Marv Rotblatt

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=Marv Rotblatt

|position=Pitcher

| image= Marv Rotblatt.jpg

| image_size= 175px

|bats=Switch

|throws=Left

|birth_date={{Birth date|1927|10|18}}

|birth_place=Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

|death_date={{Death date and age|2013|7|16|1927|10|18}}

|death_place=Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

|debutleague = MLB

|debutdate=July 4

|debutyear=1948

|debutteam=Chicago White Sox

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate=July 22

|finalyear=1951

|finalteam=Chicago White Sox

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Win–loss record

|stat1value=4–3

|stat2label=Earned run average

|stat2value=4.82

|stat3label=Strikeouts

|stat3value=30

|teams=

Chicago White Sox ({{mlby|1948}}, {{mlby|1950}}–{{mlby|1951}})

}}

Marvin Rotblatt (October 18, 1927 – July 16, 2013), nicknamed "Rotty", was a left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball for the Chicago White Sox in the {{Baseball year|1948}}, {{Baseball year|1950}} and {{Baseball year|1951}} seasons. His ERAs in 1948 (7.85) and 1950 (6.23) were the highest in the majors.{{cite web|author=Marvin Rotblatt |url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/chicagotribune/obituary.aspx?n=marvin-rotblatt&pid=165972510&fhid=2000#fbLoggedOut |title=Marvin Rotblatt Obituary: View Marvin Rotblatt's Obituary by Chicago Tribune |publisher=Legacy.com |date= |accessdate=2013-07-21}} He failed to get a base hit in fifteen career at-bats.

Biography

Rotblatt was born in Chicago, where his father, a Jewish immigrant from Poland, owned a lamp business.{{cite web|url=http://www.jstandard.com/content/item/making_it_to_the_majors/20581 |title=Making it to the majors – The Jewish Standard |publisher=Jstandard.com |date= |accessdate=2013-07-21}} He was Jewish.{{cite journal |title=Big League Jews|journal=Jewish Sports Review |date=January–February 2020 |volume=12 |issue=137 |page=20}}

He attended Von Steuben High School in Chicago.{{cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rotblma01.shtml |title=Marv Rotblatt Stats |publisher=Baseball-Reference.com |date= |accessdate=2020-02-05}} Before playing professional baseball, Rotblatt played for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The 1947–48 team won the Big Nine Championship.

His minor league Southern Association record included a season-high 202 strikeouts and a no-hitter.

Listed at {{convert|5|ft|7|in}} 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, the television quiz show hosted by Groucho Marx, after being selected at an audition over his pitching teammate Bob Cain, who knew something about short players. While pitching for the 1951 Detroit Tigers, Cain walked Eddie Gaedel, a {{convert|3|ft|6|in|abbr=on}} pinch hitter signed by St. Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck, also a showman who enjoyed staging publicity stunts.[https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/23/sports/baseball/marv-rotblatt-pitcher-celebrated-through-softball-marathon-dies-at-85.html New York Times – Marv Rotblatt, Pitcher Celebrated Through Softball Marathon, Dies at 85]

In 1964, students at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota named an intramural slow-pitch softball 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.{{cite web|url=http://apps.carleton.edu/admissions/activities/rotblatt/ |title=Carleton College: Admissions: Rotblatt |publisher=Apps.carleton.edu |date=2012-01-23 |accessdate=2013-07-21}}