I love baseball. In fact, one of the items on my bucket list is to visit all of the baseball stadiums in the United States. I’ve been to about half of them so far (although, to my surprise, I still haven’t been to Fenway Park).
As I mentioned in a WHIM last year, when I moved to Dayton, I was amazed by the popularity of baseball in our community. The Dayton Dragons have an even bigger following then some major league teams! After the success of last year’s Men’s Event at Dragon Stadium, we knew that we had to do it again this year.
Last night, 35 men gathered together for noshes, baseball, and fun. Luckily, the men were kind enough to let me “crash” their event. The evening kicked off with a presentation from Dayton Dragons owner Greg Rosenbaum. After hearing Greg talk last year, I knew we were in for a real treat.
This year, Greg spoke about several things, one of which was the increasing number of Jewish baseball stars. Although we still represent a small portion of professional players, it is steadily increasing.
When I was talking to one of our employees this morning, she shared that she personally found baseball boring. It just so happens Greg touched on this last night. Apparently that sentiment is shared by other people (although I can’t understand how!). He said if you watch the players, coaches, officials, etc. and pay close attention, you can see a variety of signals they give to each other. It adds another element to the game, and highlights just how intellectual baseball can really be. Once I shared this with the employee, she stated she had never thought of that and it would make the game more fun to watch.
At the end, Greg spoke about Moe Berg, a Jewish American catcher and coach in Major League Baseball, who later served as a spy for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. There are two movies out about Moe – The Catcher Was a Spy and The Spy Behind Home Plate, the latter of which sold out at our Jewish Film Fest. Good news though – the Neon will be showingThe Spy Behind Home Plate this weekend. Click here for details!
Whether your interest in baseball runs deep, or you are a novice fan, I highly encourage you to make your way to a baseball game this summer!
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