Parents of (mostly) high school-aged students know that these offers come in the mail occasionally, playing to the emotions of those who want to give their children every opportunity to succeed (hidden motto: If you don’t spend oodles of money on these programs, you don’t love your kids and they will get into inferior colleges).

As the author of this piece in The Jerusalem Post notes, not every Jewish parent can afford to send their sons and daughters to these programs or, in this case, to the Maccabiah/Maccabi events. And that’s a shame. I’m sure there are lots of talented kids to would do well at the games, perhaps even those who have the benefits of private lessons and top-of-the-line gear, but can’t participate because they can’t cobble together the two or three grand necessary to attend. Some synagogues/JCCs/communities will hold a fundraiser here or there, but I think that’s the exception rather than the rule.

(Sorry for the JP format, it’s a bit hard to read through).

In this case, it’s Murray Chass, the former veteran baseball writer for The New York Times who carries on his thoughtful prose on his own website (not a blog, mind you, since he has no use for bloggers).

In his latest posting, dated Feb. 17, Chass writes about the difficulties The New York Times Company — not the paper itself — is having selling off its stock in — wait for it — the Boston Red Sox. Sacrilege!

A lot of his story focuses on the non-communication he has had with Times Company president Janet Robinson. She doesn’t talk with him on the phone or returns messages, deals with him through generic emails, and in other veins doesn’t seem to want to bother with him. In turn, he tells his readers the questions he would ask her if given the chance, and relates to a contentious communications they had/didn’t have several years ago on the same general subject of the propriety of the Company owning a(ny) baseball team.

Some of the soap opera:

I suppose this is as good a time as any to mention my one previous experience with Robinson. In November 2001, when the Red Sox were in the process of being sold, I learned from someone outside the Times that the Times company was part of the group that eventually would get the team.

In the course of writing an article for the Times, I called Robinson, and that time she talked to me, though reluctantly because the Times didn’t want it known that it was seeking to be a part-owner of the Red Sox.

But she didn’t talk only to me; she spoke to the Boston Globe, too. Until hearing it from Robinson, the Globe knew nothing about the involvement of the Times company, which also owned the Globe. In other words, Robinson gave away an exclusive story. In the newspaper business, that is an act of high treason. It is unconscionable.

Robinson never said anything to me about it, why she gave away an exclusive story, but I heard from someone else that she had said she felt she had to give it to the Globe because the Globe was a Times company newspaper, the story was about the Red Sox and it wouldn’t have been right to have the story appear in the Times and not in the Globe. With thinking like that, no wonder the Times is hurting.

And this, which is more to the point:

As a baseball writer for the Times, I never liked the idea of the company owning any piece of the Red Sox. It never affected my coverage of the Red Sox or the Yankees, but I believed it was a major conflict of interest. The Times cautions its employees to avoid conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflicts of interest, but the Times itself seems to feel it is above that danger.

In fact, Times executives excused the ownership issue by saying it was the company and not the newspaper that owned a share of the Red Sox, as if readers and others made that distinction.

Given Chass’ reputation and his dismissal, along with hundreds of other Times‘ employees, I wonder how much of that non-communication — then and now — with bad break-up syndrome.

Discuss.

As I’ve written in the past, these publications no longer carry the weight they did when I was a kid, growing up in the pre-Internet days. Street & Smith was basically the only game in town, and I anxiously awaited its arrival as much as I did the new edition of Topps cards. Again, they were the only ones available at the time and they sorely tested the instant-gratification impulse since they were released one series of about 100 or so cards at a time, several weeks apart. (By the way, there’s a chance to relive some of those thrills of finding your favorite player in a pack.)

As with any print media, these publications magazines are practically outdated by the time they get to the newsstand or book store; the majority of them seem to deal specifically with fantasy baseball, and are therefore out of the purview of this assessment.

To this point, I’ve purchased four “annuals.” Let’s look at them in alphabetical order:

Athlon ($7.99)

Athlon breaks down the team information in cogent fashion, dealing with the club in four pages, evaluating each by starting rotation, bullpen, middle infield, corners, outfield, catching, DH/Bench, and management. The team profiles also include full rosters, schedule, proposed starting lineups, bench, rotation, and bullpen depth; five-year trends; “fantasy ticket”; a look at the farm system and top prospects; an eclectic collections of stats, and a “beyond the box score” section.

Other features include the obligatory predictions; fantasy nod; 2009 stats; college and high school stars on the rise, an extensive collection of anecdotal nuggets; 15 things to watch for in 2010; and the tough choice between going right into the pros from high school or opting for the college route.

If you’re looking for a good general prview, this is the one for you.

Beckett’s ($6.99)

Brought to you by the famous “collectors” company, this one is short on narrative, but long on interesting factoids about all the cards pertaining to each team. For example, did you know that the Yankees lead all of MLB with 127,110 cards, with a total value of almost $2.8 million? There’s an interesting comparison piece between the Yankees and theMarlins (42,085 cards/$215,844 value).

As for the team profiles: Meh. Four pages (two if you subtract the roster/schedule and large player photo/more card info) with little in the way of analysis.

One editorial decision I definitely don’t like/understand is the method of organization. Where most publications list teams alpha by location within the league or within each division, or by predicted finish within their division, Beckett’s lists them alpha by league by nickname (Angels, As, Blue Jays, etc.). Seems quite silly.

Very skimpy on the extras: minimal stats section, no fantasy, or 2009 review.

If you’re an avid collector, and not too interested in the latest dope, this is the one you want. Otherwise, skip it.

Lindy’s Sports Baseball 2010 Preview ($6.99)

The only thing that holds this back is the lack of a good roster presentation (just a 40-man list with handedness, height/weight, and DOB. But the individual player profiles/scouting reports still make Lindy’s the best of the bunch. Players are grouped by position and graded with up-or-down projections for the coming season. There are also projected depth charts for starting pitchers, releivers and starting lineups. Of course, all this information could be rendered moot with a spring training acquisition or injury. Team info also includes a look at the management and front office, as well as key arrivals and departures.

There isn’t much in the way of feature material, although there is a good peice on the impact Bill James has had on how teams use statistics.

(Note: Some of the magazines mentioned herein are “regionalized”; this one has a profile of Chase Utley, but I’m not sure if other issues feature local players.)

The Sporting News: Baseball 2010 ($7.99)

TSN took over the Street and Smith franchise, with, IMHO, disappoiting results. This should be the one against which other magazines should be compared but it is lacking in several categories.

Case in point: For the fourth year, the Society for American Baseball Research, of which I have been a proud member for more than 20 years, is offering at no charge, free, gratis, their very excellent Emerald Guide to Baseball. This 500-plus page volume features complete major and minor league statistics, as well as a host of other items, such as a directory for teams, associations, and other organizations connected with the national pastime; a 2009 season review with All-Star and post-season sections; debuts and transactions; necrologies; player drafts; and the wonderful “much, much more.”

Did I mention this is all free?

The only caveat is that the free version is available in PDF format, which is fine in many cases. If you want a hard copy, it will cost you about $25, which is still a bargain for this kind of information.

(Actually, there’s one more “warning”: What the editors, who have done a fine job presenting all this information — for free — deem “season preview,” is in fact a spring training roster and all-time franchise record holders. So what; it’s free! You don’t even have to be a SABR member.)

If you’re a fan of the defunct Sporting News guides, as I am, this will bring back some welcome memories.

To download your copy or for more information, click here.

Just received a copy of the Yankees 2010 Annual from Maple Street Press. Part yearbook, part magazine, it features the usual player profiles, as well as some minor league and historical background stuff. My articlem, “Koshering the Yankees,” about Yankees Fantasy Camp, an expanded version of the NJ Jewish News piece, is included within its 128 pages.

I’ve written a few pieces on Veingrad, who appeared in the 1992 Super Bowl as a member of the Dallas Cowboys, but once you’ve tasted fame in the Times, there’s no turning back.

Steinberg does an in-depth parsing of remarks made over the years by the late Abe Pollin, owner of the NBA’s Washington franchise, formerly known as the Bullets (a name they had since their origins in Baltimore) but changed to the Wizards in 1998.

Abe Pollin with Michael Jordan

The situation is even more timely thanks to the Wizards’ poster boy for the NRA, Gilbert Arenas, who was suspended by the league for brandishing an unloaded handgun in the team’s locker room last December. He also faces criminal charges for unlicensed gun possession, loaded or not.  (More about Arenas and his recent op-ed apology in the Post here.)

Why the name change? Was it because of the violent connotations of the “Bullets,” made all the more prominent by the assassination of Pollin’s friend and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin? Or was it a crass maneuver for more merchandise money? Opinions vary.

Pollin died last November at the age of 86.

That was then...

this is now.

FYI, Shawn Green will be on the ballot for the first time in 2012. Great, another Jew finally gets elected and the world comes to an end.

But seriously: Green belongs in the Hall of Very Good, but there’s no way he’s Cooperstown-worthy, to be honest.

FYI, part deux: Mayo, author of Facing Clemens: Hitters on Hitting Against Baseball’s Most Intimidating Pitchers (which was released just before the steroids allegations came to light), is the go-to guy for minor league prospect news. You can follow him here.

I asked him in an email if there are any promising Jewish prospects to keep an eye on. His reply: “Ike Davis, the Mets’ first-round pick from 2008. {Former Yankees pitcher] Ron’s kid (mom is Jewish). He told me he’s not religious at all, but that’s ok. He’s not running from it, either.”

Miller was honored recently as his 93rd birthday approached with formal induction into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame located in Tel Aviv, Israel. Three members of that distinguished honored group, former Olympic sculler Don Spero, former New York Times Pulitzer Prize winner Ira Berkow, and this writer celebrated with him at a Manhattan restaurant.

The absence of the baseball Hall of Fame honor clearly stings at this late stage of his life but other honors, his own writings, his frequent interviews and his occasional advice to his former Players Association colleagues fill his active schedule.

The first volume, subtitled Entering the American Mainstream, 1871-1948, was published by McFarland in 2007.

Like its predecessor, this new “must-have” serves as a thorough resource for the Jews who not only played the game, but contributed in other ways, such as Marvin Miller, whose work as a union organizer brought the players out of the stone age and into the big bucks; Bud Selig, the first Jewish Commissioner; and Allan Roth, whose work with statistics changed how everyone — front office, managers, broadcasters, and fans — perceives baseball, for better or worse.

The text of the foreword appears below and serves as a testament to the devotion of the St.  Louis-based husband-and-wife writing team.

For more information, visit the McFarland website.

* * *

The Jewish major leaguers included in the first volume of Burton and Benita Boxerman’swatershed Jews and Baseball faced problems that were basically the tenor of times in the late 19^th – early 20^th century: stereotypes at best (“Jews make poor athletes”) and outright anti-Semitism at worst (when a Jewish batter came to the plate, an unruly fan would urge the pitcher, “Throw him a ham sandwich. He won’t bite.”). Those players who stuck it out might have changed their names to hide their identity not only from those who would beleaguer them with taunts, but also to hide their profession from their families. Nice Jewish boys were expected to get an education and improve upon their situations, working towards a better life than their shopkeeper or laborer parents, not fool around with a roughhouse sport.

But an article in the Jewish Daily Forward, a Yiddish-language newspaper, urged parents to learn this strange game, to embrace it, and understand it, and so truly become American.

Many of the ballplayers from this period were raised in Jewishly-observant households, with parents who came over from “the old country” where religious observances were considered of the utmost importance. But after Detroit Tiger superstar Hank Greenberg – the original “Hebrew Hammer” – showed a Jewish ballplayer could be both an outstanding player and “true to his religion” (in the words of poet Edgar Guest), those who followed had a somewhat easier time of it. Sure, you still had a Ron Blomberg, who grew up in the Deep South and had Klansmen as teammates, but as the generations became further removed from their predecessors, hiding one’s religion became less of an issue.

Some players – most notably Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax and Shawn Green – still felt obligated to refrain from playing games on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, regardless of how crucial those contests were. Koufax passed on the opening game assignment for the 1965 World Series, causing Don Drysdale to fill in. When manager Walt Alston came out to relieve Drysdale following rough treatment by the heavy-hitting Minnesota Twins, the tall righty said to his skipper, “I bet you wish I was Jewish too right about now.”

The post-World War II years have had their share of high-profile players, including Al Rosen, Mike Epstein, Art Shamsky, Ken Holtzman (who won even more games than Koufax), Cy Young-winner Steve Stone, and the afore-mentioned Blomberg (who used his fame as the DH for another meaning in his autobiography: Designated Hebrew).

Since the beginning of the new century, baseball has seen an unprecedented influx of Jewish players. More than a minyan (the Jewish quorum of 10 necessary to conduct services) appeared in 2009, including a few bordering on stardom such as Kevin Youkilis, Ryan Braun, and Ian Kinsler; and several touted rookies waiting for their chance.

The Boxermans have expanded their labor of love to include new generations of Jewish Major Leaguers. The profiles in this second volume reflect that story of progress and success (not always the same thing).

Like many of their coreligionists, these young men have become more assimilated with time and a debate has grown over who should be considered Jewish. Tradition holds that the mother’s religion dictates that of the child; others, including the bi-monthly Jewish Sports Review, employ a more liberal criteria. JSR’s philosophy: “an athlete is Jewish if they have at least one Jewish parent, do not practice another faith and identify ethnically as a Jew.” So by their definition, Ryan Braun, the son of an Israeli father and Christian woman, is a Jew.

Several athletes are the products of “mixed marriages”; some celebrate parts of their Jewish heritage, some none at all. It makes no difference; Jewish fans embrace all these players regardless of levels of observance. Nevertheless, they kvell all the more when a Jason Marquis recounts his bar mitzva for a story in an Israeli newspaper, or a Kevin Youkilis appears in a documentary about the Israel Baseball League.

And it’s not just players. Where would the game be without the contributions of Allan Roth? For better or worse, he’s the one responsible for the plethora of statistical analysis that have given broadcasters the material to fill those interminable rain delays and pitching changes, not to mention opening the door for a new industry: fantasy baseball. And where would the players be if not for the yeoman’s work of Marvin Miller, whose exclusion from the Baseball Hall of Fame is a shanda (shame)? Certainly a lot lighter in the wallet.

It doesn’t matter if these players were just up for a cup of coffee or they enjoyed long and fruitful careers. Like any proud parents, we love all our children.

Here’s the breakdown.

And they call baseball slow? Would love to see a comparison among the major sports.

Moe Berg is certainly one of the most interesting characters to ever done baseball flannels. A mediocre player — an apocryphal story quotes Casey Stengel saying “He can speak seven languages but can’t hit in any of them — Berg played for five teams over 15 seasons.

Had he just been one of the few Jewish Major Leaguers, dayenu — it would have been enough. But Berg — who graduated from Princeton, received a law degree, studied at the Sorbonne — was also a “charter member” of the OSS, the precursor of the CIA. Legend has it (and the story has changed over the years) that his contributions as a spy helped the U.S. plan the Doolittle air strikes over Japan as well as determining how close Germany was to developing an atomic weapon. These exploits are told in such non-fiction books as Moe Berg: Athlete, Scholar, Spy, by Louis Kaufman, Barbara Fitzgerald, and Tom Sewell, and, more recently, The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg, by Nicholas Dawidoff.

Kurt Willinger has taken this story and run with it in The Spy in a Catcher’s Mask, an engaging novel that embellishes Berg’s accomplishments. Since I am no expert on either World War II, spying, the OSS, or even Moe Berg’s life, I cannot say how much if fact and how much fiction. I can say, in comparison with many books of this type (i.e., self-published), The Spy in a Catcher’s Mask is better than most. The author present believable situations: Berg is no superman, and his mission is fraught with danger and the definite possibility of bad endings. Only the fact that it is based on actual events spoils the ending.

Sure, there are some stumbles and passages that are less than elegant, but Willinger plays the story out well, including the anti-Semitism that Jews faced, both on the ball field and in the real world. even in triumph, Berg can’t escape his heritage:

When at last they adjourned, Groves extended his fleshy hand to Moe and declared with uncharacteristic vehemence that he thought Moe ‘was just about the ballsiest, of your type,” he had ever met.

“What exactly do you mean by that?” Moe asked, coldly.

“Huh?” said Groves.

“When you say ‘your type’,” Moe repeated, “what do you mean?”

“Well, you know, brainy types–intellectuals,” Groves stammered.

“C’mon, General,” Moe persisted. “There’s not much intellectual about me. Heck, I’m just a ball player. So what do you really me?”

Groves’s expression betrayed his discomfort.

“Well, you know, your type. It’s unusual for you people to…to, you know,” stammered Groves.

“No, I don’t know,” Moe said close to his face. “Do you mean it’s unusual for a Jew to attempt as mission like this?”

“Yeah, kinda. I guess that’s what I meant,” Groves offered, hoping to have cleared it all up.

Moe was wrestling with the impulse to haul off and shove his fist through the general’s moustache….

“My enemies are the Nazis, General, are they yours too?” Moe asked as he stepped back from Groves.

“Of course,” answered the brigadier.

“Well, to listen to you one might think otherwise.”

There are a few other references to Berg’s religion, begining with the opening pages, as well as a quick nod to the Holocaust.

It’s not great literature, but it is a fair representation of what Berg — and his contemporaries — must have had to go through in America during the years surrounding the War.

Anyway, Welcome to the big time, Omri Casspi. The Sacramento King rookie gets the treatment from the legendary publication this week with Lee Jenkins’ profile,  “Welcome, the King of Israel.”

It’s been quite a week for Casspi. He made his first NBA start on Dec. 16 against the Washington Wizards, popping 22 points and five rebounds in 37+ minutes in the 112-109 win. He scored another 21 in his next start, Dec. 18, a 112-96 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, and 11 points in the Dec. 19 96-95 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. With 12 wins, the Kinds are just five away from tying the total for all of the 2008-09 season.

After prayer and punch, Foreman takes Jewish victory lap

By Marc Brodsky and Gil Shefler

Yuri Foreman used his time wisely between rounds of his super welterweight world championship bout against titleholder Daniel Santos.

Not only did he take liquids and instruction from his corner, the Orthodox rabbinical student sought some divine assistance in the last 10 seconds of each 60-second break of the 12-rounder.

“God, please give me strength,” was his simple invocation.

Foreman related the tidbit at a Nov. 19 reception at a posh kosher steakhouse on New York’s East Side. The night before he was the guest of honor at a Jewish National Fund gala.

Think of it as an ethnic-themed victory lap for Foreman, 29, who found enough strength to win a unanimous decision on the night of Nov. 14 in Las Vegas for the World Boxing Association crown.

The Brooklyn boxer, via Belarus and then Israel, moved to 28-0 since turning pro seven years ago, even though most prognosticators figured he would fall to Santos.

At the reception, Foreman said he turns especially spiritual in the ring, gets “very close to God,” because “another guy wants to take your head off.”

Santos didn’t take off Foreman’s head, but the new champ, clad all in black for the Prime Grill fete featuring some sumptuous steak and chicken, did need 18 stitches (of course it was 18) to close a cut over his left eye.

Foreman’s spiritual mentor, Rabbi DovBer Pinson, said no other fighter can “balance spirituality and physicality” like Foreman, who he praised as a “gentle lion” breaking a lot of stereotypes about boxers and Jews.

What’s next for Foreman?

The fighter said he’d have to consult with his “second rabbi” and promoter, Top Rank’s Bob Arum. Foreman asked to know the veteran matchmaker’s Hebrew name.

“Reuven Moshe ben Shlomo,” Arum answered.

Should Foreman ever fight in Israel, Arum already has the bout named: “Next Year in Jerusalem.”

Attendees at the JNFuture’s 3rd annual gala event didn’t have to wait that long to hang out with the new champ. Foreman was the guest of honor at the event, held at a club in New York’s Soho district.

Organizers of the gathering, aimed at raising money for environmental causes in Israel, had booked Foreman well in advance of his title fight and were thrilled to have him there on one of his first public appearances since his victory in Vegas.

“It’s amazing to have him here,” said Gabrielle Carlan, one of the JNFuture promoters. “We’ve got a good turnout of 200-plus people, more than we had last year.”

Foreman’s wife, Leyla, told JTA at the event that she remained unusually calm during her husband’s fight.

“Most fights I’m very tense,” the Hungrian-born former model said. “But this time I had a good feeling. He had done all the training and all the praying right, what more could he do?”

Now eyes are on another observant Orthodox Jewish boxer with a shot at claiming a world champion boxing title, as Brooklyn’s Dmitriy Salita prepares to square off against champion Amir Khan in London on Dec. 3.

If Salita manages to defeat the heavily favored Khan in his own backyard, it would make an already great year for Jewish boxing even better.

More on Salita:

In a letter dated Nov. 19, Mayor Michael Bloomberg wished Salita luck in his upcoming title about against Amir Kahn.

On behalf of New York City, I want to wish you the very best as you head across the pond to Newcastle to take the Junior Welterweight Championship from Amir Kahn.

New Yorkers know that with hard work and dedication, the sky’s the limit. Throughout your stellar career you’ve always shown the fighting spirit that is so quintessentially New York, and is the reason so many world-class fighters have come out of the five boroughs. As someone devoted to faith — and your community — as you are to the ring, you’re also setting a wonderful example for others.

We’re very proud of you, and we look forward to welcoming you back to New York City as the new Junior Welterweight Champion of the world! All the best.

The Maccabi Haifa pro basketball team announced last week it would sponsor Salita in his quest. Logos of the team will appear on the fighter’s trunks, robe, and website.

“Dmitriy is a hero in the eyes of the Maccabi Haifa organization and the Jewish community in general,” said Jeff Rosen, Triangle Financial Service chair and team owner. “[We] will continue to support Jewish athletes who are making an impact in both the jewish community and their respective sport. We wish Dmitriy all the best for his upcoming fight and Maccabi Haifa is behind him 100 percent.”

But more recently, questions have come about about his squeaky clean image. Not that there’s anything wrong with that or that he’s a hypocrite, seen out dancing and drinking with the wrong crowd. No, it’s more that he’s too good, too religious in his comments.

This column by Tony Krattenmaker in USA Today (Oct. 12)  brings up a sensitive point: When athletes praise their particular deity, what does that mean for the rest of their fans who do not happen to follow the same beliefs?

He offers nothing but praise for Tebow as an outstanding role model, but wonders about the message of tolerance imparted by those who believe their way is the only way.

Tebow does his missionary trips to the Philippines under the auspices of his father’s Bob Tebow Evangelistic Association. The Tebow organization espouses a far-right theology. Its bottom line: Only those who assent to its version of Christianity will avoid eternal punishment. The ministry boldly declares, “We reject the modern ecumenical movement.”

* * *

In making and acting on rigid claims about who is or isn’t in good standing with God, the Bob Tebow organization is working at cross purposes with the majority of Americans — indeed, the majority of American Christians — and their more generous conception of salvation.

Certainly, Tim Tebow must be applauded for the good he does working on his father’s missions, but he should be seen, too, as one who promotes a form of belief that makes unwelcome judgments about everyone else’s religion. Let’s not forget the twinge that is felt by sports-loving Jewish kids and parents, for example, or by champions for interfaith cooperation, when adored sports figures like Tebow use their fame to push a Jesus-or-else message. [emphasis added]

Is sports-world evangelicalism really “good for everything”? Certainly a lot, but not everything. Not if you’re Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, non-evangelical Protestant, agnostic or anything else outside the conservative evangelical camp.

I’ve spoken with several sports figures — Jewish and gentile — who have mentioned their discomfort with the clubhouse chapel and feelings of helplessness about being in the minority. In 2005, Ryan Church, then with the Washington Nationals, made front page news in 2005 when he had to apologize for saying that those who didn’t believe in Jesus — Jews specifically — were doomed to hell.

An article in Sunday’s paper about Baseball Chapel quoted Church as saying that he had turned to Moeller for advice about his former girlfriend, who was Jewish. “I said, like, Jewish people, they don’t believe in Jesus. Does that mean they’re doomed? Jon nodded, like, that’s what it meant. My ex-girlfriend! I was like, man, if they only knew. Other religions don’t know any better. It’s up to us to spread the word,” Church said.

I would guess that most of these evangelical athletes are well-meaning and believe in their mission. But they should heed the proverb, “The road to hell is paved weith good inettnions.”

As Jews around the world gather tonight to mark the holiest day on the calendar, George Vecsey offered this column in today’s Sunday Times.

Instead of putting the game at 8 p.m. — prime time, as the networks call it — ESPN and Major League Baseball are accommodating thousands of fans who at sundown will be observing Yom Kippur, the most solemn day in the Jewish calendar.

What Vecsey leaves out is that according to the schedule in the Red Sox media guide issued at the beginning of the season, the games was originally scheduled for one o’clock. But that’s just the cynic in me talking.

He notes,

Baseball cannot avoid conflicts. Games are played on Good Friday, the most solemn day on the Christian calendar. On Oct. 2, 1978, they played on Rosh Hashana, and Bucky Dent hit one into the screen at Fenway Park. Supply your own moral.

One year, baseball did get a message from on high. In 1986, the geniuses scheduled two Mets-Astros postseason games, for the night and next afternoon of Yom Kippur. Yours truly predicted a downpour of Biblical proportions, which in fact occurred, postponing the afternoon game. They got what they deserved.

Vecsey also pointed out that last year’s world Series featured a team led by Jewish ownership.

Last year, the Tampa Bay Rays made it into the postseason for the first time, but a potential fifth and deciding game was scheduled for Yom Kippur.

“The way I run my life, there was no decision to be made,” the team owner, Stuart Sternberg, said the other day. He was prepared to attend services, but the Rays won in four games, on their sweet run to the World Series.

“We’re not going to be able to do this all the time,” Sternberg said the other day, acknowledging that baseball may accommodate Jewish fans in the Northeast but not Jewish fans in Chicago or Los Angeles.

For fans who may have to miss a game because of religious conflicts, Sternberg offered some advice, “It’s not the end of the world.”

There is only one word to add to that: Amen.

Have an easy fast.

A good day for Jewish sports authors on WNYC recently. Both Howard Megdal (The Baseball Talmud) and Lee Lowenfish (Branch Rickey: Baseball’s Ferocious Gentleman) were interviewed on The Leonard Lopate Show.

You can listen to the Megdal segment here: Megdal

and the Lowenfish interview here:

Lowenfish

This is the tale of  Don Budge, Baron Gott­fried von Cramm, and Big Bill Tilden competing at Wimbledon in 1937. The book foreshadows the coming Holocaust and the treatment of men like von Cramm, who tried to keep the secret that he was homosexual.

His Jewish doubles partner had fled Germany; so had his Jewish lover. In the months leading up to the match, von Cramm was interrogated by the Gestapo about his homosexual activities, was barred from playing singles in the French Championships, divorced his wife and lost the Wimbledon final for the third straight year (to Budge, no less).

I’m always skeptical of words like “greatest” or “best” in a title; there’s rarely universal agreement on the given subject. As the reviwer puts it, “By illuminating the terrible shadows of time, Fisher shows that hyperbole may be fleeting, but champions are not.”

The Wall Street Journal also posted a review.