Arts & Entertainment The Diamond Trade In 1951, Lou Limmer of the Philadelphia Athletics hit a home Facts, stats, stories and glories behind every Jewish ballplayer. run off the Detroit Tigers' Saul Rogovin. Morton I. Teicher Special to the Jewish News W ould you believe that there have been 160 Jews who made it to the Major Leagues? Howard Megdal, who covers baseball for the New York Observer and contrib- utes articles to baseball magazines, has tracked down each of them from a variety of sources in a new book, The Baseball Talmud: The Definitive Position-by-Position Ranking of Baseball's Chosen Players (HarperCollins; $22.99). Going back to the 19th century and con- tinuing to 2009, he provides commentary and statistics for each of these achievers, even including some whose experience included only one game in the big leagues. Megdal is expansive in whom he includes as a Jew, asserting that he is "a baseball expert, not a Judaism expert" Accordingly, he includes players with one Jewish parent, male or female, as well as converts, and one man who is a self- described Messianic Jew, accepting Jesus but celebrating Jewish holidays. The book begins with an argumen- tative chapter on the greatest Jewish baseball player ever. Megdal lists 10 pos- sible candidates but claims the contest is really between former Detroit Tigers first baseman Hank Greenberg and Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax. He makes a persuasive case for his selection. (Longtime Tiger fans will be pleased with his conclusion!) Moving forward and with the excep- tion of his last chapter, Megdal divides his presentation into discussions of Jewish baseball players grouped by the position they played. When it comes to pitchers, Megdal offers four categories: left-handed starters, right-handed starters, left-handed reliev- ers and right-handed relievers. The play- ers are ranked with Megdal offering his opinions and statistics to back them up. Among pitchers, the "discussion starts and ends with Sandy Koufax" although Ken Holtzman, who had a longer career, won 174 games versus 165 for Koufax. In the final chapter, devoted to his dream "All-Time Jewish Team," Megdal lists both of them as starting pitchers. The author demonstrates his competence with statistics and supports the claim that "this team would have been by far the greatest baseball has ever seen." Throughout the book, Megdal discusses players individually, giving a lively dis- course on their idiosyncrasies along with anecdotes about them. For example, he writes at some length about Moe Berg, who played for four Major League teams and who was a "catcher, spy and linguist." Berg studied at the Sorbonne; earned a law degree at Columbia; worked for the Office of Strategic Services, forerunner of the CIA; served as a panelist on a radio quiz show; and spoke Japanese so well that he was the first player selected to tour Japan with a Major League team. Megdal offers his judgment that Berg would have done better to focus more on baseball and rates him seventh in the list of 16 Jewish catchers. An example of the esoteric material Megdal unearthed in the course of his research was that Lou Limmer, who played first base for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1951 and 1954, was the president of a synagogue in the Bronx, N.Y. Also, in 1951, Limmer hit "a home run off the Detroit Tigers' Saul Rogovin." Joe Ginsberg was the catcher, making this "the first, and thus far only, Jewish battery and hitter in Major League history." During the 1920s, New York Giants manager John McGraw diligently searched for a Jewish player in an effort to appeal to Jewish fans. He thought he had solved his problem in 1926 when he signed Andy Cohen to play second base. Unfortunately, after a flashy start, Cohen faded and was sent to the minor leagues, where he had a respectable career as a player and a manager. He eventually returned to his Joe Ginsberg was the catcher, making this "the first, and thus far only, Jewish battery and hitter in Xv- :AIM& Paakur, 4.Paailtron, Raella4 fe.adullLi Ciawa Major League history," writes Megdal. native El Paso, where, with the aid of his brother, he built a baseball program at the University of Texas, El Paso. The field there is named "Cohen Stadium:' Then there is the story of early 20th- century second baseman Jimmy Reese. "Reese grew up Hymie Solomon, and changed his name, as many Jews did, to avoid anti-Semitism:' Megdal writes. "The decision worked out well — in a charity game, catcher Ike Danning and pitcher Harry Ruby decided to forgo signs and communicate in Yiddish. Reese, the covert Jew, went four for four." Jewish baseball fans will find this book to be indispensable. It is a compendium of facts, figures and fragments that are appealing, amusing and arcane. The author begins his book by saying that Jews like to argue, and he concludes that those who disagree with his ratings can start the debate, armed with information as a consequence of his presentation. He is right. To quote his final words, "Let the discussion commence." ❑ Jews Nate Bloom Special to the Jewish News Douglas Honored Last month, two-time Oscar-winner Michael Douglas, 64, was honored with the prestigious American Film Institute Life Achievement Award. A replay of the evening's proceedings will be shown on the TVLand cable channel 9 p.m. Sunday, July 19. A highlight moment came when Michael's father, Kirk Douglas, 94, who won the same AFI award in 1991, gave a moving Kirk and Michael tribute to his son, Douglas laced with some humor. In his speech, Michael paid tribute to C6 his father and to his non-Jewish mother, actress Diana Dill Douglas, 86. Michael attributed his success to the "acting DNA" he inherited from his parents. (Michael identifies culturally as Jewish but isn't religious.) An incredible collection of "A-list" Hollywood stars turned out for the gala, including Jack Nicholson and three of Michael's past female co-stars: Annette Bening, Anne Archer and Sharon Stone. Michael's wife Catherine Zeta-Jones did a show-stopping performance of "One" from the musical A Chorus Line, the film version of which starred her husband. There was a surprise musical performance by Bob Dylan. Karl Malden, who passed away on July 1 at age 97, was too frail to attend the gala, but appeared via tape to praise Michael. Malden, who co-starred with Michael in the hit '70s TV series The Streets of San Francisco, said he consid- ered Michael "an adopted son." After the tape finished, Michael responded,"I'll be his adopted son anytime." Malden, who wasn't Jewish, is sur- vived by his wife, Mona Greenberg, a Jewish actress whom he wed in 1938. New Potter The film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince opened yes- terday, July 15, with Daniel Radcliffe, 19, once again starring as Harry. Harry's mentor, Danielle Dumbledore, teaches Radcliffe him new skills to fend off the evil Lord Voldemort. Meanwhile, Harry finds time to get really sweet on Ginny, his old friend. Radcliffe was the recent subject of a long profile and interview in the Brit paper the Guardian. (Read it at www. guardian.co.uk.) In short, Radcliffe is now a legal adult and has bought an apartment and acquired a new girl- friend, an actress he met while starring in Equus on Broadway. Right now, he is in the midst of filming the last two flicks in the Potter saga. The Guardian says: "He has pub- lished some poems under a pen name. It seems to be Jacob Gershon: Jacob is his middle name, Gershon the Jewish version of Gresham, his mother's Anglicized maiden name" (Daniel's mother is Jewish; his father is not). On being Jewish, Daniel told the paper: "I'm an atheist, but I'm very proud of being Jewish. It means I have a good work ethic, and you get Jewish humor and you're allowed to tell Jewish jokes." ❑ Contact Nate Bloom at middleoftheroadl@aol.com.