Huge Yankees-Sox Game Set for Kol Nidre

Marc Tracy — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:10:46 +0000

A potentially pivotal game between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox has been suddenly rescheduled, and now begins at 8 p.m. on the night before Yom Kippur. The change—motivated by ESPN’s desire to broadcast the match-up as Sunday Night Baseball—prompts the all-important question: will star Red Sox first baseman and Most Famous Current Jewish Ballplayer Kevin Youkilis play against his team’s archrival as it struggles to secure a playoff berth? The issue last arose prominently eight years ago, when Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Shawn Green elected not to play a crucial game that fell on the Day of Atonement. In 1965, as every Jewish boy has been reminded by his mother at one time or another, Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax refused to start Game 1 of the World Series, instead attending shul for Yom Kippur; Dodgers Don Drysdale got shellacked for a loss, and afterward quipped to his manager, “I bet right now you wish I was Jewish, too.” On the other hand, when slugger Hank Greenberg’s Detroit Tigers had a crucial late-season game on Rosh Hashanah, 1934, he played; his two home runs lifted the Tigers to a 2-1 victory. By the time Yom Kippur rolled around, the Tigers had all but clinched a World Series slot, and Greenberg took the day off and entered his synagogue to applause.

One wants to see the hand of Adonai Himself in the uncanny timing whereby the High Holidays always fall smack in the middle of the pennant race and postseason, tempting the talented faithful. Anyway, given that the Sox are currently a mere 6.5 games behind the Yankees, we’d guess most New Yorkers are hoping Youkilis has so many sins that he has no choice but to Kol Nidre the night away.

An Unholy Move by ESPN [New York Post]
Green, Koufax, and Greenberg—Same Dilemma, Different Decisions [ESPN Classic]
Previously: Look, Jews in Baseball!
Yankees Trade For a Jew

Play Ball?

Sara Ivry — Thu, 23 Sep 2004 17:00:12 +0000

Shawn Green‘s decision to play against the Giants during Kol Nidre, but not the following day, is a dual concession. His faith gets one day; the Dodgers another. It seems an equitable compromise to me, but, to be honest, I’m not Orthodox and am indifferent to the Dodgers fate. (Please spare me invocation of glory days at Ebbets Field.) Still, if the Dodgers are ultimately defeated, will it be divine judgment for Green’s part-time atonement?

The news sparks a critical question: What would Gabe do? Apparently nothing. A Red Sox spokesperson told me that Kapler, Boston’s “go-to-guy” for things Jewish, has not made any public mention of whether he’ll strive to avoid a fatal decree (fire, plague, strangling) this coming year or simply strive for a homer in their weekend showdown with the Yankees. (Please God, at least one with bases loaded, if you don’t mind, and I promise to respect my elders more often.)

For the tortured club of Red Sox fans, of which I am longtime and proud member, a final match-up against the Bronx hegemon begets theological questions. Does God exist? If so, how can he let one team suffer so much? How can he allow Yankees fans to languish in smug ignorance of the humility and compassion that loss bestows? Is he so merciless?

More importantly: Does God have a favorite team? I’d suspect it’s mine. Not because of the obvious: if I’m made in God’s image, he’s for Boston. But the Red Sox’s struggle to unshackle themselves from the chains of defeat is a perennial attempt at redemption that echoes the personal run-up to Yom Kippur. (No prose, mind you, is too florid for this eternal contest.) As much as we try to be good, as they try to win, our transgressions (I have wished ill, I confess, on Derek Jeter and his obdurate patron) betray us—and the holiday allows an opportunity for a fresh go-round. This pennant gives fans yet again hopes for twin inscriptions—in the book of life, but no less critically, in Cooperstown.

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Huge Yankees-Sox Game Set for Kol Nidre

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