Ebbet’s Field

Monday June 16

by


After seeing the baseball game
at Ebbets Field, I went to
Harry Eisenkraft and sat
there until late in the night
conversing.

Ms. Eisenkraft was so kind
to give me a picture of Hymie
Eisencraft (Olam Haba) whom the whole
family has grown to love, because
of his love and kindness for
all, but the unavoidable death
robbed him from us at the
prime of his youth.

Five years after his death
I still find find myself under
the shock because of his early
death.

Blessed be his memory
Shalom [?]

Matt’s Notes

Not a bad day to be at Ebbet’s Field, where the Robins (a.k.a. Dodgers) beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-2.

I’m not sure who the beloved Hymie Eisencraft was, but Papa must have really felt strongly for him to honor him with the term “Olama Haba” (“I’ll see him in the afterlife”) that he has previously used only in relation to his recently-departed father.

Papa also concludes the entry with another Hebrew tribute, though it’s a bit hard to read. My Hebrew-reading wife, Stephanie, can tell it starts with the word “Shalom,” but the second word is harder to make out. Any ideas?

Update: My friend Inbar, a native Hebrew speaker, thinks this is Shalom Lefro, literally “Goodbye to his ashes.”
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Update 10/17/07 – I now have a photo of Hymie Eisenkraft:

This photo comes to me through the grandson of the above-mentioned Harry Eisenkraft, who read about this blog in the October 14th New York Times City section. Papa’s father was likely the brother of Harry’s mother, Sara, who spelled her last name Seuerman (making Papa and Harry cousins). Though Hymie fought in World War I, his untimely death did not come in the trenches; he was killed by an auto in Brooklyn on June 26, 1919, an ironic fate too good for the front page editors of the Brooklyn Eagle to pass up.

The woman Hymie appears with in the photo above is his sister-in-law, Jennie. She was married to Harry and appears with him in the photo below.

Harry had one other brother, Issac Mendel, who Papa mentions in his May 15th entry.

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Update 1/11/08

Here’s another picture of Hymie Eisenkraft in the form of a custom-made Rosh Hashanah card:

I’ve written a bit more about this card in a separate post.

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References for this post:

ROBINS BEAT RIXEY AND THE REDS, 5-2; Brooklyn Batters Rout Western Invaders With Four-Run Rally in the Eighth. The New York Times, June 17, 1924.

Image Source: Outside Ebbet’s Field, 1920. Library of Congress # LC-B2- 5311-1 .

Sunday Aug 10

by


Baseball game with friend
Julius just a poor way of
killing a beautiful day.

———-

I’m not sure of a better way to spend a beautiful day than at a baseball game with your good friend Julius, but Papa had been to a lot of games lately. More importantly, this entry is in keeping with a recently-emerged theme in Papa’s diary in which he describes his disappointment with his life through expressions of boredom, monotony, and stasis. Another day at the ball park is another day without significant change.

I would also wager he had a particularly “poor” day because he saw the Giants lose a double-header to the Reds, 4-2 and 5-1, at the Polo Grounds. At least, I assume Papa saw the Giants game — the Yankees were out of town and the Robins, a.k.a. Dodgers, took a double header from the Cardinals, 6-5 and 8-4, and I figure Papa couldn’t have seen their performance at Ebbets Field and felt his day was a total loss.

Then again, those of us so inclined know that when you tap a vein of dissatisfaction, it’s often difficult to keep away from it no matter where you are (ask my wife about my recent behavior on the pristine, perfect beaches of Tulum — I brought the cliche of the unrelaxable New Yorker to a new, glorious standard) but Papa’s eventual victory over the demons of stasis and his creation of a a new, ever-changing life remains an example of a lode worth digging for.