The rabbi of swat

by Peter Levine

Yes Virginia dear, there are Jewish baseball players! And Morrie Ginsberg, plucked from his Brooklyn Brownsville neighborhood by New York Giants' John McGraw with the hope of transforming immigrants and their children into generations of new American baseball fans, is one of them. Set in 1927, The Rabbi of Swat follows Morrie's rise as the New York Giant rookie pitcher who leads his team to the National League pennant and wins a chance to do battle with Babe Ruth and the mighty New York Yankees of Murderer's Row fame. The Giants struggle to win the pennant while the Yankees, led by Ruth's sixty home runs, roll along, culminating in a never-to-be-forgotten World Series with the Babe and Morrie Ginsberg taking center stage. A colorful cast of characters including John McGraw, Rogers Hornsby, Dutch Ruether, Zack Taylor, David Weiss, and New York's most reputable criminal Arnold Rothstein, join the party along the way as it cavorts from Long Island's Blossom Heath Inn, to the Polo Grounds,