I was having coffee with Dave “No Relation” Kaplan yesterday. You may know him from as the former executive director of the Yogi Berra Museum and collaborator on several books with the late Hall of Famer.
We were lamenting the passing of the stars from our younger days, such as Hank Aaron, Tom Seaver, Vida Blue (and many others). We starting musing about who was left. I suggested that after 90-year-old Willie Mays shuffles off this mortal coil, there won’t be anyone left of that caliber.
During our chat, Dave mentioned The Franchise, a podcast about Jews and sports. As the former sports and features editor for the New Jersey Jewish News, where I hosted Kaplan’s Korner, a blog on that topic, it of course piqued my curiosity so I listened to the first episode of the limited-run show which considered “Genesis: Sandy Koufax as Model Minority.”
Koufax, perhaps the most legendary Jewish sports figure of all time (with all due to Hank Greenberg)! How could I have forgotten Dandy Sandy in our despairing discussion? Not only was he perhaps the dominant pitcher of his era — if not all time — but a symbol for the strong, athletic Jew, battling the stereotype to the contrary.
I was looking for a picture I had taken with Koufax when I was a PR drone for the American Jewish Congress, back in the day (“the day” being the mid 1980s). He was a guest at a dinner held in honor of his good friend and former Mets owner Fred Wilpon. I had asked our photographer to be prepared as I shyly approached an unsuspecting Sandy. You might be able to tell by Koufax’s somewhat startled expression. I found the photo in a Bookshelf entry I posted in 2018, “My (fantasy) Q&A with Sandy Koufax.”
is available on Amazon.com,
Comments on this entry are closed.