MELVILLE, New York — The New York Yankees trail the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-0 in the World Series, the 12th time that these two teams have competed in Major League Baseball’s Championship Series. The first seven matches were New York Yankees vs. Brooklyn Dodgers, with the Yankees winning 6 of 7 championships. Since the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958, the teams have split 4 World Series matchups.
The Yankees currently have one Jewish player, pitcher Scott Effross, who has been sidelined with lower back surgery, while there are no Jewish players on the Dodgers roster. Among the most fabled Jewish players in professional baseball are Sandy Koufax and Hank Greenberg. Early in the 20th century, many Major League baseball teams made an effort to sign players of certain ethnicities based on the population of their home cities.
The Yankees, for example, sought out Italian players, signing Tony Lazzeri and Joe DiMaggio among others. The New York Giants wanted some Jewish players, and in 1923, they signed Mose Solomon, son of Orthodox Jewish immigrants, following his 49-home run season with the Minor League Hutchinson Wheat Shockers of Kansas City. Upon his signing with the Giants, the Sporting News ran a headline saying Giants scout “Dick Kinsella Finds That $100,000 Jew,” and some referred to Solomon as “the Jewish Babe Ruth.” What other nickname was also given to Mose Solomon?