"Softball Shabbat"

Before I begin my D’var Torah, I’d like all the members of the Sinai softball team to stand up (if they can) and be recognized.  This team has become a big part of what makes Sinai Sinai.

So why a Sinai Softball team?  For that matter, why a Synagogue softball league?  There is no synagogue basketball league; or flag football league; or ice hockey league.  Besides the obvious observation that playing softball is probably easier for a collection of middle-aged guys to play without great risk of serious injury than those others (although we do get our share of strained muscles, contusions, and the like), I posit that there is something very Jewish about baseball.

Now it might be that Jews have had some success in baseball simply because it is a game that can be played at the highest level by normal sized people.  After all, there simply aren’t many 7 foot Jews, or at least athletic ones (anybody remember Henry Finkel?); or athletic 300 pound Jews (Ron Mix excepted).  Jews were pretty successful in those sports when one could succeed as a normal-sized player (remember Sid Luckman and Benny Friedman in football, and Nat Holman, Red Holtzman and Lennie Rosenbluth in basketball?).  But I believe there’s more to it than that. 

Baseball is a team game, but it is essentially individualistic.  Unlike basketball, football and hockey, those other major sports, you almost never have teams with less talent but better teamwork beating teams with better talent but less teamwork.  Individual talent is king.  That’s why statistics matter in baseball more than in any other team sport; an individual’s performance is not affected much by his teammates’.  After all, as Cantor Robbins surely knows, Steve Carlton won 27 games for a woeful1972 Phillies team that went 59-97!  I believe that baseball’s emphasis on individual excellence within a team concept fits well with the Jewish ethos.  Although the Jewish community tends to be a tight knit one, and our prayer is communal, Jews emphasize individual responsibility and achievement, even brilliance.  I don’t think it is a coincidence that Jews tend to rise to the top of their fields of endeavor far exceeding our numbers. 

Our softball team’s record notwithstanding, this is a golden age of Jewish baseball.  This year alone there were 3 Jewish all-stars – our own Ryan Braun, Kevin Youkiliss, slugging first baseman for the Red Sox, and Jason Marquis, who pitches for the Colorado Rockies.  And last year Ian Kinsler, star second baseman for the Texas Rangers, was in the All-Star Game along with Braun and Youkiliss.  In fact, it is likely that Braun, Youkiliss and Kinsler, by the time their careers are over, will join Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax as the 5 greatest Jewish baseball players of all time. 

To that list you can add the following current Jewish Major Leaguers:  3-time Gold Glove winner and current Dodger catcher Brad Ausmus; Oakland reliever Craig Breslow; Texas starter Scott Feldman (currently 11-4); Cubs outfielder Sam Fuld; reliever John Grabow, just acquired by the Cubs from the Pirates; Tampa Bay outfielder and former Brewer Gabe Kapler; Arizona reliever Scott Schoeneweis (who recently passed Koufax and Kenny Holtzman as the Jewish pitcher appearing in the most major league games); and Arizona first baseman Josh Whitesell.   

By the way, the Brewers have another Jewish player, Adam Stern, playing at AA Huntsville (and he has 28 stolen bases – Sinai could certainly use a little of that speed).  I mention it because on August 8, 2005, Stern, Youkiliss and Kapler all took the field for the Red Sox, setting a modern day record for most Jews appearing for one team at the same time.

Which brings me to Manny Ramirez and Barry Bonds.  At this point, you may be asking, so what do Manny and Barry have to do with this week’s Torah portion?  You may even be asking, what does my little talk about Jews in Baseball have to do with this week’s Torah portion?  Or you could be asking, will this guy ever shut up?  And where is Andy?  At any rate, as far as I know, neither Manny nor Barry is Jewish – much to the relief of Rabbis’ everywhere.  But like the rug in The Big Lebowski, I’m about to tie this room together. 

This week’s Parashat is Parashat Re’eh, which continues Moses’ speech to the Israelites as they prepare to enter the Promised Land.  One of the things that Moses tells the Jews is that, in Israel, they will be permitted to eat certain kinds of meat (in the desert they were pretty much limited to manna), but that eating the blood is forbidden because it is considered the sacred substance of life and may not be consumed.  So I guess consuming Human Growth Hormone is pretty much out for observant Jewish ballplayers, a belief that would have benefited both Manny and Barry.  But that’s not really my point.  And although Moses also spoke of the required means of slaughter, sort of like Jeff Suppan facing Albert Pujols, that’s not really my point either.

So, as my son has asked me so often, what is my point?  In Parashat Re’eh, Moses commands the Israelites to destroy all idolatrous alters in the Promised Land, and warns them not to be lured into idolatry by false prophets, family members or friends.  In today’s world, there isn’t much problem with the worship of idols literally – but there continues to be a problem with idol-worship of a different kind.  After all, the most popular TV show for the last few years is called American Idol.  Which brings me back to Manny and Barry.  In baseball, they are, respectively, just the latest and most egregious examples of the problem with idol-worship of the more human kind.  Let us not put are faith in idols – we will forever be disappointed.  Let us rely instead on our family, friends and one another – and let us put our faith in God.  Shabbat Shalom.