Mose Solomon
American baseball player (1900-1966)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mose Hirsch Solomon, nicknamed the Rabbi of Swat (December 8, 1900 – June 25, 1966) was an American left-handed baseball player. In 1923, he hit 49 home runs in the minors, a new minor league record. He briefly played for the New York Giants in Major League Baseball in 1923.
| Mose Solomon | |
|---|---|
Mose Solomon in a photograph from the Indianapolis Times (19 Sept. 1923). | |
| Outfielder | |
| Born: December 8, 1900 New York, New York | |
| Died: June 25, 1966 (aged 65) Miami, Florida | |
Batted: Left Threw: Left | |
| Professional debut | |
| MiLB: 1921, for the Vancouver Beavers | |
| MLB: September 30, 1923, for the New York Giants | |
| Last appearance | |
| MiLB: 1929, for the Canton Terriers | |
| MLB: October 7, 1923, for the New York Giants | |
| MiLB statistics | |
| Games | 606 |
| Batting average | .320 |
| Home runs | 71 |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .375 |
| Home runs | 0 |
| Runs batted in | 1 |
| Stats at Baseball Reference | |
| Teams | |
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| Career highlights and awards | |
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Early and personal life
Solomon, who was Jewish, was born on Hester Street on the Lower East Side in New York City.[1][2] His parents were Benjamin (born in Russia; a peddler and junk dealer) and Anna (Hertz) Solomon (born in Austria), and were observant Jews.[3][4][2][5] While Solomon was young, the family moved to Columbus, Ohio.[2] His childhood nickname was "Hickory". He attended Columbus Commerce High School, where he was All-City in baseball and football.[6] His brother became an Ohio champion boxer, fighting under the name Henry Sully.[2][7]
He became a professional football player, playing as a ringer with Jim Thorpe on the Carlisle Indian School team.[2]
Solomon married the former Gertrude Nachmanovitz.[7] They moved to Miami, Florida, where Solomon became a building contractor.[7] Solomon died there on June 25, 1966, of heart failure.[4][7]
Minor leagues
Prior to major league career
Solomon began his professional career with the Vancouver Beavers of the Pacific Coast International League in 1921.[2] He hit .313 with 13 home runs in 115 games, batting left-handed and playing first base and outfield.[1][7] In 1922, he playing again with Vancouver, and then with the Tacoma Tigers.[2]
In 1923 Solomon hit 49 home runs (a new minor league record, breaking the old minor league record of 45 set in 1895) in 108 games for the Class C Southwestern League Hutchinson Wheat Shockers in Kansas.[5][7][8] He also had a .421 batting average, leading the league, while he played primarily first base and right field.[5][7] In 527 at bats, he also led the league in runs, hits (222), doubles (40), total bases (439), and slugging percentage (.833), and had 15 triples.[1][8][2][9]
After major league career
From 1924 to 1928, Solomon again played in the minor leagues, never advancing past class AA. He batted over .300 with a number of teams,[7] "but a broken collarbone suffered in a football game in 1924 made it difficult for him to pull the ball, and he never again hit more than seven home runs in a season."[10] In 1924 he played for the Toledo Mud Hens, Bridgeport Bears, Waterbury Brasscos, and Pittsfield Hillies, in 1925 he played for Toledo again, the Hartford Senators, and the Albany Senators.[11] He then played for Albany in 1926-28, and for the Canton Terriers in his last year in 1929, at 28 years of age.[11]
Major leagues
In September 1923 the New York Giants bought out his contract, and signed the muscular 22-year-old Solomon to a major league contract.[1][12] The Sporting News ran the headline that Giants scout "Dick Kinsella Finds That $100,000 Jew".[13] Due to antisemitic remarks about Solomon being Jewish, he had been in a number of fights in the minor leagues.[7][12] Dick Kinsella observed that: "In every case Solomon has won the fight."[7]
The New York Giants had been looking for a star Jewish player to attract fans the way Babe Ruth did for the New York Yankees.[14] With a great deal of publicity, team manager John McGraw introduced Solomon to the press as the "Rabbi of Swat".[5] The press accordingly nicknamed the native New Yorker that, as well as "the Jewish Babe Ruth".[1][8] Manager McGraw told the press "We appreciate that many of the fans in New York are Jews, and we have been trying to land a prospect of Jewish blood."[12] He became the most talked-about player on the team, and attendance shot up.[7][12]
Solomon made his major league debut in right field at the Polo Grounds on September 30, 1923.[12] He drove in the game-winning run in the 10th inning to give the Giants a walk-off victory.[7][12] However, Solomon's batting skills could not compensate for his poor fielding average of only .833 (one error out of six plays), and McGraw kept him languishing on the team's bench.[5] At the plate, Solomon had a .375 batting average (three-for-eight, with one double and one RBI) in his two major league games.[4][7] He was sold by the Giants after the 1923 season, to Toledo of the minor league American Association.[7][12]
Years later, an article in Sports Illustrated noted: "He was a designated hitter, born 73 years too soon.[10]