Hardball Hebrews a 40-year passion for Goldstein

Photo of Howard Goldstein by Joel Conrad Bechtolt

Lipman Pike was the first Jewish ballplayer, Howard Goldstein explains.

Befitting this status, a painting of Pike is at the center of a wall of paintings in Goldstein’s home office in Southwest Portland. This wall – and every other wall of the room and the hall leading into it – are packed with art depicting Jewish figures from the history of America’s pastime. All the names that history knows are there; Hank Greenberg, Al Rosen and Sandy Koufax among them. But Lipman, who led his league in home runs on four occasions without ever hitting more than seven in one year, debuted for the Troy Haymakers of the National Association in 1871, five years before the founding of the modern National League. He was the first Jewish professional baseball player, and one of the first professional players in the game’s history.

Goldstein’s memories of baseball don’t go back that far, but his love for the game goes back as far as he does; back to his childhood in Brooklyn, where he recalls men like Gil Hodges and other Dodgers’ stars could be seen around the neighborhood.

“Back in those days, these guys were just normal human beings,” Goldstein said. “It was a totally different thing growing up in the 50s and 60s in Brooklyn.”

When the Dodgers left, Goldstein became a Yankees fan, and later adopted the Phillies, the team his children grew up cheering for while the family lived in Philadelphia. He’s always been avid about his Judaism, recalling his shomer kashrut (kosher observant) parents, his bar mitzvah and his time living in Israel. But the two streams didn’t come together until a happenstance encounter at Philadelphia’s convention center…

Continue reading  at the Jewish Federation of Portland