On this day in 1909, Harry Rosenberg was born in San

Francisco, CA  

• Debut July 15, 1930

 

• Final Game September 20, 1930

 

• Born June 22, 1909 in San Francisco, CA

 

• Died April 13, 1997 in San Mateo, CA

 

While working as a shovel operator in San Francisco, in 1930,

he tried out for the San Francisco Missions and made the

club, continuing to work his job in construction in the

mornings.

 

His first year, Rosenberg displayed superb range in center

field and hit .368, sixth in the Pacific Coast League. John

McGraw scouted Harry and was impressed. The New York

Giants purchased Rosenberg’s contract for $35,000-50,000.

He initially refused to sign, unless he got a $5,000 bonus, but

eventually he joined New York without a bonus.

 

As with other Jewish players signed by McGraw, there was a

lot of publicity in New York, but Rosenberg only played in nine

games and got five at-bats. After walking in his first plate

appearance, he never got another walk or a hit, but he did

score a run.

 

Rosenberg would not return to the majors. In 1931 he played

for the Newark Bears, hitting .284, then with the Bridgeport

Bees (.329) and the Indianapolis Indians (.330) to complete a

busy year. In 1932, Rosenberg hit .318 for the Indians,

then .281 the next season. He also appeared for the Fort

Worth Cats (.325) in ’33. With Indianapolis full-time in 1934,

Harry batted .329. He returned to the PCL to stay in 1935

when he signed with the Sacramento Solons and posted

a .354 average, around 8th in the league. Back with the

Missions in ’36 and ’37, Harry hit .334 and .330; he was

fourth in the Coast League in the latter campaign.

 

In 1938, Rosenberg hit .320 for the Portland Beavers, then

followed that with years of .331 and .314 for the club. Moving

to the Hollywood Stars in 1941, Harry had a .286 average,

his first full season with a team in which he hit under .300.

After not playing in 1942, he finished his career by

batting .362 for the 1943 San Francisco Seals.

 

I’m pretty sure that these guys will have a longer career than

Harry, so let’s see how they did on Sunday, June 21.  

 

Brad Ausmus, C – Los Angeles Dodgers

Brad went 0-for-2 with a strikeout and 2 sacrifice bunts in the

Dodgers victory over the Angels.  He lowered his average

to .302. 

  

Ryan Braun, OF, 3B – Milwaukee Brewers

Ryan had a rare bad day at the plate went 0-for-4 in the

Brewers loss to the Tigers and lowered his average to .320.

   

Craig Breslow, P – Oakland A’s

Craig pitched 2/3 of an inning but allowed a single to Tony

Gwynn, Jr., who scored on Kevin Kouzmanoff’s 2-run homer

in the 8th inning of the the A’s loss to Padres. He raised

his ERA to 4.72.

 

Scott Feldman, P – Texas Rangers

Scott didn’t pitch in the Rangers loss to the Giants.                  

 

John Grabow, P, Pittsburgh Pirates

John didn’t pitch in the Pirates loss to the Rockies.   

                   

Gabe Kapler, OF – Tampa Bay Rays

Gabe entered the Rays victory against the Mets as a pinch

hitter for Gabe Gross in the 7th inning and hit a double to

drive in a run and the next inning he hit a sacrifice fly to drive

in another run. Nice work!!  Gabe raised his batting average

to .237.  He also earned a pastrami sandwich from Katz’s

Deli. 

                                    

 

Ian Kinsler, 2B – Texas Rangers

Ian went 0-for-2, walked twice and was doubled

up on first in the Rangers loss to the Giants. His

average is now .267. 

 

Jason Marquis, P – Colorado Rockies

Jason didn’t pitch in the Rockies win over the Pirates.  

 

Aaron Poreda, P – Chicago White Sox

Aaron didn’t pitch in the ChiSox win over the Reds.

 

Scott Schoeneweis, P – Arizona Diamondbacks

Scott pitched to one Mariners’s batter, 1B Mike Carp, who

got a hit and came around to score later in the inning, but of

course he was charged with the earned run because that is

how baseball works. Thus, his ERA rose to 3.75.    

           

Kevin Youkilis, 1B, 3B – Boston Red Sox

Youk, playing third, went 1-for-4, singled,

reached on an error, scored a run and was

caught stealing in the BoSox victory over the

Braves.  He lowered his average to .316.

 

                   

Macher (Big Shot) of the Day  –  Gabe Kapler