Mar

16

Growing up in the Jewish enclave of Pimlico in 1960s Baltimore, I would often hear stories of Hank Greenberg and Al Rosen. Greenberg was from the 1930s, and Rosen, the 1950s. (In 1965, Sandy Koufax entered into that list. When he retired a year later, you would have thought there was one giant shiva at someone's house; mothers who didn't know the difference between an infield and the infield fly rule, or who thought a Texas leaguer was a ball player in Texas—my great grandmother, when told that the Astros played in Houston, observed, "Boychik, don't they know it's hot in Houston, especially in the summer? Those men must be exhausted running around the field all day. Why didn't they do what Hank Greenberg did and play in Detroit? Detroit's nice and cool." How she knew anything about Hank Greenberg I never figured out, as it was the only sports fact of any sort that she knew. I didn't have the heart to tell her how hot Detroit got during the summer—began talking of Koufax with tones of reverence.

Al Rosen was one of the anchors of the very successful Cleveland teams of the late 1940s and early 1950s. Ask many about those teams, and the first person from those teams they might mention is likely Bob Feller, the hard throwing HoF pitcher. Rosen would probably be the second one. He was a power hitting third baseman, leading the league in HR and RBIs twice each, MVP one year, and almost a triple crown in 1953. It's a real shame that an injury cut short his playing career. I wonder what his stats woudl have looked like absent 4 years in the navy during WW2 and the injury.

More about Al Rosen from SABR:

Q. Who, during his AL MVP year, missed the triple-crown finishing second in batting average by .0016?

Hint: Had he not missed the bag at first, he would have had a hit in his final at bat that may have given him the batting title and triple crown.

Hint: However, the Senators players were rumored to have intentionally made outs to prevent the eventual batting title winner from getting a final at bat.

Hint: Bill James called his MVP season the greatest ever by a third baseman.

Hint: During his short career, he hit more homers than anyone else that played for only one AL team.

Hint: During the 1950's, only he and Mickey Mantle won the AL MVP by a unanimous vote.

Hint: In fact, he was the only unanimous AL MVP since Hank Greenberg - an irony not lost on either man.

Hint: He and Greenberg not only had the same award, but they also encountered the same type of prejudice during their careers.

Twint: An excellent boxer, he said he had a trick for dealing with anti-Semitic players and fans: "You flatten them!"

Twint: One might say of his mother "A Rose is a Rose is a Rose".

Twint: Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner said, "He was the leader of the team and the best all-around player I ever played with."

A. AL ROSEN, SABR Bio (1953 Won HR [43] and RBI [145] titles, but finished 2nd to the Senators Mickey Vernon (.3372 to .3356): He admitted he missed the bag and thus provided his own excuse for losing the title; It was rumored that Vernon didn't bat in his final inning due to fellow players intentionally making outs in order to award him the crown; MVP 1953 Vote; 1950-1956 HR 192, Yogi 191, Gus Zernial hit 193 but for two different teams; Greenberg unanimous AL MVP 1935; Like Greenberg, Rosen was Jewish; Jew or Not Jew? quote; Mother Rose Rosen) FCR - Bill Deane, Cooperstown, NY


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