Rosen Left an Indelible Mark on and Off the Field Won 1953 AL MVP, Later
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Rosen left an indelible mark on and off the field Won 1953 AL MVP, later helped build Yankees, Astros and Giants as an executive By Marty Noble / MLB.com | 7:15 PM ET + 1 COMMENT The Indians were loaded then. Their roster was stocked with three pitchers, a slugger and a shortstop, all working on Hall of Fame resumés, and one prominent player who later received not one vote for the Hall -- Al Rosen. He was only the most productive hitter in the big leagues during a five-season span that began in 1950 and culminated the year his team dethroned the Yankees and he was nothing more than the first unanimous MVP Award winner in 1953. For lack of one hit -- even a broken-bat, bloop single -- he would have been a Triple Crown winner that year. And if not for a bad back and other physical maladies, a plaque bearing his likeness might be hanging in Cooperstown today with those of colleagues Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, Larry Doby, Early Wynn and Lou Boudreau. Instead, Rosen is remembered as a proud, talented, powerful, strong-willed and motivated third baseman whose shooting-star career ended too early, or, as Ted Williams characterized him decades ago, "As good an all-around player as we've got in our league." Those words could serve as part of a suitable baseball epitaph for Albert Leonard Rosen, an accomplished player and executive in the big leagues for 25 years. An epitaph is needed because Rosen's life of challenges and achievements has ended. He died Friday at age 91. His passing has cost the game another member of the greatest generation, the American League equivalent of Ralph Kiner. Each was an accomplished player who served his country, left footprints as a heavy hitter, quit the game after 10 years because of injury and eventually found success in a second baseball incarnation -- Kiner as an announcer, Rosen as a club executive. After working 20 years in the private sector, Rosen returned to the game, bringing his baseball acumen to the Yankees, Astros and Giants as their primary baseball executive. He left the game for the second time after the 1992 season, three years after his Giants had reached the World Series. The career of the South Carolina native was marked by challenges beyond what most players confront. Rosen was asthmatic as a child, his youth compromised to such a degree that the notion of him as an athlete of any sort was questioned. He succeeded Ken Keltner, a popular figure in Cleveland, as the Indians' third baseman -- not a particularly pleasant experience. (See Doug DeCinces, Orioles, who replaced Brooks Robinson.) He dealt with debilitating back pain that undermined his production in 1955 and '56, which ultimately prompted his retirement. He later worked for George Steinbrenner, a test unto itself; and he was in the middle of several episodes involving The Boss and The Brat, Billy Martin. Moreover, Rosen was a target of anti-Semitic remarks that were hardly uncommon in the pre-PC world of big league dugouts in the 1940s and '50s. Steinbrenner had deep roots in Cleveland; Rosen was a hero to him. The Yankees owner hired Rosen away from Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and made him club president in 1978. So Rosen was in position to experience Martin's tearful resignation following his respective "one's a born liar, the other's convicted" condemnation of Reggie Jackson and Steinbrenner. Rosen was sent to Kansas City to investigate the circumstances. Before he could take a position between the two, Martin resigned. Not that Martin's departure saddened him. "I couldn't warm up to [Martin] if I were embalmed with him," Rosen once said. Steinbrenner teamed Martin and Rosen again, shortly after the manager's teary farewell in Kansas City. The club announced during an Old- Timers' Day celebration that Martin would return to manage the Yankees in 1980. That decision made Rosen uncomfortable in more ways than one. Steinbrenner didn't want his president to know of the plan to bring back Martin, so he ordered Rosen to participate in the cermonies as an Indians old-timer and take a place in the visiting dugout. Rosen learned of the plan when everybody else did. He resigned in 1979 and he and Steinbrenner became friends again. "He's a good friend," Rosen said, "I just can't work for him." It was Rosen's old Indians buddy, Lemon, who replaced Martin in '78, and took the Yankees to their second successive World Series championship. It was the championship that had eluded the former teammates in 1954, when they were swept by the New York Giants after they had ended the Yankees' unprecedented run of five Series titles by winning 111 games. Bastian on Al Rosen's career Bastian on Al Rosen's career MLB.com Indians reporter Jordan Bastian reflects on the remarkable life and career of 1953 MVP Al Rosen who passed away at age 91 Rosen famously endured the indignity of being hounded by telephone by his boss during a vacation to the Carribean in the winter of 1978-79. Steinbrenner's treatment of his hero was such that Rosen ended his vacation rather than have it spoiled. Taunts about his religion were worse, more hurtful and more provocative. They began long before he signed his first professional contract in 1942, and they may have led to his prowess as an amateur boxer. When Rosen reached the big leagues in 1947, at age 23 and after four years in the Navy -- serving in the Pacific theater -- he was still subjected to anti-Semitism. Years later, after he had made his mark in the big leagues, he confided to author Roger Kahn that, as a man in his teens and early 20s, he had thoughts of changing his surname to one less clearly Jewish. But years later, Rosen said, he considered changing his name to Rosenstein or Rosenthal, in hopes that his name would be readily recognized as Jewish. He reached the big leagues with a "don't cross him" reputation, and Rosen wasn't reluctant to reinforce the image. But mostly he was known as a quality batsman and a better-than-adequate defender. Said Casey Stengel: "That young fella's a ballplayer. He'll give you the works every time. Gets all the hits, gives you the hard tag in the field. That fella's a real competitor." Rosen had sufficient might to reach the distant fences in the Indians' cavernous home park, Municipal Stadium, that, more than Cleveland itself, deserved to be called "the Mistake by the Lake." The predecessor to what was first called Jacobs Field was quite pitcher-friendly. No matter, Rosen twice led the league in home runs -- with 37 in 1950, then a record for a rookie, and 43 in 1953, his signature season. He drove in a career-high and league-best 145 runs and led the AL in virtually every significant offensive category, except batting average. His average that year was .3356, rounded off to .336. Mickey Vernon, an Indians teammate in 1949 and part of '50, batted .3372 with the Senators. One more hit by Rosen would have put his average scarcely higher than Vernon's. Or, had Rosen had the same numbers and Vernon three additional, and fruitless, at-bats, Rosen would have won the title. OH, SO CLOSE In 1953, Al Rosen missed winning the American League Triple Crown by .00162. He led the AL with 43 homers and 145 RBIs, but fell short of the batting title to Washington's Mickey Vernon. 1953 AL BATTING RACE HITS ABs AVG. Vernon's final stats 205 608 .337171052 Rosen's final stats 201 599 .335559265 One more hit by Rosen 202 599 .337228714 Three more ABs (no hits) by Vernon 205 611 .335515548 Rosen came frustratingly close to the necessary hit in what proved to be his final at-bat of the season, against the Tigers in Cleveland. He already had extended his hitting streak to 20 games and produced 10 hits in a 15 at-bat sequence that reached the seventh inning when he came to bat with two out in the ninth. Then, he appeared to have beat out a ground ball to third base. First-base umpire Hank Soar called him out, though. "He missed the bag," Soar said after the game. And Rosen agreed he would have been safe had he stepped on first base. In Washington the same day, Vernon was due to bat fourth in the ninth inning. Pinch-hitter Kite Thomas led off with a base hit. And though his team trailed by seven runs, Thomas tried unsuccessfully to stretch his hit into a double. He was out. Eddie Yost and Pete Runnels were retired, as well, so Vernon's .337171052 was never put at risk. Thomas' decision to stretch his hit, down seven runs and in the ninth inning, was seen by some as a tactic aimed at protecting Vernon's average. Batting title or not, Rosen became the first unanimous MVP. Boudreau had become the Indians' first MVP five years earlier. Rosen remains the club's most recent MVP. Every other AL franchise, except the Rays, has had at least one MVP winner since 1953. Rosen played merely 932 games at third base in seven summers as a regular and three in which he totaled 35 games and 65 plate appearances -- nothing approaching the extended third-base careers of Eddie Mathews, Mike Schmidt, George Brett and Robinson. But during his peak, he was a force to be reckoned with, comparable to any one of them, a right-handed hitter with power enough to produce averages of 31 home runs, 114 RBIs and 95 runs for five seasons.