COME TO PLAY — Larry Gordon was honored as a recipient of the Buck O’Neil Seat Program of the Kansas City Royals on July 6 when the Royals played the Oakland A’s. To honor Buck, the Buck O’Neil Legacy Seat Program fills “Buck’s Seat” for every home game with a member of the community who, on a large or small scale, embodies an aspect of Buck’s spirit. Gordon was nominated by the Community Blood Center for giving 25 gallons of blood over the course of 35 years. As a CBC volunteer he also transports donations from blood drives throughout the area to its testing facility in Kansas City. The video presentation shown to the crowd on the Crown Vision HD scoreboard stated, “Larry has made donating blood a life mission and encourages others to do so as well.”
SUPPORT FRANK WHITE — Congregation Beth Torah member Lenny Cohen is part of a grass roots committee, “Second to None” hoping to get Royals Hall of Famer Frank White elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. White is a five-time American League All-Star, eight-time Gold Glove Award winner, World Series Champion and one of only three numbers retired by the Royals. A bronze statue of White is prominently displayed outside Kauffman Stadium. Cohen said the committee is excited that White may be considered for the next ballot as evidenced by the 6,000 signed petitions and the myriad of very impressive letters of endorsement already received!
Fans interested in helping White get elected to the Hall of Fame can learn more about him and sign the petition that will be submitted soon to the Baseball Writers, responsible for developing the ballot, by visiting www.FrankWhitefortheHallofFame.com.
BOWLING WITH BARB — No, I’m not the Barb in the title of this event to raise funds to find a cure for mitochondrial disease. The Barb is my dear friend from BBYO days, Barb Mendelsohn, and Sunday’s sixth annual event was another successful one. On behalf of Barb and her family, thanks to everyone who helped make the day special. Larry W., thanks for taking the time to tell me you enjoy reading the paper and this column. All of us at The Chronicle appreciate it!
CELEBRITY BBQ JUDDGE — Readers might wonder why foodie author and celebrity Simon Majumdar would come all the way to Kansas City to judge a kosher BBQ competition. For starters, he did tell Food Network audiences on “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” that K.C.’s own Stroud’s fried chicken beat all the others, hands down. In just three years, he has become a mainstay on on several Food Network shows including “Iron Chef America,” “Extreme Chef,” “Best Thing I Ever Ate” and as a regular judge on “The Next Iron Chef” in its last two seasons.
But kosher?
Well, why not? Low-and-slow (Kansas City style) smoked brisket is juicy and mouth-watering. And Majumdar will be tasting the brisket, chicken and ribs of some of the 20-plus teams who enter the KC Kosher BBQ competition on Sunday, Aug. 18, on the grounds of The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah.
Hosted by the Vaad HaKashruth, the BBQ hopes to beat its opening attendance of 3,000 in 2012. Funds raised from the event go toward helping more area residents purchase kosher food.
So an Indian-British celebrity judge meets kosher BBQ at a Reform Temple. Go figure.
CROCK-POT’S JEWISH ROOTS — While perusing Jewniverse last month, I learned that the Crock-Pot®, the famous name-brand slow cooker many of us can’t live without, was created by Jewish inventor Irving Naxon. According to his daughter Lenore Naxon, he invented the slow cooker, which he called the Naxon Beanery, and sold it after he retired to Kansas City’s Rival Manufacturing. The story is he invented it as a way to make cholent for Shabbos. You can learn lots of interesting tidbits like this by visiting Jewniverse.com, a project of MyJewishLearning.com.
