I know I am a nitpicker and that the issue of whether Jews should play in or watch sporting events on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is an interesting one, but the following editing error is very hard to forgive.
The Lerner family, owners of the Nationals, has made it clear that they will not be in the stadium on the holiest Jewish holiday.
That religious stand reminds me of a story Al Rosen, who played for Cleveland and was nicknamed “the Hebrew Hammer,” told about his late 1970s stint as president of the Yankees. Rosen chose to go to Yankee Stadium for a tiebreaking game that fell on Rosh Hashanah. That Oct. 2, 1978, game is now known to Red Sox and Yankee fans everywhere as “The Bucky Dent Game,” for the home run by the light-hitting shortstop that secured the victory for New York.
A Jewish fan who spotted Rosen on TV sent him a hostile letter. Rosen wrote back criticizing the fan for watching television on the Jewish New Year.
As every Northeastern boy who was sentient in October 1978 knows, The Bucky Dent Game was played in Boston and light-hitting shortstop Bucky Dent’s 7th-inning three-run homer sailed over Fenway Park’s infamous Green Monster. Dent had hit five home runs during the entire 1978 regular season and wound up hitting 40 home runs in his entire eleven-year career. The ball he hit that glorious Monday afternoon in late-1978 would have been a can of corn in any other ballpark in the big leagues, but it managed to just barely clear the 310 foot monster.
While I don’t expect everyone to know the details of one of the most famous baseball games of all time, this is an article about how Jewish players, owners, and fans have reacted to having important games scheduled on Jewish holidays, particularly baseball games. While where The Bucky Dent Game was played isn’t directly relevant to the main issue, it’d be nice to have someone edit a sports article who isn’t a baseball illiterate.
I mean, my whole school district got out early so we could get home to watch the game.
