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Saul Walter Rogovin (March 24, 1922 – January 23, 1995) was an American professional baseball player.

Rogovin was a pitcher over parts of 8 seasons (1949–57), with the Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, and Philadelphia Phillies. In 1951, he led the American League with a 2.78 ERA. For his major league career, he compiled a 48–48 record in 150 appearances, with a 4.06 ERA, 10 shutouts, and 388 strikeouts.[1]

Early and personal life

Rogovin was born in Brooklyn, New York, and was Jewish.[2] His parents were Jacob and Bessie Rogovin.[3]

He played infielder at Abraham Lincoln High School. He tried out for the Dodgers, but was not signed.[4]

He married Doreen Lipsit at Rodeph Shalom in New York on January 30, 1955.[3]

Minor league career

Rogovin played Class D ball in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania for the Beaver Falls Bees for $60 a month in 1941.[5] Umpire Dolly Stark saw Rogovin play for a corporate team in 1941 and got him a tryout with the Giants.[3] He played for a short time with their Jersey City Giants affiliate in Jersey City before his contract was sold to the Chattanooga Lookouts.[3] It was their coach, Red Lucas, who put Rogovin in as a pitcher.[3] He pitched a shutout game against the Birmingham Barons to close the 1945 season.[3] He also played for the Pensacola Fliers and Buffalo Bisons (for whom he was 13-7 in 1948, and 16-6 in 1949).[4][6]

Major league career

Before the 1944 season, Rogovin signed as a free agent with the Washington Senators.

Prior to the start of the 1947 season, he was sent by the Senators to the Detroit Tigers.[7] He made his debut in April 1949 at the age of 27.[2]

During spring training in 1950, he began to experience some soreness in his pitching arm. That year Rogovin was 2–1 with a 4.50 ERA while pitching in 11 games.[4] He hit a grand slam off Eddie Lopat of the New York Yankees.[8] The next grand slam by a Jewish pitcher was not hit until Jason Marquis hit one in 2008.[9]

On May 15, 1951, he was traded by the Tigers to the Chicago White Sox for Bob Cain.[10] He led the American League with a 2.78 ERA in 1951, while playing for Detroit and Chicago.[11] He was 4th in the league in hits allowed per 9 IP (7.85), and 5th in complete games (17) and shutouts (3).[2] He had 12 wins and eight losses that year, with seven losses by one run and one by two runs.[3] He at times fell asleep on the bench; according to a later article in The Washington Post, he suffered from a sleep disorder.[3]

In 1952 he was 14-9 and had a .609 win–loss percentage and struck out 14 Red Sox players in a 15-inning game.[11][12] He was 7th in the league in innings (231.7; a career high), 8th in shutouts (3), 9th in games started (30) and wins (14), and 10th in strikeouts (121).[2] He came in 27th in MVP voting.[2]

On December 10, 1953, he was traded by the White Sox with Rocky Krsnich and Connie Ryan to the Cincinnati Reds for Willard Marshall.[1] In 1954, he pitched for the Havana Sugar Kings, going 8-8 with a 3.71 ERA.[6] In December 1954 he was sent from the Cincinnati Redlegs to the Baltimore Orioles.[10]

On July 9, 1955, he was released by the Orioles and signed as a free agent with the Philadelphia Phillies, where he had an ERA of 3.08 and a 5–3 win–loss record.[4] Rogovin said: "Somebody cracked that I now throw with three speeds 'slow, slower and stop.' But who cares, as long as I'm winning? They can have the fastball."[3] He played his last major league game in June 1957, at 35 years of age, retiring due to a sore arm.[2][12]

Through 2010, he was 10th all-time in career wins (directly behind Larry Sherry) among Jewish major league baseball players.[13]

After baseball

After baseball, Rogovin became a liquor salesman.[3] He said "Being out of baseball hurt me inside, hurt me so bad that I couldn't go to a game for years. I wanted to go visit my old team, keep up my baseball contacts, but I couldn't."[3]

He then decided to resume the college studies he had begun more than 30 years earlier.[12] He was 51 years old when he started studying for a degree in Education at Manhattan Community College. Upon his submission of his application to Manhattan Community College, he was told by a dean that, regardless of his age, he would be required to take a physical education course.[12][3] In response, he pulled out a bubble-gum card with his picture on it, and asked if his Major League career would fulfill the physical education requirement.[12][3] The dean decided that would be fine.[12][3]

He transferred to and graduated from City College, with a degree in English literature.[12][3]

He then began teaching English and literature in the New York City high schools at age 56.[12] He taught first at Hughes High School in New York, and then at Eastern District High School in Brooklyn the last eight years of his teaching career.[3][12][11]

He died on January 23, 1995, at the age of 71 from bone cancer, and is buried at Beth David Cemetery in Elmont, New York.[3][2][12]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Saul Rogovin Statistics". The Baseball Cube. Retrieved May 30, 2007.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Saul Rogovin Stats | Baseball-Reference.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Saul Rogovin | Society for American Baseball Research
  4. ^ a b c d Saul Rogovin at the SABR Baseball Biography Project , by Ralph Berger, Retrieved May 30, 2007.
  5. ^ Ribalow, Harold. "Jewish Baseball Stars: Saul Ribalow, Power Pitcher". Retrieved May 30, 2007.
  6. ^ a b Saul Rogovin Minor Leagues Statistics & History | Baseball-Reference.com
  7. ^ Ribalow, Harold. "Jewish Baseball Stars: Saul Ribalow, Power Pitcher". Retrieved May 30, 2007.
  8. ^ "Plenty of highlights for Jewish Major Leaguers in '08". New Jersey Jewish News. October 9, 2008. Retrieved May 22, 2009.
  9. ^ Carrie Muskat. "Marquis simply grand in win over Mets". Chicago.cubs.mlb.com. Archived from the original on September 26, 2008. Retrieved February 1, 2011.
  10. ^ a b "Saul Rogovin Statistics". Sports Reference, Inc. Retrieved May 30, 2007.
  11. ^ a b c "Jewish Sports Hall of Fame: Saul Rogovin". Suffolk Y JCC. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Saul Rogovin, 71, A Former Pitcher - The New York Times
  13. ^ "Career Pitching Leaders". Career Leaders. Jewish Major Leaguers. Retrieved February 10, 2011.

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