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September 14, 2001/Elul 26, 5761, Vol. 54, No. 1
L.A.'s star player skips Yom Kippur game
JOE ESKENAZI
Jewish Bulletin of Northern California
SAN FRANCISCO - The Los Angeles Dodgers' Shawn Green possesses the Major League's longest current streak of consecutive games played, with 406 prior to Monday night's game at San Diego. Yet that streak will come to an end on Sept. 26, as the power-hitting outfielder announced he will not suit up on Yom Kippur to take on the arch-rival San Francisco Giants.
Green, easily the best and most well-known Jewish player in Major League Baseball, entered the week batting .300 with 46 home runs, 116 runs batted in, 108 runs scored and 18 stolen bases. Now in his second season with the Dodgers after bursting into prominence with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1998, the former All-Star and Gold Glove-winning outfielder also possesses a strong and accurate left arm.
Green serves as a spokesman for the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, promoting KOREH L.A.: The Los Angeles Jewish Coalition for Literacy. By sitting out on Yom Kippur, he will be missing a potentially critical game against the Giants. The Dodgers are embroiled in baseball's tightest pennant races, closely trailing the Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West, and the Giants, Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Wild Card race.
"It's something I feel is an important thing to do," Green told the New York Times, "partly as a representative of the Jewish community, and as far as my being a role model in sports for Jewish kids, to basically say that baseball, or anything, isn't bigger than your religion and your roots."
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