THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, September 28, 1984
MORRIS
and
SYLVIA
BOBROFF
It was four years later that the
first game of the World Series
(against. the Minnesota Twins)
fell on Yom Kippur and Koufax,
the year's Cy Young Award win-
ner as the league's best pitcher,
went to Temple rather than pitch,
an incident that was the subject of
national press coverage and, of
course, intense Jewish interest.
The Koufax story, by the way,
had an amusing postscript. When
Don Drysdale, himself a Hall of
Famer and Koufax's replacement
in the first game, was bombarded
by the Twins in the third inning
and had to be taken out for a relief
pitcher, the first words he said to
manager Alston were, "I bet right
now you're wishing I was Jewish."
Drysdale still enjoys repeating
the remark.
Actually, determining who in
the big leagues is Jewish is not
always a simple matter. John
Lowenstein of the Baltimore
Orioles is not Jewish but. appar-
ently gets a kick out of the fact
that people think he is, and even
enjoys putting them on; sure
enough, he is included in the
Jewish team in the recently pub-
F ormer Yankee,
Ron Blomberg,
reportedly had
written in his
contract that he
wouldn't have to
play on either
holiday.
lished The All-Time Baseball
Teams Book. On the other hand, ,
the Red Sox' Jeff Newman con-
verted to Judaism (in an Orthodox
ceremony) almost fifteen years
ago, when he married a Jewish
woman; his son was given a bar
mitzvah last year. Newman
doesn't recall the High Holiday
question coming up in connection
with an important game, but he
thinks that he would play if the
situation did arise.
Future Hall of Famer Rod
Carew married a Jewish woman,
is raising his children as Jews,
and says he intends to formally
convert at some point; some have
assumed he was Jewish ever since
he appeared on the cover of Time
magazine wearing a chai
necklace. But Carew does take
his Jewish learning and obser-
vance seriously; in an interview
for radio a few years ago, he told
me that the important thing for
him was that "on the holidays
that are very, very important, I
will not go out there and play."
(Carew has been known to show
up at the ballpark on Yom Kippur
but not suit up on grounds of ill-
ness — which, he has found, some-
times means fewer questions and
less explaining.)
Elliot Maddox, who has con-
verted to Judaism, says he made
sure he didn't have to play on Yom
Kippur or the first day of Rosh
Hashanah; and another former
Yankee, Ron Blomberg, repor-
tedly had written in his contract
that he wouldn't have to play on
either holiday.
John Lowenstein, by the way, is
not the only ball player ever
wrongly assumed to be Jewish.
Edward Clarence Whitner, a
non-Jew who played 53 games for
the Yankees, and had one at-bat
for the Phillies, in the early '40s,
was re-named Ed Levy in the hope
that, under that moniker, he
would bring Jewish customers to
the turnstiles. And by way of
bizarre footnote: In researching
this article, I followed up a mis-
taken tip that the Dodgers' Steve
Sax was Jewish and called him at
the hotel where the team was
staying; he returned the call, told
me that he "played now on the
Holidays but might not if I had a
family," and called me back two
days later to ask me, of all things,
to wire money to his brother. Two
days of perplexed investigation
revealed that the man who had
called me back and (the second
time) asked me for money was not
Steve Sax at all but a — Jewish! —
con man who was picking up Sax's
messages and fleecing fans out of
thousands of dollars. (He was ar-
rested by the FBI the day after I
last spoke to him.)
Such anomalies aside, it is re-
markable that, so far as I can de-
termine, Jeff Newman is the only
identifying Jewish ball player in
the major leagues today. By con-
trast, in one of Sid Gordon's first
games as a New York Giant in
1941, he was one of four Jewish
players in the starting lineup!
One of them, outfielder Morrie
Arnovich, was the son of Orthodox
Jewish parents and reportedly
one of the few Jewish major
leaguers to try to observe the
dietary laws.
Jeff Newman is on the Red Sox
so he won't have a High Holy Day
dilemma. This baseball season
would otherwise be a propitious
time for Jewish ball players to
demonstrate their commitment:
Rosh Hashanah for 5745 occurs on
the last weekend of the regular
season, while Yom Kippur coin-
cides with the baseball playoffs
leading to the World Series.
NEWS
`Spanish blight'
in Israeli groves
Tel Aviv (ZINS) — In the last
two years, Israeli farmers have
uprooted 17,500 acres of citrus or-
chards and turned the land to
other uses because of competition
from Spain.
Another factor is the falling
value of European currency ad-
justed against the U.S. dollar,
making Israel's exports more ex-
pensive in Europe.
17
"You know how a
Harris Tweed
sportcoat feels?
You know how
$119 feels?
Been to Kent?"
A John Kent Man
dresses better for less.
HEJOHNRNTSTORES
ORCHARD MALL, West Bloomfield. 855-6677.
TEL-HURON CENTER. Pontiac, 334-4541.
WONDERLAND CENTER, Livonia, 425-9500.
TECH-PLAZA CENTER. Warren, 573-4400.
WISH THEIR
FRIENDS 8 RELATIVES
A HAPPY & HEALTHY
NEW
YEAR
Monday - Friday. noon to 9 p.m.
Saturday. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday. noon to 5 p.m.
(Tel-Huron store closed Sunday.)
Open in October! John Kent in Oak Brook Square,
Flint, and The Corners, Southfield Road & 13 Mile.
our friends atuffamiCy,
Rosa Hasaana is a new beginning,
the coming of the New Year.
Our hopes and prayers for everyone.
Good heafth, prosperity, anal a year of
peace at Gone and in Israel.
We beifieve the time has come for ati
of us to re-cstaKish our enthusiasm
and commionent to our community
mut the worfdiewish coati ii
Fr011i aft your friends at Tupper's,
have a Happy and Heathy NOV Year.
Howard and Steven Tapper
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