker after retirement from baseball, Rosen returned to the game as a top front office executive in the late 1970s, serving theNew York Yankees,Houston Astros andSan Francisco Giants variously as president, CEO, and general manager. Regarded as an executive who still thought like a player, he became the only former MVP to also earn baseball's Executive of the Year award.[1] He was inducted into theCleveland Guardians Hall of Fame in 2006.[2]
Rosen was born inSpartanburg, South Carolina, to Louis and Rose (née Levin) Rosen. His father left the family shortly thereafter, and Rosen's mother and grandmother moved the family toMiami, Florida, when he was 18 months old.[3][4]
Rosen suffered fromasthma as a child, which prompted his family to move further south. While growing up, his two favorite baseball players wereLou Gehrig andHank Greenberg. He attended Riverside Elementary School, Ada Merritt Junior High School, and thenMiami Senior High School for a year before attending Florida Military Academy inSt. Petersburg, Florida, on a boxing scholarship.[4] After graduating from Florida Military Academy, Rosen enrolled in theUniversity of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.[4] He left the university after a semester to play minor league baseball in North Carolina.[4]
Rosen enlisted in 1942, and spent four years in theU.S. Navy fighting in thePacific during World War II, delaying his professional baseball career. He navigated anassault boat in theBattle of Okinawa.[3] He left the Navy as alieutenant the following year, returning to baseball.[3]
Rosen played for the1946Pittsfield Electrics, where he was initially given a back-up role. Upon leading theCanadian–American League in home runs (16) and RBIs (86), while batting .323, however, he was bestowed his idol Hank Greenberg's nickname, "the Hebrew Hammer".[3] Rosen played for theOklahoma City Indians of theTexas League in1947, and had one of the finest individual seasons in league history. He led all hitters in average (.349), hits (186), doubles (47), extra-base hits (83), RBIs (141), total bases (330), slugging percentage (.619), and on-base percentage (.437). He won theTexas League Player of the Year Award.[3] Rosen played for the New York Yankees'Kansas City Blues farm team in 1948. He was loaned to the Blues for the duration of the team'sAmerican Association season as part of a deal that sent relieverCharley Wensloff from the Yankees to the Indians.[5] Rosen was named Rookie of the Year in the American Association for his play with the Blues.
Rosen made his first appearance in the major leagues in1947 at age 23. In1948, Rosen played most of the year inminor leagues with the Kansas City Blues, before joining the Indians in September. He played in the1948 World Series as a reserve behind regular third basemanKen Keltner despite only playing five games during the season after the Indians requested his inclusion on the World Series roster.[6] When Keltner was traded in1950, Rosen took over as the Indians' third baseman, leading theAmerican League in home runs with 37, hitting more than any previous American League rookie.[7] It stood as the AL rookie record untilMark McGwire surpassed it in 1987.[8] He homered in four straight games in June, a feat unmatched by an Indians rookie untilJason Kipnis in 2011.[9][10] Rosen averaged a league-best homer every 15.0 at bats, and led the league as well inHBP (10). Hebatted .287 and had 116runs batted in, while finishing fifth in the league with 100walks and a .543slugging percentage. His 100 walks remained a team rookie record for a right-handed batter, through 2014.[11] He also remained the most recent AL rookie to record at least 100 walks untilAaron Judge in 2017. Despite his home run title, he finished 17th in the American LeagueMVP Award voting.
In1951 Rosen led the league in games played, and was fifth in the league in RBIs (102), extra-base hits (55), and walks (85). He batted .265, with 24 home runs. Rosen hit fourgrand slams, a team season record that was not broken untilTravis Hafner hit five in 2006.[12]
Rosen led the American League with 105 RBIs and 297total bases in1952. He also was third in the league in runs (101) and slugging percentage (.524), fifth in hits (171) anddoubles (32), sixth in home runs (28), and seventh in batting average (.302). On April 29, he matched the then team record of three home runs in one game,[11] which was surpassed only whenRocky Colavito tied theMajor League single-game record with four home runs on June 10, 1959. Rosen came in tenth in the American League MVP Award voting.
In1953, Rosen led the American League in home runs (43), runs batted in (145), runs (115), slugging percentage (.613), and total bases (367). He also came in second inOBP, and third in hits (201), and tied for eighth instolen bases. He also had a 20-game hitting streak.[11] Defensively, he had the best range factor of all third basemen in the league (3.32), and led it in assists (338) and double plays (38). His RBI total is still the most for an Indians third baseman, through 2017, and is fourth most for any Indian in a season.[13]
He batted .336, and missed winning the batting title – and with it theTriple Crown – on the last day of the season, by just over one percentage point. He was elected American League MVP by a unanimous vote, the first to be elected unanimously since the original "Hebrew Hammer",Hank Greenberg.[14]
In the 2001 edition of theNew Historical Baseball Abstract,Bill James named Rosen's 1953 season the greatest ever by a third baseman.[15] It is ranked 164th overall,[16] and 48th best by a position player[17] byBaseball-Reference.com as of Rosen's passing.
In1954 he hit an even .300, led the league insacrifice flies with 11, was fourth in SLG (.506), and fifth in home runs (24), RBI (102), and OBP (.404). He also hit consecutive home runs in the All-Star game despite a broken finger, earning him the game MVP. His five RBI in the game matched the record set byTed Williams five years earlier, which still stood through the 2011 season.[18]
Hall of Fame managerCasey Stengel said of him: "That young feller, that feller's a ball player. He'll give you the works every time. Gets all the hits, gives you the hard tag in the field. That feller's a real competitor, you bet your sweet curse life."[19] Cleveland won the pennant, but lost theWorld Series. In spite of Rosen's 5th straight year with 100 or more RBIs Cleveland cut his $42,500 ($497,600 today) salary to $37,500 ($440,200 today) for 1955.
In1955 Rosen finished in the top ten in the league in at-bats per home run, walks, and sacrifice flies. Rosen appeared on the cover ofSports Illustrated in 1955. By 1956, back problems and leg injuries caught up with Rosen and he retired at age 32 at the end of the season.[20]
After retiring in1956 Rosen pursued a career as astockbroker,[21] an occupation he held for the next 22 years.[22]
In 1973, Rosen left investments forCaesars Palace inLas Vegas, where he worked for five years.
In 1978, Rosen became president and CEO of the New York Yankees.[22] They won the1978 World Series, but Rosen quit on July 19, 1979.Tommy John thought he left because ownerGeorge Steinbrenner had replacedBob Lemon, a friend of Rosen's, withBilly Martin as the team manager a month before.[23] The two had made a pact to stick together against Steinbrenner (rather than have a Rosen serve as a go-between for feuds) by the mid-summer of 1978, but the combination of Martin's resignation later that year and subsequent return made it impossible for Rosen to continue; the final straw was when Rosen wanted a game to start earlier to accommodate a national telecast, but Steinbrenner sided with Martin, who wanted it to start on time.[24] Rosen served as a supervisor of credit operations at Bally's inAtlantic City before a loan going sour led to him resigning.
Rosen then served as team president and general manager of theHouston Astros (1980–1985).[25] Rosen was hired two weeks after the 1980 season ended for the Astros by ownerJohn McMullen, who in a controversial decision had firedTal Smith despite forming a core that won the National League West title. From 1981 to 1985, the Astros went 386–372 with one playoff appearance [1981 NLDS] before a mutual agreement was reached by both as Rosen departed in September 1985.
He was hired as president andgeneral manager byBob Lurie of theSan Francisco Giants a week after he left the Astros, where he would serve until 1992. Notably, one of his first actions was to remove the television and stereo systems fromCandlestick Park as a means to have the players totally focused on baseball.[26]Roger Craig was retained as manager after taking over forJim Davenport in September, complete with Rosen allowing Craig full control. Through acquisitions (such asRick Reuschel) and promoting draft picks such asWill Clark, Rosen and his maneuvering brought San Francisco from last place in1985 to the NL West title in1987 and the National League pennant in1989, earning him the National League Executive of the Year honors.[27][28] Regarded as a GM who still thought like a player, he became the only MVP in history to also earn the top executive award.[1] The Giants went 589–475 with Rosen as general manager. An announcement of the sale of the team by Lurie in June 1992 (which was bought byPeter Magowan in January 1993 after a scuttled sale to Florida investors) precluded the departure of Rosen, who resigned in late November 1992. He was replaced byBob Quinn. Quinn fired Craig as manager the following month. To replace him, Quinn namedDusty Baker as manager; Rosen had hired him to serve as first base coach of the Giants in 1988 after telling him he would be better suited for the role rather than assistant general manager.[29]
In 1979, Rosen appeared withSpec Richardson (general manager of theSan Francisco Giants) in a television commercial entitled "Baseball Executives" for Miller Lite, as one of the commercials in the legendary "Great Taste, Less Filling" advertising campaign. The idea was two major league high-level baseball executives are discussing a big trade in a formal, stuffy members only club, only to reveal that they are actually trading baseball cards much like a couple of children, ending on a throw-down of a bunch of baseball cards on the polished wooden table. The commercial ran heavily during the summer of 1979 along with every game of theWorld Series that year.
Rosen's wife of 19 years, the former Teresa Ann Blumberg, died on May 3, 1971. He remarried to second wife, Rita (née Kallman) several years later. He had three sons, and a stepson and stepdaughter. Rosen occasionally consulted for baseball teams, including a stint with the Yankees as special assistant to the general manager in 2001 and 2002. He was featured in the 2010 movie narrated byDustin Hoffman,Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story.[3]
Rosen died on March 13, 2015, inRancho Mirage, California.[30][31]
Rosen was Jewish.[32] He was tough, an amateurboxer, and had a reputation for standing up to anyone who dared insult his ancestry. While some reports have him commenting that, as a minor leaguer, he wished his name were something less obviously Jewish, he is later known to have remarked that he wished it weremoreJewish—something like Rosenstein.[33][34] WhenEd Sullivan, himself aCatholic with a Jewish wife, suggested that Rosen might be Catholic, pointing to his habit of drawing a "cross" in the dirt with his bat, Rosen said the mark was an "x" and told Sullivan he wished his name were more Jewish so he wouldn't be mistaken for Catholic.[3][33]
Once a White Sox opponent called him a "Jew bastard". Sox pitcherSaul Rogovin, also Jewish, remembered an angry Rosen striding belligerently to thedugout and challenging the "son of a bitch" to a fight. The player backed down.[35]
Rosen challenged another opposing player who had "slurred [his] religion" to fight him under the stands. And during a game, whenRed Sox bench playerMatt Batts taunted Rosen withanti-Semitic names, Rosen called time and left his position on the field to confront Batts.[34]Hank Greenberg recalled that Rosen "want[ed] to go into the stands and murder" fans who hurled anti-Semitic insults at him.
A 2010 documentary,Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story, highlighted Rosen, who in it is frank about how he dealt with anti-Semitism: "There's a time that you let it be known that enough is enough. ... You flatten [them]."[36]
During his career, Rosen refused to play on theHigh Holy Days, as would baseballHall of FamerSandy Koufax, arguably the most famous American Jewish baseball player.
Through 2014, he was fifth in career home runs (behindSid Gordon), seventh in RBIs (behindRyan Braun), and tenth in hits (behindMike Lieberthal) among all-time Jewish major league baseball players.[37]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) · Baseball Almanac| Awards | ||
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| Preceded by | Sporting NewsMajor League BaseballExecutive of the Year 1987 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |