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Digging up America's diverse pastime By Amanda Seef The Brockport Hillel hosted a lecture, Sunday, April 6, titled “Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson and Hank Greenberg.” It was a testimony of the ethnic heroes in baseball’s melting pot, as these men overcame adversity and encouraged diversity. The speaker for the day was Bill Simons, a baseball historian and history professor at SUNY Oneonta. Simons has authored or edited more than 200 publications, including articles, essays and reviews. Simons is also the director of the Cooperstown Symposium, in its 20th year. Baseball has been noted as America’s national pastime, though as times have changed, so has the tradition behind the sport. “Baseball isn’t what it was,” Simons said. The lecture was meant to stress and dramatize the struggles that the players endured due to their background. DiMaggio, an Italian American, Hank Greenber; a Jewish man and Jackie Robinson, an African American, all played ball during times that were difficult for their minorities. DiMaggio’s courage and dignity, followed by his stoicism, allowed many to follow him, as well as connect with him during a time when all Americans were new to the country. Greenberg was one of the pioneering Jewish baseball players in the major league. He gained national attention in 1934 after he refused to play on Yom Kippur and other traditional Jewish High Holy Days. Finally, Robinson played during times of high racial tension. Robinson was the first African American player in the modern era and ended an 80-year segregation in Major League baseball. “Joe DiMaggio, Hank Greenberg and Jackie Robinson narrowed the gap between the American Dream and American reality,” Simons said. |
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