Today is 38 days, which is three days and five weeks of the omer: tiferet she’b’yesod. What’s that you say? First baseman Bill Buckner didn’t wear #38? In fact he did, in 1969, his first year with the Dodgers. And since Buckner wore five different numbers over his 22 year career; and since for a good while no one was interested in his #6 Boston jersey; … Continue reading day 38: billy buck
Today is 33 days, which is five days and four weeks of the omer: hod she’b’hod. Today is known as Lag Ba’Omer, an acronym of the Hebrew letters that add up to 33, lamed and gimmel (לַ״ג). The day has a couple of associations relevant to this project. The first is that it is understood as the yahrzeit of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, the purported (though not) author … Continue reading day 33: steady eddie
Today is 17 days, which is two weeks and three days of the omer: tiferet she’b’tiferet. Like yesterday’s pick, today’s played both college football and college baseball. But don’t worry: There’s no college football digression today (though there is a digression of another nature), mostly because his tenure wasn’t that memorable and because he played for the other “UT”. But his professional baseball career, 17 … Continue reading day 17: the toddfather
Today is 14 days, which is two weeks of the omer: malchut she’big’vurah. My preferences in ballplayers come together today in an athlete who is both a native Texan and a career-long member of one team: Chicago Cubs infielder Ernie Banks grew up in Dallas and came to baseball in the last days of the Negro Leagues, where he was discovered by the Kansas City Monarchs, … Continue reading day 14: mr. sunshine
Today is 11 days, which is one week and four days of the omer: netzach she’big’vurah. I will always have a soft spot for Ryan Zimmerman because he and the Nationals and I all arrived in D.C. at the same time, in 2005. For many years, I split Nationals season tickets with several friends, and I regularly cheered for the home team — except of course when … Continue reading day 11: mr. national
Today is five days of the omer: hod she’b’hesed. I almost did Albert Pujols today, despite the fact that he tortured the Astros for years as a Cardinal — and is apparently still able to at almost 40, as recently as last year as an Angel. I do have one fond association with him, however: My grandmother, notorious for mispronouncing words, always said his name … Continue reading day 5: the hebrew hammer
Omertime 