St. Patrick
Born in Scotland, St. Patrick was kidnapped as a teenager and brought to 5th century Ireland as a slave to a warlord. He worked as a shepherd for six years before he escaped. Back home, he became a priest and returned to the land of his captivity as a missionary. While many legends are told about him, it is enough to say that St. Patrick eventually became bishop of Ireland and is credited for having established the Church there.
A hearty welcome
Welcome is part of our Christian life. We are asked to extend a warm welcome to anyone who may be new or unfamiliar to our parish church. Jesus said, "whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me" (Matthew 10:40).
Our choice
"I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of the wicked" (Psalm 84:11).
Saturday, March 15, 2014
A call to examine Jesus' words on life during Lent
Is all life sacred?
This question began my column last May. I thought God would answer "yes," but we humans would answer "no." If we did think life, or at least human life, was sacred, we would not kill any humans for any reason whatsoever. Yet we do.
In exploring this question, I presented the thesis put forth by Rob Arner in his book, "Consistently Pro-Life, The Ethics of Bloodshed in Ancient Christianity." He asserts the early Christians, before 313, when Christian worship became legal, had a much different attitude towards bloodshed than the modern church. Today, regarding abortion, the church is divided. Here is a look at the early Christian stance on abortion.
In the culture into which Christianity was born, the Greek and Roman culture of the 1st century, the killing of unwanted or deformed infants, either born or unborn, was commonplace. Unwanted infants were commonly killed by exposure ----just leave them out in a field or on a mountainside. Abortions were carried out by means of mechanical or chemical (poisonous) means. "In Greek and Roman law, all rights, including the right to life, 'were subservient to the welfare of the state and had to be sacrificed if the best interests of the state demanded it." The Law of the Twelve Tables was the ancient legislation that stood at the foundation of Roman law in the Roman Republic (509-27 BC). It established basic procedural rights for all Roman citizens, as against one another.
In contrast to this culture of the state above all else rose the early Christian doctrine of the sacredness of human life, which prevented Christians from taking life either before birth or after. The Didache or The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles is a brief early Christian treatise, dated by most scholars to the late first or early second century. The text, parts of which constitute the oldest surviving written catechism, has three main sections dealing with Christian ethics, rituals such as baptism and Eucharist, and Church organization. It is considered the first example of the genre of the Church Orders. Didache 2.1-2 says "do not murder,......do not kill a fetus by abortion, or commit infanticide." Such an explicit command was necessary because of the prevalence and acceptability of abortions and infant exposure in that era.
I quote here from Rob's book part of footnote 9 on page 59, because I think it speaks to the heart of the conflict regarding the question "What would Jesus do?"
"To ask the question 'Is the fetus a person?' is equivalent to the Pharisee's self-justifying question 'Who is my neighbor?' (Luke 10:29). For just as the Pharisee wanted to know whether he was exempt from his responsibility as a Jew to care for his neighbor by defining 'neighbor' in a narrow, exclusionary way, the one asking the question of the fetus' seeks to justify him-orherself by avoiding the responsibility as a human being to care for a fellow human being by defining personhood in an equally exclusionary way."
This week Christians entered the season of Lent, a time of fasting, reflection and prayer as we follow the journey of Jesus to the cross. During this time, Christians may want to consider, why did Jesus come? Consistently, the Bible tells us, the answer is "life".
For example, John 6:35: "Then Jesus declared, 'I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty'." John 6:47: "Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life." John 10:10: "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
This may be a good time to reflect on his journey, and consider if abortion is consistent with the life and teachings of Jesus. For readers of other faiths, now is as good a time as any to consider if abortion is consistent with the teachings of your faith.
This question began my column last May. I thought God would answer "yes," but we humans would answer "no." If we did think life, or at least human life, was sacred, we would not kill any humans for any reason whatsoever. Yet we do.
In exploring this question, I presented the thesis put forth by Rob Arner in his book, "Consistently Pro-Life, The Ethics of Bloodshed in Ancient Christianity." He asserts the early Christians, before 313, when Christian worship became legal, had a much different attitude towards bloodshed than the modern church. Today, regarding abortion, the church is divided. Here is a look at the early Christian stance on abortion.
In the culture into which Christianity was born, the Greek and Roman culture of the 1st century, the killing of unwanted or deformed infants, either born or unborn, was commonplace. Unwanted infants were commonly killed by exposure ----just leave them out in a field or on a mountainside. Abortions were carried out by means of mechanical or chemical (poisonous) means. "In Greek and Roman law, all rights, including the right to life, 'were subservient to the welfare of the state and had to be sacrificed if the best interests of the state demanded it." The Law of the Twelve Tables was the ancient legislation that stood at the foundation of Roman law in the Roman Republic (509-27 BC). It established basic procedural rights for all Roman citizens, as against one another.
In contrast to this culture of the state above all else rose the early Christian doctrine of the sacredness of human life, which prevented Christians from taking life either before birth or after. The Didache or The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles is a brief early Christian treatise, dated by most scholars to the late first or early second century. The text, parts of which constitute the oldest surviving written catechism, has three main sections dealing with Christian ethics, rituals such as baptism and Eucharist, and Church organization. It is considered the first example of the genre of the Church Orders. Didache 2.1-2 says "do not murder,......do not kill a fetus by abortion, or commit infanticide." Such an explicit command was necessary because of the prevalence and acceptability of abortions and infant exposure in that era.
I quote here from Rob's book part of footnote 9 on page 59, because I think it speaks to the heart of the conflict regarding the question "What would Jesus do?"
"To ask the question 'Is the fetus a person?' is equivalent to the Pharisee's self-justifying question 'Who is my neighbor?' (Luke 10:29). For just as the Pharisee wanted to know whether he was exempt from his responsibility as a Jew to care for his neighbor by defining 'neighbor' in a narrow, exclusionary way, the one asking the question of the fetus' seeks to justify him-orherself by avoiding the responsibility as a human being to care for a fellow human being by defining personhood in an equally exclusionary way."
This week Christians entered the season of Lent, a time of fasting, reflection and prayer as we follow the journey of Jesus to the cross. During this time, Christians may want to consider, why did Jesus come? Consistently, the Bible tells us, the answer is "life".
For example, John 6:35: "Then Jesus declared, 'I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty'." John 6:47: "Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life." John 10:10: "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
This may be a good time to reflect on his journey, and consider if abortion is consistent with the life and teachings of Jesus. For readers of other faiths, now is as good a time as any to consider if abortion is consistent with the teachings of your faith.
Some whys and hows of Lent
Don't worry, you won't be condemned to hell if you give up something for Lent and then stumble. At least I hope not.
When I was younger, I once gave up chocolate but succumbed to temptation and ate the ears off a chocolate bunny about a week before Easter.
Heck, you are not doomed to eternal damnation even if you do not celebrate or participate in the Lenten season.
At least that's what I believe.
Still, a lot of Christians each year have the sign of the cross drawn in ash on their foreheads on Ash Wednesday and go on to fast for the 40-day stretch (not including Sundays) to Easter.
Some people give up something for the duration of Lent. Some do not eat meat on Fridays. Have you seen the parking lot at Red Lobster on a Friday in Lent?
Not all Christians celebrate Lent, and it's not just a "Catholic thing," either. Lent is one of the modt, if not the most, important times of the year for many Christians around the world.
I'm a Lutheran and have a master's of religion degree from the Lutheran Theological Seminar in Gettysburg. I grew up outside Latrobe, Pa., and Lent has been a big part of my life each spring since my earliest memory. Methodists and other Protestant denominations also observe the season.
Why do we do it? After all, a liturgical season that begins with a stark reminder of your eventual death ---- the ashes are humbling reminder of our mortality ----- and also asks for more than a month of sacrifice or service could be very unpopular.
There are a variety of answers.
Many people give up something they like as a small sacrifice in recognition of the sacrifice of Jesus we will recognize on Good Friday. Others take the time to try to dedicate themselves to a project that helps others. It is a good time as any to rededicate your life to one of service.
I'm going to try to give up fast food during Lent and hope that the habit sticks. It;l be rough because the lure of the drive-through lane is strong. Wish me luck.
Based on conversations I've had with other fasters throughout the years, many people give up something like meat simply because they always have. It's a tradition and a part of their life.
That is fine, too, in my book.
I asked readers about their Lenten observations and heard some really interesting thoughts via Facebook from those who don't fast.
"I strive every day of the year to get close to God and give up the things that hinder my relationship with him," wrote Albert Valdez.
While Richard Lucky doesn't observe Lent, he's fine with the concept. "My wife, who is Catholic, does," he said. "If doing this makes her or anyone else feel closer to God, then I think it's a good thing."
Robert Davis had a different take. "I'm going to give up on 'giving up,' " he said. "I'm gonna start trying."
My own intent during the Lenten season is to regenerate my spirit. If you see me in some drive-through Lane, you have my permission to run up and holler, "Don't do it, man!" Not because you're worried that wrath from above will be dealt upon me, but because my wallet and my health need a break.
When I was younger, I once gave up chocolate but succumbed to temptation and ate the ears off a chocolate bunny about a week before Easter.
Heck, you are not doomed to eternal damnation even if you do not celebrate or participate in the Lenten season.
At least that's what I believe.
Still, a lot of Christians each year have the sign of the cross drawn in ash on their foreheads on Ash Wednesday and go on to fast for the 40-day stretch (not including Sundays) to Easter.
Some people give up something for the duration of Lent. Some do not eat meat on Fridays. Have you seen the parking lot at Red Lobster on a Friday in Lent?
Not all Christians celebrate Lent, and it's not just a "Catholic thing," either. Lent is one of the modt, if not the most, important times of the year for many Christians around the world.
I'm a Lutheran and have a master's of religion degree from the Lutheran Theological Seminar in Gettysburg. I grew up outside Latrobe, Pa., and Lent has been a big part of my life each spring since my earliest memory. Methodists and other Protestant denominations also observe the season.
Why do we do it? After all, a liturgical season that begins with a stark reminder of your eventual death ---- the ashes are humbling reminder of our mortality ----- and also asks for more than a month of sacrifice or service could be very unpopular.
There are a variety of answers.
Many people give up something they like as a small sacrifice in recognition of the sacrifice of Jesus we will recognize on Good Friday. Others take the time to try to dedicate themselves to a project that helps others. It is a good time as any to rededicate your life to one of service.
I'm going to try to give up fast food during Lent and hope that the habit sticks. It;l be rough because the lure of the drive-through lane is strong. Wish me luck.
Based on conversations I've had with other fasters throughout the years, many people give up something like meat simply because they always have. It's a tradition and a part of their life.
That is fine, too, in my book.
I asked readers about their Lenten observations and heard some really interesting thoughts via Facebook from those who don't fast.
"I strive every day of the year to get close to God and give up the things that hinder my relationship with him," wrote Albert Valdez.
While Richard Lucky doesn't observe Lent, he's fine with the concept. "My wife, who is Catholic, does," he said. "If doing this makes her or anyone else feel closer to God, then I think it's a good thing."
Robert Davis had a different take. "I'm going to give up on 'giving up,' " he said. "I'm gonna start trying."
My own intent during the Lenten season is to regenerate my spirit. If you see me in some drive-through Lane, you have my permission to run up and holler, "Don't do it, man!" Not because you're worried that wrath from above will be dealt upon me, but because my wallet and my health need a break.
Friday, March 14, 2014
An empty triumph
It is only a matter of time before the iconic Joe Paterno statue, removed in disgrace in 2012, will return to its prominent spot outside Beaver Stadium in State College.
When it is returned, what will it mean?
It means the triumph of a campaign to bully Penn State's Board of Trustees to return the statue and denounce the University's report that disclosed seamy details about why it sacked the late, legendary football coach halfway through the 2011 season.
The campaign to rehabilitate Paterno has been underway ever since Paterno's assistant, Jerry Sandusky, was arrested and charged with sexually molesting young boys on campus. Penn Staters have never forgiven the administration for tearing out the statue.
Paterno fans have posted a petition to return the statue on Change.org. A Facebook page ------ "Put the JoePa Statue Back Where It Belongs" ------ has almost 11,000 Likes.
The campaign has targeted PSU's board of trustees. Penn Staters hold its members in the same esteem as an Obama Death Panel.
Last Friday, trustee Alvin Clemens resigned during a meeting in Hershey, saying he regretted voting to fire Paterno. You can see how history will be rewritten by examining his farewell statement, reported by the AP:
"We had no advance notice and little opportunity to discuss and consider the complex issues we faced. After 61 years of exemplary service, coach Paterno was given no chance to respond. That was a mistake."
He added, "I will always regret that my name is attached to that rush to injustice."
At the same meeting, the board came under heavy fire from PSU alumnus Ceil Masel, who denounced the board and the Freeh report. The "Sandusky scandal," as she called it, and the subsequent NCAA sanctions, have done great damage to Penn State's rep, she said. Football players have chosen other schools, businesses in State College are suffering, and Penn State "graduates......have endured snide comments during job interviews."
And Masel said this: "There is the statue of a well-respected coach, senselessly being held in captivity in some undisclosed location."
After the scandal broke, PSU hired ex-FBI director Louis Freeh to investigate, and his report held responsible Paterno, then-PSU athletic director Tim Curley, then-Vice President Gary Schultz and former president Graham Spanier.
As Sports Illustrated put it:
"The four are portrayed as manipulating administrative channels to protect Sandusky, the football program and their own reputations. According to the report, the four knew about Sandusky's behavior as far back as 1998, when Sandusky was investigated by several state and university agencies ---- including the police ---- for inappropriate conduct with young boys."
My guess is the new narrative will be that Paterno was a kind-hearted but befuddled old man who was blindsided and railroaded by others, or something like that.
The problem is that the story is fixed in the infamous roster of the worst American sports scandals, vying for top dishonors with the Black Sox, Pete Rose, Tonya Harding and Tiger Woods.
Another problem is that Paterno acknowledged his lapse.
"I wish I had done more," he told the Washington Post.
The Paterno statue is campy vainglory. The coach is depicted in mid-stride, right arm lifted, index finger indicating "We're No. 1!"
When it is returned, people like Ceil Masel can stand next to it, index fingers raised, but they will be alone in their sentimental victory and empty pomp.
When it is returned, what will it mean?
It means the triumph of a campaign to bully Penn State's Board of Trustees to return the statue and denounce the University's report that disclosed seamy details about why it sacked the late, legendary football coach halfway through the 2011 season.
The campaign to rehabilitate Paterno has been underway ever since Paterno's assistant, Jerry Sandusky, was arrested and charged with sexually molesting young boys on campus. Penn Staters have never forgiven the administration for tearing out the statue.
Paterno fans have posted a petition to return the statue on Change.org. A Facebook page ------ "Put the JoePa Statue Back Where It Belongs" ------ has almost 11,000 Likes.
The campaign has targeted PSU's board of trustees. Penn Staters hold its members in the same esteem as an Obama Death Panel.
Last Friday, trustee Alvin Clemens resigned during a meeting in Hershey, saying he regretted voting to fire Paterno. You can see how history will be rewritten by examining his farewell statement, reported by the AP:
"We had no advance notice and little opportunity to discuss and consider the complex issues we faced. After 61 years of exemplary service, coach Paterno was given no chance to respond. That was a mistake."
He added, "I will always regret that my name is attached to that rush to injustice."
At the same meeting, the board came under heavy fire from PSU alumnus Ceil Masel, who denounced the board and the Freeh report. The "Sandusky scandal," as she called it, and the subsequent NCAA sanctions, have done great damage to Penn State's rep, she said. Football players have chosen other schools, businesses in State College are suffering, and Penn State "graduates......have endured snide comments during job interviews."
And Masel said this: "There is the statue of a well-respected coach, senselessly being held in captivity in some undisclosed location."
After the scandal broke, PSU hired ex-FBI director Louis Freeh to investigate, and his report held responsible Paterno, then-PSU athletic director Tim Curley, then-Vice President Gary Schultz and former president Graham Spanier.
As Sports Illustrated put it:
"The four are portrayed as manipulating administrative channels to protect Sandusky, the football program and their own reputations. According to the report, the four knew about Sandusky's behavior as far back as 1998, when Sandusky was investigated by several state and university agencies ---- including the police ---- for inappropriate conduct with young boys."
My guess is the new narrative will be that Paterno was a kind-hearted but befuddled old man who was blindsided and railroaded by others, or something like that.
The problem is that the story is fixed in the infamous roster of the worst American sports scandals, vying for top dishonors with the Black Sox, Pete Rose, Tonya Harding and Tiger Woods.
Another problem is that Paterno acknowledged his lapse.
"I wish I had done more," he told the Washington Post.
The Paterno statue is campy vainglory. The coach is depicted in mid-stride, right arm lifted, index finger indicating "We're No. 1!"
When it is returned, people like Ceil Masel can stand next to it, index fingers raised, but they will be alone in their sentimental victory and empty pomp.
F. Y. I.
Behind the Name
Halle Berry was born Maria Halle Berry, with her middle name chosen as a tribute to Halle's Department Store, a Cleveland, Ohio, landmark.
Lucky Charm
It was once considered good luck to encounter a goat when traveling to an important meeting as goats were believed to absorb evil or harm.
Still on the Books
In Destin, Fla., it is illegal to sell ice cream in a cemetery.
State Stats
Santa Fe, N.M., is the highest capital city in the United States at 7,000 feet above sea level.
Quotable
by Mary Engelbreit, artist and illustrator
"If there's anything half so much fun as being alive, I'd like to know what it is."
Soup's On
The main ingredient in the first bowl of soup ever made, in 6000 BC, was hippopotamus.
Halle Berry was born Maria Halle Berry, with her middle name chosen as a tribute to Halle's Department Store, a Cleveland, Ohio, landmark.
Lucky Charm
It was once considered good luck to encounter a goat when traveling to an important meeting as goats were believed to absorb evil or harm.
Still on the Books
In Destin, Fla., it is illegal to sell ice cream in a cemetery.
State Stats
Santa Fe, N.M., is the highest capital city in the United States at 7,000 feet above sea level.
Quotable
by Mary Engelbreit, artist and illustrator
"If there's anything half so much fun as being alive, I'd like to know what it is."
Soup's On
The main ingredient in the first bowl of soup ever made, in 6000 BC, was hippopotamus.
'Chasing Dreams' of glory, belonging
Feeling fully American through baseball gets a look, at the Jewish history museum.
Sandy Koufax, the great Dodgers pitcher, took his religion seriously. Maybe he didn't attend services regularly, but he was infused with Jewish culture and tradition.
When the first game of the 1965 World Series against the Minnesota Twins fell on Yom Kippur, Koufax was stricken --------- he never pitched on the holiest of days. He made the difficult decision to continue this observance, World Series or not.
Besides, his fellow ace, Don Drysdale, was ready and able to carry the Dodgers.
Drysdale took the mound that Oct. 6 in Bloomington, Minn., and things were OK for the first two innings. But in the third, the Twins began pummeling him. Hits. Walks. Disaster.
Dodgers manager Walter Alston made the ritualistic trudge to the mound to yank his man.
When Drysdale handed Alston the ball, he said, "I know, skip, you're wishing I were a Jew."
This anecdote occupies only a moment in the rich, sprawling new exhibition "Chasing Dreams: Baseball and Becoming American" that opens Thursday at the National Museum of American Jewish History.
But that moment weaves together many of the threads of the show, co-curated by Josh Perelman, the museum's chief curator and director of programs, and Ivy Weingram, museum associate curator. It runs through Oct. 26 and will then travel to venues now being finalized.
Koufax is one of the stars of "Chasing Dreams" ----- along with Detroit Tigers slugger Hank Greenberg, Dodgers icon Jackie Robinson, and 19th-century superstar Lipman Pike.
"People usually think about baseball as a sporting event, what they do in their leisure time," said Perelman, walking through the exhibition as it was being installed.
Vacuums whirred. Saws screeched. Cases containing such artifacts as the last home plate at the Polo Grounds, the original sheet music of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," an 1866 baseball commemorating the Philadelphia Athletics' loss to the Unions of Morrisania (in what is now the South Bronx) were unfinished. Photographs galore ------ Koufax, Greenberg, Joe DiMaggio, Roberto Clemente, Juan Marichal, Ichiro Suzuki ------ were waiting to be hung.
"Baseball has a rich history of engagement with minority groups," Perelman said. "It represents the diversity of our nation, a microcosm of our pluralistic society."
This theme ties the show together. Koufax was a Jew, but on the field he was a ballplayer, just like Drysdale. For Jews, for Italians, for Irish, for blacks and Latinos, participation in the "national pastime" became a ticket into mainstream society.
Greenberg, the Hebrew Hammer, played for Detroit in the 1930s and '40s. When he was dealt to Pittsburgh in 1947, Detroit fans were outraged. Yet those same fans had relentlessly showered him with anti-Semitic epithets when he was on the field.
Jackie Robinson, of course, dealt with far worse.
Baseball, in other words, has provided a relatively even field for Jews, Italian Americans, and other white ethnic groups, but it has not and cannot wipe out the cultural divisions in the wider society.
Nowhere can that be seen with greater clarity than African American players.
"Jackie Robinson broke the color line in baseball" in 1947, Perelman noted. "But it took America another two or three decades to ban segregation."
Robinson ----- widely viewed as the game's greatest hero ----- served as inspiration to every member of every excluded group in the nation. But he could hardly erase racial hostility between the chalk lines by himself, let alone in the wider society outside the ballpark.
In 1960, when the team from Levittown, Pa., won the Little League World Series, defeating Fort Worth, Texas, no African American kid represented Levittown and signed the commemorative bat, Perelman said. The bat is in the exhibition, along with about 130 other objects.
"There are no African American names on the bat," said Perelman, "and Levittown itself struggled with integration........... Jackie Robinson's achievements took time to impact all of our communities."
But Robinson and Koufax were teammates in the mid-1950s, the former at the end of his career, the latter just beginning. By the time Don Drysdale departed from his disastrous World Series game in 1965, African Americans were on every team, along with Jews, Italian Americans, Irish Americans, Afro-Caribbeans, and Latin players. Asians came a bit later. In fact, Greenberg, a generation before Koufax, sat out Yom Kippur with considerable support from Detroit Tigers fans, although the game did not have the significance of the World Series.
"Chasing Dreams" reflects all this, while also exploring the roles of women, Jewish team owners and concessionaires, and even the shifting attitudes of white and black team owners toward each other.
The exhibition comes with a lively companion book, edited by Perelman, that contains essays and even fiction from some of the country's finest writers. Baseball seems to bring out the best in a writer, perhaps because the game lends itself so seamlessly to myth and metaphor ------ and sentimentality and nostalgia.
Philip Roth, in My Baseball Years, ruminates on its allure:
"For someone whose roots in America were strong but only inches deep, and who had no experience, such as a Catholic child might, of an awesome hierarchy that was real and felt, baseball was a kind of secular church that reached into every class and region of the nation and bound millions upon millions of us together in common concerns, loyalties, rituals, enthusiasms and antagonisms. Baseball made me understand what patriotism was about, at its best."
Sandy Koufax, the great Dodgers pitcher, took his religion seriously. Maybe he didn't attend services regularly, but he was infused with Jewish culture and tradition.
When the first game of the 1965 World Series against the Minnesota Twins fell on Yom Kippur, Koufax was stricken --------- he never pitched on the holiest of days. He made the difficult decision to continue this observance, World Series or not.
Besides, his fellow ace, Don Drysdale, was ready and able to carry the Dodgers.
Drysdale took the mound that Oct. 6 in Bloomington, Minn., and things were OK for the first two innings. But in the third, the Twins began pummeling him. Hits. Walks. Disaster.
Dodgers manager Walter Alston made the ritualistic trudge to the mound to yank his man.
When Drysdale handed Alston the ball, he said, "I know, skip, you're wishing I were a Jew."
This anecdote occupies only a moment in the rich, sprawling new exhibition "Chasing Dreams: Baseball and Becoming American" that opens Thursday at the National Museum of American Jewish History.
But that moment weaves together many of the threads of the show, co-curated by Josh Perelman, the museum's chief curator and director of programs, and Ivy Weingram, museum associate curator. It runs through Oct. 26 and will then travel to venues now being finalized.
Koufax is one of the stars of "Chasing Dreams" ----- along with Detroit Tigers slugger Hank Greenberg, Dodgers icon Jackie Robinson, and 19th-century superstar Lipman Pike.
"People usually think about baseball as a sporting event, what they do in their leisure time," said Perelman, walking through the exhibition as it was being installed.
Vacuums whirred. Saws screeched. Cases containing such artifacts as the last home plate at the Polo Grounds, the original sheet music of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," an 1866 baseball commemorating the Philadelphia Athletics' loss to the Unions of Morrisania (in what is now the South Bronx) were unfinished. Photographs galore ------ Koufax, Greenberg, Joe DiMaggio, Roberto Clemente, Juan Marichal, Ichiro Suzuki ------ were waiting to be hung.
"Baseball has a rich history of engagement with minority groups," Perelman said. "It represents the diversity of our nation, a microcosm of our pluralistic society."
This theme ties the show together. Koufax was a Jew, but on the field he was a ballplayer, just like Drysdale. For Jews, for Italians, for Irish, for blacks and Latinos, participation in the "national pastime" became a ticket into mainstream society.
Greenberg, the Hebrew Hammer, played for Detroit in the 1930s and '40s. When he was dealt to Pittsburgh in 1947, Detroit fans were outraged. Yet those same fans had relentlessly showered him with anti-Semitic epithets when he was on the field.
Jackie Robinson, of course, dealt with far worse.
Baseball, in other words, has provided a relatively even field for Jews, Italian Americans, and other white ethnic groups, but it has not and cannot wipe out the cultural divisions in the wider society.
Nowhere can that be seen with greater clarity than African American players.
"Jackie Robinson broke the color line in baseball" in 1947, Perelman noted. "But it took America another two or three decades to ban segregation."
Robinson ----- widely viewed as the game's greatest hero ----- served as inspiration to every member of every excluded group in the nation. But he could hardly erase racial hostility between the chalk lines by himself, let alone in the wider society outside the ballpark.
In 1960, when the team from Levittown, Pa., won the Little League World Series, defeating Fort Worth, Texas, no African American kid represented Levittown and signed the commemorative bat, Perelman said. The bat is in the exhibition, along with about 130 other objects.
"There are no African American names on the bat," said Perelman, "and Levittown itself struggled with integration........... Jackie Robinson's achievements took time to impact all of our communities."
But Robinson and Koufax were teammates in the mid-1950s, the former at the end of his career, the latter just beginning. By the time Don Drysdale departed from his disastrous World Series game in 1965, African Americans were on every team, along with Jews, Italian Americans, Irish Americans, Afro-Caribbeans, and Latin players. Asians came a bit later. In fact, Greenberg, a generation before Koufax, sat out Yom Kippur with considerable support from Detroit Tigers fans, although the game did not have the significance of the World Series.
"Chasing Dreams" reflects all this, while also exploring the roles of women, Jewish team owners and concessionaires, and even the shifting attitudes of white and black team owners toward each other.
The exhibition comes with a lively companion book, edited by Perelman, that contains essays and even fiction from some of the country's finest writers. Baseball seems to bring out the best in a writer, perhaps because the game lends itself so seamlessly to myth and metaphor ------ and sentimentality and nostalgia.
Philip Roth, in My Baseball Years, ruminates on its allure:
"For someone whose roots in America were strong but only inches deep, and who had no experience, such as a Catholic child might, of an awesome hierarchy that was real and felt, baseball was a kind of secular church that reached into every class and region of the nation and bound millions upon millions of us together in common concerns, loyalties, rituals, enthusiasms and antagonisms. Baseball made me understand what patriotism was about, at its best."
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