Up on the blog today, we add former Cleveland Indians slugger Al Rosen to my custom "Classic Baseball" set, celebrating the sport I have loved for close to 50 years now:
Rosen had
somewhat of a meteoric Major League career, with superstar seasons
between 1950 and 1955 before a pedestrian 1956 season, then retirement.
Just like that.
One of the heavy hitters of the Indian teams
blessed with uber-pitching (Feller, Garcia, Lemon, Wynn), Rosen had his
peak season in 1953 when he just missed a Triple Crown, though taking
home the American League MVP Award when he led the league with 43 homers
and 145 RBIs to go along with 201 hits and a .336 batting average.
His
rookie season of 1950 would have normally gotten someone the Rookie of
the Year Award, when he led the league with 37 homers, while driving in
116 runs and scoring 100.
But it happened to fall in the same
season as Walt Dropo, who put in one of the greatest rookie seasons of
all-time, easily taking home the award over the Cleveland third baseman.
Sadly
for him, though still only 32 years of age by 1956, he retired from
baseball due to back and leg injuries, thus ending an amazing Big League
career just like that, to which he then moved into the world of stock
brokerage, which he held for the next two decades before returning to
baseball as a Front Office figure.
As a Front Office man,
Rosen also saw success, guiding the New York Yankees during their return
to greatness during the "Bronx Zoo" days before moving on to the
Houston Astros and then the San Francisco Giants through the 1980's.
The
man was as tough as they came, and because of his Jewish ancestry,
would challenge those who hurled ethnic slurs at him throughout his
career, usually with the person backing down.
A very interesting personality in baseball's rich history!
Nevertheless,
over his shortened 10 year career, of which there were only seven full
seasons, Rosen retired with a .285 average, with 192 homers and 717
RBIs, making four All-Star teams and taking home the aforementioned MVP
in 1953.
Not too shabby!
