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Two Jewish baseball players are in the Hall of Fame: Hank Greenberg & Sandy Koufax. Greenberg once commented about his faith, "It was a constant thing. I think it was a spur for me to do better. Not only where you a bum; you were a Jewish bum." Koufax had one of the best one-liners in baseball history when Yom Kippur was during a scheduled start in the 1965 World Series — a start he was not going to make. Don Drysdale started Game 1 for Koufax who simply commented to the press when asked why he thought it happened that way, "God knows." During that game Drysdale struggled and when Walter Alston came out to the mound to remove him, Drysdale quipped, "I bet you wish I was Jewish, too!"
Did you know that Rod Carew was married to a Jewish woman, raised his children in that faith, but never converted to Judaism himself? Too easy? Did you know that Lou Boudreau had a Jewish mother, but was raised by his adopted parents as a Christian? Still too easy? Did you know that in 1995 B&J Collectibles of New Jersey sold yarmulkes signed by Sandy Koufax for $75 each? Still way too easy? Did you know that both owners of both World Series teams (1989) belonged to the same synagogue: Bob Lurie (Giants) and Walter A. Haas, Jr. (A's); Temple Emannuel in San Francisco, California?
Many baseball notables outside the playing field were also Jewish including: Bud Selig, Major League Baseball Players Union Leader Marvin Miller, Team owners Andrew Freedman (Giants), Barney Dreyfuss (Pirates), Emil Fuchs (Braves) Charles Bronfman (Expos), Fred Wilpon (Mets) & Jerry Reinsdorf (White Sox).
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