Tell Me What You're Reading No. 52: Jeffrey Gurock - Marty Glickman, The Life of an American Jewish Sports Legend
Jeffrey Gurock is the author of a great new comprehensive biography of the premier voice of New York sports from the 1940s through the 1990s. The book is Marty Glickman, The Life of an American Jewish Sports Legend. I loved the book and our podcast discussion.
Jeff is a Professor of Jewish History at the Graduate School of Jewish Studies of Yeshiva University, and is an internationally-recognized expert in the discipline of American Jewish history with special interest in the history of American Judaism, the history of New York Jewry, and Judaism and American sports. Jeff has written over a dozen books in the field of American Jewish history.
Jeff’s New York City bona fides are exemplified by his CCNY bachelor's degree, his Masters and Doctorate degrees from Columbia, and in his participation in the New York City marathon 12 times.
Marty Glickman, The Life of an American Jewish Sports Legend is a sweet, sweet, bittersweet biography. Romania, the Bronx and Brooklyn, the example set by Hank Greenberg and by Sandy Koufax, Glickman’s high school and college track and football glory, college quotas limiting the number of Jews, the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, the Jews who were precipitously excluded from the track competition, including Glickman, American Nazis (truly, American Nazis), the great and courageous Jesse Owens, and a phenomenal sportscasting career for a gracious and generous gentleman. Really terrific.
This all deeply resonated for me. My grandparents came from Romania in the early 1900s fleeing the pogroms aimed at massacring the Jewish population. My grandparents settled in the Bronx, and of course I also had family in Brooklyn. My Dad played baseball at James Monroe high school with Hank Greenberg and, although he was a Dodger, and not a Yankee, we rooted for Sandy Koufax. We loved baseball, but we also followed football and track, and I went to high school with 1968 Olympic gold medal long jump champion Bob Beamon. It all resonated.
About Jeff
American Experience: PBS Interview
WHAT JEFF IS READING
From Left to Right: Lucy S. Dawidowicz, the New York Intellectuals, and the Politics of Jewish History, by Nancy Sinkoff
Reviews The Wall Street Journal | Jewish Book Council
The City Game, by Matthew Goodman
Reviews NPR | WBUR | WBH Radio
WHAT HOWARD IS READING
All The Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
My brother Louis was recently reading this 2015 winner of the Pulitzer prize for fiction, so I picked it up as well. This really good World War II era novel includes at least a dozen characters who are some combination of compelling, endearing, sympathetic, and in some cases despicable characters in Paris, Nazi Germany, and in Saint-Malo on the Breton coast in France.
Author Anthony Doerr depicts the perils, duplicity, violence and carnage of war, along with a beautiful, warm personal story. Highly recommended.
Reviews The Pulitzer Prize | The New York Times, by Janet Maslin | The New York Times, by William T. Vollmann | The Washington Post | The Guardian | The New Yorker | National Federation of the Blind | National Book Foundation
Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments, by Joe Posnanski
This one was joyous. Ben gave it to me for my birthday. Absolutely loved it.
From Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier to Hank Aaron breaking the home run record, Gehrig’s unsurpassable consecutive game record, surpassed by Cal Ripkin, DiMaggio‘s hitting streak, Shoeless Joe Jackson and the 1919 World Series Black Sox scandal, Don Larsen’s World Series perfect game, Kirt Gibson‘s dramatic, gimpy walk off World Series home run,
Babe Ruth’s supremacy, Ted Williams’ excellence, Yogi Berra’s greatness, over the shoulder Willie Mays, Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson, Bobby Thompson’s Shot Heard Round the World aided by Herm Franks behind the outfield scoreboard, the great Sandy Koufax, Jim Abbott’s phenomenal no-hitter, Mr. November, Derek Jeter, the Buckner tragedy for Boston, the Mazeroski tragedy of my youth, Mickey Mantle, the hero of my youth, and many others, including of course Shohei Ohtani. Great fun. Thanks Ben.
Reviews California Review of Books | New York Journal of Books
NPR | The Sporting News | MLB | Stay Home With SABR: Joe Posnanski, "Why We Love Baseball"
OTHER MENTIONS
Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe, by David Marinass
Reviews The New York Times | The Washington Post | The Wall Street Journal | The Los Angeles Times
Dean Cromwell name removed from USC Track and Field
Bob Costas speaks of Munich attack controversy during Olympic broadcast
