By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved baseball. When I was about 7 or 8, I could rattle off the top ten pitchers, batters, along with their minor league and career averages. Yes, baseball is terrific. Yet, today, I must confess: I do not like [...]
By Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO — It was bad enough that Mariano Rivera, arguably the greatest relief pitcher in major league history, suffered a freak, batting practice-related, career-threatening knee injury on Thursday night. The fact that this happened to the consummate New York Yankee along the running track in Kansas City calls basic baseball [...]
By Doug Gladstone ALBANY, New York — Like a lot of Jews, I’m of the opinion that you can’t have justice for yourself unless other people have justice as well. That’s especially true now that we’re in the month of Heshvan, which is widely considered to be Jewish Social Action month. As the author of [...]
By Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO–The New York Yankees, those imperial contenders in pin-stripes, bowed out in the division series, taking with them a significant slice of the crowd that was only consoled by Boston’s ample free-fall and collapse. Never mind: we had been hoisted by the most dazzling, 24-hour wild-card frenzy in the game’s [...]
By Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO — When he recently passed Trevor Hoffman’s formidable record of 601 saves, New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera maintained his hallmark reserve and quiet dignity. Pete Rose was always a bit histrionic about his all-time record-breaking (4,256), games played (3,562), and at-bats (14,053). No one is likely to ever [...]
By Dan Bloom CHIAYI, Taiwan — Word order matters, especially with Taiwanese names when written or pronounced in English in the US or Europe. While Washington Nationals pitcher Wang Chien-ming (王建民) is a famous name among US baseball fans, both the Washington Post and the New York Times now spell his name “Chien-ming Wang.” US [...]
TEL AVIV (Press Release)– Israel has been invited to participate in a new 16-team Qualifying Round for the 2013 World Baseball Classic. The invitation comes from WBCI (World Baseball Classic, Inc.). Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Player’s Association together created the event, first held in 2006. This will be the third Classic, [...]
Pitching in the Promised Land by Aaron Pribble, University of Nebraska Press, 2011, 238 pages including epilogue and acknowledgments, $24.95. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — It’s hard to imagine how putting bats in the hands of the people of the Middle East could bring peace to the region, but author Aaron Pribble is [...]
NEWTON, Massahusetts (Press Release) - For the second consecutive year, Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun has been named Most Valuable Jewish Player of the Year by Jewish Major Leagues, Inc. (“JML”), the not-for-profit baseball history organization that produces Jewish baseball cards and Hall of Fame programs honoring Jews in the game. Craig Breslow of Oakland, who worked in [...]
_________________________________________________________________ Update– San Diego Jewish Film Festival schedules “Jews and Baseball” …. It will be presented at 1 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 13 at the Clairemont Reading 14 Theatres. _________________________________________________________________ Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story, directed by Peter Miller, narrated by Dustin Hoffman, produced by Clear Lake Historical Productions. By Donald H. Harrison SAN [...]
