Masters of the Games by Epstein Joseph;

Author:Epstein, Joseph; [Epstein, Joseph]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2014-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Hank Greenberg

Designated Mensch

Baseball trivia quiz: (1) Name a Methodist first baseman who won the triple crown. (2) Name a Baptist right-hander who led the National League in ERA in five different seasons. (3) Name two Catholic outfielders—one from each league—who hit more than 450 home runs and had lifetime batting averages above .330. Are you having trouble coming up with the names Jimmie Foxx, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth and Stan Musial? Maybe it’s because the religion of athletes strikes you as superfluous? And so it should, unless they happen to be Jewish ballplayers and you happen to be Jewish.

Only among Jews is there a set of baseball cards, put out by the American Jewish Historical Society, devoted exclusively to Jewish players. Only Jews bother to discover, and then take exuberant pride in, the fact that such un-Jewishly named ballplayers as Shawn Green and Kevin Youkilis are members of the tribe, by which I don’t mean the Cleveland Indians.

Is there something a bit parochial and chauvinistic and also unconsciously condescending in this interest on the part of Jews in Jewish ballplayers? Samuel Johnson’s remark about lady preachers and dogs that walk on their hind legs, that “it is not done well, but you are surprised to find that it is done at all,” often, alas, applies to the delight that Jewish fans take in their athletes. This exaggerated interest is partly owing to the relative paucity of Jewish ballplayers who made it to the majors. Between 1871 and 2003, there were only 142 of them, which averages out to roughly one a year. Perhaps a dozen Jews are playing major-league baseball at present, the best among them being Ryan Braun, the Milwaukee Brewers’ star left fielder.

Of the Jewish ballplayers who played major-league baseball, a small number were truly standouts; the Indians’ third baseman Al Rosen and the Cubs’ pitcher Ken Holtzman come to mind. Many more were journeymen, like the catcher Moe Berg, who was said to be able to speak six languages and was unable to hit above .240 in any of them.

Two Jews were genuinely great ballplayers. One is the Dodgers’ Sandy Koufax, who between 1961 and 1966 compiled some of the most astonishing records in baseball; in three of those years he won the Cy Young Award and the triple crown for pitchers: leading the league in wins, strikeouts, and ERA.

The other is Hank (born Henry, called Hymie by his family) Greenberg, who played only nine full seasons in the majors and—owing to injury and the nearly four years he served in the Army during World War II—parts of three others. Greenberg is best known for driving in 183 runs in 1937 (one short of Lou Gehrig’s American League record), hitting 58 home runs in 1938 (two short of Babe Ruth’s record) and twice winning the American League’s Most Valuable Player award while playing for the Detroit Tigers. Yet Greenberg may be quite as famous for being Jewish as for what he did in the batter’s box.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.