Sports

In 1914 Mayer became the first Jewish pitcher to win 20 games in a big league season, posting a 21-9 record with a superb earned run average of 2.58.

Many former baseball players who left us with happy memories also passed away in the past year.

"No kid is worth a million dollars to sign," Newhouser said, "but if one kid is, it's this kid."

Zimmer was popular with veteran teammates like Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges, Pee Wee Reese and Duke Snider – and with a rookie lefthander named Sandy Koufax.

I'm sure readers noticed those full-page advertisements that ran prior to last month's meeting about the situation at the Brooklyn home of Rabbi Moshe Tuvia Lieff, rav of Agudas Yisroel Bais Binyomin. Avrohom chaired the even along with his brother Menachem, a prominent askan and the president of Lubicom.

I spoke twice during Pesach. The first topic was the Holocaust and Jewish ballplayers and the second was how I, a frum-from-birth Jew, ended up in major league baseball.

Even if a player reaches the big league level, there's still no guarantee he'll remain with one team for long. Former Jewish outfielder Richie Scheinblum comes to mind.

The snow has melted in most parts of the country and here in Florida, where I have my winter dugout in the Orthodox enclave of Century Village in West Palm Beach, I had the opportunity to take in several spring training games.

If you're visiting spring training sites, Arizona has two advantages – fewer games are rained out and the facilities are much closer to each other than is the case in Florida.

Favored to win his match, Lipsky fell in two tough sets to an Austrian-Romanian duo. After flying to the opposite side of the world, losing a first round match was not the best result.

There were 15 Jews in the major leagues during the 2013 season, but only a few from a Jewish mother.

Musial told the taunted Jackie Robinson: "I want you to know that I'm not like many of the other guys on my team."

Brooklyn native Lipman Pike was one of baseball's earliest paid players.

The World Series was born 110 years ago. So were the New York Yankees, as New York inherited the remnants of the old Baltimore Orioles, a charter member of the new American League that was formed in 1901. A year later the team was headed to last place and bankruptcy. Manager John McGraw jumped to the National League New York Giants to assume the same position and brought some Orioles players with him.

Prior to the summer, Jewish tennis had been characterized by the men who performed well on the big stages, including Dudi Sela, Canadian Jesse Levine, Amir Weintraub and doubles stars Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram.

Rewind eight decades to 1933. That year marked the rise of the greatest villain of our time and the biggest Jewish sports hero of all time.

The year 1973 was an interesting one indeed. Forty years ago, the Conservative movement’s commission on law and standards adopted a new regulation admitting women into the traditional minyan.

"I had to grow a tough little hide as everybody was fair game to be razzed and needled."

Rewind sixty years to 1953. Television was considered kosher by most and featured the likes of Desi Arnaz, Lucille Ball, Jack Benny, George Burns, Red Buttons, Perry Como, Arthur Godfrey, Clayton Moore as The Lone Ranger, Dinah Shore, Red Skelton, Danny Thomas, Jack Webb as Joe Friday on “Dragnet” and many others who provided great memories.

Let me tell you about my new book. Like you, I’m interested in Jewish baseball players and Jewish history. So, after years of research, first-hand observations and interviews, I combined the aforementioned information from the post-civil war era to the present and came up with a book titled Jewish History in the Time of Baseball's Jews: Life on Both Sides of the Ocean.

Many of the baseball beat writers feel the Detroit Tigers are the best team in the major leagues. While I haven't seen all of the pre-season articles, the ones I have read pick the Tigers to top the Central division in the American League.

A few months ago I wrote about the passing of my brother-in-law, Rabbi Shmuel Kunda, z”l, and how he never got around to a project I urged him to take on. I wanted him to title it "Boruch Goes to Ebbets Field" and tell the story of how Boruch bonds with Brooklyn's beloved Dodgers – with Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider, Gil Hodges and the rest. (The Duke was my brother-in-law's favorite.)

Though the permissibility of watching hired sports players go to battle in a large stadium is a source of controversy amongst Torah observant Jews, the food being served at the upcoming Super Bowl games in New Orleans is not.

Last season the Philadelphia Phillies had a Rosenberg, the St. Louis Cardinals had a Rosenthal, and the Arizona Diamondbacks had a Goldschmidt.

As of early December, some 72 former major leaguers had died in 2012. The number is much higher than any of us would have guessed.

What an unusual postseason it was. The Yankees looked inept against the ferocious Tigers and the Tigers in turn looked toothless against the San Francisco Giants as they were swept in the World Series.

Ralph Kiner turns ninety on the 27th of October. Where have the years gone? Many Jewish Press readers grew up watching Kiner's Korner, the post-game television show featuring yesterday's heroes and the Mets' one-day wonders.

For the first time, Israel will participate in the qualifying round of the World Baseball Classic. That's the good news. The bad news concerns the dates they'll be playing in Florida. Earlier in the year it was thought the early rounds would start in other countries before moving to Florida in November. Assuming Israel would still be in the WBC games, the Florida site would be Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter.

Last year I told you about my "mancation" (men only) to a city to check out its Jewish community and major league team and ballpark. Last year it was Pittsburgh and Cincinnati; this year's first "mancation" destination was Cleveland.

Video: Neta Rivkin, a returning Olympian in rhythmic gymnastics, sees participating in London 2012 and winning a medal as the fulfillment of a long-term dream. Her beautiful yet difficult training sessions show how she is preparing to make her dream come true.