Most fans don't know how far the Jewish presence in baseball extends beyond a few famous players such as Greenberg, Rosen, Koufax, Holtzman, Green, Ausmus, Youkilis, Braun, and Kinsler. In fact, that presence extends to the baseball commissioner Bud Selig, labor leaders Marvin Miller and Don Fehr, owners Jerry Reinsdorf and Stuart Sternberg, officials Theo Epstein and Mark Shapiro, sportswriters Murray Chass, Ross Newhan, Ira Berkow, and Roger Kahn, and even famous Jewish baseball fans like Alan Dershowitz and Barney Frank.

The life stories of these and many others, on and off the field, have been compiled from nearly fifty in-depth interviews and arranged by decade in this edifying and entertaining work of oral and cultural history. In American Jews and America's Game each person talks about growing up Jewish and dealing with Jewish identity, assimilation, intermarriage, future viability, religious observance, anti-Semitism, and Israel. Each tells about being in the midst of the colorful pantheon of players who, over the past seventy-five years or more, have made baseball what it is. Their stories tell, as no previous book has, the history of the larger-than-life role of Jews in America's pastime.

About the Author
Larry Ruttman, Fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society, is the author of Voices of Brookline, a national finalist for the Award of Merit of the American Association of State and Local History. He has practiced law in Boston for more than fifty years and produces and hosts a television interview show in his hometown of Brookline, Massachusetts.

Reviews
"The historian Jacques Barzun was right when he said, 'Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball.' Larry Ruttman knows that too, and that is why I chose to write this Foreword to his book American Jews and America's Game. His stories cover almost one hundred years of American history and the place of American Jews in that history. . . . This is a book that celebrates family-baseball's, yours, and mine."-from the foreword by Allan H. "Bud" Selig, Commissioner of Major League Baseball
"This longtime attorney remains a gentle, always enthusiastic questioner, interested in his subjects' love for the game, their experiences with anti-Semitism and their connection to their faith."-Kirkus
"Jews have played a key role in baseball history, as has been frequently noted. There is now a celebratory tone to the topic, and this book is firmly within the new tradition."-Library Journal
"American Jews and America's Game is a highly personal, heartfelt collaborative exploration between the interviewer, his subject and its participants and devotees."-Andrew P. Fleischer, Jewish Journal
"[American Jews and America's Game is] a tremendous piece of work, and we're lucky to have it."-Rob Neyer, Baseballnation.com



Book Information
ISBN 9780803253438
Author Larry Ruttman
Format Paperback
Page Count 544
Imprint University of Nebraska Press
Publisher University of Nebraska Press