Oy. Soon You can collect Bernard Madoff and the whole set of Goniff Trading Cards

Blogging Stocks reports that, like the familiar baseball cards, you will soon be able to collect Goniff trading cards.

We think this is a tiny bit funny but mainly not the kind of hobby that you want to foster among the youth of America.

This comes under the rubric of mockingly promoting moral turpitude. Two thumbs down.

Topps' 2009 Allen & Ginter baseball card set will include the usual mix of all-stars and utility players, with a special twist: Fraudsters like Bernie Madoff, Charles Ponzi and Enron will also be inserted in some packs as part of the "World's Biggest Hoaxes, Hoodwinks & Bamboozles" subset. more..

Anyway, what, no Ezra Merkin card?

A Kabbalah Purim for Madonna and Jesus Child on the Upper West Side

Revelations from The Mirror last week to explain Queen Esther's costume:

Queen of pop Madonna looked like she had raided her teenage daughter's wardrobe while out at a fancy dress party last night.

The singer wore a dark wig, Converse baseball boots and fishnets for the bash to mark the Jewish celebration of Purim at the Kabbalah centre in New York.

The eighties-style outfit, finished off with stripey arm warmers and a smiley face signet ring, wasn't a million miles away from 13-year-old Lourdes’ signature look.

Toyboy Jesus Luz also joined in on the fun, arriving as The Joker, complete with green wig, pinstripe suit and full make-up.

The 22-year-old male model arrived at the party accompanying Jessica Seinfeld, wife of comedian Jerry, who was dressed as Cleopatra.

The further details of the deep theological and philosophical background from The Mirror:

Madonna's new boyfriend Jesus Luz has given up his life in Brazil to move in with the superstar singer in New York – just three months after they first met.

Jesus has ditched his modelling agency in Rio de Janeiro and signed with elite agency Ford Models in the Big Apple.

And he’s set up home with the star in her Upper West Side apartment.

His new millionaire surroundings are a far cry from his life in Rio just a few months ago, when Jesus was an unknown jobbing model earning about £160 a shoot.

Madonna, 50, and Jesus, 22, have settled into such domestic bliss that she’s even cooking meals for her young boyfriend most evenings.

They have been attending Kabbalah meetings together and he has grown close to her three children Lourdes, 12, Rocco, eight, and David, three.

A source close to the couple said: “Jesus has left his old life and his old friends behind. His whole world has turned on its head since he met Madonna."

But wait, stop the presses. We just had a comment on another post that claimed something remarkable: "Lindsay Lohan is a soon-to-be Jew, by the way." Details anyone?

Steve Fishman in NY Magazine: Final Act - Ezra Merkin after the fall

Every staged tragic drama has its final act where the curtain comes down and the audience applauds and then files out of the theater. Sometimes the stage is littered with dead bodies and the tragic figure is left standing, or he is led off in chains, or he too groans and staggers and falls to the ground, dead.

The Madoff-Merkin tragedy - in the version artfully written by Steve Fishman in NY Mag - does not end with a classic final curtain but with sort of a post-modern fade-out wherein one tragic actor ruminates about his fate after the sound and fury of the drama ends. Fishman paints for us Ezra Merkin, trying to visualize his life after the fall from the cosmic Eden which he inhabited.

The implications for Ezra are easily laid out by anyone who follows the story. He may be indicted for crimes. He won't be sitting on the bimah next to the rabbi. He will be whiling away the days in court or depositions or meeting with lawyers. He won't be known as the sage and wise genius and saint. He will be pointed at as the tricky and sly victimizer and pathetic victim rolled into one.

But we know that life is not a drama played out on a stage. In real life, Ezra will be doomed to live with himself. Every day Ezra will interrogate Ezra and ask how and why he failed to realize that he was not ever the sage and hero of the fictive narrative.

We were told in one of the news accounts that Ezra is a big baseball fan. So maybe it is apt to boil down his days after leaving the major leagues as follows.

Now because of his actions Merkin will never be eligible for the Hall of Fame. His records, whatever they may have been, will always be marked with a big bold asterisk.

The speculative end of Fishman's lengthy article...

Merkin is ruined

... Ezra Merkin is ruined. “His life as he knew it is over and not coming back,” says brother Sol, adding, “he doesn’t deserve this.” Ezra is winding down his funds. He’s been all but exiled from many of the communities he cared about. Andrew Cuomo, the New York State attorney general, is investigating whether Ezra misled the charities whose endowments he managed in order to enrich himself. He resigned as chairman of GMAC at the insistence of the U.S. government, one condition for bailing out the lender with $5 billion. For the moment, observant Ezra still sits on the bema every Saturday, in the spot designated for the synagogue president. Some in the congregation are scandalized, and some will sue him, it is almost certain. It’s not practical to sue Madoff. There are no assets left. And so they will take their turns with Ezra—who, as general partner, is personally liable. “He will spend the rest of his life in court,” says one attorney. Ironically, the sage will plead ignorance for the remainder of his days.

And yet, in another way, it’s not over. It’s just beginning. Ezra Merkin is fascinated—“extremely fascinated,” he sometimes tells friends—to know what will happen next in his life.

About Madoff’s victims, the ones whose funds Merkin was supposed to be safeguarding, he is matter-of-fact. He tells friends, “I lost a lot of people a lot of money.” There’s something slightly obtuse in this. Nearly every day brings accounts of shuttered charities, of retirements ruined, of houses suddenly put up for sale. Shouldn’t he be rending himself? But he was tricked like everyone else, he says, and tells himself he’s got to be resilient, show fortitude. And so he talks to himself about what he has. A loving wife, four devoted children—he is a much better father than Hermann. “I have to get through this,” he tells people, if one can. As for the future, he doesn’t know what the outcome is going to be. Ezra has lately been proclaiming himself free of the need for money and prestige, those things that shaped his life. He can start anew, reinvent himself. We’ll be all right, he thinks. Ezra understands as well as anyone the role his financial success played. Money has been central to his life. It put those breathtaking Rothkos on the wall and elevated him to society’s loftiest ranks. Things will change now. He’s begun to think along other lines. He says he might pursue something more on the contemplative side, reading or writing. Whatever this evolves into, “it doesn’t have to be a wealthy lifestyle for us to be happy,” Ezra tells friends, then adds, “I don’t think.”

Source: New York Magazine, "The Monster Mensch. What made Bernie Madoff, a man who helped revolutionize Wall Street and built a completely legal billion-dollar business, perpetrate the greatest fraud in history? And what led Ezra Merkin, born to immense privilege, to enable him?" by Steve Fishman, published Feb 22, 2009.

Bernice Sells an Old Baseball Card for $64,073

Nice going Bernice!

Fresno woman's rare baseball card nets $64,073
Fresno woman gets $64K for rare baseball card she originally tried to sell for $10

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- A Fresno antiques dealer has hit a home run with the sale of a rare baseball card she thought was worth only $10.

Bernice Gallego ended up selling the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings team card on an online auction site for $64,073 on Tuesday. That's more than double the previous record set for an identical card. The Cincinnati Red Stockings are the first professional team in the U.S.

Gallego didn't know what she had when she originally listed the card on eBay for $10. After numerous e-mails asking if it was real, she pulled the card. Only a handful of them exist.

The front of the card features a sepia-toned, gelatin-silver photographic print of the entire team. The reverse has a red-and-white advertisement for Peck & Snyder, a New York sports equipment manufacturer.

Gallego enjoyed national media attention and appeared on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" after finding the card in a box of junk.

The buyer was Jeff Rosenberg, president of a Houston company that promotes sports memorabilia shows.

Youkilis Signs for $41.25 million

Now this is news. Not a bad deal for a nice Jewish ballplayer!

Red Sox lock up Youkilis through 2012
First baseman's four-year, $41.25 million contract finalized Friday

By Alden Gonzalez / MLB.com
Everything is right in Red Sox Nation.

Six weeks after second baseman and reigning American League Most Valuable Player Dustin Pedroia was locked up to a six-year deal, first baseman Kevin Youkilis, who finished third in the MVP voting, committed to be a member of the Red Sox until at least 2012.

After passing his physical, Youkilis' four-year, $41.25 million contract, with a team option for a fifth season, was formalized on Friday, making Youkilis part of the potent Boston lineup for years to come.

"It's exciting," said manager Terry Francona during Friday's news conference, held at Fenway Park. "Tying up young players in theory sounds good, but they also have to be good enough to handle giving your ballclub a chance to win every year, and that's not easy.

"And now, on the right side of our infield, you have a guy that won the MVP [and] a guy that came in third. Both guys are Gold Glove-caliber players, they both love to win, and we've seen them both come through our Minor League system, so that certainly provides us a huge comfort zone."

Youkilis, an eighth-round pick of the Red Sox in 2001, had his breakout season in his fifth year in the Major Leagues in 2008. The righty hit a career-high .312, with 29 home runs and 115 RBIs.

More importantly, he was a significant cog at the cleanup spot once the club traded slugger Manny Ramirez at the Trade Deadline. While hitting fourth for the Red Sox, Youkilis batted .299, with 10 home runs and 45 RBIs in 48 games.

"I never pictured myself on another team," Youkilis said. "All my buddies back home in Cincinnati said, 'You've got to come play for the Reds, we need a player like you on the Reds.' And I said, 'It's not that easy.' For me, I never saw myself on another team. I've always seen myself putting on that Red Sox uniform every day, putting on that 'B' on the hat. This is home to me."

Youkilis' signing is further evidence of the supremely talented farm system of the Red Sox, which features homegrown players like Jacoby Ellsbury, Jed Lowrie, Jonathan Papelbon -- who is arbitration-eligible this offseason -- and Jon Lester, along with Pedroia and Youkilis.

Hot Stove

"We've made no secrets about our priorities here, that we want to develop a homegrown core of talent," general manager Theo Epstein said. "We feel like that's the best way, the only way, to achieve sustainable success year in and year out.

"It's hard to keep preaching that message if the only players you give money to are players that you bring in from outside the organization."

Youkilis' deal, which gives him a $1 million signing bonus, earns him $6 million in 2009, $10 million in '10 and $12 million in '11 and '12. If the club picks up his option for '13, he will make $14 million with a $1.25 million buyout.

The contract will cut into the first two years that he would've been eligible for free agency, but Youkilis, who turns 30 in March, doesn't see that as a problem.

"It can go either way," he said. "You could get injured and you could go into arbitration next year and not make your money. There's a lot of things that happen. Could I have made a little more money? Maybe. But I think the biggest thing, when you look at it, is, for me personally, like Theo said, it's not about the money. It's about going out and playing baseball."

Besides, for the remainder of his career -- however long that will span -- Youkilis doesn't want to go anywhere else.

"It's a great feeling to know that I might also have the opportunity to end my career here, too," said Youkilis, whose wife is from Boston. "That's one thing we've discussed. I would love to end my career playing for the Boston Red Sox. I always tell them I'm not looking to play until I'm 42, but I'm looking hopefully to end my career here with the Boston Red Sox."

Times: Bernice Finds World's Oldest Baseball Card in the Attic

Hey kids. Not the Bernice you thought it was... I'm going out to the garage right now to start rummaging through those boxes!

Mom, Apple Pie and an Old Baseball Card
By GEORGE VECSEY

For decades, the mothers of America have been vilified for the heinous act of throwing out their children’s shoeboxes full of crumpled baseball cards.

Generations of vengeful offspring have whined that if their mothers had not indulged in mindless spring cleaning, the cards could have been turned into a Lamborghini or an A frame in Vail or an investment with that nice Madoff fellow.

It was all their mothers’ fault. It always is, isn’t it?

Now there is a phenomenon called Revenge of the Mothers. Good fortune has come fluttering Bernice Gallego’s way, out of somebody else’s discarded clutter.

Bernice Gallego is not a baseball fan. She loves Pavarotti, for sure, but the only baseball name she knows is Willie Mays, from her mother’s listening to the radio when the Giants arrived in San Francisco in 1958.

Fact is, Gallego has never seen a baseball game — majors, minors or Little League. (“My son is a computer person,” she said.) But she thinks she could get interested in the sport, given the windfall that has fallen into her life.

Gallego and her husband, Al, frequent estate sales around Fresno, Calif., acquiring truckloads of antiques or just plain junk out of people’s attics and cellars. They sort it out later at their shop, Collectique.

Last summer, the Gallegos were going through their accumulation, posting items on eBay, when she spotted a rectangular card, somewhat mussed, with a photograph of 10 dashing young men in uniforms.

The lads could have been the Fighting A’s of Oakland of the 1970s, who had mustaches and attitude, but the card definitely said Red Stocking B. B. Club of Cincinnati, and she knew it was a bit older than the 1970s. She put it up for auction at $10.

Al and Bernice Gallego did not get to be 80 and 72 without acquiring some smarts. When the kindly folks out there in Webland seemed a trifle eager to take the card off their hands, the Gallegos took the card off the market and went to discover just exactly what they had.

Turns out, this is probably the oldest baseball card in history. The Cincinnati Red Stockings were merely the first professional baseball team on this continent, or probably any other. Bat and ball games had been played in many parts of the world, but baseball evolved in the northeastern United States in the 1830s and ’40s. According to “Playing for Keeps: A History of Early Baseball” by Warren Goldstein, right after the Civil War, an attorney, Aaron B. Champion, assembled 10 amateurs in Cincinnati, gave them uniforms and paid them $800 or more a season, a respectable yearly wage for that time.

The 1869 Red Stockings were undefeated, winning an estimated 65 games, including league games and exhibitions, with one tie against the Troy Haymakers.

That year a card was distributed as an advertisement for Peck & Snyder, a New York manufacturer of both firefighting and sports equipment...

As Bernice Gallego is discovering, the tale of the Red Stockings has a thoroughly modern twist to it. In 1870, they won 27 more straight games but then lost to the Brooklyn Atlantics, which ended their mystique almost immediately.

Attendance dropped, the team could not make a profit, and the Wright brothers took their red stockings and moved to — oh, but you guessed it — Boston. The Peck & Snyder baseball cards went into the shoebox of oblivion.

The Gallegos have no idea where they got the card. They have been told by collectible experts that the card will be worth well into five figures, perhaps even $100,000, depending on the economy. Jay Leno’s people and Martha Stewart’s people have been requesting appearances. The auction will be scheduled for later this year, in Fresno. (The find was first reported by Mike Osegueda in The Fresno Bee.)...

“I’m learning why people care so intensely,” Gallego said. “I can now understand why people collect baseball cards.”

Collecting is understandable. Throwing cards out is not so understandable. At least one shoebox has ended up in a mother’s hands. It seems only right.

Forbes' Martin Sosnoff: Angry at the Madoff and Merkin Circle of Evil

Forbes: Upstaging Madoff by Martin Sosnoff starts as an analysis of investor motives and then blasts us with an uncharacteristically blunt burst of investor anger.

The Sosnoff sub-head sounds sober enough, "With Treasury yields on the floor and stocks viewed as too shaky, investors naturally become suckers for Bernie's returns." The essay veers into speculation about the motives of Madoff and then into an actively angry attack on both Madoff and Merkin. Not that there is anything wrong with that, given the litany of their of sins.

The battle for investment survival never ends. I'm sure the quest for the Holy Grail of uncorrelated alpha spawned Bernie Madoff. Uncorrelated alpha, for those of us who can't afford financial consultants, means your rate of return adjusted for volatility doesn't follow the trajectory of a bear market, short or long term...[skipping ahead]

...Perhaps when Bernie traded for clients he felt it was too painful to report disappointing numbers. Rather, leverage and make back your losses. "Tomorrow is another day," said Scarlett. This is the modus operandi of rogue traders who fall behind in the battle for investment survival.

I'm pissed at Bernie. Not only had he competed unfairly with us legit money managers, but we've even lost a few clients to his steady rate of return's siren call.

He gives Jewish Wall Street a bad name, but I can live with that. Bernie knowingly destroyed scores of endowment funds whose future largesse is seriously impaired. That's unforgivable.

I include J. Ezra Merkin in this circle of evil. Merkin parked billions under his management with Bernie without disclosing this to clients. I'd like to know if Merkin got fees from Madoff for this gambit. And by the way, J. Ezra, why are you reaching out to an auditing firm in the Cayman Islands?...

The country needs all of 2009 to get its act together, a perfect setting for the next Bernie or J. Ezra Merkin to surface from the sewers under Broad and Wall. The refrain is dangerous: 10% compounded over seven years is a double. Dream of 15% returns? It doubles in less than five years. Pleasant dreams!

Bernie, who marketed himself as the ultimate white swan, molted into the blackest swan of all, bar none. Actually, this Bernie was a black sh-t bird. Let's hang Bernie up by his heels and encourage his marks to swat him with a baseball bat.

Kabbalah Does Not Save Marriage of Madonna and Guy Ritchie

Update: Even  the power of the Holy Kabbalah could not save Madonna's marriage.

Original post 7/6/08:

This is a perfect example of how the Kabbalah Center is helping to perfect the world through Tikkun Olam. by restoring the broken vessels and recovering the lost sparks. How lucky we are to have the great asset of the KC to make things right in this topsy turvy world for all of us poor simple folk... I guess.

RABBI HELPS MADONNA SAVE
MARRIAGE

Madonna and Guy are fighting for their future

By Mike Parker

MADONNA and Guy Ritchie have turned to a rabbi for counselling in an effort to save their marriage.

Rabbi Yehuda Berg is founder of the Los Angeles Kabbalah Centre, which practises the mystical offshoot of Judaism of which the singer is a devotee.

“He still believes they love one another,” a fellow worshipper said last night. “He believes they can work through their problems and feels that any resentments they are holding can be overcome in time.”

Madonna, 49, and film director Ritchie, 39, have both spent time with Rabbi Berg since Christmas. Madonna is said to phone him two or three times a day.

Ritchie, who embraced Madonna’s beliefs before their wedding at Skibo Castle in the Scottish Highlands in 2000, was rumoured to have become disillusioned with the doctrine.

But the follower said: “I know from Rabbi Berg and others that he is still firm in his faith.”

The rabbi has spoken of the devastating effect divorce would have on the couple’s children – their biological son Rocco, seven, adopted son David, two, and Lourdes, 11, Madonna’s daughter from her previous relationship with her personal trainer Carlos Leon.

“It might be considered to be old-fashioned these days,” said the Kabbalah devotee, “but their kids do come first and both Madonna and Guy are very worried about how they would react to them splitting up.

“The kids might just end up being the glue that holds them together, but both Madonna and Guy as well as Rabbi Berg are aware they have a lot of negative personal issues to resolve if they are to survive as a couple long-term.”

In an ironic twist, Madonna is helping to console a fellow celebrity whose wife has left him. Baseball star Alex Rodriguez has been a regular late-night visitor to her Manhattan flat.

He and Madonna, who share the same New York agent, both deny they are having an affair.

And the Sunday Express can reveal the truth about their relationship. Rodriguez, 32, is also a devout Kabbalist and has been seeking
spiritual advice from Madonna about his marriage problems.

His wife Cynthia, 34, left him just two months after the birth of their second daughter and was last week said to be in Paris with rock star Lenny Kravitz, 44.

A source said: “Madonna has become his shoulder to cry on at a time when it looks as if his own marriage has vanished down the pan completely.

As a fellow Kabbalist and a friend already, it was kind of logical he should turn to her.”

Meanwhile, Madonna and Ritchie, who flew into New York last weekend in an effort to patch up their differences, are said to be taking their own marriage crisis “one day at a time”.

A member of Madonna’s family said yesterday: “You’ve got to admire Guy for flying in and making it very obvious to everyone he does care and doesn’t want their marriage to end.

“We’re all hoping she sees it that way too.”

Forbes: Internet Guides to How to do Anything and Everything

Funny story...

The How-To-Do Anything Guide
Christopher Varmus

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; but teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime. It's a nice thought, like a catchy pop song, and by the stunning proliferation of "How-To" guides, it's a very, very overplayed one. Google the phrase "how to" and you'll be inundated with nearly 1 billion matches.

For as long as people have been teaching other people how to do things, there have been "How-To" guides. Since the time of the cavemen ("How Kill Mammoth," "How Make Fire"), these celebrations of self-sufficiency have run the gamut of topics, from carpentry and social etiquette, to stock picking and six-pack abs.

Indeed, "do-it-yourself" is in our culture's very DNA. In the 1930s, How to Win Friends and Influence People became the manual for success in the business world. Two decades later, Marilyn Monroe starred in the film How to Marry a Millionaire; in the '60s, "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" was the buzz of Broadway.

In Pictures: ndy Guides To The 10 Most-Searched 'How To' Topics

The trend isn't slowing. Visit a Barnes & Noble and you'll see a whole rack of standardized, laminated, fold-out "How-To" guides, courtesy of Quamut (owned by B&N), on everything from baseball to bond trading. Quamut's tag line: "The fastest, most convenient way to learn how to do almost anything." Wisdom's price: $6 per guide.

In Quamut land, every subject is given equal weight. Whether your life savings is riding on it or not, the guides are all the same length. (Then again, perhaps "disaster preparedness" and "getting a cat" are essentially the same--either way, it's good to have canned food around, and there may be damage to your furniture.) The guides are written in an anonymous, omniscient voice, giving them the sheen of authority.

But who are these experts really? And can they be trusted? Many of the guides don't bear an author's name; others tuck it in fine print on the back.

In the spirit of preserving the integrity of the educational process, we assembled some quick-and-dirty guides that aim to answer the top 10 most-searched "How To" queries in 2007 (according to Google), from how to kiss, to how to skateboard. (For information on the most-searched "What Is" and "Who Is" queries, check out Google Zeitgeist 2007. At No. 1: "What is love?"--To which we can only answer: "Baby, don't hurt me, no more.")

Some highlights:

The ninth most popular how-to query on Google in 2007 was "how to levitate." The method here depends on whether you actually want to learn to levitate, or just want to learn to appear to levitate, in order to score with women hotter than you deserve, a la David Blaine. Basic physics dictates that the first method is impossible without the use of heavy pharmaceutical aids, which is not encouraged. To do it the David Blaine way, all you need is a bit of training in how to distract people while creating an illusion. It’s a bit more sophisticated than saying, “Hey! Look over there!," but not that much more.

At No. 8 was "how to flirt." First, lower your standards. If you're not actually attracted to the person you’re flirting with, then you can’t fail. Next, be charming. Talk about your Porsche, beachfront bungalow and diversified portfolio of investments that remains remarkably unscathed by the current credit crisis. Make mention, too, of other recent amorous conquests--it will get your target's competitive juices flowing. Finally, get all of this done before your beer buzz wears off.

No. 5: "How to dance." Step 1: Get your back up off the wall. Step 2: Get into the groove. Step 3: Prove your love to a significant other. Step 4: Hope that the person does indeed love you now that you can dance. (Disclaimer: You better really want to get down because, take it from Kool & The Gang, "How you gonna do it if you really don't wanna dance?")

Sticking with the art theme, the second most popular query was "how to draw." Easy enough. First, acquire some sort of marking device: pen, pencil, charcoal or gouging stick. Next, make lines and curves and dots and dashes on the surface of your choosing: paper, canvas, sandy beach, dirt floor of rustic cabin, skin of exceptionally trusting loved one. Then, stand back and admire--or loathe, depending on your perception of self-worth at the time--your work. (Note: Stick to abstract drawing. Comparing your own renderings to real-life objects such as a bowl of fruit or a nude model will only enrage you.)

Number one on the list was "how to kiss." Not surprising--the world's full of bad kissers. But there is only so much you can teach.

Christopher Varmus is a freelance writer and part-time “manny” who lives in Gowanus Heights, Brooklyn. He realized while writing this article that not knowing how to do anything does not--and maybe even shouldn't--preclude anyone from writing a how-to guide.

In Pictures: ndy Guides To The 10 Most-Searched 'How To' Topics

Times: At Last Marc Ecko Donates Laser Starred Bonds 756 Ball to Hall of Fame

We congratulated our Teaneck neighbor and Ecko Exec Josh Rochlin on the successful conclusion of this chapter.

Mr. Ecko sells shirts so we didn't expect that he'd be a great diplomat. But the parties worked it out anyway and.... the ball goes to the hall.

Deal Struck as Hall Receives Home Run Ball Hit by Bonds
By JACK CURRY

After a day of disparate explanations from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and the man who owns Barry Bonds’s record-setting 756th home run ball, the controversial ball was driven to Cooperstown, N.Y., on Tuesday. It arrived around 7:45 p.m.

When discussions between Marc Ecko, the fashion designer who purchased the ball in an online auction for $752,467, stalled on Tuesday, the Hall issued a statement saying that Ecko had changed his mind about donating the ball, which he had marked with an asterisk.

“The owner’s previous commitment to unconditionally donate the baseball has changed to a loan,” the Hall said. “As a result, the Hall of Fame will not accept the baseball.”

But a few hours after the Hall’s statement, Ecko issued one of his own in which he said that he was “surprised” by the Hall’s stance. Ecko did not address whether he sought to adjust his donation to a loan and said that the “only open issue” was whether the Hall would be comfortable displaying the ball.

For the last nine months, the Hall has repeatedly said it would display the ball that Ecko intentionally defaced because it represents a memorable moment in history. Brad Horn, the Hall’s senior director for communications and education, said the museum planned to display the ball after it was received as an unconditional donation. And now that has happened.

“It’s being given as a donation,” said Laurie Baker, Ecko’s spokeswoman, who added that Ecko had always planned to donate it. “The ball is in a car.”

Baker said Ecko’s personal driver delivered the ball to Horn in Cooperstown. She said an asterisk was laser-cut into the ball above the Major League logo by a master engraver and that the ball was delivered in a specially designed glass case. The case includes the details of how Ecko decided to plant an asterisk on the ball.

After Ecko bought the ball, he held an online contest to determine its future. Voters had three choices: put an asterisk on the ball; leave it alone; or shoot it to the moon. The first two choices included the addendum that the ball would be donated to the Hall. Since Bonds has been suspected of using steroids to inflate his home run total, the notion of adding an asterisk was often mentioned.

Almost half of the 10 million votes said Ecko should affix an asterisk. In an interview last September, Ecko said the ball was “an artifact worth keeping at the Hall of Fame” and that he “always wanted” to see it there. Still, it took a stern, unexpected statement from the Hall to get the ball out of Ecko’s hands, into Ecko’s car and toward the museum.

“At this time, the ball is on route to the Hall of Fame,” Ecko said in his statement. “I hope that they will accept it and honor their commitment to display it at some point in time.”

Baker said Ecko’s desire was to ensure that fans “who helped put the ball into Cooperstown” would see it when they visited the museum. Although the ball is in a case, Baker says Ecko understands the Hall may remove it and display it as it sees fit.

Horn said that the museum was adamant about accepting donations instead of loans and that virtually all of the 35,000 artifacts were permanent. If the Hall needs an artifact to fill a void in an important story, it occasionally accepts loaned items. For example, Willie Mays loaned his glove from his over-the-shoulder catch of Vic Wertz’s fly ball in the 1954 World Series because the Hall did not have items from that Series.

Because Bonds donated his helmets from his 755th and 756th homers, Horn said Bonds’s story of surpassing Hank Aaron’s career home run mark was told without the record-setting ball. “That moment is represented,” Horn said.

Now it will be represented even more.

Video and the WP Blog On the Late George Carlin Ripping Apart Religious Doctrines

Claire Hoffman over at the Washington Post reminds us that George Carlin was a sacreligious comedian, especially skewering religion with his barbed humor.

God loves you - and he needs money!

George Carlin, Adherent of Frisbeetarianism

While it is sad that someone as hilarious as George Carlin is dead, it is a little fun to think about what his afterlife looks like on this fine June morning. Is it a place, as he once speculated, where Joe Pesci might rule with a baseball bat and fine acting skills?

Carlin was one of the great living satirists of religion and in particular what happens to us when we die. Carlin consistently called bullshit on religion, accusing organized belief systems of being the ultimate hustle/fairy tale? "When it comes to bullshit, big-time, major league bullshit, you have to stand in awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims, religion. No contest. No contest. Religion. Religion easily has the greatest bullshit story ever told," he said.

Carlin grew up Roman Catholic in Washington Heights and from early on seemed to delight in mocking religion -- even going so far as to invent his own religion -- Frisbeetarianism -- for a newspaper contest, which he defined as the belief that when a person dies "his soul gets flung onto a roof, and just stays there", and cannot be retrieved. Here's Carlin on religion, full form and full throttle.

R.I.P., or on a rooftop somewhere.

SF Gate: Brian Horwitz, the Giants' Rabbi

'Rabbi' wants to be known for his talent
Rusty Simmons, Chronicle Staff Writer

According to Baseball Almanac, Brian Horwitz is the 159th Jewish player to make the majors and is known by his teammates as "Rabbi."

Though he embraces mail he receives from Jewish fans and laughs about his nickname, the Giants' reserve outfielder wants to distinguish himself by more than his religion.

"Being Jewish is what makes me unique on this team," he said. "I understand it's rare, but I'm a baseball player who just happens to be Jewish. Hopefully, I'll eventually do something on the field that sets me apart."

Horwitz hasn't wasted any time making his name as a hitter, hitting two home runs in his first 13 major-league at-bats. Since being called up from Triple-A Fresno on May 30, he's 7-for-24 (.292).

In 425 minor-league games, Horwitz compiled a .319 average, winning batting titles in the Northwest League in 2004 and in the South Atlantic League in 2005. Baseball America dubbed him as the player with the best strike-zone discipline in the Giants' organization, so his immediate success hasn't surprised him.

"I know I can hit. I know if I get enough at-bats, if I get 100 at-bats, I'm going to put 30 hits out there," he said. "If I don't, I expect more of myself. I know what I've done, and I know what I can do. I know the pitchers are better, but it's still baseball."

Horwitz's confidence comes from a history of perseverance. He was the fourth outfielder in Fresno at the beginning of the season, and he went undrafted as a senior at Cal after turning down a contract with the A's after his junior season.

"The two days of the draft were probably the worst two days of my life," he said. "I've kind of been doubted my whole career, and that's fine with me. It's fuels the fire."

Horwitz's comments came in five-minute increments as he went into the cage for extra batting practice, then tracked down coach Roberto Kelly for outfield drills, then wanted to hit some more.

"From Day 1, he wanted to know what it would take to get to and stay in the big leagues," said Bobby Evans, the Giants' director of player personnel. "He wasn't satisfied with just advancing to the next level, and he won't be satisfied with just being here. He always wants more."

Reliever Alex Hinshaw, who played the better part of four minor-league seasons with Horwitz, saw that motivation from the beginning. He said Horwitz won't let him win in pool or cards.

"He's always got the highest goals set, and he won't stop," Hinshaw said. "If Brian Horwitz wants to be an All-Star, he'll be an All-Star. He won't let anyone tell him differently, and he won't let anyone get in his way."

The stigma about Jewish athletes was characterized in the movie "Airplane," which had this exchange:

"Would you like something to read?"

"Do you have anything light?"

"How about this leaflet, 'Famous Jewish Sports Legends.' "

Horwitz is the first Jewish player on the Giants since the 1995-96 tenure of pitcher Jose Bautista. In 1923, when the New York Giants tried to trump up publicity by advertising Mose Solomon as "That Rabbi of Swat," playing across town from Babe Ruth, "The Sultan of Swat."

Star Jewish players, like Sandy Koufax and Shawn Green, have remained few and far between, but last season was a banner year. Milwaukee's Ryan Braun was the National League Rookie of the Year, and Kevin Youkilis was a key component of Boston's World Series win.

"There are prejudices that run deep, but today, with the advent of international players, a great deal of that is gone," said Al Rosen, the Giants' former president and general manager. He recently was inducted into the Jewish Hall of Fame, and at 84, is up-to-date on the statistics of today's Jewish players. "There's no more bench-jockeying. There used to be some very nasty things coming out of the dugout. It's different now, and it should be."

Though Horwitz said he doesn't observe every aspect of Judaism and hasn't researched the history of Jewish players, he was struck by a documentary about Hank Greenberg. This year is the 75th anniversary of the Tigers' first baseman's rookie season, from which he became baseball's first great Jewish player.

"I had to be sitting in my hotel room at that exact time, had to turn to that channel at that exact time and they had to be playing that show at that exact time," Horwitz said. "Things happen for a reason, and things are really coming together for me right now.

"Stars are aligning. Things are happening. Opportunities are coming."

Times: Baseball Screams Diversity

Screaming diversity yes, but according to profiles. Notice that Jews are the owners in both cases, etc. on down the lines.

Sports of The Times
Measuring Success by Double-Sided Yardstick
...In New York, the Mets’ Jewish owner hired a Dominican general manager who hired an African-American manager. There is a similar model in Chicago, but with a twist: the White Sox’ Jewish owner hired an African-American general manager who hired a Venezuelan manager.

“It screams diversity,” Kenny Williams, the White Sox’ general manager, said Friday. “So when you walk through our doors, you have no choice but to understand the different cultures and aspects of what makes people people...”

NYT: Tenafly NJ is One Screwed up Town

Tenafly is our neighbor town, the one that sued to ban the Jewish Eruv, hardly visible wires that encircle part of the town.

When the NY Times singles out lots of people in your town out for acting absurdly, you really ought to consider intensive town therapy.

Or maybe they should stop putting the nasty pills in the town water supply.

[Picture on the right: Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times. Ricki Rosen, seated at right, at a Tenafly Lions Little League game. In 2006, she was slapped by another parent, who fought a resulting attendance ban.]

Tenafly Journal

Little League Mother’s Slap Still Stings in a New Jersey Town

By NATE SCHWEBER and MANNY FERNANDEZ

TENAFLY, N.J. — One June day at a baseball field in this leafy Bergen County borough, one Little League mom slapped another in the face.

The confrontation occurred after a practice near the end of the Tenafly Lions Little League’s 2006 season. Ellen Reichenberg slapped Ricki Rosen after what people in Tenafly and a lawyer for Mrs. Reichenberg describe as a “verbal altercation.” Several Little League parents said the dispute stemmed from the fact that Mrs. Reichenberg’s oldest son had not been selected for one of the league’s all-star teams.

Nearly two years later, the slap itself is no longer the talk of the town. These days, the talk in Tenafly concerns the punishment and its aftermath. The recent decision by the Little League’s board of directors to ban Mrs. Reichenberg from attending games for two weeks of its short season has embroiled the league and the Borough Council in a messy public controversy.

The Council threatened to revoke the league’s use of municipal fields and other benefits if it did not rescind the ban, a move that has angered parents and soured relations between the league and the Council in the kind of apple-pie place that holds an annual Little League parade to kick off Opening Day...

Times: Our Inalienable Right to the Separation of Baseball and Religion

Unless this trend of bringing more religion into the statium is reversed, stealing bases may be outlawed, a sacrifice may require killing a bird, and a save for pitching may be credited to Jesus.

On Baseball

Is a Night Devoted to Faith Really About the Money?

By MURRAY CHASS

Religious events tied to ball games raise questions about the need to create a separation of church and baseball.

Today Only - Billy Crystal - DH for the Yankees (Designated Hebrew)

That was his quip - Designated Hebrew...

A diamond Crystal: Comedian’s a hit on first day in pinstripes
By BEN WALKER, AP Baseball Writer

TAMPA, Fla. (AP)—Billy Crystal came prepared. Black maple bat in hand, the New York Yankees newcomer brought a well-worn glove with his name neatly stitched on the side, too.

The hitting and fielding part, the comedian felt confident about. It was the drug test that had him worried.

“I’m supposed to bring blood and urine to the umpire tomorrow,” he kidded Wednesday. “I might test positive for Maalox.”

Quite a 60th birthday present for the actor, director, Oscar host and lifelong Yankees fan: A chance to play in an exhibition game Thursday at Legends Field.

Crystal certainly looked the part during his day-before workout. He kept the jokes to a minimum, made contact on all 52 swings against batting practice pitcher Tino Martinez and kept up with Derek Jeter in jogging drills.

“He did fine,” Jeter said. “He did a good job.”

Crystal will become the latest celebrity to play in a spring training game, joining the likes of Garth Brooks, Tom Selleck and Bruce Hornsby.

Exactly what Crystal will do against Pittsburgh remains a mystery. He’ll get to swing, but it’s unclear if the former high school infielder will need his black Rawlings mitt.

Asked by a fan what position he’ll play, Crystal quipped: “DH—designated Hebrew.”

He did, however, have something special in mind for the Pirates. “A little Mazeroski payback,” he said.

Crystal was a 12-year-old growing up in New York when Bill Mazeroski hit the famous bottom-of-the-ninth homer that beat the Yankees in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series.

Crystal looked like a little boy again as he bantered with Reggie Jackson, hugged Jason Giambi and received his No. 60 jersey from manager Joe Girardi.

Spotting newly elected Hall of Famer Goose Gossage in the clubhouse, Crystal made a beeline to the reliever and offered congratulations.

While a few tradition-laden critics complained that Crystal’s appearance was a stunt that somehow offended baseball, Gossage said he had no problems.

“It doesn’t bother me,” the hard-throwing Goose said. “Of course, if I pitched to him, I’d flip him. I’d knock him down. And that would be the end of it.”

Martinez, prodded by Jeter, playfully tossed a pitch behind Crystal’s helmet during BP. Crystal was equal to the moment, walking toward the mound and pointing his bat.

Crystal ended the 90-minute session with his best swing of the afternoon. The righty lined what would’ve been a double down the left-field line, then lingered a few extra minutes talking with Triple-A hitting coach Butch Wynegar about mechanics.

“I was surprised. You could tell he’s been working at it,” Martinez said.

Crystal spent a lot of time practicing with Reggie Smith. The former star trained the actors to hit for “61*,” the HBO project that Crystal directed.

“Entertainment Tonight” and TV Guide cameras followed Crystal from the main field to a back diamond, and his wife, Janice, also shot her own video.

“He hasn’t been too nervous,” she said. “Naturally, when he steps in there and they’re throwing 90 mph fastballs, that’s a little different.”

Crystal was a favorite of former Yankees manager Joe Torre and became something of a pinstripe mascot, once keeping them loose by taking infield with them before a World Series game.

Crystal signed a one-day minor league contract when he arrived at Legends Field, met with Girardi and then walked directly to his locker. Yankees prospect Mark Melancon previously occupied the cubicle.

“It’s beyond belief,” Crystal said. “But I didn’t want to come in and step on anyone’s toes. People have to get ready for the season.”

Crystal was the third person in the clubhouse wearing No. 60. The number also belongs to special pitching instructor Rich Monteleone and young infielder Cody Ransom, who will switch to No. 67 for the Pirates game.

In the majors, players often give some sort of gift—maybe a Rolex—to someone who yields their number.

“We’re in negotiations,” Ransom said.

Commissioner Bud Selig approved this appearance and the Pirates sounded fine with Crystal’s guest shot.

“He’s been a big ambassador for baseball,” Pittsburgh manager John Russell said. “It’s a kid’s game at heart and he has loved it since he was a kid. I have no qualms about it whatsoever.”

Nor does lefty Paul Maholm, scheduled to start for the Pirates.

“It’s a no-win situation for me,” he said, smiling. “I’m supposed to get the guy out. If he gets a hit off me, though, I might to have hang ‘em up after the game.”

Times: Evangelical Baseball Chaplins Preach to Jewish Umpires

Now this is troubling. I never knew that Christianity was virtually imposed like this on major and minor league baseball players and umpires in the clubhouse.

No. A clubhouse should not be a chapel.

On Baseball
Should a Clubhouse Be a Chapel?
By MURRAY CHASS

The highlight of Josh Miller’s eight-year minor league umpiring career came last June, when he was the plate umpire in Roger Clemens’s final warm-up start before he resumed his major league career with the Yankees.

The lowlight of Miller’s career — besides being released at the end of last season, that is — was the discomfort he experienced throughout his career over participating in baseball chapel services every Sunday morning.

“From Day 1 it was uncomfortable,” Miller, 31, said. “I was in extended spring training, and on Sunday there was a knock on the door. I thought it was a joke. This guy was coming to preach to us in our little locker room. He had two little handouts that said Baseball Chapel and prayer of the week.”

Baseball Chapel, an evangelical group, has existed for 35 years and supplies Sunday morning chapel leaders to all major and minor league teams. “Our purpose is to glorify Jesus Christ!” its Web site, baseballchapel.org, proclaims.

“They preach to you,” Miller said in a telephone interview. “Some are more overbearing than others. At the end they ask if you have anything ‘you want me to pray for.’ The other guys would say ‘our families, safe travel.’ I’d say nothing. Then they would pray. It was very uncomfortable. They’d say Jesus this and Jesus that. At the end they’d say ‘in Jesus’ name.’ ”

•

In chapel services for the teams, players have the option of attending or not. Umpires may not realistically have that option.

“The players go to a separate room,” Miller said of the chapel services for the team. “For umpires, they always came to our room. They didn’t want to mix players with umpires even though they often mix the teams.”

The Sunday routine left Jewish umpires, like Miller, in a difficult position. With the umpires’ locker room as a setting for Christian prayer, they could not avoid it.

“Minor league locker rooms are small,” Miller said. “It’s not like I could hide.”

The chapel sessions, Miller added, intruded on pregame routines.

“We’d get there an hour before the game,” he related. “I always stretched and got mentally prepared. You have a guy coming in and preaching to you about something you don’t believe in, it throws you off mentally.”

Leaving the locker room was not an option for various reasons, Miller said.

“You don’t want to be rude to them because it might get back to somebody and it could affect your chances,” he said. Citing one umpire evaluator as an example, he added: “He’s a very religious guy, so I was really uncomfortable leaving. He’d ask, ‘Why are you leaving?’ I’d tell him I’m Jewish, and who knows what that would do. It was something I didn’t want to have to deal with.”

Even if he wanted to leave, Miller said, there was nowhere to go.

“In Columbus,” he said, “the locker room opens to fans. It’s not a good thing if I had blown a call the night before. Triple-A fans knew us. It was not a situation where you could walk around the stands.”

Anyway, he added: “Why should I have to leave the room? This was my office. I wanted to get prepared for the game.”

At times, Miller said, he would advise the chaplain he was Jewish.

“Half the time they’d forget and pray in Jesus’ name and pray to Jesus,” he recalled. “One time this guy found out I was Jewish, and he started talking about nonbelievers and looking at me.”

Vince Nauss, the head of Baseball Chapel, acknowledged that the circumstances Miller described were a problem he was trying to solve.

“It has come to our attention recently,” Nauss said, “and I wish our radar had been able to pick it up before. I’ve said we would take it up with our people and make sure they understand the dynamics of the umpires, that just because one umpire says yes doesn’t mean they all want to participate. I can empathize with someone who feels trapped. We’re trying to figure out what we can offer them.” At a Washington Nationals chapel service a couple of years ago, outfielder Ryan Church, who was concerned for his Jewish girlfriend, asked a chapel leader if Jews were doomed because they didn’t believe in Christ. According to newspaper articles that quoted Church about the incident, the chapel leader appeared to nod in reply.

After reading about that incident, Rabbi Ari Sunshine wrote to Commissioner Bud Selig questioning Baseball Chapel’s exclusive standing in baseball as the “sole Christian ministry granted access by Major League Baseball to all of its teams.”

Sunshine, then in Charlotte, N.C., now in Olney, Md., offered a series of ideas to change the system and make it more inclusive, and Selig replied that he shared “the concerns that you have raised, and I will take steps to ensure that much of what you have written is implemented into Major League Baseball.”

Selig, however, has taken no steps since that exchange of letters in September 2005.

“I have to leave that up to each team,” Selig said in an interview. “If players want to have that type of thing, they’re entitled to have them. I frankly think people are free to make that choice.”

But Jewish umpires in the minor leagues — there were four in Class AAA last season, three of whom have been released because they served the maximum amount of time in Class AAA (three years) or surpassed it with no prospect of a promotion to the majors — may not have a choice.

“Depending on your crew, how are they going to look at it?” said Miller, who umpired the last three seasons in the International League. “One umpire I worked with last year called me Jewie, and I said I wasn’t comfortable with it. It took a more senior guy to get him to stop.”

Randall Balmer, a professor of religion at Barnard College, said he understood the plight of Miller and others in his circumstances.

“I think there probably is a perceived coercive element in this movement in that if you’re not part of it you are somehow suspect,” Balmer said. “There’s this social obligation that very often is felt among a small group of cohorts, and in small quarters that makes it difficult.”

William Martin, a professor of the sociology of religion at Rice University, also saw potential problems for an umpire in Miller’s place. He agreed it could be difficult for an umpire to leave the locker room and subject himself to fans.

“I can recognize there might be resentment if calls were made the night before,” Martin said, adding that he also saw the potential for anti-Semitism “if it was known the Jewish umpire might be avoiding participating.”

“There could be some apprehension on the part of the umpire,” he said. “Nobody ought to be put in a position to feel awkward.”

Justin Klemm, the head of the Major League Baseball subsidiary that oversees minor league umpires and once a minor league umpire himself, said his group doesn’t get involved in baseball chapel services.

“That’s something that is provided as a service,” he said.

When he was an umpire, Klemm added, “I never felt forced to participate if I didn’t want to.” What did he do instead? Among other things, he said, “I rubbed up baseballs.”

Every Fall, The Biggest Problem in America is, What Should We Do About College Football?

Michael Lewis wrote a decent op-ed in the Times today called, "Serfs of the Turf." He bemoans the exploitation of college football players in the big money programs. Bottom line - he thinks they should be paid.

Every year we hear some opinions like this from the sportswriter side. From the professors of course we hear cries of a different sort. It sometimes sound like the teachers are saying, Let's do away with the anti-intellectual waste of time altogether.

I'm not so happy about the state of affairs in the college sport. But I cannot go along with the criticisms that I read because they are wrong. College football is not professional football. They are different enterprises entirely.

The major cognitive error of confusion of the two stems from the wonders of TV. TV has made college football look a very much like professional football. After a few beers, and because they look alike on the screen, pundits start to blur together the two enterprises. Gridiron. Oblate spheroidal ball. Eleven players. Coach. Ticket scalpers. Beer commercials. These must be the same sports events. College is Pro is college.

But of course not. It should not be and it never will be. For better or worse college football is entwined with the educational system of our country. Take that away and the colleges and universities will lose a big dimension. And the football played by the minor league non-university teams divorced from universities would fall from our consciousness into the shadows, much like minor league baseball. Let's not even think about it.

This is my long-winded way of saying that I disagree with Lewis because I see two distinct enterprises with different histories, purposes and values. Coaches may move from pro-football to college football. But players don't, and never will.

These sports will continue to look more and more alike to the distant viewers.

They are not the same sport. One is for amateurs and it is embedded in our educational non-profit structures. The other is for professionals and it is flourishing in our competitive profit making economy.

That Lewis does not recognize and respect this black and white distinction shows the overpowering influence of TV production. Or perhaps it indicates that Lewis is more than an avid viewer of the beer industry advertisements.

Anyhow. He is wrong. We ought not pay our amateur athletes.

To Orthodox Teaneck Mayor Elie Y. Katz: Please go get some political guidance from Joe Lieberman

Orthodox Teaneck Mayor Elie Y. Katz: Please go get some political guidance from Joe Lieberman. Cuz right now you are really screwing up.

Teaneck election spawns political fight
Sunday, August 5, 2007
By JOHN CHADWICK
STAFF WRITER

A wave of political unrest in Teaneck is pitting Orthodox Jewish township councilmen against other groups.

The disputes -- which focus mostly on last year's election and aren't overtly about religion -- have fueled stormy council meetings, angry Internet postings and letters to the local newspaper.

Some say the level of rancor reflects hidden community fissures that few want to discuss openly.

"When I heard the terminology of 'we' and 'they' and 'the Orthodox' -- we need to talk about it," veteran Councilwoman Jacqueline B. Kates said after a tumultuous council meeting June 26. "But I don't think we know how to talk about it without hurting each other."

Teaneck has long prided itself on diversity and tolerance. The township, which is 56 percent white and 29 percent African-American, was the first suburban community in the nation to voluntarily integrate its schools. During the past three decades, it has become one of the largest Orthodox Jewish enclaves in New Jersey.

The 2006 council election showed the Orthodox community's growing clout. Three Orthodox men and a fourth who attends an Orthodox synagogue won seats on the seven-member council.

The election was marred by the distribution of anonymous fliers that accused a slate of non-Orthodox candidates of anti-Semitism. The fliers were like a spark on tinder.

Critics are still pressing the four councilmen and the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office for answers.

"If there is anyone on this council that participated in the formulation, wording or distribution of that literature, you will be held accountable," Audra Jackson, who supported one of the targeted candidates, said at the council's July 25 meeting. "A trial is already begun in the court of public opinion."

Downplaying diversity

Other speakers said they fear that the councilmen don't appreciate Teaneck's diversity.

That impression was fueled at the June meeting when one of the new councilmen said he could find no mention of diversity in the U.S. Constitution or state and local laws. Adam Gussen then concluded that the council, when making board appointments, needn't apply a "litmus test of diversity that some in the community are looking for."

His statement drew widespread rebukes at the next meeting.

"Diversity is something in the hearts and souls of those who moved here," said Brenda Allen, who is African-American and has lived in Teaneck for 22 years. "And I just want to let you know that many of us are here for that reason."

The four councilmen, including Mayor Elie Y. Katz, dismiss the criticism as political sniping. One of the most outspoken critics, for example, is Ron Schwartz, who lost in the 2006 council race and whose coalition was the target of the mailings.

Katz said he and the other councilmen want to bring a new, economic-oriented agenda to town. He said the political old guard doesn't want change.

"I understand diversity," Katz said, noting that he was the top vote-getter and carried districts throughout the township. "But this is the same sour grapes by the same people."

The councilmen also say they're pigeonholed as an Orthodox Jewish bloc, even though they didn't all run together and sometimes disagree.

Katz, 33, Michael Kevie Feit, 33, and Elnatan Rudolph, 25, are Orthodox. Gussen, 34, attends an Orthodox synagogue, but grew up non-Orthodox, attending township public schools.

"There's this false perception of this lockstep, monolithic majority," Gussen said. "And the way to solidify that perception is by saying, 'Oh yes, they're all this one thing.' "

Kates said it's not their religion that's upsetting people, but their agenda, which includes promoting development more aggressively.

"It took many residents by surprise," she said.

Divided community

Orthodox Jews number about 1,500 to 2,000 families. And while many are highly active in community affairs, such as the ambulance corps, they also maintain separation. Their children generally don't attend public schools. Orthodox rabbis typically don't participate in the township's clergy association. And several Orthodox kids play Little League baseball in a town-run division that doesn't play on Saturdays.

There has been occasional friction.

Some Orthodox complain of a subtle, anti-Orthodox mentality. They were outraged by a recent newspaper article in which some residents expressed fear that Teaneck would become an all-Orthodox enclave.

"Try to imagine taking out 'Orthodox' and substituting some other demographic group," Feit said.

One particularly delicate issue is the public school system, where the white enrollment has declined during the past few decades.

"In Teaneck schools, you find a demographic that is very different from what you find on the average block," said Paul Ostrow, a former councilman. "And that's certainly attributable to our ethnic and religious diversity and the needs and wants those communities have for their children's future."

Incendiary fliers

Such tensions exist mostly under the surface. But the 2006 campaign fliers inflamed them.

The mailings, among other things, said that three candidates with the New Beginnings Coalition "align themselves with left-wing, anti-Semitic people" and want to stop building in the Orthodox community.

"Someone deliberately set out to play on the religious dimensions of the community, and it had a polarizing impact," said the Rev. Randall Day, an Episcopal priest active in community affairs. "They created fear in the Orthodox community and resentment in the larger community, which understands itself to be very open and accepting."

A community relations board condemned the fliers and asked the council to join it in the condemnation. But the four councilmen opposed the measure. Their position is, in short: Get over it.

"In hindsight, I probably should have voted for it," Katz recently said. "But we had just finished this heated election, and it seemed like now the same people who attacked us wanted us to approve this resolution."

Schwartz and former Township Attorney Martin Cramer, who also was attacked in the mailings, turned the fliers over to the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office. Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said an investigation into mail fraud -- some of the mailings used a phony post office box number -- yielded no charges and remains open.

Schwartz and Cramer are demanding a more robust investigation that would include taking sworn statements from several councilmen.

'Way to talk this out'

Ultimately, though, the township needs to promote healing, some say.

Feit said he recently reached out to the school board and to a rabbi of one of the township's largest non-Orthodox synagogues.

"The goal is to move forward, and we can't do that unless we trust each other and we can talk to each other," he said.

Kates said she thinks the township should consider creating a position to help foster better relations among its racial and religious groups.

"When a community is as diverse as we are, there is always the opportunity for us to stay in our own little groups," she said. "But I think there can be tensions right below the surface, and you need a way to talk this out before something becomes bigger."

Israel Baseball League's Opening Day

Israel Baseball's Opening Day: Modiin Crushes Petach Tikvah, 9-1