Letters to the Editor

The 18 best Jewish ballplayers of all time With bashin' boychiks knocking the seam off the ball this year, Salon highlights the greatest Hebrew hammers and fireballers to step onto the diamond. By Jonah Keri [2007-09-01]

• Thanks for the feedback

  Hey all, thanks much for the feedback. I was flattered that Salon agreed to publish my article, and enjoyed the comments below, both praising and critiquing the piece. I'll try and address as many points as I can:

  Moe Berg was a fascinating and inspiring man. But he was a terrible baseball player. That's why he didn't make the list. He still deserves some kind of bio-pic one day, though.

  Lance Berkman = not Jewish

  I fully admit to being very inclusive in the article. I even noted cases of my "wildly irrational bias" at times, the inclusion of Boudreau and Carew being 2 of the biggies. As one poster said, though, Carew's courage against death threats was inspiring.

  Holtzman section on playoff performances was poorly worded by me. He appeared in four seasons worth of playoffs, not four games.

  I botched the most wins thing, Holtzman vs. Koufax. My fault, plain and simple.

  The Sherrys came close, but just missed the cut. Mike Epstein wasn't quite good enough either.

  Loved the all-Italian team, that was great.

  On irony: I enjoyed the ad accompanying the story with a pic of bacon and eggs.

  Finally, I appreciate all the criticisms posted. Ultimately this was just meant to be a fun baseball piece, with the hook that Ryan Braun and a couple others have been excellent this season, an unuusal occurrence given how few Jewish players have come along over the years. No political agenda on my part, no desire to split people along ethnic lines, or anything else.

  Please feel free to email me at the link provided by clicking my name at the end of the story. I'd be happy to address any other comments, questions or concerns you may have about the story. Thanks again.

  -- Jonah Keri
  [Read Jonah Keri's other letters]
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