Out of Left Field: Jews and Black Baseball (review)

Baseball fans whose passion for the sport transcends today’s box scores certainly will be familiar with the whens and whys of Jackie Robinson. They may have some knowledge of the Negro leagues and may identify Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax as Jewish Hall of Famers. But they might not know that Jewish businessmen were involved in the development of black baseball pre–Jackie Robinson. They may be unaware that Jewish sportswriters actively championed the integration of the major leagues in the mid-twentieth century.

In Out of Left Field: Jews and Black Baseball, Rebecca T. Alpert examines the Jewish presence in black baseball, and the book is most effective when telling the stories of these individuals and recounting the plight of the Belleville (Virginia) Grays, an independent black-Jewish nine that played during the 1920s and 30s. Alpert spotlights the lives of Abe Saperstein, Ed Gottlieb, and Syd Pollock, entrepreneurs who were not unlike the Jewish moguls who founded and grew the motion picture industry. Meanwhile, the motivations of others—the forward-thinking, left-leaning scribes Lester Rodney, Nat Low, and Bill Mardo—transcended profit and loss. Because of their progressive politics—all three wrote for The Daily Worker, an arm of the American Communist Party—their contributions were obscured by the temper of post– World War II America.

While Alpert offers detailed portraits of these individuals, she falters in other areas. For one thing, she makes broad generalizations about blacks and Jews. At the outset of Out of Left Field, she writes, “The Jewish connection to Jackie Robinson is part of the larger Jewish ideal of a special relationship between blacks and Jews” (1). Several paragraphs later, she cites “the Jewish commitment to social justice in mid-twentieth-century America” (3), yet she fails to acknowledge that not all Jews shared this “ideal” and “commitment.” I state this as a Jew who, like Alpert, came of age during the 1950s and 1960s and vividly recall a condescending attitude toward blacks held by too many of my family members and friends’ parents.

Granted, Alpert acknowledges Jewish racism when she observes, “And in the privacy of their homes, they expressed disdain for ‘shvartzes’” (9). On one level, she is contradicting her earlier assertions. But she is yet again offering generalizations about Jews, as if all Jews think alike. She misses the point that Jews are individuals. Some are liberal. Some are conservative. Others are apolitical. Some are fair-minded and even-handed. Others are bigots.

Her oversimplifications are not limited to Jews. She notes, “Just as Jews began identifying as white to become more American, blacks would use anti-Semitic rhetoric to gain some advantage with the white power structure that also found itself uncomfortable with Jewish economic power” (77). But where is her evidence? Was this true of all blacks and all Jews? She observes, “The modern and ancient kingdom of Ethiopia held a sacred place in the hearts of African Americans” (69). Was this the case with all African Americans?

While her portraits of the Jewish entrepreneurs and sportswriters are enlightening—for example, it is fascinating to learn that “[Abe] Saperstein told the Chicago Defender that he was encouraging his friend Bill Veeck to sign Goose Tatum to play for the Cleveland Indians” (121)—Alpert stumbles when straying into areas that are foreign to her. One is minstrelsy. She writes, “The blackface minstrel show was invented by whites who were both threatened and enthralled by the descendants of Africans. Whites dealt with their fascination and fear by creating a form of entertainment that provided an outlet for their emotions” (92). Too often, Alpert’s ideas appear to be based on academic theories rather than concrete information. Perhaps some whites became involved in minstrelsy simply to offer a product and turn a profit.

Another area in which Alpert’s field of knowledge is lacking is film history. She cites “Gordy Berry” as a force behind the production of The Bingo Long Traveling...