OE DiMAGGIO had a look that could kill when he played against his brother Dom. The story came out at the fifth annual Lou Gehrig Sports Award Benefit at the Marriott Marquis in Manhattan. The dinner was sponsored by the Greater New York Chapter of the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association, which honored Baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson of the New York Yankees and Football Hall of Famer Gale Sayers of the Chicago Bears.

The benefit committee consisting of Robert R. Bennett, president of Liberty Media; Alan R. Griffith, Bank of New York vice chairman, and Lawrence A. Rand, co-founder and senior vice president of Kekst & Co., presented a posthumous award, in memory of Joe DiMaggio, to Dom and Emily DiMaggio.

Dom played with the Boston Red Sox and his brother Joe with the New York Yankees. Dom recalled a late season game more than 50 years ago, in a year when the pennant winner had already been determined. Joe was battling for the runs batted in (RBI) crown.

“Joe came to bat with two outs. The bases were loaded. He smashed a drive to the deepest part of Yankee Stadium, just to the left of centerfield.

“I turned to give chase after the ball, and about halfway there, while running at full speed, I was suddenly seized with an upsetting internal upheaval.

“I thought to myself: If I catch this ball, Joe’s gonna lose three important runs batted in in quest for the RBI title.

“On the other hand, if I don’t give this my best effort, it will be a dishonest act, not in the best interest of baseball and those guys battling for the RBI title, including Joe.

“Most important, I would have to live with this for the rest of my life.

“At the last possible moment I stretched as far as I could and caught the ball in the web of my glove. As soon as I caught it I had a sick feeling in my stomach. I felt terrible.

“As I passed Joe on his way out to centerfield, I turned to apologetically look at him. At the same time he turned to look at me.

“If looks could kill, I would have been dead on the spot!

“I suddenly realized that 60,000 pairs of eyes were giving me that drop-dead look. I felt so desolate and alone out there in that great big open field with no place to hide. It was like a nightmare, only this was real.

“That vivid memory has haunted me all these many years. Pondering the pros and cons of my decision, I don’t mind admitting that I wish I had made that last ditch lunge just a little bit short.”

UGEN GLUCK, who has helped support the yeshiva at Bet El, Israel, for most of its 22 years, is happy that Prime Minister Ehud Barak has declared that this settlement is off the negotiating table.

“We trust and hope the prime minister will keep his word,” Gluck said at the 17^th annual dinner of American Friends of Bet El Yeshiva Center at the New York Marriott Marquis.

Investment banker Richard Grossman said he and his wife Anita had no choice in being chosen as the guests of honor.

When Gluck called them to accept the Young Leadership Award, he told them, “You can say yes or you can say okay.”

Mort Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, presented the Aishet Chayil Award to Ruth Mattus who, with her late husband Reuben, created Haagen-Dazs ice cream. They sold the company and developed Mattus ice cream.

After Klein’s lengthy introduction, Mattus replied, “I don’t have to say anything because everything you said is true,” and she sat down to tremendous applause from Jeff Wiesenfeld of the governor’s office, Judge Lee First, Dr. Mandell Ganchrow of the Orthodox Union, Sam Domb of Travel Inn, Ulo Barad of the Edison Hotel and hundreds more.

That had to be the best acceptance speech of the last century. 

OVAH FELDSHUH said it was highly appropriate that she serve as emcee as the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College honored philanthropist Aaron Ziegelman at its annual dinner at Manhattan’s Roosevelt Hotel.

“Who has been more reconstructed than I?” she chuckled.

Ziegelman has been the college’s chairman since 1986. He’s the patron of the Luboml Exhibition Project, preserving the memory of his Polish hometown.

Rabbi Irving (Yitz) Greenberg of CLAL, an organization that promotes Jewish education among leaders, presented the honoree with a replica of a synagogue in Luboml. It was the perfect gift for his traveling exhibition.

“I was really hoping for a plaque,” Ziegelman cracked.

Moshe Rosen, an executive of Safra Bank, told my table a story about two women walking in the rain. One of them picks up a frog off the street.

Rabbi David Teutsch (left), RRC president, presents award to Rabbi Irwin Kula, CLAL president

“I was a banker until I was cursed,” the frog says. “If you kiss me I’ll become a banker again.”

The woman drops the frog into her bag.

“Why didn’t you kiss and turn that poor frog back into a banker?” her friend asks.

“What has more value,” the woman replies, “a banker or a talking
frog?”

AVID LEVY, senior vice president of the accounts division at Frenkel & Co. international insurance brokers, is known as a warm, caring and generous man at Cong. Kehilath Jeshurun on the Upper East Side.

So it was no surprise that Ariel American Friends of Midrasha chose Levy to be the organization’s honored guest at its 27^th annual dinner at the New York Hilton.

Rabbi Haskell Lookstein praised his congregant, after which Levy responded: “If my father were here, he’d say it’s a generous statement. If my mother were here, she’d say it’s all true.”

Rabbi Solomon Trau, past president of Ariel American Friends, made note of current president Natalio Fridman’s generosity.

“Natalio built a factory in Israel for Russian Jews where they make
T-shirts,” Trau said. “This year they exported $10 million worth of T-shirts.”

Ariel Friends board chairman Lawrence Kobrin explained that the Ariel institutes in Israel, under the direction of Haifa Chief Rabbi Shear Yashuv Cohen, are committed to Torah values.

That got the support of Malcolm Thomson, Malcolm Hoenlein, Consul General Shmuel Sisso, Rabbi Marc Schneier, and many other dignitaries at the dinner.

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