Sandy Koufax: Baseball Hero, and Union ManYvonne Martinezbyline‚ Sep. 29‚ 2008(Ed note: We thought it fitting to run this remembrance at the start of the Jewish High Holy Dates, which Koufax honored 43 years ago by skipping his scheduled start as the opening game pitcher in the World Series) As the daughter of an immigrant worker, baseball was a very important part of my childhood. My step-dad’s baseball fanaticism provided us the privilege of seeing all the historic Koufax Drysdale no hitters. The Chavez Ravine games included, I believe, the September 9, 1965 perfect game. I remember being rounded up with my brothers into the station wagon with no time change out of our catholic school uniforms for a trip to Chavez Ravine. Chavez Ravine, the storied ballpark that displaced hundreds of Latino families when their homes were bulldozed in a back door deal between City officials and Baseball Ball Club owners. Going to the ballpark also meant being subjected to jeers by bystanders because my Step-dad would invariably refuse to stand up for the National Anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance. “It’s not my flag,” he told us about why we had to sit down when everyone was standing up. But that’s not the only reason we rarely attended games there. Another reason was that my Step-dad hated the Dodgers because they had no Latino players and why he loved the Giants. |