A Rabbi's Advice for Shawn Green

Los Angeles Dodger slugger Shawn Green, baseball's best-known Jewish player, has made a controversial decision to sit out Saturday night's game against the San Francisco Giants in observance of Yom Kippur, when just two losses to the Giants, and a good weekend for the Chicago Cubs, could push Green's Dodgers out of the playoffs. As a compromise, Green has decided to play one game, Friday's.

Before I can tell you why Shawn Green should not play at all, I have to tell you about Leroy Kelley. Leroy Kelley was an outstanding running back for the Cleveland Browns. He is deservedly in the NFL Hall of Fame, and if he is not widely remembered today, it's likely only because he replaced a running back of legendary status, the great Jim Brown. But for me, Leroy Kelley was greater than almost any athlete in the world.

In grade school I was obsessed by sports. Like many young men, I pasted pictures of my favorite players on my wall--in those primitive days, they were pages ripped from sports magazines and affixed with Scotch tape. I wrote away for autographed pictures from the teams and got scores in return. Most had simple signatures. Some carried gnomic utterances, such as Roman Gabriel's picture, which read, "Always 110%, Roman Gabriel" which was either an exhortation to effort or an astonishing egotism.

Only one of my heroes wrote a letter worth reading, Leroy Kelley, number 44. It was not fancy--a mimeograph on yellow paper. It said that, as happy as he was to provide the autograph, I should remember that football was not as important as studying and making something of oneself. Here was a player preaching values beyond football. I never forgot it.

It is hard not to feel sorry for Shawn Green as he contemplates whether or not to play on Yom Kippur. His personal decision has been made awesome by the intense public focus it has attracted. We sports fans have read a lot of blather about his obligation to his team, his promise to be part of the sport, and the amount of money he is being payed. Our society is not one that might educate him about his decision. As much as I appreciate his position, however, I regret that he did not say no.

"Of course not!" should have been his first, final, and simple answer. "There are values above baseball, above money, above work. What self-respecting Jew would play on Yom Kippur?"

Oh, what he might have done with that simple declaration.

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