I became a Yankee fan in 1949, with the arrival
of my first TV set. Later, as I started attending
James Monroe High School in the Bronx, I
learned that the great (and, by then, retired)
power-hitting Tiger first baseman and two-time
Most Valuable Player in the American League,
Hank Greenberg – – – a Jew like me! – – – was a
Graduate of my high school. True, he graduated
in 1929 and I ended my secondary journey 30
years later, but somehow I felt a kinship with this
man who’d overcome antisemitism and had
shown the world the inner strength of Jewishness,
as I had more than once been called upon to do
in my brief lifetime. He was to me a glaring model
that I would seek to replicate – – – if not for his
greatness, then for his spirit. I may not even have
been conscious of this effect he had on me . . .
but it was there! I was a Bronx-born Yankee fan
but in my soul I made Greenberg an honorary
Bronx Bomber. He was a lantzman!
As baseball seasons progressed and as I found
myself transitioning from Yankee fan to follower
of the new team in town, born of the city’s loss
of the Dodgers and Giants – – – the Metropolitans,
I not surprisingly found myself seeking my own
Greenberg descendants, spiritually speaking,
and I found them in the Jews who played for the
Mets over the years. It started with the leaving of
the great and very Jewish Sandy Koufax, and
the Mets inheriting his masses of fans from
Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island, fans who,
once the Mets were born, became fans of this
team whose journey across the desert of losses
and poor finishes ended in 1969, when they
made it to the Promised Land! The winning of the
World Series! And my favorite player on the ‘69
Mets was outfielder Art Shamsky, a Jew who was a
Fine, dependable fielder and hitter, and who missed
a double-header toward the end of that season
to observe the holiest of days, Rosh Hashanah.
The relationship between fans of this team and
their heroes has been spiritual, almost religious in
nature. In 1973, the religious aspect was solidified
by the mantra “You gotta believe!” Believing is a
prerequisite for having holy faith. Being a Met
fan was – – – and is – – – a quasi-religious experience.
Along the path through Mets history, I have had my
share of lantzmen wear the orange and blue Met
uniform, among them Ike Davis, Shawn Green,
Harrison Bader, Kevin Pillar, among others. They
and their predecessors often opposed other Jews,
including Ruben Amaro, Mo Berg, Ron Blomberg,
Lou Boudreau, Alex Bregman, Max Fried, Joc
Pederson, Rowdy Tellez and Zach Weiss. But even
In sports combat, there was brotherhood.
For the last few seasons, the Mets’ owner, Steve Cohen,
a Jew, has been striving for another World Series win
(It would be the first for the team since 1986),
and we people who have more reason to believe in
miracles than any other group of humans know how
he feels and he knows us and our spirits quite well. And
so, it is my prayer that the time for miracles of the
baseball sort is fast approaching. You gottta believe!