Jews on First

Martin Abramowitz traces his love of baseball to his childhood in Brooklyn in the forties, where there were three teams to root for, and the landlord’s son wrestled Yankee loyalty in exchange for a spot in front of the neighborhood’s only TV.

Now a member of Red Sox Nation, Abramowitz is quick to point out that his own passion for the game reflects a larger social transition.

“I think that the whole history of Jews in baseball touches not only ethnic pride, it touches the miracle of assimilation and identification with being American,” he said.

A retired V.P. for Planning at Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP) and currently consulting with CJP’s North Shore Advisory Committee, Abramowitz is founder of Jewish Major Leaguers (JML), a nonprofit organization that is part curator, part promoter and producer of the popular decks of Jewish baseball player cards.

Just in time for Opening Day 2014, JML will unveil its latest offering: The All-New 2014 Update Edition. The 50-card set, produced by Topps, includes 21 new Jewish players since the last deck was released in 2009. It also includes “artifact” cards: which are cards of items on display at the new “What Baseball Means to Jews in America” exhibit at the National Museum of Jewish History.

Artifacts include a ticket stub to Sandy Koufax’s perfect game, and the Cleveland Indians uniform worn by Justine Siegal, the only woman ever to pitch batting practice to a major league team.

Abramowitz speaks of each card produced by JML like an old friend. Of the new deck, he said, “I love some of the tribute cards. Perfect for Boston are the ones of [Red Sox] pitcher Craig Breslow and catcher Ryan Lavarnway. They are the first all Yale [University] battery in history, and one of very few all-Jewish batteries.”

Other Abramowitz favorites are the “In Memoriam,” cards for players who have died.

The first JML deck – featuring every Jewish player who had ever played the game – appeared in 2003. The motivation was Abramowitz’s then 10-year-old son, who told his dad to create a deck of Jewish players because one did not exist.

The project required a surprising amount of research. Abramowitz enlisted the help of Bernie Wax, retired director of the Jewish Historical Society. A big challenge was finding pictures of the 149 Jewish players Abramowitz wanted to feature. After the Library of Congress, the Baseball Hall of Fame and Sporting News turned up nothing, Abramowitz scoured obituaries and college yearbooks. He hit the jackpot when an Internet search led him to a mother lode of photos in the basement laundry of a retired Chicago White Sox and Cubs photographer, George Brace, whose business had photographed every player who had come through Chicago from the 1920s into the 1980s.

As Abramowitz put it, “I went out to visit him. He was frail and sitting in the sunroom with a blanket over his legs. I told him why I was there and he said, ‘You may as well do Polish players or Italian players, but I’ll help you.’ ”

For licensing purposes, he had to get Major League Baseball on board. “I was an eccentric almost-retiree. They were intrigued by [the project] and that it was not-for-profit. It didn’t hurt that [Bud] Selig [the Commissioner of MLB] is Jewish. His office made several grants [to us] over the years,” Abramowitz said.

The 2003 inaugural deck was a sold-out success. More decks followed, as well as various collaborations.

“These cards have touched a nerve in American Jewish life,” said Abramowitz. “The decade that just passed has seen a tremendous revival of interest of Jews in baseball. We gave it the biggest publicized boost, we were in some [Baseball] Hall of Fame programs, it led to oral history, and it led to a documentary movie, ‘Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story.’ ”

For Abramowitz, the cards are clearly a labor of love. But they signify something more as well.

“This project was also an obligation,” he stated. Although every athlete who plays even an inning is listed in the record books, “If you don’t have a card, you haven’t made it. I felt I owed it the memory of those players to give them that piece of immortality – to give them a baseball card gives them a sense of completing the cycle, of closing the loop,” he said.

The 2014 deck is $36 for one set; $50 for two, plus $5 shipping. To order, pay by check to JML, Inc., 104 Greenlawn Avenue, Newton, MA 02459, or visit jewishmajorleaguers.org. The website is also a trove of information.

This article originally appeared in the Jewish Journal Mass., and is reprinted with permission.