April 11, 1941 DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and the Legal Chronicle 12 The Great First Lady of the Land Sincere Holiday Greetings Detroit Elevator Co. Made in Detroit by Detroiters 1359 MONROE AVE. CAdillac 0863 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 Passover Greetings to All! BADER BROS. BAG CO. 1339 CLINTON ST. CAdillac 5941 A JOYOUS PESACH TO ALL CADILLAC CATERING CO. Sandwiches — Box Lunches for Fountains, Factories, Parties 6022 FOURTEENTH ST. TYLER 4-2754 SEASON'S GREETINGS CONTINENTAL BAKING CO. 2915 GRAND RIVER CHERRY 2330 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. PASSOVER GREETINGS AND BEST WISHES TO ALL AMERICAN FURNACE COMPANY 981 OAKMAN BLVD. DETROIT BEST WISHES FOR A JOYOUS PESACH SCHETTLER DRUG CO. STORES IN DETROIT — GROSSE POINTE BIRMINGHAM PASSOVER GREETINGS AND BEST WISHES TO ALL 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 1745 ABBOTT ST. was 25 at the Polo Grounds on Sept. 11, 1900, against the New CHerry 9187 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 Radios idency, she "worked constantly Johnny. A story is told of how Blue-Bird & Victor Records with Belle Moskowitz, Al Smith's a certain Win Mercer was dele- Electrical Contractors 'social conscience'." gated to ascertain what made One of the most interesting the Jewish lad tick. During the 14343 Michigan Ave. 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 SINCERE HOLIDAY GREETINGS 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 Vlnewood 1-6848 shy girl, and scolded, 'Now, record which still stands. He Nancy, I won't have you teasing played in four World Series — 3760 CENTRAL 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- PASSOVER GREETINGS AND BEST WISHES TO ALL 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- Wholesale Drugs 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 CA 6585 422 W. Congress St. 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- PASSOVER GREETINGS AND BEST WISHES TO ALL 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 BEST WISHES FOR A JOYOUS PESACH 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 FIRE BRICK CONSTRUCTION works as hard or knows the low- down truth about the people and the troubles in their hearts as Boiler Settings General Repairs well as she does. And for what reason? Mrs. Roosevelt doesn't Heating Furnaces of All Kinds give a damn about politics in the partisan sense. Profit? She Vlnewood 1.8314 1562 WATERMAN AVE. 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 PASSOVER GREETINGS AND BEST WISIIES TO ALL 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. Handy Brush Co. DEARBORN Engineering Co. Central Waste Material Co. FRANK W. KERR CO. GATELY SHOPS, Inc. LEONARD D. HARRISON JACK FERENTZ PRESIDENT Detroit Federation of Musicians TO MY JEWISH FRIENDS: SINCERE GOOD WISHES FOR A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS PASSOVER P. H. HARRISON DETROIT BRICK MANUFA CTURERS ASSOCIATION