Albert Leonard Rosen, nicknamed “Al” or “Flip, was born February 29, 1924 in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Al’s strength and determination to overcome any and all obstacles was the key factor in his rise to becoming a star ballplayer and his success as a baseball administrator. Physical and mental toughness served Rosen well through all his many life challenges.
Welcome to the Baseball History Podcast: Featuring This Week in Baseball History, baseball dictionary and a tour of baseball cities. I’m your game announcer Bob Wright.
This is game 49 of the 2009 baseball season
In the first inning let’s take a look at This Week in Baseball History for the 4 week of November.
November 27
1953 Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella is named the National League Most Valuable Player for the second time. The American League Most Valuable Player selection goes to Indians’ third baseman Al Rosen.
Albert Leonard Rosen, nicknamed “Al” or “Flip, was born February 29, 1924 in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Al’s strength and determination to overcome any and all obstacles was the key factor in his rise to becoming a star ballplayer and his success as a baseball administrator. Physical and mental toughness served Rosen well through all his many life challenges.
Due to Al’s asthma, the family moved to Miami when Al was only 18 months old. He grew up without a father, and was raised by his grandmother and mother. Encouraged to try sports, Al soon showed he had good athletic ability and as he grew up, his asthma disappeared.
The neighborhood where Rosen lived in Miami was a hardscrabble one. It was in the southwest part of the city known as Little Havana. The Rosen clan was the only Jewish family in his neighborhood, and Al spent his childhood engaged in many fights due to his ethnic origins. Toughness became his mantra as he grew up.
Rosen normally went by the nickname, Flip, which some said was gained as a loose- wristed softball pitcher while a teenager. Others say it was the way that the athletic Rosen passed a basketball.
He briefly attended the University of Florida in 1941 and 1942 before opting to leave school to try professional baseball. He was signed to the Thomasville, North Carolina, team in the North Carolina State League, the lowest level in the minors, and earned $90 a month before World War II intervened.
Al joined the Navy in 1942 after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and spent 2 years in the Navy fighting in the Pacific during World War II.
At the end of the 1948 season, Rosen was called up to the Indians and served as a pinch hitter for the American League Champions in the World Series, going 0 for 1 against the Boston Braves.
In 1949, Rosen played 23 games for the Indians but spent most of the year with the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League.
In 1950 Rosen received his chance to start at third base for Cleveland. He proceeded to set a rookie record at the time by blasting 37 homers to take the American League home run title.
Rosen’s assault on American League pitching tailed off in 1951. Playing in all 154 games, he tied a major league record by slugging four bases-loaded homers. But his average slipped to .265, and he belted only 24 home runs.
Unhappy with his 1951 performance, Rosen took a long vacation to South America and then returned to prepare his mind and body for the 1952 season. He worked on getting his legs in shape. He had played golf in previous years but this year he instead worked out at the Miami minor-league ballpark to stay in condition.
In 1952, Rosen improved his performance. He scored 101 runs and compiled a .302 batting average.
In 1953, sparked by a lusty .336 average, Rosen barely missed out on the Triple Crown. On his last at bat, he apparently had beaten out a ball hit to third base that would have given him the Triple Crown. Umpire Hank Soar felt otherwise and called Rosen out. After the game, Soar was questioned about the call. “He missed the bag,” Soar said. Rosen agreed he would have been safe had he not missed the bag. Rosen slugged 45 homers and driving in 145 runs and had to settle for those titles. Rosen’s was voted unanimously the American League’s Most Valuable Player, the first player since Hank Greenberg in 1935 to receive all first-place Most Valuable Player votes.
Injuries began to hamper Rosen during the 1954 season, limiting him to only 137 games. Rosen still managed to hit .300 and slam 24 homers.
In 1955 Rosen batted a lowly .244 while hitting 21 homers. The 1956 season was no better as he batted .267 with 15 homers.
Suffering from chronic injuries, Rosen decided to call it quits as a player after the 1956 season. Rosen was only 32 years old when he retired. His pride would not let him go on playing and turn in what he considered sub-par performances.
Baseball life seemed over for Rosen as he traded in his uniform for a stockbroker’s pinstriped suits. For 17 years in Cleveland, the investment business was Al’s life. But baseball was still in his blood, and he helped the Indians as a batting instructor each spring and by sitting on the club’s board of directors.
By 1973, Rosen had left the investment business for a job with a Las Vegas casino. After five years at the casino, New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner asked Rosen to become president and chief operating office of the Yankees. Rosen accepted the offer in 1978 and spent a triumphant yet tumultuous year working with Yankees manager Billy Martin and Steinbrenner.
Martin made his infamous remarks about slugger Reggie Jackson and Steinbrenner that, “one’s a born liar; the other’s convicted.” Rosen either was forced to fire Martin or Martin resigned. Either way, Rosen replaced Martin with an old friend, former teammate Bob Lemon. The Yanks went on to win the 1978 American League pennant and World Series.
In 1979, Martin had returned as Yankee manager. Martin told Steinbrenner that he would no longer communicate to him through Rosen, complaining that messages passed through Rosen were distorted. Now that Rosen had effectively been removed as a barrier to Steinbrenner, Martin outranked everyone in the front office.
Rosen who felt limited by Martin’s stature and Steinbrenner’s micro-managing resigned on July 19, 1979, only a year and a half into his Yankee position.
Rosen was not out of baseball for long. Two weeks after the Houston Astros lost a playoff series to the Philadelphia Phillies in October 1980, Al Rosen replaced Tal Smith as Astros president and general manager. However, this experience did not start happily for Rosen, due to the controversial nature of Smith’s firing. The Astros had just completed the team’s first playoff appearance since the franchise had launched in 1962. The playoff series was exciting and well-played, and Smith had been named Major League Executive of the Year.
Unfortunately, Rosen never had much control over Astros affairs. Rosen, considered a conservative general manager, was constrained by ownership in his attempts to deal players. He eventually left the team in September 1985.
That same month in 1985, Rosen was hired as president and general manager of the San Francisco Giants. In 1987, Rosen was chosen Major League Executive of the Year.
Al Rosen retired from baseball in 1989 after the Giants finished first in the National League West and won the National League Championship Series against the Chicago Cubs but were swept in the World Series by the Oakland A’s 4 games to 0.
Rosen, born on February 29, jokes that he doesn’t get to celebrate his birthday that often. On his 80th birthday he said, “By all rights, I’m only going to be 20. Heck, I’m not even legal yet.”
Rosen is a member of the Cleveland Hall of Fame, the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and the Texas League Hall of Fame.
Al’s strength and determination to overcome any and all obstacles was the key factor in his rise to becoming a star ballplayer and his success as a baseball administrator. Physical and mental toughness served Rosen well through all his many life challenges.
A large part of this biography comes from the SABR Baseball Biography Project written by Ralph Berger It can be found online at http://bioproj.sabr.org
In this inning we’ll open up the Baseball Dictionary
Under the letter: B
Bench strength
An array of competent players on the bench who are available for play if and when needed.
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Well, that’s it for today’s game of Baseball History Podcast. I’ll see you later at the ballpark.
