Temple Beth El of Oneonta will host the program “The Diamond District: Jews in Baseball” on Sunday, April 2, at 11 am, at the Cooperstown Village Hall, 22 Main St., Cooperstown, in the ballroom. Bill Simons and Jeff Katz will be the presenters. The event is free and open to the public. Rabbi Meir Rubashkin of Chabad in Oneonta will provide kosher hot dogs. To reserve a kosher hot dog, contact Temple Beth El at tbeoneonta@gmail.com or 432-5522, leaving a name, the number of people in the party and contact information. Seating is limited.
Simons will discuss “The Jews, Dodgers and Brooklyn: The Jackie Robinson Decade,” which will examine the special relationship that existed between the Dodgers and Brooklyn’s large Jewish community. Simons is professor emeritus at SUNY Oneonta, former chairman of the History Department and recipient of the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Katz will discuss “Marvin Miller: From Brooklyn to Cooperstown,” noting how “Marvin Miller fought the owners and their archaic views, and led baseball into a new era of free agency, enhanced competition and unimagined profitability.” Katz is an author, executive director of the Community Foundation of Otsego County and the former mayor of Cooperstown.