JGA July-August 09 - The Jewish Georgian

Page 38 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN July-August 2009
Schwartz on Sports
A
BY Jerry
Schwartz
few months ago, I ran into Bruce
Weinstein at the MJCCA, and he
updated me on one of my “Where
Are They Now?” guys. Arnie Fielkow
played in the Men’s Basketball League in
the ‘90s and was a terrific player. He even
tried out and made the United States basketball
team that played in the World
Maccabiah Games in Israel.
During the time Arnie lived in Atlanta,
he was commissioner of the Southern
Baseball Association. Bruce told me that,
when they fined players, the money was
given to charities, and Arnie determined
which ones. He designated a lot of that fine
money to the Marcus Jewish Community
Center of Atlanta. Bruce, at that time, was
chairman of the MJCCA’s Health,
Recreation, and Wellness Department,
which benefited from those donations.
I lost contact with Arnie when he left
Atlanta, so I asked Bruce to fill me in.
Arnie, who is a lawyer, moved to New
Orleans in the late ‘90s and took a job as a
high-level administrator with the New
Orleans Saints. When Katrina hit, the Saints
were playing out of town, and the organiza-
tion had to decide whether they were going
to return to New Orleans to play. The owner
of the Saints did not want them to return,
and Arnie did.
As a consequence of their disagreement,
Arnie lost his job. But public opinion
was on Arnie’s side, and he became a hero
in New Orleans for the position he took. As
a result, he decided to run for public office,
for president of the New Orleans City
Council, in 2006. Bruce’s daughter, Brook
Weinstein Berger, who went to law school
in New Orleans and lived near Arnie,
worked on his campaign.
Even though Arnie was running against
an incumbent who was heavily favored, he
won a very close election. So, if you know
Arnie and go to New Orleans, he probably
won’t be able to get you Saints’ tickets, but
he might arrange a tour of City Hall.
While talking with Bruce, I told him
that I wrote a column in December of 2008
about sports memorabilia and had interviewed
Dean Zindler, who owns Zindler’s
Sports Collectibles. I was also aware that
Bruce had an extensive collection of baseball
cards that he had collected in his youth,
and I thought it would be interesting to follow
up on that.
Bruce grew up in Birmingham and
started collecting baseball cards when he
was about ten. From the period of 1956-
1962, he collected a card for every major
league baseball player. He was one kid
whose mother did not throw away his col-
Bruce Weinstein and his priceless possessions
lection, which remains intact today. He was
adamant when he told me he would never
sell his cards. His favorite is Mickey
Mantle’s rookie year. No telling how much
that would be worth today.
Bruce keeps his cards in large, plasticcovered
albums. Friends often ask if they
can bring their kids over to see the collection.
When they get there, the kids usually
end up watching TV, and it’s the fathers
who spend time going through the cards.
Bruce also told me that, when he
moved to Atlanta in 1971, he started collecting
autographed baseballs and now has
approximately 100. He was most interested
in getting Hall of Famers and has attended
the Hall of Fame Induction ceremony the
last two years in Cooperstown, New York.
He has autographed baseballs from Joe
DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Pete Rose,
Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra,
and Don Larsen.
Of course, I asked Bruce about Hank
Aaron, and he said he had an autographed
ball from him, too. Bruce was at the game
when Hank hit homer number 715 to pass
Babe Ruth as the home-run king. He has a
certificate proving he was there. He even
went back to an Old Timers Game to get a
ball signed by Al Downing, the Dodger
pitcher who gave up home run 715 to
Aaron.
Bruce is a longtime Braves season ticket
holder. Now, he needs to be certain to get
autographed balls from Gregg Maddux,
Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, and Chipper
Jones, because they’ll all be in the Hall of
Fame one day.
ALTA COCKER SOFTBALL GAME #2. I
heard from Gene Benator that the second
annual Alta Cocker Softball Game is scheduled
for June 28 at the Marcus Jewish
Community Center of Atlanta (MJCCA).
Once again, Marcus Katz has graciously
offered to provide the refreshments for
players, family, and friends.
Gene is determined to have an even
bigger tournament than last year, as evidence
by his initial e-mail, sent out to about
60 guys encouraging them to recruit other
guys who played in the Men’s Softball
League from 1971 to 1992. Last year, the
guys were divided into 4- to 15-man teams,
and we played 2- to 3-inning games.
This year, Gene has planned for more
guys and even greater athletic ability to be
showcased. He joked that they had planned
a Home Run Derby Contest, but the
MJCCA said they didn’t have enough time
to set up the “Kid Pitch” fences. He also
wanted to have a “jugs gun”—a radar gun
that measures the speed of the pitch—but
the gun didn’t register in the teens.
I told Gene that I would be at the game
this year solely as a reporter, rather than a
participant. I survived last year’s game with
only a torn pair of blue jeans, managed to
field most of the grounders hit my way at
shortstop, and got the ball to first base without
any bounces. I also was able to hit the
modified pitch every time up, even though I
didn’t get the ball out of the infield. I am
going to leave the game to the guys who are
still actually playing, but I look forward to
seeing everyone again, and I’ll cover it in
the next “Schwartz on Sports.”
REMEMBRANCE. I was saddened to hear
that Larry Wolfe had died. He was probably
the best catcher who ever played in the
Men’s Softball League. Larry was a fiery
competitor who had all the qualities of a
great player. He could hit for power and
run, and he had a great arm. I had the opportunity
to play against him in many Center
League and City League games.