The New York Times ran an obituary of former Illini pitcher Marv Rotblatt who passed away on July 16th at the age of 85. An Evanston native, Rotblatt played for the Illini in the late forties winning the championship in 1947 and 1948.
Rotblatt did make it to the majors but his career was short. He played for the White Sox from 1948 to 1951. At 5’6", he was one of baseball’s shortest pitchers.
A son of a Jewish immigrant, his idol as a boy was fittingly, Detroit Tiger Hank Greenberg.
Interestingly, Rotblatt had the honor of having the Carleton College annual softball event named after him.
From his obit:
Carleton students played a 100-inning, one-day, nine-hour softball game they christened Rotblatt in the spring of 1967, to mark the 100th anniversary of the arrival on campus of the college’s first class. The game was an outgrowth of the intramural Marvin J. Rotblatt Memorial Softball League — named, according to college lore, by a student who had a vintage Rotblatt bubble gum trading card.
Each year since 1967, students at Carleton, located in Northfield, about 40 miles south of Minneapolis, have added an inning to their marathon Rotblatt, which begins at dawn, somehow is completed by nightfall, and at last count amounted to a 147-inning game. Players hit and field using one hand; they are required to hold a cup, with beer a preferred libation, in the other. Student bands serenade the players.
RIP, Mr Rotblatt.
![[photo credit]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Marv_Rotblatt.jpg){kind=link}