Candle lighting time is 7:50. Sabbath services start at 9:30

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Douglas Benson
5 years ago
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1 Candle lighting time is 7:50 Sabbath services start at 9:30

In 1907, Harvard president Charles Elliot said, Jews are definitely inferior in stature and physical development.

2 What do Danny Kravitz, Hank Greenberg, John Grabow, and Ike Davis have in common? They are all Jews who played for the Pirates There is a long standing stereotype that says that Jews can t play sports, that they have brains, but no brawn. In 1907, Harvard president Charles Elliot said, Jews are definitely inferior in stature and physical development. A 1998 New York Times article referred to, that reputedly rare species the Jewish athlete. Well, last week I was watching the Bucs play the Tigers at PNC Park, and there, on the Tigers bench, sat Manager Brad Ausmus, a Jew, and out at second base was an All Star by the name of Ian Kinsler, another Jew. And one of the greatest sluggers of all time, a former Tiger, and later in his career a Pittsburgh Pirate, Hank Greenberg, was also a Jew. Current Jewish players in MLB also include Ryan Braun of the Brewers, Ike Davis of the A s, Scott Feldman of the Astros, Jason Marquis of the Reds, Craig Breslow of the Red Sox, Jason Kipnis of the Indians, Danny Valencia of the Blue Jays, Sam Fuld of the A s, Ryan Lavarnway of the Orioles, and Joc Pederson of the Dodgers. So who were the best Jewish players ever? Let s start with Sandy Koufax, perhaps the best left handed pitcher of all time. How good was Koufax? Well, the fans who voted in Baseball s balloting for the All Century Team picked Koufax as the top lefthander of the century, trailing only Nolan Ryan in the overall voting for pitchers.

3 Or how about this quote from Pirates Hall of Famer Willie Stargell who said, Hitting against Koufax is like drinking coffee with a fork. Sandy Koufax was only 19-years-old when he first arrived in the major leagues in A Brooklyn native playing for the hometown Dodgers, Koufax had an excellent fastball and a wicked curve, but in the early years of his career, he was known as much for his wildness and inconsistency as he was for his great potential. It was not until Dodger s backup catcher Norm Sherry, who was also Jewish, discovered a correctable flaw in Koufax s pitching mechanics that Koufax began his ascent to greatness in Over the next five seasons, Koufax simply dominated the game of baseball. From 1961 through 1966, Koufax won 129 games while losing only 47. He led the league in ERA five times, in strikeouts four times, and his 382 strikeouts in 1965 is still the National League record. Koufax won three Cy Young Awards at a time when the award honored the best pitcher in all of baseball, not just in a single league as it does today. He was the National League Most Valuable Player in He pitched four no-hitters, including a perfect game in 1965, a year in which he went 26 8, and was named World Series MVP for the second time after shutting out Minnesota twice in the Fall Classic. And he was true to his religion as well, refusing to pitch the opening game of the 1965 World Series, which fell on Yom Kippur, but instead spending the day in the synagogue. Unfortunately, arthritis in his pitching elbow forced an early end to Koufax s career, and he was forced to retire at the end of the 1966 season. In 1972, Koufax was elected to the baseball Hall of Fame. At age 36, he was the youngest player ever to be inducted.

Greenberg was the subject of vicious anti-semitism during his career and there are many who believe that Greenberg was frequently intentionally walked late in the season to prevent him from breaking

4 Hank Greenberg, was not the first Jewish player in MLB history but he was the first Jewish superstar. the Hall of Fame first baseman challenged Babe Ruth s magical record of 60 home runs when he hit 58 in Greenberg was the subject of vicious anti-semitism during his career and there are many who believe that Greenberg was frequently intentionally walked late in the season to prevent him from breaking Ruth's record. Greenberg refused to link the walks to an anti-semitic attempt to deny him the record, but it is interesting to note that Greenberg was walked in over 20 peercent of his plate appearances in September, by far the highest percentage in his career. Greenberg was the American League MVP in 1935 and 1940 but not it 1938 when he hit the 58 homers or in 1937 when he drove in 183 runs. Greenberg ended his big league career in 1947 when he hit 25 homers in his only year as a Pirate. If you ve never seen it, the movie, The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg is a must see. AL Rosen was the unanimous choice for AL MVP in 1953 when he hit.336 with 43 homers and 145 RBI for the Cleveland Indians. A three time All Star, the Indians third baseman hit.285 with 192 homers and 717 RBI in his 10 big league seasons. Other Jewish Major leaguers of note include: Cal Abrams ( ) Ruben Amaro, Jr ( ) Jose Bautista ( ) Robert Bo Belinsky ( ) Ron Blomberg ( ) Lou Boudreau ( )

Harry Danning (1933-1942) Moe Drabowski (1956-1972) Mike Epstein (1966-1974) John Grabow (2003-2011) Shawn Green (1993-2007) Ken Holtzman (1965-1979) Gabe Kapler (1998-2010) Jesse Levis (1992-2001)

5 Harry Danning ( ) Moe Drabowski ( ) Mike Epstein ( ) John Grabow ( ) Shawn Green ( ) Ken Holtzman ( ) Gabe Kapler ( ) Jesse Levis ( ) Mike Lieberthal ( ) Buddy Myer ( ) Dave Roberts ( ) Goody Rosen ( ) Scott Schoeneweis ( ) Art Shamsky ( ) Larry Sherry ( ) Norm Sherry ( ) Adam Stern ( ) Steve Stone ( ) Philip Weintraub ( ) Steve Yeager ( ) Kevin Youkilis ( ) Moe Berg wasn't the greatest player ever to play major league baseball, but he may have been the smartest. His life story is so intriguing that it has been the subject of three books, including an outstanding biography, The Catcher Was A Spy; The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg, and a feature film, Cloak and Dagger. Moe Berg was born in Newark in 1902, the son of Russian immigrants. As a youngster, Berg had a keen intellect, and a love for foreign languages that was exceeded only by his passion for the game of baseball. Berg was an outstanding shortstop, and when he graduated from Princeton in 1923 with a degree in languages, he was highly recruited by both the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers, both of whom were anxious to sign him because of his appeal to New York City's Jewish fans. Berg signed with the Dodgers, but had an awful rookie season, hitting only.186, with 22 errors in only 47 games. Berg spent the next few years shuttling back and forth between France, where he continued his foreign language studies, Columbia University, where he earned a law degree, and the minor leagues. Berg frustrated his baseball employers by refusing to report for spring training until after his law school work at Columbia was completed each spring, and Berg s career seemed to be going nowhere, as his

6 weak hitting kept him out of the every day lineup. In fact, St. Louis Cardinal s scout Mike Gonzales is supposed to have coined the phrase, good field, no hit when describing Berg s early career. Berg s career changed dramatically in The White Sox, for whom Berg was then playing, already had one catcher out with an injury, when the starting catcher also got hurt. The Sox manager wasn t sure what he was going to do until he heard Berg say, You ve got a big league catcher sitting right here. Berg was referring to the Sox backup first baseman who had caught on a few rare occasions in the minor leagues, but the manager thought Berg was referring to himself and sent him in to catch. The result - Berg would spend the rest of his major league career behind the plate. Berg spent 15 major league seasons with the Dodgers, the White Sox, the Cleveland Indians, the Washington Senators, and the Boston Red Sox, but he played in just 663 games. His lifetime batting average was only.243, and he hit only six homers and drove in just 206 runs. When his playing career finally ended, Berg spent two years as a coach for the Red Sox, calling it quits on January 14, 1942, the same day his father died. But the Moe Berg story encompasses far more than just his baseball career. As I mentioned previously, Berg was an accomplished linguist who spoke at least seven languages fluently, prompting one former teammate to say, He can speak seven languages, but he can t hit in any of them. Berg s Princeton background, his aptitude in foreign languages, and his law degree made him a media favorite, and after several appearances on the old radio quiz show Information Please, he was nicknamed Professor Berg. Still, Berg was considered to be very much a mystery man, with few friends in or out of baseball. In 1934, Berg made his second trip to Japan as a member of a major league all star team, a real oddity considering his mediocre stats. Was Berg really there as an all star or was there something more sinister to the story? Could it have been that Berg, who spoke Japanese fluently, was really there on

7 government business? The truth may never be fully known, but it is known that while in Tokyo, Berg requested a room that gave him a panoramic view of the city. He then proceeded to take movies and stills of Tokyo and its military installations that were later used by General Jimmy Doolittle as he prepared for his 1942 bombing runs on the city. Following his departure from baseball in January of 1942, Berg s life became even more of a mystery. The United States was just getting into World War II and Berg became an officer in the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the CIA. In 1943, Berg parachuted into Yugoslavia, and after studying the situation there, encouraged the Allies to support Tito s resistance against the Nazi s. Berg s report played a key role in the decision to supply weapons and support units to Tito. In 1944, Berg became involved in an OSS assassination plot directed at Werner Heisenberg, thought to be the head of Nazi Germany s atomic bomb project. Berg was sent to Switzerland, Italy, and Germany to learn all he could about the Nazi bomb program, and, if necessary, to assassinate Heisenberg. Berg attended a Heisenberg lecture armed with a gun with which to carry out the assassination, and cyanide to kill himself, but Berg decided that Heisenberg was not working on a bomb, and was not a threat to the United States, and decided to spare his life. Following the war, Berg was awarded the American Medal of Merit, the highest decoration given to a civilian during wartime, yet for some reason that he would never explain, Berg refused the honor. The remainder of Berg s life was also somewhat peculiar. There were periods of unemployment, and a period of time lasting into the 1960s in which he worked for NATO as a science advisor, although there is considerable speculation that he was also a spy working within the Soviet Union during this time.

8 Berg never did marry, and he spent the last eight years of his life living with his sister. He died in 1972 at age 70 of an aortic aneurysm. Following his death, his sister took his ashes to Israel, and, in yet another mystery, his ashes were buried at a location that has never been revealed. There is much more to the Moe Berg story than I have time to cover here, but if you want to learn more about Berg, I highly recommend The Catcher Was A Spy. ISRAELI Independence day

Moe Berg. Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth

Moe Berg. Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth Moe Berg When baseball greats Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig went on tour in baseballcrazy Japan in 1934, some fans wondered why a third-string catcher named Moe Berg was included. Although he played with five