RIP Al Rosen

[JLange]

Just saw this on Cleveland.com that Al Rosen Passed away. He was one of my favorite players from the Indians late 1940s/1950s teams, even though I was too young to have ever seen him play.

http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index...at_al_ros.html

I don't have a scan of him from my collection readily available, but there are quite a few Al Rosen items on my want list, including this 1953 Northland Bread Label from his MVP season.

Show your favorite Al Rosen cards in tribute to a great person and ballplayer.

RIP Al Rosen

[1963Topps Set]

He came within .001 point of winning the triple crown of hitting in 1953.

[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by 1963Topps Set

He came within .001 point of winning the triple crown of hitting in 1953.

Huh, I just learned something new. Thanks, Tom.

I also learned that Mickey Vernon won two batting titles. And talk about a weird career. After hitting .271 and .268 in 1942 and 1943, he explodes to hit .353 in 1946, after a two year military commitment.

Then, he falls back to Earth, hitting ..265, .242, .291, .281, .293, .253. A couple decent seasons in there. Then, whamo, he hits .337, winning another batting title. Then hits .290, .301, .310 before getting older, and slowing down.

It's very weird seeing a guy have the two great seasons like he had, mixed in with a bunch of average to below average ones.

He had 2,495 hits, which completely caught me off guard. Pretty good hitter, overall, at a .285 career. Those two seasons were enough to raise his career batting average by 10 points. In all the other seasons he played, he was a career .276 hitter.

This is one of the things I love about baseball's history. I've literally spent thousands of hours reading about the players that have made up the game's rich tapestry, and I will still find players I knew little to nothing about, and love learning about them.

This is like when I learned about Vern Stephens about a month ago, or so. I'd always been under the impression that Ernie Banks was the first true power hitting shortstop. Well, I'd now have to say Stephens should get that distinction. I knew of him, but I'd never looked at his stats. Wow. He led the AL in home runs with the St. Louis Browns, hitting 24 in 1945. The year before, he hit .293 with 20 home runs, and a league leading 109 RBI.

But when he joined Boston, he hit his stride, and put together three of the best seasons ever by a shortstop. In 1948, Stephens hit .269 with 29 home runs, and 137 RBI. He finished 4th in the MVP vote. In 1949, again, while playing purely as a shortstop, Stephens hit .290 with 39 home runs, and a league leading 159 RBI. He had a whopping .930 OPS, finishing 7th in the MVP vote. Then, in 1950, he had another stellar season. He hit .295 with 30 home runs and a league leading 144 RBI. He scored 125 runs, had 70 extra base hits, an .872 OPS, and 321 total bases...and finished 24th in the MVP vote!

But it was his years with the Sox that really took his game to another level. Between 1948 and 1950, Stephens hit 98 home runs, and drove in an incredible 440 runs...as a shortstop! He had an .874 OPS. Beside the eye popping home run and RBI totals he had in 1949, he also walked 101 times, and had 329 total bases (with 31 doubles and 2 triples).

Look at the offense the Sox had in that period. In 1950, they had five guys score 100 runs, and Ted Williams was not one of them! Check this out:

C Birdie Tebbets hits .310 (though only has 299 PA)
1B Walt Dropo scores 101 runs, has 34 HR, 144 RBI, hits .322. Wins AL ROY.
2B Bobby Doerr scores 103 runs, has 27 HR, 120 RBI, hits .294.
SS Vern Stephens scores 125 runs, has 30 HR, 144 RBI, hits .295.
3B Johnny Pesky scores 112 runs, only hits 1 HR, 49 RBI, hits .312. Walks 104 times, .437 OBP!
RF Al Zarilla scores 92 runs, hits 9 HR, 74 RBI, hits .325.
CF Dom DiMaggio scores 131 runs, hits 7 HR, 70 RBI, hits .328
LF Ted Williams scores 82 runs, hits 28 HR, 97 RBI, hits .317.

Look at those starters. How many times have the starting 8 on a baseball team combined to hit .312? Those 8 scored 779 runs, and would have easily averaged over 100 runs scored per player if Williams hadn't missed the second half of the season, even with their catcher only playing half the season.

Williams was simply unbelievable. It boggles my mind that he only played in 89 games, and drove in 97 runs. The prior six season, Williams combined to hit .359 with an 1.161 OPS. His 162 game averages for that period will never be duplicated again:

149 runs, 203 hits, 42 doubles, 6 triples, 39 home runs, 142 RBI, 164 BB, 47 SO, .359 AVG, .505 OBP, .657 SLG, 1.161 OPS, 208 OPS +.

He led the league in walks, OBP, SLG, OPS each year for six years.

I love baseball. And I am SUCH a nerd, lol.

[Yossarian]

Bill - great info, I also learned some baseball history this morning reading your synopsis. Thanks for posting that.

As for Rosen - I only have his '52 Topps card (which is a sneaky tough one to find in mid grade from that set). I have always been partial to his '53 Bowman card. Great image from his great season. I may have to pick one up in memoriam...

[Exhibitman]

One of my favorite players and one of the few I actively collect. Between Nimoy and Rosen, this has been a crappy winter...

[HRBAKER]

I have a few cards of Mr. Rosen signed - one of which is cut from a '52 Topps advertising strip. He was always a great friend to the ttm autograph hobby, many times including a short note if you sent him a unique item. Having sent him probably a dozen times over the last thirty years and having never failed to get my item back signed - I thought it was an ominous sign when I got my last wirephoto back that was mailed in December with RTS written on the envelope. I feared that he had gotten to ill to sign.

RIP Mr. Rosen - a fine player and man.

Here are a couple of items I do have scanned:

[mrmopar]

This is all I have scanned. Nothing new, but it is a great cover!

[nolemmings]

What I find interesting about that SI cover is that it must be showing batting practice, given that his teammate is catching and there is no umpire, yet he looks so determined and, more importantly, there is such a crowd. Pardon if this is an ignorant question but was one picture superimposed or otherwise placed with another-- the precursor to photo-shopping? It looks like there's an aura around the catcher's head.

EDITED TO ADD my condolences aslo, Mr. Rosen was a very classy man.

[ooo-ribay]

I loved the Humm Baby teams he put together with the SF Giants.

RIP, Al.

[HRBAKER]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

What I find interesting about that SI cover is that it must be showing batting practice, given that his teammate is catching and there is no umpire, yet he looks so determined and, more importantly, there is such a crowd. Pardon if this is an ignorant question but was one picture superimposed or otherwise placed with another-- the precursor to photo-shopping?

EDITED TO ADD my condolences aslo, Mr. Rosen was a very classy man.

Todd,
I have always assumed it was a staged photo. Never game much thought to your super-imposed question. Makes sense that it might be.

[Koufax32fan]

Here are some of my favorite Flip pieces

[Volod]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

What I find interesting about that SI cover is that it must be showing batting practice, given that his teammate is catching and there is no umpire, yet he looks so determined and, more importantly, there is such a crowd. Pardon if this is an ignorant question but was one picture superimposed or otherwise placed with another-- the precursor to photo-shopping? It looks like there's an aura around the catcher's head.

EDITED TO ADD my condolences aslo, Mr. Rosen was a very classy man.

Intra-squad spring-training game. Back in the '50's, not as many teams, especially in the Cactus League, so intra-squad games were common. The catcher - looks like Hank Foiles - is using a special strap over his helmet to provide extra security for his mask. That's what you see as an "aura."

[nolemmings]

Thanks for the info. I should have thought of that, and remembered that balls and strikes at those games were usually called from behind the mound. Looks like a pretty good turnout though, as even the games between teams only drew a couple of thousand.

[rsn1661]

I saw the bad news and got to thinking that I had a 1954 Who's Who in Baseball with him on the cover. It was in beautiful shape when I got it from my mother however is sustained some water damage a few years back. Carl Furillo and Mickey Vernon are pictured on the inside covers.

[71buc]

He was one of the players my father loved. This original photo is from 1947 the year he played for the Oklahoma City Indians. he 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 was elected Texas League MVP.

[ledsters]

[egri]

Very sorry to hear of his passing. I always thought he belonged in Cooperstown, along with a couple other folks we lost recently, Al Dark and Minnie Minoso. Rosen and Dark probably lost out because they lost time due to World War II, and Minoso due to the color barrier.

Mr. Rosen was kind enough to sign a 1953 Topps for my project back in August. I don't have a photobucket, but the picture is here. A couple days after he died, I was looking at the card and I noticed the card's original owner had drawn a mustache in pencil on him. I hadn't noticed it before, but now it's all I see when I look at the card. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to remove it?

[Paul S]

Most often I've heard is that people use a Mars plastic eraser for pencil.

[egri]

Thanks, I'll give that a try.