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Thanks to KK reader Herschel for the link.

One of his duties with the Yankees was to head up its publications, including yearbooks. So it was only natural he lend his expertise to the IBL publication.

To call this a collector’s item is to damn with faint praise, since the league shut down after its initial season.

Within its scant pages are stories — in English and Hebrew — about the origins of the IBL,  the fundamentals of the game, and baseball in America, as well as a schedule for all of the six original teams, complete rosters, a unique scorecard that includes a “home run derby tie-breaker, ” and an English-Hebrew baseball dictionary.

So thanks again, Marty, for the belated Hanukka present.

According to the brochure,

Hakoah (“The Strength” in Hebrew) was formed by members of the original Vienna Hakoah club that toured the U.S. in 1926, drawing 46,000 to the Polo Grounds. The original Vienna club was closed down by the Nazis following the Anschluss in 1938. The Amwerican Hakoah team survived in various forms until the late 1950s.

* * *

The State of Israel has managed to send national teams to Junior and Senior International Ice Hockey Federation Championships for the past decade, despite the fact that it has only one regulation rink in the entire country. The ice surface, built by Canadian patrons, is situated on the Lebanese frontier, and attracts competitive players from all over the country who make the long trek to Metula to play in Israel’s National League.

From July 5-15, 2009, the Israeli Ice Hockey Federation hosted the second World Jewish Ice Hockey Championships. Teams from Canada, the United States, France, Israel and Russia took part in full contact, senior and U18 junior tournaments.

While some might question the concept of holding a “Jewish” hockey tournament, the Israeli Ice Hockey Federation used this venue to show the hockey world that it was capable of hosting a world class event, in the hope that Metula’s Mercaz Canada may get some consideration from the IIHF to host qualifying matches and championships. The July competition also served as an important vehicle to provide Israel’s National Teams meaningful games outside of IIHF competition and gave Jews from abroad a chance to skate in their ancestral homeland. Between games, all teams had a chance to tour and experience the Holy Land’s cultural and religious sites. As several of Israel’s Arab neighbours compete for the annual Arab Cup of Ice Hockey in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, it is not unreasonable to believe that in the near future, we may see the game play an important role in Arab Israeli relations.

To further publicize the tournament and promote Israel’s hockey initiatives, a special postmark, souvenir stamp and envelope were commissioned. Designs were tendered and approved by Sidney Greenberg, Chairman of the Israeli Ice Hockey Association and its president Sergei Matin.

The commemorative envelopes were printed in Canada by Custom Printers of Renfew. As a passionate hockey fan, General Manager Kerry Thompson was happy to assist Israel’s hockey program. The cancellation, cover artwork and stamp were designed by Irving Osterer, a graphic design teacher at Merivale High School in Ottawa and a member of the Society for International Hockey Research. The postage stamp features defenceman Ron Soreanu, a veteran of Israel’s National team. Osterer received several suggestions to facilitate production from stamp dealer Isidore Baum, proprietor of Montreal’s Judaica Sales Limited. Yael Kostas and Vered Shilsel at Israel’s Philatelic Service supervised the production of the special stamps, the postmark die and the cancellation of the covers.

The hockey postmark will have an official catalogue number in the Israeli commemorative cancels catalogue, and will be listed on the Israel Philatelic Federation website. The finished covers are a wonderful souvenir of the event and are hand numbered from 1-500.

Generous support from the Arnon Corporation in Ottawa, made this endeavour possible. Arnon president Arnie Vered’s son and nephew played for Team Canada ‘Red’, the Gold medal winner in the U18 competition. He believes that beyond the spirited competition, all the youngsters and coaches gained a greater appreciation for Israel and its borders.

Covers can be purchased from the Israel Ice Hockey Federation via their website or by writing to:

Looking for some good beach reading? Try some of these baseball novels with Jewish themes or characters. A word of warning: some of these titles are long out of print, but you can find them on used book sites, such as Amazon.com.

I may be wrong, but I doubt you’ll find too much adult fiction about Jews in other sports.

• Voices of a Summer Day, Irwin Shaw

• The Chosen, Chaim Potok

• Sam’s Legacy, Jay Neugeboren

• The Great American Novel, Philip Roth

• Rachel, the Rabbi’s Wife, Syvia Tennenbaum

• The Celebrant, Eric Rolfe Greenberg

• The Grace of Shortstops, Robert Mayer

• Brooklyn Boy, Alan Lelchuk

• This is Next Year, Philip Goldberg

• In Days of Awe, Eric Goodman

• The Spy in a Catcher’s Mask, Kurt Willinger (a work of historical fiction about Moe Berg)

• Snow in August, Pete Hamill

• The Rabbi of Swat, Peter Levine

• The Golem’s Mighty Swing, James Sturm (a graphic novel)

Source: The Baseball Novel: A History and Annotated Bibliography of Adult Fiction, by Noel Schraufnagel (McFarland)

Every issue of the classic publication is available through Google books

The first issue: July 1945. Cover price: 15 cents. Tag line: “64 Pages — and Every Word Baseball!”

Thanks to John Zajc of the Society for American Baseball Research and writer Rob Neyer for the item.

The next step is to go through them all for Jewish content…

Just received a flyer from Ebbets Field Flannel, a company that specializes in replications of old baseball jerseys, hats, etc.

Here’s one that I hope will be hanging on my wall some day:

Product description:

1920 Philadelphia Hebrews Road Jersey

Did I mention my birthday is coming up?

The fifth set of cards produced by JewishMajorLeaguers continues to improve on its self-appointed theme.

Card #1: Intro card, describing the set as the “Record Setters” Edition

Cards 2-5: All-time roster of Jewish Major Leaguers

Cards 6-7: Career batting leaders (including home runs, runs batted in, hits, and batting average) and career pitching leaders (including wins, earned run average, strike outs, and games).

Cards 8-20: a look at each of the Jewish Major Leaguers active in 2008, including rookies Brian Horwitz and Josh Whitesell.

Card 21: The three Jews in the 2008 All-Star game.

Card 22: A tribute to Kevin Youkilis’ errorless game streak, which ended last June

Card 23: A tribute to Shawn Green, who had four homes and 19 total bases in a 2002 game.

Card 24: A “tribute” to shortstop Eddie Feinberg, who tied a record when he fielded exactly zero chances in a 12 inning game in 1939.

Card 25: Conversely, Jake Pitler set a record with 15 put outs at second base in a 220inning game  in 1917.

Card 26: Phil Weintraub collected 11 RBI in a single game in 1944.

Card 27: Moe Berg was known as a “colorful character” almost more than as a Major Leaguer, but he established a record — since broken — by playing 117 consecutive errorless games behind the plate.

Card 28: Art Shamsky’s four consecutive home runs (albeit over two games).

Card 29: “First Impressions”: Guy Zinn, the first batter to to step up to the plate at Fenway Park (1912) and Barney Pelty won the first game in Comiskey Park (1910)

Card 30:  “Last Impressions”: several Jewish players who accomplished “lasts,” including Lou Limmer, who hit the final homer in Philadelphia Athletics history.

Card 31: “Good hitting pitchers”

Card 32: The longest batting streaks by Jewish players

Card 33: The four Jewish catchers who were behind the plate for no-hitters.

Card 34: “Spoilers” — Jewish batters who broke up no-hitters in the ninth-inning.

Card 35: Sy Berger, the “father” of the modern baseball card, without whom you probably wouldn’t be reading this.

Card 36: Harry Hartman, an early broadcaster who is credited with the home run description, “Going, going, gone!”

Card 37: Early owners

Card 38: Kevin Youkilis and John Brabow, winners of the 2008 Jewish Major Leaguer Awards.

Card 39: A memorial card for long-time sportswriter Jerome Holztman, who is credited with inventing the save statistic.

Card 40: A quick recap of baseball in Israel

Card 41: Who knew? Baseball’s Chosen People actually includes “Chozen” people, i.e., Harry and his Brother Mike (who actually never made to the Majors).

Card 42: Season-ending dramatics. How odd was it that two Jewish players were critical in the post-season picture? Ryan Braun hit the game-winning home run for the Milwaukee Brewers shortly after the Mets’ Scott Schoeneweis was yielding the game-losing clout. Brewers in, Mets out.

Card 43: Hitting for the cycle, accomplished by Harry Danning in 1940. Now that Ian Kinsler of the Texas Rangers mirroed the feat earlier this season, look for a revision next year.

Card 44: Batting Champ. Again, with Youkiulis and Kinsler (and perhaps Braun) performing so well, this one — featuring Buddy Myer as the only Jewish to cop the batting title — might need an update as well.

Card 45: Two-in-Ones, featuring Sid Gordon, the only Jewish batter to hit two home runs in the same inning; and Scott Feldman, the only pitcher to strike out two “landsmen” in the same frame.

Card 46: Stolen bases, featuring the most prolific  Jewish “thieves.”

Card 47: Same Inning Homers — The quartet of Jewish batters who have “gone yard” in teh same frame.

Card 48: A tribute to Kinsler, who hit the 2,500th home run in JML history.

Card 49: A “Discovery” card, proclaiming Bill Hurst, a member of the Florida Marlins in 1996, as one of our own.

Card 50: A tribute to Braun, who is one of only four batters in the history of the game to have hit 71 homers in his first two seasons.

Card 51: “The Class of 2008″ — a recap of the cumulative accomplishments of JMLers last season.

All in all, a great set with informative and entertaining factoids, and great photos (was Art Shamsky ever really that young?)

For more information, visit Jewishmajorleaguers.org.

2009 Topps Allen & Ginter shipping in June will include an insert that features the “world’s biggest hoaxes, hoodwinks and bamboozles,” including disgraced ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff.  The cards feature 20 perpetrators of some of the most notorious pranks, dubious claims, and outright frauds of the last two centuries. In addition to the villainous Madoff, some of the other notable cards will include: Charles Ponzi, Enron, D.B. Cooper, and The Run Away Bride and can be found in 1 out of every 12 packs.

The storage box for my baseball cards has room for most of my cards, and, on a nearby shelf, I keep the extra 16 cards that do not fit. If I expand the length of the box by 30%, I’ll have room for all my cards, plus enough room to store another 20 cards in the future.

How many cards do I currently own?

Alas, those days are gone. A glance at the newsstand these days reveals a surprisingly substantial number of fantasy-based magazines (how many of these do we really need?) along with a few others. Oh, sure, S&S is still available (with covers depicting each team’s high-profile players) as ar a handful of other titles, but they’re relatively “useless” when it comes to up-to-date info, a fair amount of which is outdated by the time the players break spring training camp, thanks to last-minute deals and free agent signings. Funny, that didn’t seem to matter in the pre-web days.

The cable outlet has been featuring the World Series of Poker for a few years now, so that might be good enough for you. And if that’s the case then, then, by extension, you might be interested in “No Limit Texas Dreidel,” a game that

combines the traditional dreidel game with Texas Hold’em poker. The objective is for each player to create the best dreidel “hand” by combining dreidel spins. You will combine dreidel “spins” in your shaker, which only you will see, with other Community Spins, which will be seen by all players. Players bet in rounds using poker betting rules. The game is best played with chocolate gelt (coins), as is the traditional wager for the Dreidel Game. No Limit Texas Dreidel is an entertaining adult party game and is family fun for everyone ages 9 to 99.

(Sorry, all you centenarians out there. I guess the excitement would be too much for you.)

The game is available from Moderntribe.com and in two styles, depending on how many want to play. The  Standard Edition for 2-4 Players Includes eight small and three dreidels; fours Shakers (eliminates carpal tunnel syndrome you get from actually spinning them I suppose); play guide;spinner button; all in a drawstring bag. A deluxe edition accommodates up to eight players and has proportionately more stuff.

Dreidels already have a gambling connotation, but I guess it’s not enough anymore. A couple of years ago, my daughter wanted to have a Casino night theme for her bat mitzva party. I put my foot down; tears ensued, but what we finally chose was a big hit (I can’t say for fear of a retroactive copyright infringement suit).

Well, Leifer is at it again, this time with a collection of his football photos. Only this time, it will cost you at least $500 for Guts and Glory: The Golden Age of American Football, 1958-1978.

From Taschen’s press release:

This collection represents the best of his best, culled from over 10,000 rolls of film on the sport, including hundreds of previously unpublished pictures. It’s impossible to conceive of Peyton Manning hovering over an impromptu wood fire on the sidelines during a blizzard, but Leifer captured Tittle’s Giants doing exactly that during the coldest game in his living memory (the 1962 Championship in New York, a game “far colder than the famous Ice Bowl”). From Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers dynasty to the Miami Dolphins’ perfect season in 1972 to the Minnesota Vikings’ terrifying Front Four — the “Purple People Eaters” — they’re all here.

Following an introduction assembled from the best football columns of the era by famed sports columnist Jim Murray, this collection is divided into four chapters: “On Any Sunday” is Leifer’s homage to the game.”The Legends” includes heroes like Johnny Unitas, Jim Brown, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Namath, Dick Butkus, Frank Gifford, and “Mean” Joe Greene.

“The Bosses” delves into the victories on and off the field of immortal coaches Vince Lombardi, John Madden, Tom Landry, Weeb Ewbank, and others.

Finally,”The Big Game” traces major championship games from 1958 through Super Bowl XII. The in depth captions put the images into their historical context, making the book highly accessible and informative.

The release further states that an even more limited edition OF 200 will be available, “numbered and signed by Neil Leifer and accompanied by one of two chromogenic prints, numbered and signed below the image by the photographer.”

A bargain at $1,350.