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Coalition To
Honor Survivors
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Reliving the Tigers’ ’68 World Series Win
I
’m trying to wrap my brain around
the fact that it’s been a half-cen-
tury since the Detroit Tigers won
the 1968 World Series. I repeat ... a
haaaaalf-cennnnnntury.
I’ll get a chance to come to terms
with that reality on
Tuesday, Aug. 14, at 7
p.m. at Congregation
B’nai Moshe in West
Bloomfield, when
I’ll have the privilege
of moderating an
evening with Detroit
Tigers pitching leg-
Alan Muskovitz
end and 1968 World
Series hero Mickey
Lolich. Lolich, and
award-winning for-
mer Detroit Tiger beat reporter Tom
Gage, have collaborated on the book
Joy in Tigertown: A Determined Team,
A Resilient City, and Our Magical Run
to the 1968 World Series. (Gage won
the 2015 J.G. Taylor Spink Award for
his writing.)
The Tigers’ World Series victory
over the St. Louis Cardinals was one
of two major, life-affirming moments
in 1968 — if you count my becoming a
“man” on Feb. 24 at Adat Shalom. Yes,
in 1968, I became a bar mitzvah, and
the Tigers performed a “bat” mitzvah.
Indeed, the championship was a mitz-
vah as the victory helped our city heal
from the ’67 riots.
I was lucky enough to secure tick-
ets to two of the three Series’ home
games at Tiger Stadium, of blessed
memory. It took a lot of work. Tickets
were made available through a mail-
in lottery, with each household lim-
ited to a certain number of tickets.
To increase my chances, I submitted
ticket orders using my two sets of
grandparents’ addresses.
A day didn’t go by that I didn’t call
grandparents Isadore, Molly, Sam
and Helen to remind them that if an
envelope arrived from Tiger Stadium
it ... was ... not ... junk ... mail! And it
paid off !
The baseball Gods blessed us with
tickets for two of the three home
games, and we split our baseball
bounty among family members. I was
further blessed to be in attendance
at the Tigers’ only home World Series
victory — a 5-3 Game 5 win over
the Cardinals courtesy of ... Mickey
Lolich! That monumental win kept
the Series alive, with the Tigers win-
ning Games 6 and 7 on the road.
Game 7 earning Lolich his third vic-
tory of the Series and MVP honors.
Baseball and Jewish holidays have
intersected famously over the years.
During a heated pennant race in
1934, Hank Greenberg, who strug-
gled mightily with his decision,
played on Rosh Hashanah after
allegedly conferring with a rabbi. The
victory on the High Holiday was piv-
otal to the Tigers getting into the post
season and eventually winning the
championship.
Sandy Koufax sat out Game 1 of the
1965 World Series because it fell on
Yom Kippur. Don Drysdale replaced
Koufax in the starting lineup and was
soundly handled by the Minnesota
Twins. When Dodger manager Walter
Alston pulled Drysdale in the third
inning trailing 7-1, Drysdale is report-
ed to have said to Alston: “I bet you
wish I were Jewish, too.”
Hoping that the Statutes of
Sacrilegious Limitations protects me,
I fully admit to having watched Game
1 of the 1968 World Series, which fell
on Yom Kippur, praying the whole
time God wouldn’t scratch me from
his Book of Life Scorecard or my par-
ents wouldn’t trade me for a Jewish
kid to be named later.
I’ll never forgot how I acknowl-
edged the Tigers’ World Series
Championship in a pre-Facebook era.
As soon as Game 7 ended, I made a
congratulatory poster and stood on
the corner of Southfield Road and
10 Mile, successfully eliciting drivers
to honk their horns in celebration. I
wouldn’t trade that memory for all
the Facebook “Likes” in the world. •
Alan Muskovitz is a writer, voice-over/acting
talent, speaker, emcee and guest host on the
Mitch Albom Show on WJR AM 760. Visit his
website at laughwithbigal.com.
details
Mickey Lolich and Tom Gage are ap-
pearing in partnership with the Michigan
Jewish Sports Foundation on Tuesday,
Aug. 14, at 7 p.m. as part of B’nai
Moshe’s annual Spectacular Speaker
Series. Tickets are $5 at the door; ad-
vance registration is preferred by calling
(248) 788-0600. Autographed books will
be sold for $25.
essay
What Summer
Camp Photos
Don’t Show You
O
Sarah Cooper
The Coalition for Black and Jewish
Unity will host an event at 2 p.m.
Sunday, Aug. 5, honoring survi-
vors and victims of the Holocaust.
The event, “Out from the Depths
and into the Light,” will be held at
the Holocaust Memorial Center in
Farmington Hills.
The coalition was formed ear-
lier this year with a mission to com-
bat racism and anti-Semitism and
to foster unity between the local
black and Jewish communities.
The event will begin with a docent-
led tour of the HMC’s permanent
exhibit. Rabbi Eli Mayerfeld, CEO of
the HMC, will welcome all to the for-
mal program that begins at 3:30 p.m.
Featured speaker is Holocaust survi-
vor Jack Gun, who will tell his story of
survival, which includes being hidden
by various families and using his own
instincts to do whatever was neces-
sary to stay alive.
“Our communities are joining
together in peace and unity to honor
the personal stories of the Holocaust
victims and the pain the Holocaust
survivors still endure. We want them
to know we will never forget what
happened,” said Rev. DeeDee Coleman,
pastor of Russell Street Missionary
Baptist Church and president of the
Council of Baptist Pastors of Detroit.
Remarks and musical selections will
come from representatives of both
communities.
Light refreshments will be served
following the program. The event is
free. For details, call (248) 553-2400,
ext. 141. •
f course, I check them every day. Doesn’t everyone?
Each day, my 10-year-old’s summer camp website
posts several hundred photos of activities. Pool play,
maccabiah games, horseback riding. The images are glorious.
They show 8-year-olds dressed in white, 11-year-olds covered
in sand: childhood at its most beautiful.
My 7-year-old and I scroll through, looking for any photo,
however cropped or distant, of his older brother. Is that him?
His red hair? There are his cabin-mates playing ping-pong.
Maybe he’ll be in the next set.
When we find one, we save and sometimes post it on social
media, and our friends do the same thing.
The JN welcomes letters
from the community, preferably
those related to a story
published in our paper. Please
keep letters to approximately
300 words and send them to
letters@renmedia.us. The JN
reserves the right to edit letters
for grammar and clarity.
continued on page 8
jn
August 2 • 2018
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