Quote:
Originally Posted by Empty77
I agree that some things transcend a ballgame, but I'm less sure that routine capitulation to a calendar qualifies as transcendent.
|
What Koufax did was not "routine capitulation to a calendar". Koufax was setting an example as a role model based on his understanding that as a prominent Jew in America he had a responsibility to "represent" (as the kids say). If he didn't take the position he did, even though he wasn't religious himself, it would have been much harder for other Jews to take the holiday off from their jobs.
You may not realize this but there was a great deal of institutional and informal anti-Semitism in America even as Koufax was playing for the Dodgers. There were bars or quotas on Jewish admissions to schools, restricted social and country clubs, closed career paths at businesses that would not hire Jews, and so on. My mother experienced comments at work in the 1970s (like open Christian proselytizing) that would have resulted in a slam dunk lawsuit today for hostile work environment and harassment; my father found himself asked to give speeches at social clubs where he was not welcome to apply as a potential member because of religion. That stuff has by and large disappeared but it was a real thing when Koufax made his decision, and to denigrate his decision as routine capitulation to a calendar is simply inaccurate.
As for the story of Clemente's demotion to Montreal, I guess I learned something new.