Emerson Roser dies at 84; played with Yankees in 1940s
Originally published Feb. 01, 2002

By ANNE DELANEY
Observer-Dispatch

NEW HARTFORD — Emerson Roser hadn’t played for the New York Yankees since 1946, but the Rome native and former pitcher was known to baseball fans right up to his death Friday at the age of 84.

Roser was as pleased with the letters and autograph requests as he was with his three-year Major Leauge career with the Yankees and Boston Braves, said his daughter, Linda Roser of New Hartford.

“Three or four times a month he was getting letters asking for autographs from people of all sorts of ages,” Roser said. “He got a kick out of the letters. Usually it was asking him to sign an index card. Some people sent pictures that they had gotten. He was fortunate.”

Upon his election to the Greater Utica Sports Hall of Fame in 1996, Roser, who played basketball and baseball at Rome Free Academy, talked about being a member of baseball’s most storied franchise in a story that appeared in the Observer-Dispatch.

“They treated you very well, that’s for sure,” he said. “I’m very proud to be a Yankee.”

He considered his manager at the time — Hall of Famer Joe McCarthy — to be the “greatest” and Linda Roser remembered a story about McCarthy that stayed with her father because of the pride the manager demanded from his players.

Once in Chicago, Roser and two teammates were standing outside a hotel with their suit jackets off when McCarthy got out of a cab.

“He said, ‘I thought the Yankees were staying here,’” Linda Roser recalled. “They said, ‘Yes, they are.’ McCarthy said that couldn’t be because the players were not dressed like Yankees. They wouldn’t be walking around without their suitcoats on.”

He finished his 45-game major league career with a 6-5 record, a 4.04 earned run average, 64 strikeouts and 64 walks in 149.1 innings.

His career was remembered by Phil Spartano, a former sports editor of the Utica Daily Press.

“He was an excellent athlete,” Spartano said. “He threw hard. He was a great guy, and he was never really tested in the big leagues. He never reached the plateau, got the big break. I think if he did, he would have done well.”

After his playing career ended because of an elbow injury, Roser and his wife, Betty, who died in 1999, returned to the area and ran a sporting goods business and later the Burrstone Restaurant in Utica.

He was also a member of the Rome, Clarkson and SUNY Utica/Rome Halls of Fame. Those honors meant as much to him as playing for the Yankees, his daughter said.

“He was very pleased with all of them,” Linda Roser said. “He got us there early, even before the committee. He wanted to be on time.”

<< Back to the Mohawk Valley Hall of Fame