April 11, 1941
DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and the Legal Chronicle
12
The Great First
Lady of the Land
Sincere Holiday Greetings
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In January, 1935, at the din-
ner of the Conference on the
Cause and Cure of War, Mrs.
Carrie Chapman Catt, pioneer
American woman leader, said in
introducing Mrs. Franklin D.
Roosevelt: "I said when Presi-
dent Roosevelt was elected, 'Now
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ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
we'll have a pair of Presidents.'
It's the only prediction I ever
made that came true."
This story is reproduced in
Ruby Black's biography "Eleanor
Roosevelt," which Duell, Sloan
& Pearce, Inc., 270 Madison
Ave., New York, just published.
It is one of many incidents
which prove the contention that
the First Lady of the Land is
one of the great American wo-
men of all time and is a factor
for great good in the present
period of our history.
Miss Black, able newspaper
woman who enjoys Mrs. Roose-
velt's friendship, has compiled a
fascinating record of the activi-
ties of the President's wife. It
is a story of effort to overcome
handicaps, of a battle for jus-
tice, of a great woman with a
deep-rooted sense of justice.
In April, 1928, when Mrs.
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The First Jew in Baseball
By VICTOR WAYNE
as the mainstay of a team which
had the celebrated double play
combination of Tinker to Evers
to Chance and a pitching staff
built around "Three Fingered"
Brown, Ruelbach and Pfiester.
Kling was traded to Boston
in 1911, finished his career with
Cincinnati in 1913 and went
back to his native Kansas City
to become — in time — the mil-
lionaire president of the Kansas
City Blues in the American As-
sociation—an all round winner.
"There have been great Jew-
ish ball players," said Pr ex y
Frick, "but they never landed
in New York. Probably the great-
est Jewish ball player ever in
the leagues was the first one
in my recollection — Johnny
Kling, catcher and "brains" of
the famous old Chicago Cubs of
the Frank Chance era. However,
Johnny was no help to his Jew-
ish compatriots in New York. In-
stead he was anathema for New
SEASON'S GREETINGS
York hated the Cubs with the
deep and abiding hatred that
the Giants feel for the Dodgers
today — and Kling represented
ROY HATHAWAY, Prop.
the enemy."
Kling, Kansas City born, made
his major league debut when he
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was 25 at the Polo Grounds on
Sept. 11, 1900, against the New
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York Giants. He crashed the
headlines that day by getting
three safe hits in four times at
bat and very nearly dominating
SINCERE HOLIDAY GREETINGS
all accounts of the game next
day. By that time of course, it
had been discovered that Kling
was Jewish. Major leaguers in
those days inevitably put a
rookie through an initiation per-
CHARLES R. COMBS
Roosevelt took charge of wo- iod. When it was learned that
RCA—GE—SPARTON
men's work in behalf of the can- Kling was Jewish, the initiation
didacy of Al Smith for the Pres- rites became pure torture for
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idency, she "worked constantly Johnny. A story is told of how
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with Belle Moskowitz, Al Smith's a certain Win Mercer was dele-
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'social conscience'."
gated to ascertain what made
One of the most interesting the Jewish lad tick. During the
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episodes recorded in Miss Black's course of the g a m e, Mercer
OR. 1120
biography tells of the method thundered into the plate with his
she developed of giving political sharp spikes waving in Kling's
education "in homely terms." It face. Kling held his ground and
was when Fannie Hurst took emerged from the collision un-
Mrs. George Backer, wife of the scathed. They carried Mercer to
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wealthy New York real estate the clubhouse for repairs. They
man and Schiff heiress, to talk stopped making trouble for Kling
to Mrs. Roosevelt about the Wo- after that.
men's Trade Union League lunch-
For ten seasons after, Kling
rooms for jobless girls. Mrs. was the star catcher of the Cubs,
Backer was introduced by Nancy greatest team in baseball at the
Cook as "an economic royalist time. He was behind the bat in
and a Republican." Whereupon: 96 of the 150 games the club
"Mrs. Roosevelt put her arm played in 1906 when the Chi-
around the young, pretty and cago nine won 116 games — a
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shy girl, and scolded, 'Now, record which still stands. He
Nancy, I won't have you teasing played in four World Series —
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this child.' Mrs. Backer want- catching all the games in 1906,
ed to get into more civic work, 1907 and 1908 and was regarded
but did not know exactly how
She began attending Mrs. Roose-
velt's speeches because she was
warmed by Mrs. Roosevelt's at-
tention. She gradually got in-
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terested in what Mrs. Roosevelt
said, being particularly impressed
by her principle that the nation
is merely an extension of the
home. Mrs. Backer joined organ-
izations Mrs. Roosevelt recom-
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mended, went with her to see the
Tennessee Valley and the Arthur-
dale homestead. These visits
proved a revelation to Mrs. Back-
er, both of what the government
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was doing and of the thorough-
ness of Mrs. Roosevelt's 'inves-
tigations,' from attic to cellar.
Mrs. Backer volunteered to work
in the Democratic headquarters
in 1936. As Mrs. Roosevelt
rushed in and out of the offices,
she spoke with the youthful vol-
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unteer, invited her to Hyde Park,
to dine at the 'big house' and
to visit her at the cottage. When
her political mind was made up,
and when she grew in confidence,
Mrs. Backer was one of those
who spread Mrs. Roosevelt's doc-
trine of politics and civic work
to others of her own group. Mr.
and Mrs. Backer later bought the
241 MICHIGAN AVE.
New York Post, and they finally
supported the Roosevelt admin-
istration in that historic paper."
Even Wetsbrook Pegler, the
labor-union-baiter and arch-anti-
New-Dealed had a good word
for Mrs. Roosevelt. As quoted in
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Miss Black's biography, Pegler
wrote: " . . . I think we can
take the wraps off and call her
the greatest American woman, be-
cause there is no other who
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works as hard or knows the low-
down truth about the people and
the troubles in their hearts as
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well as she does. And for what
reason? Mrs. Roosevelt doesn't
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give a damn about politics in
the partisan sense. Profit? She
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is one member of the family
who will not have a dollar of
profit to show for eight or more
years of banging around the
country on a schedule that would
break the body and mind of an
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old-time circus trouper."
Thus, the finest tribute comes
from a person none too friendly
to the FDR family.
Miss Black concludes her biog-
raphy of the great First Lady
of the Land with the sentence:
worth while."
"Eleanor Roosevelt's life is
dedicated to making democracy
It is a great job well done—
and it is making history for
America and the American peo-
ple.
You are a baseball fan, let
us say, sitting around and talk-
ing of this and that, and some-
body makes the sudden happy
suggestion that you pick an all-
time, all-star team of major
leaguers. You agree enthusiasti-
cally; the rabid fan knows no
diversion more fascinating.
Naturally, you start at home
plate, where ball games begin
and end, and weigh the value
of catchers. You will put down
Buck Ewing, Roger Bresnahan,
Maybe Mickey Cochrane and al-
ways Johnny Kling. For Kling,
the first Jew in major league
baseball and still considered the
best, cannot be ignored. He re-
tired from baseball in 1913, yet
still is one of the standards by
which all other catchers are
measured.
Ford Frick, president of the
National League, labels Kling as
his favorite ball player of all
time. Many others still retain
vivid memories of the agile man
who opened up a new athletic
field to Jewish boys.
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JACK FERENTZ
PRESIDENT
Detroit Federation of Musicians
TO MY JEWISH FRIENDS:
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FOR A HAPPY AND
PROSPEROUS
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P. H. HARRISON
DETROIT BRICK
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