The Elias Sports Bureau probably doesn’t have this stat in its archives: the New York Mets are 4-1 in day games at Shea Stadium when "Take Me Out To the Ballgame" is sung in Yiddish and glatt kosher vendors patrol the stands. In other words, on Jewish Heritage Day.
The Jewish Community Relations Council and the Queens Jewish Community Council cosponsored the event for the fifth year on Sunday, and the Mets won for the fourth time: 6-5 over the Cincinnati Reds.
"I think we’re good luck," says Marcy Fishman, a baseball fan who doubles as JCRC’s director of special projects. The several thousand Jewish fans in the stands, representing scores of local Jewish organizations, heard opera singer Frances Ginsburg’s versions of the American and Israeli national anthems and the Jake a cappella singers’ musical offerings, and they saw the Parparim troupe’s Israeli dancing as well as the Jewish DJ’s simcha dancing.
And, as usual, there was a rendition of "Take Me Out To the Ballgame" in the mama loshen: sung this time by the a cappella group.
Some of the 148 children from the Jewish Community Council of Canarsie watched the game from the upper deck; among them, Yosef Hecht, left.
The Mets host similar days for other ethnic groups, including the Italians and Irish, says Jay Horowitz, public relations director. "We have a very diverse team. It’s a way of showing New York is a melting pot."
As for the Mets’ winning record on Jewish Heritage Day … it’s not an official stat, Horowitz says. "We don’t keep [such] records."
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