Mamdani Encourages & Excuses Anti-Semitic Hooligans Outside Park East Synagogue

This past Tuesday, outside the Park East Synagogue on the Upper East Side, anti-Semitic hooligans who assaulted and injured two members of the NYPD while carrying Hezbollah flags chanting, "We don't want no two states, we want all of it.!" 

Much as he did last November when a mob gathered outside the same synagogue, Mamdani said nothing about the violence and instead cast the blame on Jews peacefully attending shul claiming the event was an "ongoing effort to displace Palestinians from their homes.”

In point of the fact, there was an informational event at the Park East Synagogue about moving to Israel. Given the low regard Mamdani has for Jews in New York City, you would think he would be happy about the prospect of a Jewish Exodus from the city. Perhaps Mamdani doesn't want Jews to live anywhere at all.

The Mayor's words will only encourage more of these sorts of actions against other synagogues in New York City. In which case, it is only a matter of time before these rioters will overpower police, breach the barriers and kill Jews inside our houses of worship. As I have previously stated, I truly fear that there will be an October 7th-style attack against Jews in New York City before the end of the decade.

Bobby Cox Was a Pivotal Figure For Both The Braves & Blue Jays

 

Bobby Cox, best known for his lengthy tenure as manager of the Atlanta Braves, passed away today at the age of 84. 

Cox had been in poor health since suffering a major stroke in 2019 following the Braves home opener. His passing comes only 3 days after that of former Atlanta Braves owner Ted Turner with whom he worked closely.

Born in Oklahoma and raised in California's San Joaquin Valley, Cox signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1959. He would toil in the minor leagues as an infielder for nearly a decade with the Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Atlanta Braves and the New York Yankees before he reached the majors with the Bronx Bombers in 1968 where he played parts of two seasons. 

Cox would remain with the Yankees as a minor league manager from 1971 to 1976 leading the Syracuse Chiefs to an International League championship. He would be back in Yankee pinstripes in 1977 earning his first World Series ring as Billy Martin's first base coach.

His tenure with the Braves would begin in 1978 when Ted Turner hired him to be the team manager. At the time, Cox was 36 and was the youngest manager in all of MLB. His first tenure in Atlanta saw limited success. The Braves would finish in last place in the NL West in 1978 and 1979 as they had in 1976 and 1977 under his predecessor Dave Bristol (and Ted Turner for a single game). 

In 1980, Cox would guide the Braves to their first winning record since 1974 but would take a step back during the strike-shortened 1981 season. After Turner dismissed Cox in favor of Joe Torre (who in 1982 would lead the Braves to their first NL West title since 1969), Cox would take over the managerial reins of the Toronto Blue Jays.

While Cox is nearly synonymous with the Braves, he is also pivotal figure in Blue Jays history. During his four seasons in Toronto, Cox turned the team from a perpetual cellar dweller into a potent force in the AL with an outfield which consisted of George Bell, Lloyd Moseby and Jesse Barfield. Cox would lead the Jays to their first post-season appearance in franchise history when they won the AL East in 1985. Although the Jays would fall short in the ALCS against the eventual World Series champion Kansas City Royals after leading the series 3-1, Cox would win AL Manager of the Year.

Based on his success in Toronto, Turner would give Cox a second chance and bring him back into the fold in the 1986, this time as the team's GM. The Braves' struggles would continue as the team would finish in the last in the NL West for four of the next five seasons. Amid these struggles, Cox would acquire the likes of Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Steve Avery, Ron Gant and David Justice while drafting Chipper Jones. During the 1990 season, Cox would return to the Braves dugout serving as both manager and GM.

In 1991, the Braves would go from worst to first winning the first of 14 consecutive divisional titles - 2 in the NL West and a dozen more after moving to the NL East where they should have been all along. During the 1990s, Cox would lead the Braves to 5 NL pennants - 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996 & 1999. Alas, the Braves would prevail only in the 1995 World Series against the Cleveland Indians. Cox would become a three-time NL Manager of the Year in 1991 as well as in 2004 & 2005. Of further note, his 158 ejections are the most of any skipper in MLB history.

Cox would retire following the 2010 season. Beginning his managerial career as the youngest manager in MLB, he would end it as the oldest. His 2504 wins as a manager is 4th on MLB's all-time list. Only John McGraw (2763), Tony La Russa (2884) and Connie Mack (3731). Cox would be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014 along with fellow managers La Russa and Torre as well as Braves pitchers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine along with slugger Frank Thomas.

Bobby Cox managed his way through baseball and through life. R.I.P.

Cubs Win 10 in a Row -- For The Second Time This Season & We're Barely Into May

The Chicago Cubs have done it again!!!

For the second time in the 2026 season, the Cubs have won 10 games in a row following a 7-1 victory over the Texas Rangers on Friday evening.

Following a 7-9 start, the Cubs won 10 in a row between April 14th thru 24th. Six of those victories came against the Philadelphia Phillies who ended up losing 10 in a row before firing manager Rob Thomson in favor of Don Mattingly. As an aside, the Phillies have won 8 of 11 games since Mattingly took over the reins of the club.

From there, the Cubs would lose 3 games in a row (twice to the defending back-to-back World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers and once to the San Diego Padres) before embarking on their latest double-digit win streak. Four of those victories came at the expense of the Cincinnati Reds who are now on an 8-game losing streak of their own. The Reds are winless in the month of May and have gone from first to worst in the NL Central. To add insult to injury, three of the four Cub wins against the Reds were walk-off victories.

At 27-12, the Cubs own the best record in MLB having won 20 of their last 23 games with a 3½ game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central. They have an 18-5 record at Wrigley Field with 15 consecutive wins at home.

All things come to an end. The Cubs will eventually lose a game or two. 

But don't be surprised if Craig Counsell's crew puts together another 10-game winning streak. 

After all, things do come in threes.

Why The U.K. Greens Make Me See Red

 

Despite the rise of anti-Semitism in the United States, I shudder to think what my life might would be like if I were living in the U.K.

The worst offenders are the U.K. Green Party. They make me see red.

It begins with their leader Zack Polanski, who is Jewish. The fact that Polanski would criticize the police response to the Golders Green attacker without mentioning the fact that he attacked Jews represents the ultimate betrayal. Polanski's deputy, Rachel Millward, is little better sharing a post which not only did not condemn the attack but minimized anti-Semitism as a factor in the attack. 

I would dare say that being anti-Semite is a prerequisite to be a Green Party candidate in the U.K.

In a social media post, Tina Ion called for the murder of all Zionists describing them as "rats" and "vermin."

Another Green candidate Sabine Mairey stated the March terrorist attack outside of Detroit was not "anti-Semitism" but was "revenge" for Israel "murdering people."  By this logic, one could justify an attack on a Buddhist Temple as an act of vengeance against the Chinese government for its genocide of Uyghur Muslims. 

Green candidate Raja Ateeq referred to Jews as "cockroaches" while yet another Green candidate Ifhat Shaheen openly praises Hamas for October 7th. Then there's Chandi Chopra who denies Hamas raped hostages.

People in the U.K. who hate Jews seem quite comfortable with associating with the Green Party, running under its banner and sharing these noxious views.

Yesterday, the Greens made gains in U.K. local elections at the expense of the Labour Party including the election of Zoe Garbett as the new mayor of Hackney. Alas, Hackney includes Golders Green and Garbett saw that a letter praising authorities for the arrest of the Golders Green attacker was blocked.

Perhaps even more chilling is the thought that voters in Hackney elected her because she would not praise the authorities for arresting a terrorist and because she accuses Israel of genocide as casually as she breathes.

This is a consequence of the rise of anti-Semitism in the U.K. The Green Party has tapped into it and is now making electoral gains because of it. All of which means life is going to get worse for British Jews for the foreseeable future.

Ted Turner Understood The Difference Between Israelis & Palestinians....Even if Belatedly

Following the passing of Ted Turner yesterday, I wrote a post about the day he spent as manager of the Atlanta Braves in 1977.

Today, I would like to give some thoughts on some remarks he made in 2002 about the Israelis and the Palestinians followed by his reconsideration of those remarks.

In an interview with The Guardian in June of that year, Turner had this to say:

Aren't the Israelis and the Palestinians both terrorising each other?"

The Palestinians are fighting with human suicide bombers, that's all they have. The Israelis ... they've got one of the most powerful military machines in the world. The Palestinians have nothing. So who are the terrorists? I would make a case that both sides are involved in terrorism.

Given that Turner made these remarks less than a year after the September 11th attacks they didn't go down well. Indeed, Turner took some heat in February 2002 when, while speaking to students at Brown University, he called the 9/11 hijackers "brave" Turner was chided for these remarks regarding Israelis and Palestinians as he made them the same day 19 Israelis were killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber aboard a bus in Jerusalem. Upon further consideration, Turner provided some sober second thought:

I regret any implication that believe the actions taken by Israel to protect its people are equal to terrorism. In that interview I condemned that violence on whatever side it may come. But I want to make it absolutely clear that my view was, and is, that there is a fundamental distinction between the acts of the Israeli government and the Palestinians. I believe the Israeli government has used excessive force to defend itself, but that is not the same as intentionally targeting and killing civilians with suicide bombers.

This is a nuanced view. Turner still maintained the Israeli government was using excessive force against the Palestinians. Yet Turner also recognized the difference between governmental excess and the actions of Palestinians who deliberately and wantonly murdered Jewish civilians and were rewarded for their actions by the Palestinian Authority. Turner's understanding might have come belatedly, but he did come to an understanding.

Nearly a quarter century has passed, and these facts have not changed. The Palestinians deliberately kill Jewish civilians and are rewarded for it by their government while the Israeli government defends its populace. But what has changed is our collective common sense over the matter. 

Had Turner made this statement in 2026, he would have been lauded for it by a significant segment of the Democratic Party as well as elements of MAGA (i.e. Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Candace Owens). Any attempt to provide sober second thought would be perceived as 'bending the knee to the Zionists.' For Democrats, accusing Israel of committing "genocide" is fast becoming a litmus test while turning a blind eye to the acts of Hamas, Hezbollah and their sponsors including Iran. 

What makes matters worse is the proliferation of anti-Semitic violence in Australia, Canada, the U.S. and particularly in the U.K. where the Green Party is openly siding with the perpetrators. 

And it will only get worse before it gets better. Ted Turner has left this world while those of us who remain must deal with the malevolence of anti-Semitism but those who excuse, justify and rationalize it. R.I.P.

When Ted Turner Was Manager of The Atlanta Braves For a Day

(AP Photo)

Ted Turner, best known for establishing CNN & changing the way the world watches news, passed away today at the age of 87.

Yet when I think of Turner, I think of sports - the Americas' Cup, World Championship Wrestling, the Atlanta Hawks and, especially, the Atlanta Braves.

Turner purchased the Braves in 1976 as a means to place programming on his TV station, WTBS. In the early days of Turner's ownership, there wasn't much worth watching.

In 1977, mired in a 16-game losing streak, Turner decided to place manager Dave Bristol on "a 10-day scouting trip" and appointed himself manager of the club. 

Turner thought there was nothing to managing a ballclub claiming, "Managing isn't that difficult; you just have to score more runs than the other guy."

Well, runs proved hard to come by on May 11, 1977 (almost 49 years to the day) when Turner suited up to manage the team against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium. Turner did have future Hall of Famer Phil Niekro on the mound. The knuckleballer gave up only 2 runs over 8 innings pitched. However, one of those runs was a HR by Dave Parker, another future Hall of Famer.

However, John Candelaria pitched better. The Candy Man gave up a single run over 8.2 innings pitched before future Hall of Famer Goose Gossage got the final out. This was Candelaria's career year when he won a career high 20 games and led the NL with a 2.34 ERA. The only run the Braves managed to get off the Candy Man was a RBI single by Barry Bonnell in the top of the 2nd inning. The Braves lost 2-1 and extended their losing streak to 17 games.

National League President Chub Feeney issued an edict against Turner continuing to manage due to a rule not allowing persons with a financial stake in their clubs to work in an on-field capacity. Turner appealed to MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, but to no avail. Turner was livid:

They must have put that rule in yesterday. If I'm smart enough to save $11 million to buy the team, I ought to be smart enough to manage it.

Of course, Connie Mack owned the Philadelphia A's for more than half a century and managed the team sporting a suit and a tie leading his club to five World Series titles. However, before becoming an owner Mack also played in major leagues for a decade during the 1880s and 1890s as a catcher.

Simply put, Ted Turner was no Connie Mack. 

The Braves would snap their 17-game losing streak the following night under interim manager Vern Benson besting the Bucs 6-1 with 3 RBI from Braves starting pitcher Max León. Ironically, Benson had played for Connie Mack as a member of the A's in both 1943 and 1946.

Bristol would return to the club, and the Braves would lose 100 plus games for the first time since 1935. Turner would fire Bristol after the season and replace him with Bobby Cox. However, it wasn't until the second time that Turner hired Cox that things started to turn in the Braves favor. Perhaps not coincidentally, it was around the time Turner decided to let baseball people run the Atlanta Braves. 

After the Braves won the World Series in 1995, Turner stated, "For the 10 years I ran [the team], it was a disaster.... As I relinquished control of the Braves and gave somebody else the responsibility, it did well."

At least Ted Turner learned from his mistakes. Some people never do. R.I.P.

With Bob Skinner's Passing, Vernon Law is The Last Surviving Member of the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates

Former MLB player, coach, manager & scout Bob Skinner passed away yesterday at the age of 94.

With his passing, Vernon Law is now the last surviving member of the 1960 World Series champion Pirates. Law turned 96 in March. 

Skinner is the third member of the 1960 Bucs to die this year with both Elroy Face and Bill Mazeroski passing away in February. 

Born and raised in and around San Diego, Skinner signed with the Pirates in 1951. He would miss the next two seasons due to military service before making his MLB debut in the 1954 season joining a Pirates club that would endure its third consecutive 100 plus loss season. Skinner would spend all of 1955 back in the minor leagues.

Splitting his time between the outfield and first base, it took a while before Skinner learned how to hit big league pitching. But the Bucs' patience paid off as he would hit .305 in 1957 following by a career best .321 in 1958 with his first NL All-Star Team selection. That .321 average was good enough for 5th in the NL that season ahead of future Hall of Famers Ernie Banks and Orlando Cepeda and behind future Hall of Famers Hank Aaron, Stan Musial, Willie Mays and Richie Ashburn, who would his second NL batting title.

The pinnacle of his career came in 1960 when Skinner drove in a career high 86 runs earning two NL All-Star Team selections while earning his first World Series ring as the Bucs upset the heavily favored New York Yankees. Alas, Skinner's contributions were limited. Although Skinner did have an RBI single in the first inning of Game 1, he would injure his thumb sliding into third base and was then subsequently hit by a pitch and was replaced by Gino Cimoli. Skinner would return during the climatic Game 7. 

Skinner would regress during the 1961 season see his RBI cut by more than half (86 to 42) while hitting only 3 HR as compared to the 15 HR he hit during the glorious 1960 season. In 1962, Skinner would rebound hitting .302 while belting a career best 20 HR along with 75 RBI. 

In May 1963, Skinner's tenure as a Pirates player came to an end when he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for outfielder and pinch-hitting specialist Jerry Lynch. Ironically, Lynch began his big-league career with the Bucs and was teammates with Skinner in 1954 & 1956. 

While with the Reds, Skinner was relegated to the bench. In June 1964, the Reds sent Skinner to the St. Louis Cardinals for a minor leaguer and cash. While Skinner continued to ride the pine with the Redbirds, his stay in St. Louis was considerably more pleasant as he would earn yet another World Series ring and another 7-game triumph over the Yankees. Used mainly as a pinch hitter, Skinner would get an RBI single off Yankees reliever Steve Hamilton in the 9th inning of Game 6 in an 8-3 Yankees win. Skinner would share in his World Series glory with Dick Groat who was his teammate with the 1960 Pirates as well as the NL MVP.

After two more seasons in St. Louis, Skinner ended his playing career. In 1381 regular season games over 12 seasons, Skinner collected 1198 hits for a lifetime batting average of .277 with 103 HR and 531 RBI. 

In 1967, Skinner returned to his hometown of San Diego to manage the San Diego Padres who were at this this time part of the Pacific Coast League as the Triple-AAA affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. Skinner would lead the Padres to the PCL championship. 

In June 1968, Skinner would replace Gene Mauch as manager of the Phillies. Unfortunately, Skinner did not replicate his success in San Diego and would resign in August 1969. Aside from managing a single game for the Padres during the 1977 season after the team fired John McNamara and before hiring Alvin Dark, Skinner would not manage another big-league game.

In 1970, Skinner joined the coaching staff of the Padres who were by this time a big-league club. After serving two seasons as the team's hitting and third base coach, he would concentrate exclusively on batting instruction from 1972 to 1973. 

In 1974, Skinner would reunite with the Pirates as their hitting coach where he would spend the next three seasons. Skinner would join the Bucs in the post-season in 1974, but they would fall short to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS. In 1977, Skinner returned to the Padres for his second stint as hitting coach before performing the same duties with the California Angels in 1978. Skinner returned to the Pirates for the third time in 1979 where he would serve as hitting coach for the next seven seasons. In his inaugural year with the Bucs, Skinner would earn his third World Series ring as part of the "We Are Fam-a-Lee" Pirates.

In 1986, Skinner would join longtime Pirates skipper Chuck Tanner in Atlanta serving as the Braves hitting coach. He would also become the team's first base coach under being relieved of his duties early in the 1988 season. 

In 1989, Skinner would return to managing at the minor league level for the first time in over two decades when he managed the Tucson Toros, the Triple-AAA affiliate of the Houston Astros. Skinner would serve in this role for four seasons before joining the Astros scouting department before retiring after the 2009 season.

Skinner's son Joel played for 9 seasons in MLB as a backup catcher with the Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees and the Cleveland Indians and would manage the Tribe during the second half of the 2002 season. After George and Dick Sisler, the Skinners became only the second father & son to manage at the major league level.

While Bob Skinner was not a star player, he got to enjoy the glories of baseball during and after his playing career. R.I.P.