"The dreaded Irving", remarked David Frith, before adding, " but he was a scholar just about unparalleled".... Mayukh Ghosh remembers a rare breed, a cricket writer with extraordinary rigour for facts and figures.
Early 2000s.
A cricket auction in London.
A 70-year old man wandering down the corridors crying out at the top of his voice that some of his limited edition pamphlets had just fetched world record prices for a living cricket author.
This man possessed the most amazing collection of books.
When he was asked what would happen to his collection after his death, he snorted, " I shall burn it."
Thank goodness that didn't happen.
It weighed four tonnes.
Bookseller Christopher Saunders was relied upon by his sister to sell it.
In 1949, a letter was sent to the editor of 'The Cricketer'. It was written by a 17-year old named Irving Rosenwater.
"Allow me to correct an error which appears in the current issue of your fine paper......"
A year later, there was another letter:
"May I be permitted to point out one or two omissions which have occurred in the recent publication of minor counties records....."
His first article was published in 1956.
The Hazards of Cricket describing injuries suffered by cricketers, cricket people and even spectators.
In 1960 he was commissioned to write a regular feature: "Feats, Facts and Figures".
Then , a few years later, he joined Rowland Bowen's camp and contributed to The Cricket Quarterly.
The friendship between two of the most eccentric cricket people lasted only a few months.
Years later, Rosenwater wrote in a letter to Murray Hedgcock, " I have written 10,000 words on Bowen which have lain idle - deliberately idle, for it would be damaging for any writer to publish an appraisal of that man"
Rosenwater was the finest statistician and historian ( rare to have both qualities in one man) of his day. He worked for the BBC till he opted to work for Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket.
He flew with teams from city to city till being banned by the airline for a rather shameful incident involving an air-hostess.
In the 1980s, he stopped making frequent public appearances and decided to only reply to correspondences sent to him by first-class mail!
In 1968, Rosenwater became the first historian to unearth the second innings batting order of all English and Australian teams that played against each other.
And ten years later, he wrote the definitive book on Bradman.
The man is largely forgotten.
And he deserves a biography.
Irving Rosenwater was born on Sep 11, 1932.