Yom Kippur takes precedence, Yankees-Red Sox game rescheduled

Everybody's heard the story. Game One of the 1965 World Series. Los Angeles Dodgers versus Minnesota Twins. Dodger ace Sandy Koufax refuses to pitch because it was Yom Kippur. Don Drysdale starts instead. Drysdale allows seven runs in the first three innings. Dodger manager Walter Alston walks to the mound to pull Drysdale. Drysdale tells Alston, "I bet right now you wish I was Jewish, too."

The Twins won that game 8-2, but Koufax started Games Two, Five, and Seven, threw two complete game shutouts, and led the Dodgers to a world championship.

Except for one instance in 2001 when Shawn Green, another Dodger, refused to play a critical game against the San Francisco Giants to observe Yom Kippur, Koufax's decision is the last time Judaism has had an impact on baseball. (Side note, in Green's press conference where he announced his decision, he pronounced the  holiday  Yom Kipp-er, drawing criticism on why he wasn't playing on a holiday he couldn't even pronounce correctly.)

Now comes news that the starting time for Yankees-Red Sox game on on Sept. 27 has been moved up to avoid a conflict with Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur begins at sundown on the 27th. The game was originally scheduled for a 1 p.m. eastern start, but ESPN picked up the game for  nationally-televised Sunday Night Baseball, bumping the start time back to 8 p.m. Observant Jews who bought tickets would not be able to attend, as the game would start after sundown.

Upon pressure from a New York congressman, Major League Baseball and ESPN agreed to move the game back to the original 1 p.m. start, with ESPN still broadcasting it.

Another win for the Jews.

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