Damn Yankees by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Damn Yankees

Page 97

At the plate, the Indians were solid. Rosen began the year in crackerjack style to rival his MVP performance of the year before. But then he busted a finger on defense, and playing hurt the rest of the year, his numbers were tempered to a still very respectable .300 batting average with 24 homers and 102 runs batted in. Second baseman Bobby Avila, battling stomach ulcers all year, managed to lead the league in hitting at .341. Larry Doby avoided any injury bugs and led the AL with 32 homers and 126 RBIs. A key mid-season trade brought over Vic Wertz, struggling with the lowly Baltimore Orioles; but revived in a winning atmosphere at Cleveland, clubbing 14 homers with 48 RBIs in 94 games.

Not since the reckless Pete Reiser had baseball seen greatness suddenly lost until Al Rosen. The year before, he had come within a single batting point of winning the hitter’s triple

crown, and was eerily in the same exact position in late May when he mishandled a grounder that fractured his finger. Playing on rather than allowing the finger to heal, Rosen would never be the same player again, retiring two years later.

Of New York City’s three major league ball clubs, little promise was afforded that it would be the Giants, not the Yankees or

Dodgers, who would be still standing at World Series time.