Baseball – what’s not to like? 

Since the 1860s, Jewish baseball players have taken the field to play the game fondly referred to as America’s Pastime – and through the years, Jewish fans have cheered from the stands. Nine of them, ranging in age from 12 to 82, step up to the plate here to discuss their affection for the game in general and the St. Louis Cardinals in particular.

Howard Sandler is the first up to bat. “I am a lifetime fan,”says Sandler, 73. “I even have a Cardinals yarmulke that I wear when the Redbirds are going through a losing streak.”

Sandler says though he rarely goes to games, he almost never misses one on television. “If it’s Shabbos or a High Holiday, I keep tabs on the Cardinals by checking the sports pages in the paper.” Sandler lives in University City and serves as gabbai at Nusach Hari B’nai Zion.

When he’s not watching baseball, he’s on the phone two or three times a week talking baseball with his grandsons in New Jersey. “The eight-year-old is a Mets fan and his 11-year-old brother is a Yankees fan,”says Sandler. “Can you imagine that?” 

No such division exists in one home in University City. Ben Shafner, 14, and his brother Yonah Shafner, 12, both are loyal Cardinals fans. Students at Block Yeshiva High School and the Epstein Hebrew Academy respectively, the boys are the sons of Rabbi Hyim Shafner and Sara Winkelman, the new director of Nishmah. 

Both boys have been passionate about Cardinals baseball for much of their lives – going to games, watching games and even playing the sport. According to his mom, “ball” was Ben’s first word, and the children have taught their parents the many joys of baseball.  

Ben started collecting baseball cards when he was 5. “Later, a friend and I came up with a game where we would learn all the stats on the cards,” says Ben. “By the time I was 11, I was into fantasy baseball on the computer. I still do that, but going to the ballpark is better, because it’s real.” Albert Pujols is Ben’s favorite player.

Yonah likes Cards outfielder Colby Rasmus and he collects “pretty much everything to do with baseball.” The boys’ sister, Hava, 9, also likes baseball, but Yonah notes, “She doesn’t really follow it.” 

Jennifer Rubin, 15, really follows baseball. “I went to my first game when I was six weeks old,” says Jennifer, a sophomore at Parkway Central High School. “You could say my dad brainwashed me.” That would be Phillip Rubin. Jennifer’s mom is Sarah Rubin. The family lives in Chesterfield. 

“I can name the whole Cardinals’ roster and tell you all about the players,” Jennifer says. “When I get older, I want a job like Jim Hayes on Fox Sports Midwest or Joe Buck on Fox Sports.” Jennifer has met Hayes, who gave her tips on pursuing her dream career. 

“I’ve also met a ton of players, and I’ve had conversations with Yadier Molina, Skip Shumaker and Colby Rasmus,” Jennifer says. “Baseball means everything to me.“

How much does baseball mean to Rabbi James Bennett of Congregation Shaare Emeth? “In 1984, when I was ordained, one of my criteria when I looked for a job was that I had to live in a city with a major league baseball team,” he says.

Bennett, 53, grew up in Boston and now lives in Creve Coeur. His father, a family practitioner, often treated Boston Red Sox players and their families at his home office, so Bennett got to visit the dugout at Fenway Park and he received many a signed baseball. 

“When my family moved to Kirksville, Mo., in 1964, we couldn’t get the Sox games, but we could pick up Cardinals games on KMOX radio,” Bennett recalls. “Today, I love the Cardinals and am a 100-percent fan — unless the Cards are playing the Red Sox. Then I root for both.”

Ben Senturia, 67, always roots for the Cardinals, but he isn’t so much interested in individual players. “I love the strategy of the game,” says Senturia, who lives in University City. “Baseball at its core is a lot like chess.”

Senturia, who retired two years ago as director of the Center for Active Citizenship and was named a Jewish Light Unsung Hero in 2010, explains: “The pitcher throws a round object toward a batter who is holding a round object. The batter is swinging at an object traveling 90 miles per hour. Both players have to have perfect timing.”

People watch baseball in different ways, of course. “When you’re engaged, it’s fun to think along with the batter, the pitcher, the other players and even the manager – to think about the psychology of why they do what they do,” says Senturia. “For me, that’s the fascinating part of the game.”

How long has Senturia been a Cardinals fan? “I have pictures of myself having birthday parties at Sportsman’s Park, when I was 11 or 12,” he says. 

Larry Friedman, 55, also remembers going to games at that ballpark, which was at Grand Boulevard and Dodier. It was torn down in 1966. 

“We used to pay people $2 to park on their front lawns,” says Friedman, a lawyer who lives in Olivette. “Once, I sat in the fourth row behind the dugout, where we were 20 yards from the players. They were like gods on Olympus — it was a magical moment.”

It’s different now, says Friedman, but still magical. “I go to games with my kids and my nephews, and I tell them baseball stories, the way my dad told me baseball stories.”

Jack Tepper, 82, a lifelong Cardinals fan, knows many a baseball story. “We used to listen to baseball on the radio, rooting for the St. Louis Browns and the Cardinals. We didn’t go to the games, because it was too expensive – maybe $5,” says Tepper, laughing. “But we kids were always talking baseball.” 

They also were always flipping baseball cards on street corners, playing one another to win more cards. Tepper, who lives in University City, still has some cards from those days, but he says they aren’t worth anything. “They are not in good condition, because we flipped them all the time.” 

Rounding out the team, Sandy Diamond flipped from being a White Sox fan to a Cubs fan to a Cardinals fan – but it is the game itself that captured her heart. “I grew up in Chicago, where I inherited my passion for baseball from my dad,” says Diamond, 63. “He got me a transistor radio with earplugs so I could keep tabs on World Series games while at services on High Holy Days.”

When she moved to St. Louis in 1969, she began transferring her loyalty to the Cardinals. “It was easy to switch allegiance. There is so much history here and so much enthusiasm for the game here,” says Diamond. “Besides, I look better in red than blue.” Diamond lives in University City. At the University of Missouri-St. Louis, she directs two programs that teach young people about citizenship. 

Diamond has played baseball and softball, and also coached. At one time, she attended every Cardinal home game, every year. Currently, she gets to between 20 and 40 games each season.

“Baseball is a way of life for me. It’s part of who I am,” she says. Plus, she has that baseball-related last name. “It’s my birth name, and I never wanted to change it. This way, I am married to baseball.”