When Al Rosen nearly won the triple crown: former Indians third baseman led American League with 43 homers and 145 RBI, but finished second in batting race with .336 average in 1953. (Close But No Cigar).

NO CLEVELAND BASEBALL PLAYER has ever won the American League Triple Crown--leading the league in home runs, runs batted in and batting average in the same season.

Third baseman Al Rosen came closest. In 1953, he won the league homer title with 43 and the RBI crown with 145. His batting average of .336 was a percentage point behind Washington's Mickey Vernon, with the race determined on Rosen's final at-bat of the season.

Some gamesmanship was involved on the part of both teams as Vernon won out.

The game itself meant nothing. New York had already wrapped up the pennant. The Indians had clinched second place.

The big story was Rosen's Triple Crown bid. The muscular 175-pound slugger, who had his sleeves cut short, trailed Vernon by three points, .336 to .333, entering the season's final game at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium against Detroit, Manager Al Lopez moved Rosen up from his usual cleanup spot to leadoff to give him every possible chance to hit.

"I was leading most of the season," recalled Vernon, 83, from his Pennsylvania home. "But Al got hot and started getting two or three hits in nearly every game for the last two weeks."

The Indians kept the crowd of 9,579 informed of Vernon's adventures-in his game against Philadelphia, announcing what he did in each trip to the plate. Vernon, an excellent hitter who had won the 1946 batting title with a .353 mark, rapped two singles in four at-bats against Joe Coleman, including a bunt.