Now that Shawn Green has let it be known he won’t be playing baseball for a living any longer, I can let it be known I rooted just a little extra harder for Shawn Green.
Not to the point that it clouded my judgment on his decreased offensive output, his limited mobility, his disappearance from the runs batted in column for nearly two months. I believe I viewed Shawn Green as just another Met where all that was concerned.
But I rooted just a little extra harder for Shawn Green. It made me happy he played for my team. I would have been happier had he played for my team five years sooner, but you can’t have everything.
He had his moments. He had an eleventh inning to remember at the end of June. He, like the Mets, enjoyed a very nice first two months of last season. He did his best fielding in the second inning of the first game of the 2006 NLDS, when Green to Valentin to Lo Duca produced the two most electrifying tags you’ll ever see at once.
Shawn Green also had this: According to the 2007 GourMets Cookbook, matzoh ball soup “is Shawn’s clubhouse favorite”. It makes me smile to think Shawn headed straight for a shissel of chicken broth and knaidlach right after walloping that walkoff homer off the Cards (and accepting his teammates’ heartiest congratulations), even if, as my friend Sharon (who passed this culinary tidbit along to me) noted, “From this I glean that a) Green is the only one who the authors realize is Jewish; b) you’re less likely to be embarrassed if your wife submits an actual recipe; and/or c) the clubhouse caterers put out a WEIRD postgame spread.”
None of it was a reason to keep Shawn Green on the Mets. None of it was a reason to look past the gathering horde of late-career deficiencies that turned him into a fourth outfielder/second first baseman before September. But Shawn being, as the back of the baseball card above (created by these folks) pointed out, “the premier Jewish ballplayer and Jewishly identified ballplayer of this generation” and a Met…well, I rooted just a little extra harder for him.
Soup for you, Shawn. You earned it.
(FYI, that’s Scott Schoeneweis on the other half of that card. His combination of Jewishness and Metsishness gives me no naches whatsoever.)
Well, thanks for inspiring me to spend my afternoon crafting a roster of all-Jewish major leaguers.
Despite the joke from Airplane (Elaine : “Would you like something to read?”…Old Lady: “Do you have anything light?”…Elaine : “Uhhhh… how about this leaflet – Famous Jewish Sports Legends?”), there's a surprising plethora of Hebrews from which to choose. A little light on shortstops, though.
P – Ken Holtzman, Sandy Koufax, Jason Marquis, Dave Roberts, Scott Radinsky, Scott Schoeneweis, Larry Sherry, Steve Stone
C – Brad Ausmus, Moe Berg, Steve Yeager
1B – Mike Epstein, Hank Greenberg
2B – Ian Kinsler, Buddy Myer, Heinie Scheer
3B – Ryan Braun, Al Rosen, Kevin Youkilis
SS/Mgr – Lou Boudreau
OF – Cal Abrams, Shawn Green, Gabe Kapler, Elliott Maddox
DH – Ron Blomberg
Not a bad 25. You could craft a good lineup out of these parts. Six days a week, at least.
I had to include Heinie Scheer, simply for the name.
What, no Shamsky?
Damn, I KNEW I forgot someone. A disproportionate number of Mets in that stack, too, but I guess that's to be expected.
Innocent forgetfulness?
Or perhaps latent anti-seMETism?
No Joe Ginsberg either.
Very troubling.
“But guess who is?
Hall-Of-Famer Rooood Carew
He converted”
– Adam Sandler, “The Chanukkah Song”
Yeah, Shamsky for pinch-hitter. BTW, Greg, did you read his book ?………………………..
I've had it sitting on my book shelf for going on four years but haven't leafed through it lately.
Stop guilting me!
I may not be a Jew, but I'm Irish Catholic, and we both know from guilt.
Oi vey….
A few weeks ago, maybe longer, channel 13 had some documentary on jewish life in america, and, perversely, i deliberately chose to watch it. at the end of it, in an array of images meant to represent current jewish life in america, i have to admit i got a little bit excited when they included a shot of mr. green in the dugout. my cheer was always “let's hear it for the jews!” and when i walk up bedford ave. on a sunday, and see the hasidic guys playing a pickup game over on the concrete playing field, i wonder if shawn's presence on the team made any difference to them.
because i know it did to me.