Free High Holiday Tix

BRONX, NEW YORK, September 10- Free High Holiday tickets are available for the third consecutive year at Temple Hatikva. Because the synagogue has limited seating, tickets will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets can be obtained by calling Temple Hatikva at (718) 792-1109 or via e-mail at  HYPERLINK "mailto:TempleHatikva@aol.com" TempleHatikva@aol.com.

Rabbi Harry Hertzberg, spiritual leader of Temple Hatikva, stated: “We are pleased to be able to invite the community to pray with us at our synagogue. We invite all those that want to observe the Jewish High Holidays to worship with us. Our Board of Trustees and synagogue membership are committed to ensuring that the doors of our synagogue are open to all without charge”

Cantor Kyle Cherry added: “We are planning beautiful services for both Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. We promise you an uplifting and fulfilling religious experience at Temple Hatikva.”

Tickets are strictly limited by the capacity of the synagogue. All those who wish to attend services at Temple Hatikva for the High Holidays are urged to make their reservations immediately to insure their High Holy Day seats. Rosh Hashana is on Monday, September 17 and Tuesday September 18. Yom Kippur begins Tuesday evening, September 25 and ends at sundown on Wednesday, September 26.

Temple Hatikva is located at 2440 Esplanade.  The synagogue can be reached at (718) 792-1109 or at www.TempleHatikva.com.

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Book details life with The Boss, the Yankees

Ray Negron’s “Yankee Miracles: Life with the Boss and the Bronx Bombers”

By Howard Goldin

A very interesting story of the major baseball personalities that dominated the headlines during the years of George Steinbrenner’s ownership of the New York Yankees was written by Ray Negron and Sally Cook. Negron, now a community adviser with the organization, began as the team’s batboy in 1973 through highly unexpected circumstances.

Negron offers the reader that strange story and many others that explain many of the events of his life and how those events affected his growth into adulthood. Unlike other volumes of Steinbrenner’s Yankees that were written by sportswriters or historians, this book is a first-person account written by someone who heard the words quoted and witnessed the events described. Negron includes himself in the events in which he was a part, but he does not narcissistically put himself front and center in place of those who were at the center of the story.

The gamut of emotions of the personalities in the story range widely from the heartbreak after the plane crash and death of catcher Thurman Munson and the illness and death of Bobby Murcer to the humor displayed between the players on the Yankees. Thus, the reader is able to experience these same emotions as the pages turn.

Negron, the author of several best-selling children’s books, has written his first adult volume. The similarities between his newest book and earlier children’s stories outweigh the necessary differences in vocabulary. All focus on the New York Yankees under the ownership of Steinbrenner and life in the inner city for youngsters like Negron in the 1970s and many children in the 21^st century. All are intended to be uplifting, to give the readers hope and to encourage the best in all who read his words, whether adult or child.

Negron pictures the book’s characters in a positive light, but that only reflects his mindset. He sees them as human beings, decent at heart but neither saints nor devils. The stories told in the book allows the reader to better understand these Yankees as people rather than as automatons whose only importance is the statistics they compile during their playing careers. Anyone personally familiar with the personalities in the book or the events described will recognize that the affection of the author does not negate the truthfulness of the story.

Negron’s life experiences with George Steinbrenner and the stories he has learned of many others whose lives have been touched in a very positive manner by the late owner of the Yankees are the reason why Negron’s volume is truly a tribute to the life of George M. Steinbrenner.

You don’t have to be a Yankees rooter or a baseball fan to enjoy or be moved by this volume as it is a human story, but being such a fan will certainly increase your involvement.

The publishing company has already scheduled many book signings for the author. Negron insisted that the first be held in the borough that is the home of the Yankees. Thus, Negron will begin his book tour at Barnes & Noble in Co-Op City on Wednesday, September 5.

Another important project that Negron has devoted his energies and talents to in the past few years will come to fruition at Christmas. Negron has produced an animated film “Henry & Me” in which many stars of the entertainment and sports worlds provided the voices of the characters of the film. The film shows the manner in which Yankees of the past and present provide hope to a young boy who is seriously ill.

Book Information:

Title: Yankee Miracles: Life with the Boss and the Bronx Bombers   Publisher: Liveright/Norton

ISBN: 978-0-87140-461-9    Pages: 288    Price: $25.95

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Tiger Cubs Make Their Zoo Debut

(Photo by Julie Larsen, WCS)

BRONX, NEW YORK, September 5– The Tiger Mountain exhibit at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo roared with new activity as three Amur tiger cubs made their public debut.

The cubs were born to mother Katharina and father Sasha. These tigers were bred by recommendation of the Species Survival Plan, a cooperative breeding program designed to enhance the genetic and demographic stability of the tiger population in zoos accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to ensure its long-term viability of the species.

The one male and two females in the litter each weighed an estimated two-and-a-half to three pounds at birth and now weigh approximately 45 pounds. Katharina is 13 years old, and her last litter of cubs was born in May 2010. Sasha is 15 years old, and this is his first litter.

The three cubs will be on exhibit with their mother intermittently for the first few weeks as they acclimate to their surroundings.

“The birth of a rare species like Amur tigers is always an exciting time at the Bronx Zoo,” said Jim Breheny, WCS Executive Vice President and Bronx Zoo Director. “The cubs will play a vital role as representatives for their wild relatives – inspiring zoo visitors to learn more about the threats these majestic animals face in the wild and what we can do to protect them.”

In celebration of the debut of the three tiger cubs, the Bronx Zoo is offering $3 off the purchase of each Total Experience Ticket purchased online. Visit www.bronxzoo.com for more information and to purchase a ticket to visit the cubs.

Amur tigers are also known as Siberian tigers. They are found in the Russian Far East and northeastern China. Male Amur tigers are the world’s largest cat and can grow to weigh 650 pounds. 

Tigers are in trouble. In the last 100 years, the global wild tiger population has plummeted 97 percent to just 3,200 – 1,000 of which are breeding females. Once found in 30 countries across vast areas of Asia, tigers are now just found in scattered fragments across 10 countries.

The Wildlife Conservation Society is on the ground saving wild tigers right now by implementing a “Source Site” strategy to reverse the downward trend. Source Sites are areas in the wild where viable populations of breeding females exist and have suitable habitat to support population growth. Forty-two Source Sites scattered across Asia have been identified as the last hope and greatest priority for the conservation and recovery of tigers.  A WCS delegation is currently attending the World Conservation Congress in South Korea from Sept. 6-13 to fight for tigers and other species at risk from extinction.

As the global leader in tiger conservation, WCS has been conducting ecological studies on tigers since the 1960s and has a long history of protecting these big cats through the establishment of protected areas, increasing enforcement against poaching, and public education.  Wildlife Conservation Society researchers continue their work across Asia safeguarding tigers throughout their range.

For more information on the study and how to help WCS save tigers in the wild, visit www.wcs.org.

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Primary Predictions

100 PERCENT

By Robert Press

BRONX, NEW YORK, September 3- Before we give you our primary day predictions, a little news first. 

We told you back in May of this year that the MTA was preparing for East Bronx Metro North train service into mid Manhattan. We also said that this service would be going into Penn Station (not Grand Central Station) with stops at four East Bronx communities Coop-City, Morris Park, Parkchester, and Hunts Point. The first meeting on this will take place in Morris Park on Monday, September 10 at the Price Center/Block Pavilion auditorium at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, 1300 Morris Park Avenue (at the intersection of Eastchester Road). An open house will begin at 6:30 p.m, followed by a presentation on the project at 7 p.m. Other community meetings will take place on September 24th in Coop-City, October 2nd in Hunts Point, and on October 24th in Morris Park. All meetings will open at 6:30 p.m and start at 7 p.m.

Since Madonna will be performing at Yankee Stadium, the 161st Street BID is having a Madonna look alike contest before the concert on September 8th. You can go to my blog for more details and to see photos of the contestants at www.100percentbronx.blogspot.com. You can also see coverage of 87th A.D. candidate Luis Sepulveda's fund raiser last week, Senator Jeff Klein's Gloria Gaynor Concert, the growing scandal of Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's admission of maybe doing the wrong thing in approving an alleged $103,000 payment to hush up a Vito Lopez (Brooklyn's now former Democratic County Leader) scandal.

We sit down occasionally to interview elected officials on different topics, and last week we sat down with State Senator Gustavo Rivera 33rd State Senate District to discuss his September Democratic Primary campaign. Gustavo knows that he has a sort of well funded challenger, but is confident that he will be re-elected by the voters of his district. We spoke of the changes to his district where his union support in Van Cortlandt Village, as well as most of Bedford Park and Norwood where he was very strong was redistricted to a different senator. Gustavo picked up more areas to the south of where his district is, which is where his primary challenger is from. Gustavo also said that the current scandals involving Naomi Rivera (same last name, but no relation) should not affect him as he now has only three election districts in the 80th A.D. as compared to before redistricting. The Bronx Democratic County organization has backed Gustavo, and the morning of the interview Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. was out campaigning with Gustavo. He would not give me a figure on his margin of victory, but said that I would not be disappointed with the numbers.

The Bronx Democratic County Annual Barbecue will be held on Sat. Sept. 8th in front of the county Headquarters located on Blondell Avenue at the corner of Eastchester Road starting at 12 PM.

On to our predictions- First in the 33rd State Senate District the only contested state senate district in the Bronx we see the current state senator being re-elected by a 66 – 34 percent margin.

In the Civil Court Judge race we see Eddie McShan winning by at least a 3 – 1 margin, especially with all the backing he has of almost every elected official in the Bronx.

The one minor Democratic Party position we see as interesting is if Bronx County Campaign expert Benny Catala can win his old 77th A.D. Male District Leader position back from Mark Esceffeary-Bay who won the 77th A.D. Male District Leader position in 2010.

There are no assembly primaries in the 79th, 81st, 83rd, and 85th A.D.'s, and in the 77th A.D. we see Assemblywoman Vanessa Gibson winning the primary. In the 78th A.D. we see the race getting closer each and every day with challenger and current 78 A.D. State Committeeman Richardo “Ricky” Martinez closing in on the incumbent Jose Rivera's lead especially since the former county leader 's daughter is involved in what could wind up indictments and possible jail time. By the way Jose was the Bronx County Leader while his daughter Naomi was chosen to replace an ineligible candidate and we will have our prediction next week, because we want to see if any charges against daughter Naomi or father Jose the county leader while the alleged scandals was happening comes out before the primary. The same is true for the 80th A.D. as challenger Mark Gjonaj is about even with the tarnished incumbent, and I don't see the two other challengers Irene Estrada, and Adam Bernudez not getting more than 1 or 2 percent each or total.

In the 84th A.D. we see another victory for Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo. In the 86th A.D. if incumbent Nelson Castro can't win with close to or over 90 percent he needs to look at himself and figure out what went wrong. In the old 76th and now new 87th A.D. two years ago we predicted Luis Sepulveda as the winner. He lost to longtime incumbent Assemblyman Peter Rivera (now State Labor Commissioner) by about 200 votes. With no incumbent this time we predict again that Luis Sepulveda will win, and by a margin of 81 – 19 percent. This even as State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. is home recuperating from knee surgery and can not be out on the campaign with Sepulveda.

Don't forget to check my blog for daily updates, other events, and photos of events covered. If you have any comments about this column or my blog, or would like to have an event listed or covered in this column or on my blog you can e-mail us at 100percentbronxnews@gmail.com or call 718-644-4199 Mr. Robert Press.

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Labored Loss for Yanks!

Orioles Steamroll Bombers 8-3

‘We need to play better baseball’

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, September 3- For the second time in the three-game series between New York and Baltimore, Mark Reynolds, Baltimore’s first baseman, belted two home runs that led to a Baltimore win. The victory on Sunday cut the Yankees lead in the American League East to two games over the Orioles.

On Friday, the two homers and three runs batted in by Reynolds led to a 6-1 win for Baltimore. Reynolds was hitless during the loss on Saturday, but drove in four runs with homers in the fifth and sixth innings in the following day. The two games in which he hit two round trippers raised his total to 17 multi-home run contests.

Reynolds scored his third run of the game in the eighth after hitting a single during a three run rally. To no avail, the Yanks used five pitchers that inning.

The two homers upped the total given up by Yankees starter Phil Hughes this year to 32. Hughes tied Tommy Hunter of the Orioles and Ervin Santana for the major league lead. He paces all pitchers with the dubious honor of surrendering 21 homers at home.

The loss was the 12^th of the season for Hughes. Five runs scored during his five innings on the mound. The starter gave up six hits in addition to the two round trippers. He walked one batter and fanned six.

The Yankees offense was mainly provided by newcomer Chris Dickerson, who played his first major league game of 2012 on the previous evening when he entered as a defensive replacement in the ninth inning. Dickerson signed a major league contract with the Yankees earlier that day.

Dickerson played 69 games this year with the AAA affiliate of the Yankees, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He batted .316, scored 57 runs, drove in 24 and hit seven home runs.

Dickerson blasted a homer into the second deck of the right field seats in his first big league at bat in 2012 in the second. Russell Martin walked and scored on the Dickerson homer.

Dickerson also scored the final; run for the yanks in the fifth after he led off the frame with a single.

Dickerson never made a third trip to the plate as he was pinch hit for by Andruw Jones (batting average of .203) in the seventh. Jones flied out to right.

Not only was Dickerson impressive at the plate, but also in the outfield. He made two excellent catches in center, one robbing Adam Jones of a home run.

After the three hour and 19 minute game ended, Joe Girardi commented, “We need to play better baseball.”

The Yanks ended the homestand with a mark of 2-4. Thrir troubles may not lessen soon as they begin a 10 game road trip agsinst Tampa Bay (3), Baltimore (4) and Boston (3).

CC  Sabathia (13-4) is scheduled to start the opener in Tampa on Monday against James Shields (2-8).

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Small Ball Pays Off for Yankees

By Rich Mancuso

BRONX, NEW YORK, September 2- It was not the home run ball that helped the New York Yankees Saturday afternoon in their seventh inning comeback resulting in a 4-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium. An error and walk ruined a good start from Baltimore’s Wei-Yin Chen, though one of the Yankees runs was attributed to a home run from Robinson Cano in the fourth inning

The win enabled New York to once again have a three-game lead over the Orioles in the American League East. What once was a comfortable lead for the Yankees has become a tight race for the division lead.

With four weeks left in the season, the two teams have five games remaining with each other. Including a finale Sunday afternoon, the Yankees visit Camden Yards Thursday for what appears to be an important four-game series.

“Our guys just kept putting good at bats on people,” said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. His team for the first time this season won a game with four or fewer hits.

Chen retired the first 11 Yankees batters in order before Cano hit his 28^th home run of the season.

The seventh inning appeared to be another Yankees loss, that is, until shortstop J.J. Hardy botched a ball with the bases loaded that scored Eduardo Nunez with the go-ahead run.

“J.J. I think he’s the best shortstop in the league,” commented Orioles’ manager Buck Showalter. “I don’t even think twice about it. That time of day, the infield is so chewed up, partly our fault because we had a whole bunch of base runners out there chewing it up.”

Nunez, the designated hitter was recalled last night from Triple-A Sranton Wilkes Barr, and made his first start since May 10^th against Tampa Bay. He had an RBI single in that seventh inning that led to Chen (12-8) the losing pitcher to be removed which led to a Yankees run.

“In my third at bat, I talked to myself not to try too hard,” he said. How much playing time will depend on how Girardi goes with his lineup which has been struggling to score runs with runners in scoring position.

He said, “I almost cried, I was so excited,” regarding the hit. “I want to help this team win.”

The Yankees are concerned about club home run leader Curtis Granderson. He left the game with a tight right hamstring before the top of the third inning. MRI results revealed some tendonitis and Girardi said, “Everything’s good.”  

Granderson could sit out the series finale Sunday afternoon and resume play Monday down in Tampa Bay for another important three-game series.

David Phelps allowed the three Baltimore runs including a career high six walks in 4.21 innings. It was his seventh start of the season. Girardi used four pitchers out of the pen including Rafael Soriano who closed the game in the ninth inning and recorded his 35^th save.

e-mail Rich Mancuso: Ring786@aol.com

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Rookie Schools Yankees

Yanks Lead Drops to Two Games Over Orioles

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, September 1- The Baltimore Orioles lowered the lead of the Yankees in the American League East to two games as they defeated the Yankees, 6-1, in the first game of a three game weekend series at Yankee Stadium.

Rookie Miguel Gonzalez performed outstandingly in his 10^th start in the majors. The 28-year old stopped the Yankees from scoring a run in his seven innings on the mound. The native of Mexico gave up only four hits. He fanned nine batters while only allowing one base on balls.

The victory for Gonzalez was his third in his last four decisions.

Joe Girardi offered praise to the winning hurler, “It just seemed like his fast ball was getting on the hitters faster than they thought. I think we got beat by the fast ball. He made some good off-speed pitches. [He had] command of the strike zone. He threw a good game.”

The first two hits off Gonzalez came off the bats of two future members of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Derek Jeter singled to lead off the fourth, but was still at first when the inning concluded. The base hit was the 3,265^th for Jeter, 18 below Willie Mays, in 10^th place in career hits.

The second Yankee hit was a sixth inning lead-off single by Ichiro Suzuki. He was stranded at third at the close of that frame.

Eric Chavez and Russell Martin each singled in the seventh but neither was able to advance.

The Yankees, as on Wednesday, could not hit successfully with runners in scoring position. They failed in all four opportunities with RISP. On Wednesday, they were 3 for 17 in these clutch situations.

Curtis Granderson with his 34^th home run of the season broke the shutout with one gone in the ninth. The homer was the club’s 200^th of 2012.

Hiroki Kuroda, although going deep into the game, 8.1 innings, lost his second straight start. He surrendered three runs in the second, two on the 13^th home run of the year by Mark Reynolds. A solo homer by JJ Hardy in the sixth drove in Baltimore’s fourth run of the contest.

The loss was the seventh in the last 10 games for the faltering Yanks. The Orioles have narrowed their deficit in the standings by winning their ninth in the last 12 games.

With a Yankees pitching change instituted by Girardi on Friday, David Phelps (3-4) will face Wei-Yen Chen (12-7) in game two on Saturday afternoon.

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