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August 6, 1999/24 Av 5759, Vol. 51, No.44
Jews return to baseball, in uniform
TAMI BICKLEY
Staff Writer
Ask just about anyone to name a Jewish baseball player, and you're likely to hear the name Sandy Koufax, one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history.
Koufax, a pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, was an observant Jew who always refused to play baseball on Yom Kippur. When the 1965 World Series game between the Dodgers and the Minnesota Twins fell on the Day of Atonement, the Dodgers found themselves without their star pitcher - and the Dodgers lost 8-2.
Not surprisingly, Koufax was jeered by angry baseball fans and even faced an anti-Semitic column in a Minnesota newspaper the next morning. Eventually, his non-Jewish fans forgave him, and after his tremendous career was cut short by injury, he was elected into the Hall of Fame in 1972. But Jews never forgot his respect for their holiest day of the year.
The integration of Jews into America's pastime didn't begin with Koufax, though.
Actually, some historians consider Lipman Pike - a Jew who toiled for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1866 - to be the first paid, and therefore professional, baseball player in history. Then there was Moses Solomon, dubbed the "Jewish Babe Ruth" in the early 1920s. And a slugger named Hank Greenberg, long before Koufax, refused to play in a 1934 World Series game that fell on Yom Kippur. He led the American League in homers four times in a decade, eventually ending up in the Hall of Fame.
No, the celebration of baseball and Jews didn't begin with Koufax, but for a while it seemed to end there. That is all changing, however. We may be looking at a renaissance period for Jews in baseball.
Two Jewish players - Toronto Blue Jays star Shawn Green and Detroit Tigers catcher Brad Ausmus - were selected to play in the 1999 All-Star Game in Boston, which took place last month. For a while, there was rampant speculation that the number of Jews playing in the All-Star Game was actually three, until Philadelphia catcher Mike Lieberthal insisted he is not Jewish.
There also was speculation earlier this season over the implications of the Tigers' batting order. Some wondered whether Ausmus and Gabe Kapler - a Jewish rookie sensation - were the first Jews to ever bat in successive spots in the lineup. The answer was no. Norm Sherry and Sandy Koufax of the Dodgers batted eighth and ninth, respectivley, in a lineup in the '60s. But nevertheless, the discussion proves the point - in baseball, Jews are making news.
Part of this is no doubt due to the sudden crop of Jewish players. Historically, Jews were sporadic within the sport - one in one season, maybe two in another. Now, we have Green, Ausmus, Kapler, Al Levine and Scott Schoenweis, both of the Anaheim Angels, and Keith Glauber of the Cincinnati Reds.
In addition, there are at least five Jewish baseball players in the minor leagues, including Lance Berkman, who was recently selected by the Houston Astros as their No. 1 draft pick.
Never have so many Jewish baseball players emerged from the dugout in a single season. And for that reason, these players are finding that they are not only being noted for their earned run averages (ERAs) and batting averages, but also for their religion.
In a way, it's rather absurd, especially since none of the current Jewish baseball players are following in Greenberg's and Koufax's cleats, in that they all play on Shabbat and high holidays.
On the other hand, Jews should be flattered that the emerging Jewish baseball players - talented ones at that - are receiving so much attention, not just because they are good, but because they are Jewish.
It has been a long-standing joke that Jews own the baseball teams, rather than play for them. But slowly, the perception is changing. (The current list of Jewish owners now includes Jerry Reinsdorf, owner of the Chicago White Sox; Bud Selig, owner of the Milwaukee Brewers and commissioner of baseball; and Richard Jacobs, owner of the Cleveland Indians.)
While baseball's early days were lightly peppered with ace players who happened to be Jewish, today's teams are witnessing a slow, but steady rise in the number of Jews taking the field. This small, but promising influx can open the dugout door to a larger group of people.
The myth that Jews make great fans but lousy athletes will eventually flatten like a pancake as more and more Jewish youth, intrigued by Kapler, Ausmus or Green, pitch and hit and catch all the way to the pros. More young people, who in the past may never have pressed forward with their baseball desires for fear of being labeled poor athletes, may give the sport a serious try.
Then baseball will really be America's pastime.
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