Schlepp me out to the ballpark: ‘Judaism and Baseball’

FALLS VILLAGE — The Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center last weekend hosted, in partnership with the group Jewish Major Leaguers, a conference on Judaism and Baseball.The three-day event, from June 29 to July 1, focused on Jews who have been associated with the sport as everything from players to sports columnists. Because the conference was held over the Jewish Sabbath, which runs from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday, appropriate Jewish religious services were interspersed with baseball topics at various meetings and presentations.For example, on Friday evening, Rabbi Michael Paley gave a one-hour presentation titled, “If the Talmud contains everything, what does the Talmud say about baseball?”While the Torah is the first five books of the Old Testament, the Talmud is the central text of mainstream Judaism. It contains the first written compendium of Judaism’s oral law plus written interpretations of the Torah.The keynote speaker for the weekend was former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Kurtzer, who spoke about baseball and Middle East peace. Later that evening participants held a mock draft for the All-Star Jewish baseball team.A few of the conference participants included Rabbi Rebecca Alpert, associate professor at Temple University and author of “Out of Left Field: Jews and Black Baseball;” Aviva Kempner, filmmaker, director, producer and writer of “The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg;” Justine Siegal, the first woman to pitch major league batting practice; and Peter Levine, author of “Ellis Island to Ebbets Fields, Sports and the American Jewish Experience” and “The Rabbi of Swat.”A Saturday afternoon session titled “Jewish Writers and Broadcasters” featured Kempner, Ira Berkow (a retired New York Times sports reporter and columnist) and Stan Hochman, a longtime sports reporter and broadcaster in Philadelphia.Berkow and Hochman talked about the Baseball Hall of Fame, and noted that once a sportswriter is allowed to vote for players to be inducted into the Hall of Fame they retain the right to vote for life, even if they change professions.There was talk, and debate, about Hall of Fame “Rule No. 5,” which states that voters must take into account prospective inductees’ character, integrity and contributions to the game. Hochman and some audience members felt all three standards should be used when evaluating candidates. Berkow and several audience members felt “contribution to the game” should be the only criterion.The session also included commentary, both pro and con, about the late legendary sportscaster Howard Cosell (born Howard Cohen).When asked about baseball players use of steroids, Hochman said, “Because I do not know whether they did or did not, I can not judge it.”Berkow related the story of how he was once sitting in an aisle seat on an airplane flight to a Dodger-Yankees World Series game when Cosell, who according to Hochman, had had a few drinks, came down the aisle. He stopped at Hochman’s seat and said the Dodgers were the dregs of the earth and hit him on the side of his head — not a slap but a sharp hit. Because most of the people around him worked for ABC Sports, none would support his story for a police report.Hochman spoke a bit about religious prejudice in sports reporting. He said that in 1963, the Philadelphia Bulletin, an afternoon newspaper, had a Jewish sports writer but would not let him use his real name on the byline.Larry Merchant, a longtime sports reporter and commentator, worked for the Philadelphia Daily News and the New York Post before joining HBO in 1978. Hochman described how Merchant changed the way sports was reported in the media.“In the 1960s and before,” Hochman said, “sports teams paid newspapers for sports reporters’ expenses. That made them beholden to the teams and fully open and honest reporting was not always done.” Merchant stopped that practice when he was a print reporter and it became standard practice from then on.Hochman and Berkow also spoke about what they called the “old days,” when baseball players earned very little money. In those days, it was not unusual for a sports reporter to spend $3.50 to buy a player a sandwich and cup of coffee to get some private interview time with him. Once players began earning large salaries, they were no longer interested in meeting with writers like that.For information on Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center go to www.isabellafreedman.org.