Al Rosen obit

Al Rosen, Former MLB MVP and Executive, Dies at Age 91

He was not on the list.

Former Cleveland Indians legend Al Rosen passed away Friday night at 91, per Jordan Bastian of MLB.com.

Rosen spent the whole of his playing career in Cleveland, playing a key role on the 1954 team that won the American League pennant. He went to the All-Star Game on four occasions and won the Most Valuable Player Award in 1953, the same year in which he narrowly missed out on capturing the Triple Crown, per the Indians' Twitter account:

    Cleveland Indians @Indians

    Rosen, known as "The Hebrew Hammer," had 43 HRs/145 RBI in '53. He fell .001 shy of the Triple Crown, hitting .336 to Mickey Vernon's .337.

Former MLB commissioner Bud Selig and current MLB commissioner Rob Manfred released brief statements following Rosen's passing:

    MLB Communications @MLB_PR

    MLB Commissioner Emeritus Bud Selig said: "Al led a remarkable baseball life. Above all, I'll recall him as a great gentleman."

    MLB Communications @MLB_PR

    MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred: "Al Rosen was truly a triple threat - a great player, executive and man. We will always remember him."

"He was an inspiration to us all and had a special presence, strength and intellect," said Indians team president Mark Shapiro, per Bastian. "His fierce competitive nature and toughness was legendary."

Rosen's baseball journey wasn't over when his playing career wrapped up in 1956. He eventually transitioned to front-office roles with the New York Yankees, Houston Astros and most famously with the San Francisco Giants.

Among his most impressive personnel accomplishments in San Francisco were drafting Matt Williams and trading for Kevin Mitchell.

Rosen was one of the architects of the 1989 Giants team that went to the World Series. Two years before that, he earned Executive of the Year. He holds the distinction as the only man to win both an MVP and Executive of the Year Award:

    Cleveland Indians @Indians

    One more fun Rosen fact: Only player to win MVP as player and Exec of the Year; he did the the latter in '87 as Prez/GM of the @SFGiants.

"We were saddened to learn that former Giants president and general manager Al Rosen passed away," said Giants president and CEO Larry Baer, per Chris Haft of MLB.com. "We express our deepest condolences to his wife, Rita, and to the rest of his family and will have them in our thoughts and prayers. We will miss him and always remember him as part of our very important Giants family."

Rosen played for the 1942 High Point-Thomasville Hi-Toms (North Carolina). Then he played for the 1946 Pittsfield Electrics, where he was initially given a back-up role. Upon leading the Canadian–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". Rosen played for the Oklahoma City Indians of the Texas League 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 won the Texas League Player of the Year Award. 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's American Association season as part of a deal that sent reliever Charley Wensloff from the Yankees to the Indians. 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 in 1947 at the age of 23. In 1948, Rosen played most of the year in minor leagues with the Kansas City Blues, before joining the Indians in September. He played in the 1948 World Series as a reserve behind regular third baseman Ken Keltner despite only playing five games during the season after the Indians requested his inclusion on the World Series roster. When Keltner was traded in 1950, Rosen took over as the Indians' third baseman, leading the American League in home runs with 37, hitting more than any previous American League rookie. It stood as the AL rookie record until Mark McGwire surpassed it in 1987. He homered in four straight games in June, a feat unmatched by an Indians rookie until Jason Kipnis in 2011. Rosen 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 finishing fifth in the league with 100 walks and a .543 slugging 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 until Aaron Judge in 2017. Despite his home run title, he finished 17th in the American League MVP Award voting.

In 1951 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 four grand slams, a team season record that was not broken until Travis Hafner hit five in 2006.

Rosen led the American League with 105 RBIs and 297 total bases in 1952. He also was third in the league in runs (101) and slugging percentage (.524), fifth in hits (171) and doubles (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 when Rocky Colavito tied the Major League single-game record with four home runs on June 10, 1959. Rosen came in tenth in the American League.

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), and tied for eighth in stolen bases. He also had a 20-game hitting streak. 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.

He batted .336, and missed winning the batting title – and with it the Triple 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.

In Bill James' New Historical Baseball Abstract, Rosen's 1953 season is called the greatest ever by a third baseman. It is ranked 164th overall, and 48th best by a position player by Baseball-Reference.com as of Rosen's passing.

In 1954 he hit an even .300, led the league in sacrifice 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 by Ted Williams five years earlier, which still stood through the 2011 season.

Hall of Fame manager 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." Cleveland won the pennant, but lost the World Series. In spite of Rosen's 5th straight year with 100 or more RBIs Cleveland cut his $42,500 ($409,600 today) salary to $37,500 ($362,300 today) for 1955.

In 1955 Rosen finished in the top ten in the league in at-bats per home run, walks, and sacrifice flies. By 1956, back problems and leg injuries caught up with Rosen and he retired at age 32 at the end of the season.

In 1978 Rosen became President/CEO of the Yankees. They won the 1978 World Series, but Rosen quit in July 1979. Tommy John thought he left because owner George Steinbrenner had replaced Bob Lemon, a friend of Rosen's, with Billy Martin as the team manager a month before. Rosen then served as President/CEO of the Houston Astros (1980–85), then president and general manager of the San Francisco 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, earning him the National League Executive of the Year honors. Regarded as a GM who still thought like a player, he became the only MVP in history to also earn the top executive award.

In 1979, Rosen appeared with Spec Richardson (general manager of the San 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 the World Series that year.