Marvin Rotblatt (October 18, 1927 – July 16, 2013), nicknamed "Rotty", was a

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subject ...

pitcher in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

for the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

in the , and seasons. His ERAs in 1948 (7.85) and 1950 (6.23) were the highest in the majors. He failed to get a base hit in fifteen career at-bats.

Biography

Rotblatt was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, where his father, a Jewish immigrant from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

, owned a lamp business. He was

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. He attended

Von Steuben High School Von Steuben Metropolitan High School (also known as Von Steuben Metropolitan Science High School) is a public 4–year magnet high school located on the border of the North Park and Albany Park neighborhoods on the north side of Chicago, Illinois ...

in Chicago. Before playing professional baseball, Rotblatt played for the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Uni ...

. The 1947-48 team won the Big Nine Championship. His

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in N ...

Southern Association The Southern Association was a higher-level minor league in American organized baseball from 1901 through 1961. For most of its existence, the Southern Association was two steps below the Major Leagues; it was graded Class A (1902–1935), ...

record included a season-high 202 strikeouts and a

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher w ...

. Listed at tall, Rotblatt has been considered one of the shortest pitchers in Major League history. As a result, in 1951 he appeared on ''

You Bet Your Life ''You Bet Your Life'' is an American comedy Game show, quiz series that has aired on both radio and television. The original and best-known version was hosted by Groucho Marx of the Marx Brothers, with announcer and assistant George Fenneman. Th ...

'', the television quiz show hosted by Groucho Marx, after being selected at an audition over his pitching teammate

Bob Cain Robert Max "Sugar" Cain (October 16, 1924 – April 8, 1997) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher with the Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Browns between 1949 and 1954. He batted and threw left-handed. Cain was the p ...

, who knew something about short players. While pitching for the 1951

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

, Cain walked Eddie Gaedel, a

pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute. Unlike basketball, American ...

signed by St. Louis Browns owner

Bill Veeck William Louis Veeck Jr. ( ; February 9, 1914 – January 2, 1986), also known as "Sport Shirt Bill", was an American Major League Baseball franchise owner and promoter. Veeck was at various times the owner of the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis ...

, also a showman who enjoyed staging publicity stunts. In 1964, students at

Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. Founded in 1866, it had 2,105 undergraduate students and 269 faculty members in fall 2016. The 200-acre main campus is between Northfield and the 800-acre Cowlin ...

Northfield, Minnesota Northfield is a city in Dakota and Rice counties in the State of Minnesota. It is mostly in Rice County, with a small portion in Dakota County. The population was 20,790 at the 2020 census. History Northfield was platted in 1856 by John W. ...

named an intramural slow-pitch

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

league after Rotblatt. Although traditional intramural softball is still played at Carleton, the name ''Rotblatt'' now refers to an annual beer softball game that is played with one inning for every year of the school's over 150-year existence.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rotblatt, Marv 1927 births 2013 deaths American expatriate baseball players in Mexico American people of Polish-Jewish descent Atlanta Crackers players Baseball players from Chicago Charleston Senators players Chicago White Sox players Jewish American baseball players Jewish Major League Baseball players Little Rock Travelers players Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Major League Baseball pitchers Memphis Chickasaws players Mexican League baseball pitchers Montgomery Rebels players Sacramento Solons players Sultanes de Monterrey players Syracuse Chiefs players Topeka Hawks players Tulsa Oilers (baseball) players Waterloo White Hawks players 21st-century American Jews