Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story

Last updated

Jews and Baseball:
An American Love Story
Jews and Baseball.jpg
DVD cover
Directed byPeter Miller
Written by Ira Berkow
Produced byWill Hechter
Peter Miller
Narrated by Dustin Hoffman
CinematographyAntonio Rossi
Stephen McCarthy
Allen Moore
Edited byAmy Linton
Music byMichael Roth
Production
company
Clear Lake Historical Productions
Distributed bySeventh Art Releasing
Release dates
  • July 25, 2010 (2010-07-25)(Stony Brook)
  • November 5, 2010 (2010-11-05)(United States)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story is a 2010 American documentary film narrated by Academy Award-winner Dustin Hoffman, written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Ira Berkow, and directed by award-winning documentary filmmaker Peter Miller. It is about the connection and history between American Jews and baseball. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Kenneth Turan of The Los Angeles Times wrote that the "warm and enthusiastic" film "not only lives up to its title... but also delivers a bit extra as well". [1] The documentary received the Best Editing Award at the Breckenridge Film Festival for Editor Amy Linton, [4] the Audience Choice Award at the 2011 Greater Phoenix Jewish Film Festival, [5] and the Audience Choice Award for Best Feature Documentary at the 2011 Seattle Jewish Film Festival. [6]

Synopsis

The film was written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Ira Berkow, and is narrated by actor Dustin Hoffman. It was directed by Peter Miller, a documentary filmmaker known for his previous films, A Class Apart, Sacco and Vanzetti and The Internationale. [1] [7] [8] [9]

Dustin Hoffman does not normally narrate films, and initially turned down the project. However, when he looked at the script, he changed his mind, saying, "Oh, this is about bigotry and overcoming anti-Semitism, about discrimination and these issues that I grew up with, that really matters to me." [9]

The film opens with a clip from the 1980 satirical comedy film Airplane! , in which a flight attendant is asked by a passenger if she has anything light to read. She responds by offering an ultra-thin leaflet, saying, "How about this leaflet, Famous Jewish Sports Legends?". [1]

The stereotype of Jews as non-athletic, as well as anti-semitism, are two issues that many Jewish baseball players faced and had to overcome. Noted anti-semite Henry Ford wrote on May 22, 1920: "If fans wish to know the trouble with American baseball they have it in three words—too much Jew." [10] A number of early Jewish ballplayers changed their names, so that it would not be apparent that they were Jewish. [10]

The movie discusses the key Jewish ballplayers in each decade since baseball started in the 1860s, and how that helped Jews assimilate and counteract the stereotype of Jews as cerebral but non-athletic. [1] [2] [11] [12] The film is partly about Jewish immigration and assimilation into American society; bigotry against Jews; the passing on of Jewish traditions, even during assimilation; heroism; and the breaking of Jewish stereotypes. [2] [11] [12]

Director Miller said:

At its heart, this is a film about overcoming stereotypes. Bigotry against Jews has faded a great deal ...

The story of a once-marginalized people finding their way into the American mainstream offers lessons for a country that continues to grapple with its ideal as a place where talent should overcome prejudice, where we can retain our differences while still being American, where anyone who can hit or pitch or run can be a part of the magic and drama of our national game. [13]

The documentary contains rare archival footage and photos, and music ranging from Benny Goodman to Yo-Yo Ma to Rush. [2]

Ballplayers, and interviewees

The documentary highlights Al Rosen (Rookie of the Year in 1950, and MVP in 1953), who is frank about how he dealt with anti-Semitism: "There's a time that you let it be known that enough is enough. ... You flatten [them]." [14] It also discusses Moe Berg ("he spoke seven languages, and couldn't hit in any of them"), Lipman Pike (led the National Association in home runs three times), pitcher Barney Pelty (the "Yiddish Curver"), "Subway Sam" Nahem, Moe Solomon ("The Rabbi of Swat") and Shawn Green. [1] [9] Others interviewed include Norm Sherry, Ron Blomberg, Elliott Maddox and Bob Feller. [1] [2] [15] Also featured in the film are Maury Allen, Larry King, Ron Howard and Yogi Berra. [16]

Hank Greenberg 1940.jpg
Sandy Koufax.jpg
Hall of Famers Hank Greenberg of the Tigers (left) and Sandy Koufax of the Dodgers (right)

The documentary especially focuses on two players. One is Hank Greenberg, a two-time American League MVP, five-time All Star, and Hall of Famer. Anti-Semitic barbs directed at him from the stands served to motivate him, he said. [10] He sat out Yom Kippur during a tight pennant race on the advice of his mother. [1] [9] [12] The film notes a column in the Detroit Free Press , in which Edgar Guest wrote, in response to Greenberg's absence from the lineup, "We shall miss him on the infield, and shall miss him at the bat, but he's true to his religion and we honor him for that." [10]

The other is Sandy Koufax, Hall of Fame pitcher, three-time Cy Young Award winner, and 7-time All Star, who sat out Game 1 of the 1965 World Series to observe Yom Kippur, out of respect of his heritage. Koufax had never pitched on any of the High Holy Days in his career, and chose not to during Game 1. In his place, Don Drysdale started and was hit hard; when Dodgers manager Walter Alston arrived at the mound to take him out of the game, Drysdale quipped, "Right now I bet you wish I was Jewish too." [17] Koufax agreed to a rare filmed interview for the documentary. [1] [9] [12] [18]

More recent ballplayers are also discussed, including All Stars Kevin Youkilis, Ian Kinsler and Ryan Braun. [1] [19] [20] Youkilis notes in the film:

It's something that I probably won't realize until my career is over, how many people are really rooting for me and cheering for me. And it's not just because I went 3-for-4, or had a great game. It's just the fact that I represent a lot of Jewish people and a lot of the Jewish heritage and the struggles that a lot of our people have had. [13]

As of 2010, there had been 166 Jewish major leaguers, the newest being Ike Davis with the New York Mets and Danny Valencia with the Minnesota Twins. [13]

Release

Among the film's notable festival appearances and special screenings in 2010 were July 15 and 16 at the Jerusalem Film Festival, July 25 at the Stony Brook Film Festival, July 25 at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, July 31, and August 1 and 8 at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, August 10–15 at the Rhode Island International Film Festival, October 3 at the Baseball Hall of Fame, and October 14 and 16 at the Jacksonville Film Festival. [4] It was the opening-night film at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival February 8, 2011, playing for an audience of more than 3,000 at Atlanta's Fox Theatre. It was theatrically released in New York, Los Angeles and a number of other cities. The DVD was released by New Video April 19, 2011. [21]

Reception

Critical response

Kenneth Turan of The Los Angeles Times , describing it as "warm and enthusiastic", wrote that the documentary "not only lives up to its title ... but also delivers a bit extra as well". [1]

John Anderson wrote in Variety , "With terrific narration by Dustin Hoffman, Jews and Baseball makes effective use of archival footage and interviews, the most spectacular of which is a lengthy sequence featuring the usually reclusive Koufax." [12]

Andrew Schenker of Time Out New York described it as "a breezy compendium of fun facts and colorful figures... likely to prove irresistible to baseball fans, Hebraic or otherwise". [22]

Newsday described it as "stirring, revelatory and affectionate. Jews and Baseball knocks it out of the park."

Mark Dawidziak wrote in The Plain Dealer that it is "an engaging, briskly paced film". [23]

Awards

The film received the Best Editing Award at the Breckenridge Film Festival, recognizing the work of film editor Amy Linton, [4] the Audience Choice Award at the 2011 Greater Phoenix Jewish Film Festival, [5] and the Audience Choice Award for Best Feature Documentary at the 2011 Seattle Jewish Film Festival. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hank Greenberg</span> American baseball player (1911–1986)

Henry Benjamin Greenberg, nicknamed "Hammerin' Hank", "Hankus Pankus", and "the Hebrew Hammer", was an American professional baseball player and team executive. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily for the Detroit Tigers as a first baseman in the 1930s and 1940s. A member of the Baseball Hall of Fame and a two-time Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award winner, he was one of the premier power hitters of his generation and is widely considered one of the greatest sluggers in baseball history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dustin Hoffman</span> American actor (born 1937)

Dustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. His accolades include two Academy Awards, four BAFTA Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, and two Primetime Emmy Awards. Hoffman has received numerous honors, including the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1997, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1999, and the Kennedy Center Honors Award in 2012. Actor Robert De Niro has described him as "an actor with the everyman's face who embodied the heartbreakingly human".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandy Koufax</span> American baseball player (born 1935)

Sanford Koufax, nicknamed "the Left Arm of God", is an American former baseball pitcher who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers from 1955 to 1966. Widely regarded as one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history, Koufax was the first three-time winner of the Cy Young Award, each time winning unanimously and the only pitcher to do so when a single award was given for both the leagues; he was also named the National League Most Valuable Player in 1963. Retiring at the age of 30 due to chronic pain in his pitching elbow, Koufax was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1972 at the age of 36, the youngest player ever elected.

<i>Rain Man</i> 1988 film directed by Barry Levinson

Rain Man is a 1988 American road comedy-drama film directed by Barry Levinson and written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass. It tells the story of abrasive and selfish wheeler-dealer Charlie Babbitt, who discovers that his estranged father has died and bequeathed his multimillion-dollar estate to his other son, Raymond, an autistic savant whose existence Charlie was unaware of. Morrow created the character of Raymond after meeting real-life savant Kim Peek; his characterization was based on both Peek and Bill Sackter, a good friend of Morrow who was the subject of Bill, an earlier film that Morrow wrote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barry Levinson</span> American filmmaker

Barry Lee Levinson is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Levinson won the Academy Award for Best Director for Rain Man (1988). His other best-known works are Diner (1982), The Natural (1984), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Bugsy (1991), and Wag the Dog (1997). In 2021, he co-executive produced the Hulu miniseries Dopesick and directed the first two episodes.

Daniel Okrent is an American writer and editor. He is best known for having served as the first public editor of The New York Times newspaper, inventing Rotisserie League Baseball, and for writing several books. In November 2011, Last Call won the Albert J. Beveridge prize, awarded by the American Historical Association to the year's best book of American history. His most recent book, published May 2019, is The Guarded Gate: Bigotry, Eugenics, and the Law That Kept Two Generations of Jews, Italians, and Other European Immigrants Out of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al Rosen</span> American baseball player (1924-2015)

Albert Leonard Rosen, nicknamed "Flip" and "the Hebrew Hammer", was an American baseball third baseman and right-handed slugger for the Cleveland Indians of Major League Baseball for ten seasons in the 1940s and 1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Stone (baseball)</span> American MLB pitcher and announcer

Steven Michael Stone is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) player and current sportscaster and author.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norm Sherry</span> American baseball player and manager (1931–2021)

Norman Burt Sherry was an American baseball catcher, manager, and coach who played five seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets from 1959 to 1963. Sherry went on to coach and manage the California Angels, and also served as coach of the Montreal Expos, San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth Turan</span> American film critic

Kenneth Turan is an American retired film critic, author, and lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. He was a film critic for the Los Angeles Times from 1991 until 2020 and was described by The Hollywood Reporter as "arguably the most widely read film critic in the town most associated with the making of movies".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Nahem</span> American baseball player

Samuel Ralph Nahem, nicknamed "'Subway Sam", was an American pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers (1938), St. Louis Cardinals (1941), and Philadelphia Phillies. His professional baseball playing was interrupted by military service (1942–1946) with the United States Army in the European Theater of Operations during World War II.

<i>The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg</i> 1998 American film

The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg is a 1999 documentary film written, directed, and produced by Aviva Kempner about Hank Greenberg, first baseman of the Detroit Tigers, who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. A Jewish player who chose not to play on Yom Kippur in 1934 during a heated pennant race, Greenberg had to face a great deal of antisemitism. In 1938 he nearly broke Babe Ruth's 60 home run record by hitting 58 home runs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aviva Kempner</span> American filmmaker (born 1946)

Aviva Kempner is a German-born American filmmaker. Her documentaries investigate non-stereotypical images of Jews in history and focus on the untold stories of Jewish people. She is most well known for The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stereotypes of Jews</span> Generalized representations of Jewish people

Stereotypes of Jews are generalized representations of Jews, often caricatured and of a prejudiced and antisemitic nature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ironbound Films</span>

Ironbound Films is an American independent documentary film production company. Their films focus on stories of how people succeed and fail to connect. Their 2008 film The Linguists and 2010 film The New Recruits, were about characters whose missteps undermined their stated intentions but also exposed their humanity. Another feature documentary, Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie, is about controversial 1980s talk-show icon Morton Downey Jr. and premiered at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival. Heading Home: The Tale of Team Israel is a 2018 documentary film that The Jerusalem Post described as "the David-and-Goliath story of Israel's national baseball team as it competed for the first time in the World Baseball Classic." The 87-minute film won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2018 Gold Coast International Film Festival, the Audience Award for Documentary at the 2018 Washington Jewish Film Festival, the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2018 Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival, the Best Documentary Film Award at the 2018 Boca Raton Jewish Film Festival, and the Best Documentary Award at the 2018 Jewish Arts and Film Festival of Fairfield County.

The Gold Coast International Film Festival launched in 2011, on the north shore of North Hempstead, New York. The festival, now held every November, completed its 7th year in 2017. The festival is produced by the Gold Coast Arts Center, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) multi-arts center based in Great Neck, NY. Founding sponsors of the festival include the Town of North Hempstead and Douglas Elliman Real Estate. The festival was founded with the mission of establishing a home on Long Island to showcase the work of exceptional filmmakers and provide the public with an insider's view of the film industry. Festival events include screenings, workshops, conversations with prominent members of the film community, parties.

<i>Heading Home</i> 2018 film

Heading Home: The Tale of Team Israel is a 2018 documentary film about the underdog Israel national baseball team competing for the first time in the World Baseball Classic. The 87-minute film was directed by Seth Kramer, Daniel A. Miller, and Jeremy Newberger, the three of whom produced it along with Jonathan Mayo, and starred baseball player Ike Davis and other baseball players.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Observance of Yom Kippur by Jewish athletes</span>

Since the early 20th-century, numerous Jewish athletes have chosen not to play on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in Judaism. As one of the most culturally significant Jewish holidays, Yom Kippur is observed by many secular Jews who may not observe other holidays. Jews observing the holiday participate in full fasting and asceticism.

Jews have been involved in baseball since the sport's beginnings in the mid-19th century and have contributed to its evolution in many capacities, including players, agents, team owners, executives, umpires, broadcasters, and fans. In the United States, particularly, baseball played a large part in the assimilation of American Jews into American society at a time of rampant antisemitism and when Jews were immigrating to America to escape persecution. Today, it remains a very important part in Jewish American culture.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Kenneth Turan (November 19, 2010). "Movie review: 'Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story'". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved December 12, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Film". Jewsandbaseball.com. Retrieved December 12, 2010.
  3. ↑ Scott Barancik (July 7, 2010). "New film explores our love affair with baseball". Jewish Baseball News. Retrieved December 12, 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 "Screenings". Jewsandbaseball.com. Retrieved December 12, 2010.
  5. 1 2 "Greater Phoenix Jewish Film Festival". Facebook. Retrieved March 31, 2011.
  6. 1 2 "Seattle Jewish Film Festival | Audience Choice Awards". Archived from the original on January 26, 2013. Retrieved September 9, 2013.
  7. ↑ "A Class Apart | A Mexican American Civil Rights Story". Aclassapartmovie.com. Retrieved September 9, 2013.
  8. ↑ "The Internationale". Willowpondfilms.com. Archived from the original on December 7, 2013. Retrieved September 9, 2013.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Ben Platt (November 18, 2010). "Film looks at Jewish experience in baseball". MLB.com. Retrieved December 12, 2010.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Alan Zeitlin (November 15, 2010). "Jews and Baseball Is A Film You Should Catch". The New York Blueprint. Retrieved December 12, 2010.
  11. 1 2 Nick Schager (November 3, 2010). "The Title Says It All in Sports Doc Jews and Baseball". The Village Voice . Archived from the original on October 22, 2012.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 Anderson, John (October 31, 2010). "Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story – Film Reviews". Variety . Retrieved December 12, 2010.
  13. 1 2 3 "Baseball as a cultural connection; Documentary explores special ties for Jews", Maureen Mullen, The Boston Globe , December 9, 2010, accessed December 11, 2010
  14. ↑ Dick Friedman (November 25, 2002). "Faith In The Game; A new film illuminates the Jewish contribution to the national pastime". Sports Illustrated . Archived from the original on September 21, 2011. Retrieved December 12, 2010.
  15. ↑ "Our Cast". Jewsandbaseball.com. Retrieved December 12, 2010.
  16. ↑ Sam Bernstein (August 26, 2010). "Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story » Kaplan's Korner on Jews and Sports". New Jersey Jewish News . Retrieved December 12, 2010.
  17. ↑ Patrick Goldstein and James Rainey (November 17, 2010). "'Jews and Baseball': Ron Howard's a-ha moment with Sandy Koufax". The Los Angeles Times . Retrieved December 12, 2010.
  18. ↑ Hertz, Barry (September 30, 2010). "Jews and Baseball – An American Love Story: Shtick to the game plan". National Post . Retrieved December 12, 2010.
  19. ↑ Edmon J. Rodman (November 7, 2010). "Jews and baseball, a love story". The Jerusalem Post . Retrieved December 12, 2010.
  20. ↑ Rodman, Edmon J. (November 2, 2010). "Getting over the post-World Series blues—Jews and baseball, a love story". JTA . Retrieved December 12, 2010.
  21. ↑ "Jews and Baseball – Docurama – New Video Group". Newvideo.com. March 22, 2011. Retrieved March 31, 2011.
  22. ↑ Schenker, Andrew (November 2, 2010). "Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story". Time Out New York New York. Retrieved December 12, 2010.
  23. ↑ "'Jews and Baseball' looks at Jewish-American experience from the diamond". cleveland.com. Retrieved September 9, 2013.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.