Connecticut Jewish Ledger

There’s snow and ice on the ground, and pitchers and catchers don’t report for Spring Training for another three months.

Die-hard baseball fans are left to follow off-season trades, watch ESPN Classic or continue wondering why the Red Sox nor the Yankees are the current World Champions.

Now, thanks to a joint venture between two baseball fansa Jewish professional from Boston and a Jewish trading card company president from Philadelphiaand the AJHS (American Jewish Historical Society), Connecticut residents have a unique, off-season, Jewish option.

Pick up a pack of Jewish baseball cards!

When Martin Abramowitz’ son wrote home from Camp Ramah in New England two summers ago, he told his dad about a boy in the next bunk with tons of baseball cards in his camp trunk. The cards were due, in large part, to the generosity of his own dad, Roger Grass, who just happened to be the President of Fleer Trading Cards.
Abramowitz Sr. had wondered for years if it might be possible to one day see cards of ALL Jews who have ever played professional baseball.

Before Abramowitz met Grass (on Camp Ramah Visitors Day, 2001), only 100 of the 142 Jews who played in the Major Leagues appeared on baseball cards. After all, as Abramowitz points out in “American Jews in America’s Game: The Making of a Card Set”:

“For at least the first half of the 20th century, a player was unlikely to have a card of his own’ if he was not a starter or if he happened to be having his best years in the middle of a World War.”

Grass was moved by Abramowitz’ desire to pay tribute to these 42 guys and to all 142 Jewish men who ever played professional baseball. Grass said that Fleer would not produce the cards commercially, but would for the AJHS.

Most Americans have heard of Sandy Koufax, Hank Greenberg, Ken Holtzman, Moe Greenberg and current star, Shawn Green. But how many have heard of Alta Cohen, Ike Danning or Herb Karpel? Jewish baseball players make up approximately 8/10 of one percent of the 16,700 people who have ever played Major League baseball. These 142 Jews who played between 1871 and the 2003 All-Star Break have had 22,246 hits, 2,032 home runs and 10,602 RBIs (runs batted in). They have a combined.265 batting average (three points higher than the averages of all players in the same time period). The pitchers compiled a won/loss record of 1,134-1,114 with 810 complete games (164 shut outs) and 11,632 strikeouts. Sandy Koufax and Ken Holtzman account for five of the 230 all-time no-hitters (Koufax: 3; Holtzman: 2).

And the State of Connecticut can boast various connections to these Jewish Major Leaguers.

Three Minor League Teams in State
Connecticut’s connection to (Jewish) baseball history should not come as a surprise. While Connecticut does not have its own major league baseball team, it is situated geographically between two baseball superpowersthe New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. Connecticut is also the proud home of three minor league baseball teams, including the (Eastern League) New Britain Rock Cats and the Norwich Navigators, and the (Independent League) Bridgeport Bluefish. According to Sam Rubin, author of “Baseball in New Haven,” there is talk of a new team coming to New Haven (to replace the New Haven Ravens, who recently left Connecticut for Manchester, New Hampshire).

And Danbury is likely to host an Independent League team starting with the 2005 season. While Rubin did not come across any New Haven players specifically identified as Jewish in his research, he wondered if Connecticut baseball legend and Hall of Famer George Weiss (Yale manager, New Haven Colonials owner and later New York Yankees general manager), and David Goldstein, owner of West Haven’s Eastern League team in 1980, might have been Jewish.

Thanks to the fine work Grass, Abramowitz, and the AJHS, baseball fans of all ages, from all states, can enjoy learning about the unique contribution Jews have made to America’s favorite 9-inning game.

To order sets of Jewish baseball cards, go to http://www.ajhs.org. To learn more about American Jews in baseball, go to www.jewsinsport.org. To order a copy of “Baseball in New Haven” (published by Arcadia Publishing), email them at: sales@arcadiapublishing.com.

Several players played minor league ball in various towns in the Constitution State:

a) Robert Malcolm Tufts pitched for Waterbury and six other minor league teams between 1977 and 1983. His card tells the funny story of his conversion to Judaism; when he was asked at his conversion ceremony if he would like to choose a Jewish name, he responded, “YesSandy Koufax.”

b) Sidney Schacht pitched for Stamford and four other minor league teams between 1947 and 1951. He pitched 21 innings in 18 relief appearances (and one start in 1950 and 1951) for the St. Louis Browns and the Boston Braves.

c) Edward (Lefty) Wineapple’s only major league appearance was in 1929 when he pitched four innings for the Washington Nationals. He then spent four years in the minors with six teams, including one in New Haven.

d) Samuel Frankel Mayer appeared in 11 games for the Washington Senators at the end of the 1915 season, mostly as an outfielder and as a pinch runner. He then spent the next 12 years playing for six minor league teams, including one in New Haven.

e) Morris Savransky was a relief pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds in 1954; he appeared in 16 games. As a six-year minor leaguer, he played in such cities as Danbury.

f) Lipman ("Lip”) Emanuel Pike, born in 1845, is considered to be one of a handful of Jews to play organized baseball during its founding era. In addition to reportedly playing for the 1866 Philadelphia Athletics, he played for such teams as one in Hartford in the 1870s.

-And current major leaguer, Bradley David Ausmus of New Haven, has played for several major league teams including the Yankees, Rockies, Padres, Tigers and Astros. He is a life-long Red Sox fan and fulfilled his lifelong dream of playing in Fenway; he was an All-Star catcher in 1999 and the game was played at Boston’s Fenway Park. Ausmus was a Gold Glove catcher in 2002, where he batted.257.

An unscientific review of the backs of all 142 cards reveals:

* Reuben Ewing was born Reuben Cohen in Odessa, Russia on 11/30/1899. His parents emigrated from Russia to Hartford in 1901. Reuben grew up in Hartford and went to Hartford High, where he played football, basketball and baseball (and was captain of the baseball team). He played college baseball at both Tufts and Lebanon Valley College before joining the St. Louis Cardinals in 1921. He appeared in three games as a defensive replacement at shortstop. The right-hander was flawless in his one fielding opportunity and hitless in his only at bat.

He returned to Hartford where he captained the local YMHA basketball team to a city championship and was a Hartford businessman.

* Henry William Scheer, known as “Heine,” was born in New York City on July 31, 1900 and was a part-time infielder for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1922 and 1923, appearing in a total of 120 games.

His claim to fame is serving as a second baseman for the 1925 Reading Keystones of the International League, where he combined with (then) shortstop Moe Berg as the only documented Jewish double play combination in the history of professional baseball. Scheer died in New Haven on March 21, 1976.

* Another player who died in Connecticut was Alexander Schacht, a pitcher for the Washington Senators who once defeated the Yankees 4-1. He later coached for Washington and for the Boston Red Sox and was known for his slapstick comedy routines. He died in Waterbury on July 14, 1984. Schacht’s Senator’s teammate and fellow alum of Brooklyn’s PS 42 was Robert Leon Berman. Schacht, the catcher for the 1918 Senators, also died in Connecticutin Bridgeport on August 2, 1988.