Al Rosen

Albert Leonard Rosen (born February 29, 1924), nicknamed "Al", "Flip", and the "Hebrew Hammer", is a former American major league third baseman and right-handed slugger. He played his entire 10-year career (1947-1956) with the Cleveland Indians in the American League, where he drove in 100 or more runs 5 years in a row, was a 4-time All-Star, twice led the league in home runs and twice in RBIs, and was an MVP. Rosen was extremely muscular, and had tremendous power and excellent bat control.

Rosen was a .285 career hitter, with 192 home runs and 717 RBIs in 1,044 games. He was selected for the All-Star Game every year between 1952 and 1955. Rosen appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1955.

Rosen was one of the best all-time Jewish baseball players, along with Hank Greenberg (with whom he became close friends; Greenberg was in the front office with the Indians in the final years of Rosen's career) and Sandy Koufax.^[1][2]

Early life

Rosen and his family moved to Miami, Florida when he was three years old. He grew up in the southwest section of Miami, which is now the heart of Little Havana. Rosen grew up without a father, and was raised by three women: his grandmother, mother, and aunt.^[3]

Rosen was an asthmatic child, which had prompted the family's move south. His two favorite players were Lou Gehrig and Hank Greenberg. Rosen attended the University of Florida in the September session of 1941–42, where he played third base for the Gators. Rosen also attended Florida Military Academy in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he roomed with Max Hammond.

Rosen enlisted after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and spent 2 years in the Navy fighting in the Pacific during World War II, delaying his professional baseball career.

Minor league career

After returning from the Navy in 1946, Rosen played for the 1946 Pittsfield Electrics, where he was initially given a back-up role. He led the Canadian-American League in home runs (16) and RBIs (86), while batting .323, however, and became known as the "Hebrew Hammer".^[4]

Rosen played for the Oklahoma City Indians in 1947, 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 was elected Texas League MVP.^[5]

In 1948 Rosen was Rookie of the Year for Triple-A Kansas City in the American Association.

Major League Baseball career

Rosen made his first appearance in the major leagues in 1947 at the age of 23. The next year he won a World Series ring with the Indians.

In his first full season, in 1950, Rosen led the American League in home runs with 37, hitting more than any previous American League rookie.^[6] He also averaged a league-best homer every 15.0 at bats, and led the league as well in HBP (10). He batted .287 and had 116 runs batted in, while coming in 5th in the league with 100 walks and a .543 slugging percentage. Despite his home run title, he only came in 17th in the American League MVP Award voting.

In 1951 he led the league in games played, and was 5th in the league in RBIs (102), extra-base hits (55), and walks (85). He batted .265, with 24 home runs.

Rosen led the American League with 105 RBIs and 297 total bases in 1952. He also was 3rd in the league in runs (101) and slugging percentage (.524), 5th in hits (171) and doubles (32), 6th in home runs (28), and 7th in batting average (.302). Still, he only came in 10th in the American League MVP Award voting.

In 1953, 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 in OBP, and third in hits (201). He tied for 8th with Mickey Mantle in stolen bases. 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).

He batted .336, and missed winning the batting title (and with it, the Triple Crown) on the last day of the season—by only 1 percentage point, coming in second to Mickey Vernon. In Washington, the Senators heard that day that Rosen had made an out in his last at-bat, after getting 3 hits earlier in the game. Vernon was still ahead. The Senators conspired to make sure Vernon didn't have to bat again. Mickey Grasso doubled and let himself get picked off. Then Keith "Kite" Thomas singled, and was out when he ran leisurely to second.

He finally won the American League MVP Award in 1953. It was by an unprecedented unanimous vote.

In 1954, while batting .300, he led the league in sacrifice flies with 11, was 4th in SP (.506), and 5th in home runs (24), RBI (102), and obp (.404). He also hit consecutive home runs in the All-Star game despite a broken finger, and was named MVP of the All-Star Game. Casey 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."^[7] Cleveland won the pennant, but lost to the New York Giants as Dusty Rhodes hit a home run off of Bob Lemon to win it, and give the Giants their last world title. It was his 5th straight year with 100 or more RBIs. Still, after the season Cleveland cut his $42,500 salary to $37,500.

In 1955 Rosen was in the top 10 in the league in at-bats per home run, walks, and sacrifice flies.

Back problems and leg injuries caught up with him, and Rosen retired at the age of 32 in 1956.^[8]

Later life

After retiring in 1956, he became a stockbroker.^[9]

Rosen reentered baseball 20 years later as a MLB executive. He was president (and chief operating officer) of the Yankees (1978-79), then the Astros (1980-85), and then president and general manager of the Giants (1985-92). His maneuvering brought San Francisco from last place in 1985 to the NL West title in 1987 and the NL Pennant in 1989.[1]

Rosen's wife of 19 years, the former Teresa (Terry) Ann Blumberg, died on May 3, 1971; he's been married to his second wife, Rita (née Kallman), for over 37 years. Rosen occasionally consults for baseball teams, including a stint with the Yankees as special assistant to the general manager in 2001 and 2002.^[10]

Jewish heritage

Rosen was tough (his nose was broken 13 times in his career), an amateur boxer, and had a reputation for standing up to anyone who dared insult his ancestry.

Rosen told the sportswriter Roger Kahn that as a young player in the minors he had moments when he wished his name were not as obviously Jewish as Rosen. But after he became a major league star, he actually considered changing his name to Rosenthal or Rosenstein so that no one could possibly mistake him for anything but a Jew.

In 1951, the television impresario Ed Sullivan, in his popular newspaper column, wrote about Rosen: "Of Jewish parentage, he is Catholic. At the plate, you'll notice he makes the sign of the cross with his bat." Enraged, Rosen insisted on a full and public retraction, pointing out that the mark he always made with his bat was the letter "x."^[11]

Once a White Sox opponent called him a “Jew bastard.” Sox pitcher Saul Rogovin, also Jewish, remembered an angry Rosen striding belligerently to the dugout and challenging the “son of a bitch” to a fight. The player backed down.^[12]

Rosen challenged an opposing player who had “slurred [his] religion” to fight him under the stands. When a Red Sox catcher called Rosen anti-Semitic names, he called time and “started toward him, to take him on.” Hank Greenberg recalled that Rosen “want[ed] to go into the stands and murder” fans who hurled anti-Semitic insults at him.

During his career, Rosen declined to play on the High Holy Days.

In a 1976 Esquire magazine article, sportswriter Harry Stein published an "All Time All-Star Argument Starter," consisting of five ethnic baseball teams. Rosen was the third baseman on Stein's Jewish team.

Quotes

• "The greatest thrill in the world is to end the game with a home run and watch everybody else walk off the field while you're running the bases on air. "

• "Oh great, the one time I'm at (Yankee Stadium) I have to miss Al Rosen hit a home run!" —Bob Hope on "I Love Lucy", aired October 1, 1956

Awards

• Member of the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame (2006).
• Member of the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (1980).
• Member of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
• Member of the Texas League Hall of Fame (2005).

See also

World War II portal

• Top 500 home run hitters of all time

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube