Jews And Baseball: A Love Story

New film documents the careers of the 160 Jews who have played major league baseball.

 

The JTA story on the film.

The film has a rare interview with Sandy Koufax, who famously refused to pitch a World Series game against the Minnesota Twins on Yom Kippur.

Rabbi Moshe Feller, Chabad's Minnesota representative, met briefly with Koufax a day or so later and gave him a pair of tefillin.

I don't know if the tefillin story is in the film, but Koufax's refusal to pitch on Yom Kippur is.

Comments

[harold]

Rabbi Moshe Feller, Chabad's Minnesota representative, met briefly with Koufax a day or so later and gave him a pair of tefillin

Did they also show him how to put it on? I would love to see a picture of the great Koufax all wrapped up in his own pair of tefillin.

[Shmarya]

Did they also show him how to put it on?

Of course.

I would love to see a picture of the great Koufax all wrapped up in his own pair of tefillin.

I think the story was covered in the local media, and there may be a picture, although I don't remember seeing one.

[itchiemayer]

Did they mention the fact that he married a shiksa?

At one point in time during the 1972 season, the Oakland Athletics had three Jews on their roster, including two that were important to their World Championship run. Two of the three were from St. Louis, including the Jewish Southpaw with the most career victories for a Jew....and Sanford Koufax, despite being a Jewish Southpaw, is not from St. Louis.

[Mr. Apikoros]

Kenny Holtzman, Mike Epstein, and Art Shamsky were the three Jews on the 1972 A's.

Back to Koufax: Sandy was an even-less observant Jew than yours truly, and wasn't even Bar Mitzvah'd. (Both Koufax and yours truly married two shiksas, so we're even on that score.)

Once I learned how unreligious Koufax was (after reading Jane Leavy's book), I thought that his not pitching Game 1 of the 1965 World Series was a big mistake, one which may have shortened his career.

Don Drysdale started and lost Game 1, which was on Yom Kippur. Koufax started and lost Game 2. Koufax won Game 5, a 4-hit shutout, and won Game 7, a 3-hit shutout. Both games 5 and 7, as I recall, were complete games, which were not the near-rarity they are today. The key point here is that Koufax pitched Game 7 on TWO DAYS REST.

Had the rotation remained intact, Koufax would have started Game 1, and since he wasn't pitching out of turn, probably would have defeated Minnesota. He would have pitched Game 4 (which in fact was won by Claude Osteen), and there probably wouldn't have been a need for Game 7.

The two days' rest definitely hurt Koufax's arm, and may well have led to his retirement after the 1966 season. Could you imagine if Koufax pitched until 1978 or so?

Of course, MLB could have moved the starting date of the series up by one day.

[effie]

Kenny Holtzmann - a blast from the past!

[seymour]

"Don Drysdale started and lost Game 1, which was on Yom Kippur."

Don Drysdale pitched poorly that day and was taken out in the 4th inning, and supposedly said to the manager "i bet you wished i was a Jew too"

[steve]

Holtzman was part of the worst trade in Yankees history: Holtzman, Grant Jackson, Doyle Alexander and Elrod Hendricks for Rick Dempsey, Scott McGregor, Tippy Martinez, Rudy May and Dave Pagan. Dempsey, McGregor and Martinez had long careers with the Orioles while the guys the Yankees picked up hardly ever played for them.

[libby in the hood]

Being a Mets fan, you gotta love Ike Davis. He is a cutie!

[steve]

Ike's dad, former pitcher Ron Davis isn't Jewish but his mom is. What's ironic is that the Yankees traded Ken Holtzman for Ron Davis.

[WoolSilkCotton]

I remember a photo of Mike Epstein putting on tefillin with a Chabad rabbi.

There must be a photo of Koufax with tefillin. Maybe Harold can contact Rabbi Moshe Feller to see if he has such a photo.

Ken Holtzman and Sandy Koufax faced each other on September 25, 1966, one day after Yom Kippur, with Holtzman winning 2-1 and taking a no-hitter into the ninth inning; Koufax made his last regular-season appearance a week later on October 2.

Along with teammates Mike Epstein and Reggie Jackson, Holtzman wore a black armband during the 1972 playoffs in memory of the 11 Israeli athletes who were murdered by terrorists during the Munich Olympics.

[Adam Neira]

Some Jews are more ahead of the curve than others.

[Mr. Apikoros]

Forget Moshe Feller. Maybe Harold can contact Bob Feller. He's still alive, must be in his 90's.

[catcher50]

Feller is 92 and has absolutely no problem telling how great he was and how overrated other pitchers (i.e. Walter Johnson, Koufax, etc.) were.

It is my understanding that, rather than the pitching on short rest, the reason for Koufax' retirement was very severe arthritis.

BTW, for anyone interested (and there seem to be very few) Pro Baseball is threatening to start up in Israel, again, next year.

Also, no one (Mr. Apikoros?) has yet to respond to my question about what to do with a left handed Sephardic pitcher who can't find the strike zone (and BTW, has no problem pitching on High Holidays).

[steve]

A complete list of Jews who have played in major league baseball:

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/legendary/Jewish_baseball_players.shtml

[catcher50]

My wheelhouse...

I'm guessing that this movie is a follow up to "Jews and Baseball", a two volume set of books by Burton and Benita Boxerman.

There have been more than one or two films about Jews & baseball, including the documentary that Aviva Kempner did about Hank Greenberg.

It's ironic that the film was held over for three weeks in Montreal, which probably means that more folks saw the movie (sorry, film) than went to an average Montreal Expos game.

As another item, a number of the founders of SABR (Society of American Baseball Research), including the late Ron Gabriel, were Jewish. And SABR and the sets of stats developed by Bill James have had a significant impact on the National Pastime.

[Mr. Apikoros]

Well, I'm right handed, and couldn't find the strike zone. That's why I caught in HS.

[itchiemayer]

Some great comments, Mr. A and Steve! I can't help but give another shoutout to my hometown, as the aforestated Boxermans are St. Louisans.
As for Bill James, he is not a St. Louisan, but he is my hero in the sabermetric world. He created "Win Shares" which is the best way that I know of to compare players from any era against each other, even at different positions. Pujols vs. A-Rod, Raines vs. Larkin, etc...

[Mr. Apikoros]

Pujols. Greatest offensive player I've ever seen, and I'm a Yankee fan.

[Mr. Apikoros]

Yes, Koufax had arthritis. But the 2 day's rest certainly didn't help.

One of the greatest moments of my life was when he no-hit the miserable Mets, whom I've always despised.

[itchiemayer]

Mr. A - Wow! The Mick was pretty good, as was The Man. The Mick did have injuries get in the way at times. I think the most comparable to Pujols in the modern era is Henry Aaron. Aaron was a very consistent player year to year, as is Pujols thru his first ten years. While I don't like the fact that the Cardinals generally play American League ball and are not into stealing bases, Pujols has led the team in steals several years, including the last two.

[Althelion]

Great topic - great discussion. Here in Detroit, Hank Greenberg is still revered in the Jewish community. Neither Greenberg nor Koufax were religiously observant Jews. But each ballplayer accepted the responsibility to openly identify with and represent the Jewish people when it would have been far easier to avoid the connection. Greenberg faced an often overt and virulent type of anti-semitism that, thank God, most of us have never faced in America. Koufax, a quiet, private man, probably never wanted to draw attention to himself as "the Jewish player who wouldn't play on Yom Kippur." But he did.

Sometimes in life you hear attendance being taken. When Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax heard it, they answered "Ahni Poh."

[steve]

Shawn Green was another Jewish ballplayer who refused to play on Yom Kippur. It became a big issue in 2001 when the Dodgers were in a pennant race. I remember in the early '70's Yom Kippur was always on off day for all the big league teams. It must have lasted only for a few years.

[WoolSilkCotton]

Wasn't Koufax's no-hitter game against the Mets a perfect game?

I believe his opponent pitched a 1-hitter, and still lost, 1-0.

Does anyone here remember?

[Mr. Apikoros]

I believe Shawn Green was inconsistent on this.

One's religion is one's personal, private business. I do not feel any responsibility not to work on Rosh Hashana nor on Yom Kippur, unless I'm going to be in synagogue. But that's just me.

Whatever decision one makes, I respect it.

[red]

CAL ABRAMS was not Jewish.
He told me so himslf.

[Mr. Apikoros]

Cal Abrams was Jewish. Born in Philly, and moved to Midwood as a boy, where he went to James Madison H.S. which was overwhelmingly Jewish in the 1940's, as was Midwood (and Midwood still is).

His wife is Jewish. His kids were Jewish. Maybe Abrams, like most American Jews, couldn't prove his matrilineal Jewish lineage 4 generations back.

Moreover, he's related to Abramses I know who are very, very Jewish. And I'm not talking about Gen. Creighton Abrams, the guy the Abrams M2A2 tank was named after.

[Mr. Apikoros]

WSC: That game was against the Cubs, at Wrigley Field. The Cubs' pitcher was named Hundley or something close to that. I believe the Dodgers got one or two hits in that game.

I would have loved to see Sandy pitch a perfect game against the Mets, but he merely pitched a no-hitter. Jim Bunning, now a U.S. senator for Kentucky, did pitch a perfect game against the Mets, and he was one of my heroes in life until he turned into an archconservative and his pedestal self-destructed.

Bunning's Senate seat will be taken by Rand Paul next year. Must be something in the water in the Bluegrass State.

[Mr. Apikoros]

A little more on Cal Abrams:

You can find his gravesite on a website in the Internet. He's buried in a Jewish cemetery in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The headstone has a Jewish star on it.

Abrams was best known for a bonehead play in the last game of the 1950 season which wasn't his fault. The Brooklyn Dodgers were tied with the Philadelphia Phillies in the pennant race. In the 9th inning, with Abrams on second, Duke Snider hit a single to short center, where the ball was fielded on one hop by CF Richie Ashburn.

The third base coach, Milt Stock, waved Abrams home. Ashburn made a perfect throw to the plate and Abrams was out by a mile.

In the 10th inning, Dick Sisler hit a home run, which turned out to be the winning run and gave the Phillies the pennant.

1950 was a bit before my time as a baseball fan (I was a baby then) so these recollections come courtesy of my father and my older cousin Joe, who were both lifelong Yankee fans, but rooted for the Dodgers so the Yanks could beat them in the World Series, or so they said.

[Mr. Apikoros]

Second greatest offensive player I've seen: Stan the Man.

Don't get a swelled head, Itch.

[Chicago Sam]

To the best of my knowledge, Shawn Green did play on YK... Definitely not a Kofax.

[JOE BLOW]

OY OY OY GIVE ME MONEY