("You must not have spoken to
my ex-wives," Koufax joked
when he was told.)
Koufax, however, wasn't one
of the interviewees, and in the
book, Leavy refuses to discuss
much of Koufax's personal life,
including his two failed mar-
riages.
"There's a certain level of
dignity that he comported
himself with, and I thought it
behooved me" to uphold his
privacy, she said.
Just The Facts
"When I explained the premise of the book, that it
wasn't going to be a quickie kiss-and-tell but a seri-
ous work where I use his life in baseball to tell a
larger story, he said he didn't have any interest in
taking part," said Leavy.
Eventually, however, Koufax agreed. He would
rather the book not be written, he told her, but if it
was going to be -- and Leavy had a contract with
HarperCollins that pretty much guaranteed it would
be -- he wanted it
done right.
He told his friends it
would be OK to speak
with the reporter and
he went over biogra-
phical facts in dispute.
But that's as far as it
went. He wouldn't
even read the finished
manuscript.
Structuring the book
around the Dodgers-
Cubs game of Sept. 9,
1965, Leavy describes
how Koufax pitched
the game of his life,
setting down 27 Cubs
A Lefty's Legacy
in a row for a perfect
game. He had to -- the
Cubs pitcher, Bob Hendley, threw a one-hitter and
lost, 1-0, on an error.
Around the game swirl the winds of a changing
era. The 1960s were a bridge between the old base-
ball -- the train-riding placed-on-a-pedestal 16-team
era -- and the baseball to come, when expansion and
free agents arrived, and new journalists wrote about
the nooks and crannies of the game and its players,
changing perceptions of the national pastime.
In the middle of it all -- that night, literally -- was
Sandy Koufax, Brooklyn boy-turned-L.A. transplant,
a student of pitching mechanics long before com-
puters and videotape, a private man in a celebrity-
crazed culture. He was a throwback, and a pioneer.
Sandy Koufax
Big-League Project
Card set will honor Jewish baseball players.
MARK BENSON
The Jewish Advocate
D
In one exhibition game, said Abramowitz, Reese
stepped into the batter's box against a Jewish
pitcher and Jewish catcher who communicated
their signs in Yiddish. Reese feasted on this pitch-
er in the past, and the catcher was perplexed.
"You are hitting the ball extremely well against
us -- it's as if you know what we're going to throw
before the ball comes to the
plate," the catcher said to Reese,
according to Abramowitz. "We're
0 giving each other signs in Yiddish
-- there is no way that you could
know that."
Oi Reese paused, said Abramowitz,
then he told the catcher, "My
name is Hymie Solomon."
uring the annual Society for American
Baseball Research convention in Boston
last summer, Martin Abramowitz of
Newton, Mass., invited convention attendees to
his home for brunch and a
discussion on baseball
players from years past
with names like
Greenberg, Koufax and
Reese.
The Reese mentioned
was not Brooklyn Dodger
shortstop Pee Wee Reese,
but Jimmy Reese, another
middle infielder, who
g). Spring Release
played some 70 years ago.
Reese and the other Jewish base-
The lesser-known Reese
ball players honored in this card
shares a special distinction
set are taken from an official list
with Hank Greenberg and
compiled by the Jewish Sports
Sandy Koufax — he is one
Review in Los Angeles.
of just 140 Jews ever to
The list includes Hall of Famers
play Major League
like
Greenberg, who challenged
Baseball, and will be fea-
Ruth's
single-season home run
tured in an upcoming set
record
in 1938 when he bashed
Martin
Abramowitz
has
created
a
set
of
of baseball cards
58 round-trippers for the Detroit
baseball cards featuring Jewish players.
Abramowitz created to
Tigers, as well as today's legends-
celebrate this fascinating
in-the making, like Los Angeles
aspect of the Jewish expe-
Dodger
Shawn
Green
and Atlanta Braves pitcher
rience in America.
Jason
Marquis.
Abramowitz is the founder of Jewish Major
The historical society hopes to be able to release
Leaguers, a nonprofit organization based in his
the set by. Opening Day 2003, but the project
home that is collaborating on the project with the
needs the approval of Major League Baseball, the
American Jewish Historical Society and a card
Major League Baseball Players Association, the
manufacturer to be determined.
Major League Players Alumni Association and the
He hopes the first set of cards will bring atten-
players themselves.
tion to men like Reese, a second baseman for the
It is estimated that 10,000 cards sets will be
Yankees during the 1930 and 1931 seasons who
produced
and sold at a price of $36 per set. The
roomed on road trips with none other than Babe
cards will be marketed primarily through a net-
Ruth (though Reese often quipped he spent more
work of Jewish congregations, gift shops, muse-
time in the hotel with the Babe's luggage than the
urns, bookstores, catalogues and the Jewish media.
Bambino himself).
The National Baseball Hall of Fame in
Abramowitz, the vice president of planning and
Cooperstown, N.Y., has expressed interest in sell-
agency relations with Combined Jewish
ing the cards as well.
Philanthropies, Boston's Jewish federation, has
"When we issue the Jewish Major Leaguers set,
become a baseball historian through his efforts to
it will be the' first Major League card for about 50
help honor Jewish Americans who appeared in a
players and the first card of any kind for about 40
Major League game from 1871 to the present.
players," said Abramowitz.
During baseball's early years, Reese and other
The official title of the set will be American Jews
Jews sometimes concealed their religion.
in
America's Game, 1871 2002.
"Reese changed his given name to Jimmy Reese,
and no one knew that he was Jewish when he broke
in with the Yankees in 1930," Abramowitz said.
Slice OfImmortality
Reese batted .346 in his rookie year with the
Abramowitz tapped into a network of baseball afi-
Bronx Bombers, and was an astounding 10 for 20
PROJECT on page 62
that season as a pinch-hitter.
•
Koufax and Judaism
People recognize something in Koufax, said Leavy.
Call it class, call it beauty; he's "kind of a tuning
fork" for fans and non-fans alike.
KOUFAX on page 62
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tIN
12/27
2002
61