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Should we stop our kids from listening to the world series games?
As a young lad, I played a little ball. Big for my age in grade school, I hit and threw well despite no coaching beyond the sand lot. We had fun, the local kids sometimes playing alone with a ball and a back stop, and other times keeping score with make shift teams on real fields of grass and bases. It is an interesting game where the ball does not do the scoring, people do.
My parents never let me keep up with professional baseball is that the right chinuch or maybe today a kid needs to know more?
I remember back in the day, one year the yeshiva made a big issue about not following the Super Bowl. Needless to say that year of the 120 bochrim usually there for night seder, 30 showed up. That was the last year they talked against it, and they had full bais medrash for years after.
The surest way to put a taivah in his head is to ban it. If your kid wants to follow it, that should be your worst problem. if he doesn’t care about it, don’t bring it up.
Boys (even the “best” boys) need a physical outlet.
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There is a great, beautiful story of Rav Schvadron and the kid who was going to the big soccer games.
There was also a Yated chinuch column about sports. A lot of angles. Is this theoretical or practical? How old is the kid? Will it impinge on his sleep and school performance? Is he obsessed with sports?
As long as they don’t become obsessive. You can learn a lot from baseball…
yes, baseball imitates life, or is it the other way around?
Baltimore has its “yiddish league”.
A lack of Kosher outlets can lead to rebellion and / or destructive behavior.
How about asking daas torah?
I think playing baseball as well as other sports is a great even necessary thing.
I was never into following the Goyim in their sports which I believe is unnecessary.
(I actually call it Shtusim) No offense yall!
I’d rather my son be a good baseball or basketball player, than a good follower
of the shtusim. to go see a game live, nu! it’s interesting to see professionals
play a sport. but to follow it? be obsessed with it, so as to ask the goyishe neighbor
on Shabbos Koidesh, what’s the score, or who’s winning? I pray my kids have nothing to do with that. It is a Bizayon!!!
Vus Geit Dir Un Vi Sach Gelt Der Schvartzer macht,
Oder Tzi Er Krigt Mer Gelt, Oder Gevint.(Vus? Er Shikt Dir a Check?)
Du hust Gornish Gevonen, Nor Farloyren. Farloyren Zich Alein,
Tzu Der Proster Goys Veig.
When I was in Yeshiva, the Yankees went to the World Series. The Menahel announced that although there was a policy of no radios in the dorms, they’d allow it so guys could listen to the games.
feif un: very impressive!!
The biggest problem with the WS games is that they tend to end after midnight.
While I’m not opposed to a child listening to a ball game, and of course a World Series that the Yankees are playing in….. the games end so late that it can really mess up a child’s next day of learning. Maybe taping it so they can hear it the next day is a good eitza.
they shouldnt be up every time theres a game till its over but staying up for the world series and playoffs is only once a year theres no comparing listening to the game while its happening to listening to a recording later
stoner – staying up for the world series and playoffs is only once a year. But…. how many games total does that wind being???
The world series game times this year start more than a half hour earlier than previous years, so hopefully the games will end earlier as well.
i personnaly think that pro spots is one of the best kosher outlets
i think its a million percent okay
I agree with pookie. The World Series, in particular, is a once-a-year event, and it is even rarer that your team participates in it.
As impulses go, the impulse to root for your team is one of the better ones. If you discourage it, the interest will only grow stronger in the child.
I can remember in the 1960’s, we would sneak transistor radios with earplugs into public school and Hebrew school, and nothing would stop someone from doing that. We learned elaborate signaling to let each other know what was happening.
Baseball is a wonderful and wholesome release, and teaches you a lot about life, teamwork, and individualism, at the same time.
We are lucky to have many Jewish players who played the game admirably, and set a good example of sportsmanship for all. The first two names that come to mind, of course, are Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax who played the game better than almost everyone, who never denied their Jewish identities, and were never involved in a scandal.
Hank Greenberg, who played baseball in the 1930’s and 1940’s, and endured more abuse for his heritage than any player who played pro baseball until Jackie Robinson.
He came very close to breaking Babe Ruth’s home run record in 1938 (hitting 58 vs. Ruth’s longtime record of 60), and was arguably the best ballplayer around, at a time when Father Coughlin and Nazi propagandists were depicting Jews as physically substandard.
Greenberg’s comment to a friend, on the trolley, on the way home after the last game of the season, after just missing Ruth’s record: “58 home runs, that’s not such a bad year.”
He refused to play baseball on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, though the Detroit Tigers were involved in a pennant race; The fans said, “Rosh Hashanah comes once a year, but the Tigers haven’t won a pennant since 1909!” He faced taunts of the worst sort, included having players stare at him and having coarse racial epithets thrown at him. Examples of these imprecations were: “Hey Mo!” (referring to Moses) and “Throw a pork chop–he can’t hit that!”. Particularly abusive were the St. Louis Cardinals during the 1934 World Series.
After his pro career ended in the late 1940’s, he returned to baseball as a coach and an owner, mentoring many black ballplayers, who faced discrimination similar to that he faced.
Greenberg was idolized by millions of Jewish boys of that era, and helped them find their self-esteem at a time when serious anti-jewish messages were being broadcast throughout American society.
As Jackie Robinson himself said, “”Class tells. It sticks out all over Mr. Greenberg.”
Its good chinuch to remind your children, always slide feet first and never slide into first base.
Four steps to throwing the ball correctly:
Thumb to thigh
Elbow high
Point to the sky
Wave bye-bye
and “keep your eye on the ball.”
and if they understand the complexities and subtleties of the Infield Fly Rule by the time they are seven, you’ll know you have a future gaon on your hands.
ronrsr: I was trying to figure out how to work the Infield Fly Rule into a post. Thanks.
getzel1: Very good question, actually my Rav & Rosh yeshiva disagree on this one.
Many of the current Gedolim listened to the world series when they grew up, so my guess is that its not too bad as long as it doesn’t interfere with anything else. You can also make it a prize to be earned for something done well, such as extra time learning = time to listen.
There is a strong connection between American Jews and baseball. It was the first sport of young immigrants in the early part of the 20th century, in part because it was viewed as the most American of all major sports, in part because it could be played on any lot with a minimum of additional equipment, and there were actually professional Jewish ball-shpielers who could be admired.
As most of the men here will attest, in the world of boys, the World Series has always taken priority over boys’ studies, regardless of the attempts of surrounding adults to change that. It did us no harm, and baseball has many lessons to teach about life, teamwork, individualism and good sportsmanship.
On the other hand, there also was a certain delight in subverting the teachers and parents. If you were to give your children permission to view the World Series, that might take the fun out of it. Maybe it’s better to forbid it, and let them find a brilliant way to subvert your rules.
You could also use baseball to teach math.
You have to know math to calculate ERA, WHIP, slugging percentage and other statistics (you need advanced English to know what these abbreviations mean). Then there is the advanced math for those who belong to the Bill James school. You have to know how to calculate WHIP for day games when the weather is below 75 but above 50 that dont come out on a Tuesday, or how to calculate the odds that the pitcher will throw a slider on a 2-1 pitch to a left handed hitter with runners on 2nd and 3rd and less than 2 outs. A real gaon would even be able to figure out the ods that they will go with a suicide squeeze on said pitch.
A slider behind in the count with two runners in scoring position? Not a chance!
Passaic has Yiddle League, and Paramus has Yavneh Youth League. It’s a great outlet for kids, and the fresh air and exercise can’t hurt.
You can teach proper middos in the context of a ballgame. One of the more inspiring stories in print. “run shaya run” takes place in the context of a baseball game.
Happyooter, the beauty of the frum leagues is the playing – for fun, not for blood, like jphone mentions. I think that as long as the kids recognize that while there is excitement in following the WS, this isn’t the way they should enjoy playing, no problem.
Personally I feel the more chumras you keep placing on kids today the more likely they will snap and run. I remember my cousin who is a chashuv Rav today in Eretz Yisroel with b”ah 15 children and over 50 grandchildren by now, was obsessed with Rocky and Bullwinkle as was most of his chevrah and that was the TvD graduating class of ’65.
Kids need an outlet, kids need exercise, kids need a break from learning so that they can absorb what they learned and come back fresh and refreshed to take in more. There is nothing treif about sports as long as they don’t get into the life and lifestyles of the players. There is nothing wrong with enjoying games or going to games or listening to games or even watching games as long as everything is done in moderation. We all know that one bowl of cholent is enough, more than that and there is going to be trouble.
I went to my son’s Yeshiva dinner and the Rosh thanked us all for coming (big crowd) knowing that there was a big game that night. At several intervals he himself announced the scores. So let’s remember that Yiddin darf zein b’simcha. And we can’t always be serious and have our noses in a sefer 24/7. We have to live a little too. Let’s appreciate ALL the good things Hashem has given us in moderation while understanding what as my father a”h used to say is “git fahr yiddin” or not.
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