Al Rosen, who is ranked among top ten Jewish baseball players of all time in home runs, hits, and runs batted in, died at his home in California on Friday at age 91.
As a third base man, Rosen was the American League’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1953. He later became a general manager, becoming the only former MVP to also earn the Executive of the Year award.
Rosen spent of his youth battling anti-Semitism as one of the few Jews in the neighborhood of Little Havana, where he was raised by his mother after his father had abandoned them. He was an amateur boxer while at the University of Florida, and enlisted in the Navy in 1942. He served in the South Pacific and rose to the rank of lieutenant before returning to baseball in 1946 at the age of 22.
From 1950 to 1954, Rosen averaged 31 home runs and 114 RBIs per season, leading the American League twice in home runs, twice in RBIs and twice in total bases. His best season was 1953, when he hit 43 home runs, 145 RBIs, 115 runs scored and 367 total bases.
In 1954, Rosen’s car was rear-ended, leaving him with whiplash and chronic back pain. “He was never the same player, though he did make one more All-Star team and hit another 21 home runs in 1955,” reports SI.com. Rosen retired at 32.
In 1978 he became President/CEO of the Yankees, then the Astros (1980–85), then president and general manager of the Giants (1985–92), whom he brought 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.
He is survived by his second wife, three sons, two step-children, four grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.