When The Dodgers Celebrated Religions Instead Of Mocking Them

It seems to be the way things are happening in this country. The progressives begin with a covert attack on society’s norms and values. Statues are torn down, and sidewalks become toilets, sex becomes a public demonstration. But it always begins quietly, subtly, for only a select few.

That’s just what happened this weekend over at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers are one of the most famous Baseball Teams, having won a record 24 National League Pennants and 7 World Series.

For me, they are my favorite.

I grew up listening to the Dodgers on my first radio. A compact transistor radio that Santa gave me one Christmas. It allowed me to follow the game from where ever I might be. Through the mellifluous voice of their legendary announcer Vince Scully, I grew up following the team as they ran for the Pennant. Sometimes successful, most times not, they were one of the most exciting teams in a fascinating sport.

Of course, my favorite player was Sandy Koufax, the indomitable left-hander that Scully would describe to perfection: “Here’s the windup and the pitch…strike three, he’s OUT!” It was a description we often heard back then, as Koufax had become the most dominant pitcher in the league and the Strike Out King.

Moreover, Koufax represented the burgeoning megalopolis that was Los Angeles back in the day — a diverse community built on the shared foundation of traditional values. There was the Hispanic Community, which was overwhelmingly Catholic, the Church-going Protestants from the West Side, and the Jewish community. Koufax was Jewish. And as a devout Jew t he refused to pitch in the 1965 Opening Game of the World Series as it interfered with his observances of the Jewish High Holidays (Yom Kippur).

The Dodgers had no problem with that back then. When their star player, a pitcher almost sure to deliver a victory that day, said he had to answer to a Higher Power, the Dodgers respected that. The O’Malleys, who owned the team, were raised in a traditional Irish Catholic Home: an upbringing that respected religion and the shared values of Protestants, Catholics, and Jews.

So the 1965 World Series opening game fell on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the holiest day in Judaism. Koufax went to the Temple instead of to the game. The Press in the day made a stink. Koufax should pitch, they cried. Religion did not have a place in modern secular America. But the Dodgers knew better. There is a higher calling that even the World Series and the Dodgers would support Koufax’s decision.

It turned out that the Dodger’s decision was just what their fans had hoped for. Yes, we knew that it could cost us a win, but it was worth it to support the values of our community.

It was one of the things that distinguished the Dodgers from society. Always a popular draw in Los Angeles, in 1965, the Dodgers saw 2.5 million fans come through the turnstiles, nearly double the major league average of 1.3 million attendance. The following year that number climbed to 2.6 million. Of course, it helped that with Koufax pitching, the Dodgers were contending for the World Series, which they won in 1965, the year Koufax sat out Game 1.

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Koufax wins Game 7 of the 1965 World Series:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUkfpOVmZ3M.

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For 140 years, the Dodgers have been the place to go for harmony and community, where different languages are spoken, and other cultures and religions are celebrated. Unfortunately, that tradition of peace was broken this weekend. Quietly, with few in attendance, the Dodgers began a new practice this weekend — a tradition of mockery and disdain. Where traditional values are not only not celebrated, they are ridiculed.

Hours before the game began, the Dodgers marched out two representatives of the most radical of the Sexual Liberation Movement. The group has named themselves the “Sisters Of Perpetual Indulgence,” a satire of the Catholic Nuns. In words and actions, these “Sisters” mock Catholic Traditions. While their aim may be to promote a different sexual orientation, they do so by tearing down what most consider sacred.

For the Dodgers and the nation as a whole, it has taken generations to build the communities that now exist. Until recently, almost all of us considered America the greatest country. A county where different cultures and religions came together to accomplish great things. The Dodgers were the epitome of that, with their multicultural fans and their multicultural players.

That sense of greatness changed this weekend. For the first time, the Dodger introduced a new dimension that sought not to promote people’s values but to tear them down. It was a direct attack on those same traditional values that the Dodgers have traded on since Sandy Koufax sat out a World Series Game over half a century ago.

The Dodgers have enjoyed the goodwill of the vast religious community of Los Angeles, but that’s about to end.

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