Blomberg enjoyed the attention he received in New York because he was Jewish: "To be able to play in front of 8 million Jews! Can’t beat it. I lit everyone’s candles for every bar mitzvah in the city. It was like I was related to everyone. They named a sandwich after me at the Stage Deli!"[4]
Blomberg attended Druid Hills High School, earning four letters each in baseball, basketball, football, and track, and graduated in 1967.[6] He was chosen for the Parade All-American teams in football, basketball, and baseball, the only person ever chosen for all three teams.[7]
He received 125 basketball scholarship offers, and John Wooden of the University of California at Los Angeles came out to meet him in person.[8] Roger Couch, Blomberg's basketball coach, said: "Blomberg is the finest basketball player I ever saw — high school or college."[7] He also received 100 football scholarship offers.[9]
Blomberg played in the minor leagues from 1967 to 1971. In 1971 he was hitting .326 with a .565 slugging percentage for the Yankees AAA team, the Syracuse Chiefs, when the Yankees called him up to the major leagues.
Major league career
New York Yankees (1969–1976)
Blomberg made his major league debut on September 10, 1969, two weeks after his 21st birthday.[1] After going 3-for-6 in his first season, Blomberg was out in 1970 with injuries. In 1971, he hit .322 for the parent club in 199 at bats.[1] In 1972, he hit a career-high 14 home runs and 22 doubles in 299 at bats.[1]
Blomberg was a natural hitter who had a remarkably quick bat with tremendous power. Many[who?] felt that he should play every day but manager Ralph Houk platooned him, hampering his ability to develop into a star player. Blomberg was the first major leaguer to bat as a designated hitter in a regular season game. On April 6, 1973, at Fenway Park, he was walked by Red Sox pitcher Luis Tiant on five pitches with the bases loaded in the first inning,[10][11][12] and the bat he used is in Cooperstown's Hall of Fame.[11][6] Blomberg finished 1973 with a healthy .329 average, .395 OBP, and .498 SLG in 301 at-bats;[1] he hit .351 with runners in scoring position.
In 1974, Blomberg hit .311, and .338 with runners in scoring position. He was injured in 1975, and missed all but one game of the pennant-winning 1976 season.[8] He tore his knee in the 1977 exhibition season when he hit the outfield wall, and missed that season too.[12] "I had four knee and two shoulder injuries," he said. "Still, I gave 120 percent. I lived in Riverdale, and when I was injured, people came up to me and waved to me and hugged me."[8][13] He became a free agent at the end of the 1977 season.[12]
Chicago White Sox (1978)
The White Sox signed Blomberg as a free agent for $300,000 in 1978.[12] He played his final game for the White Sox on October 1, 1978, at 30 years of age.[1]
In 2007 Blomberg received the city of Atlanta’s Phoenix Award from Mayor Shirley Franklin for his outstanding service and achievements, both as a professional athlete and citizen through his charitable works in Atlanta and throughout the country.[15]
Blomberg twice was voted the most popular person in New York.[7]
Managing career
Blomberg managed the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox in the 2007 inaugural season of the Israel Baseball League.[16] He skippered his team to a league-leading 29–12 (.707) regular season won-lost record, as well as to the IBL Championship. Blomberg had previously declined an offer from the Yankees to manage a team in their minor system.[17]
Being in Israel, Blomberg said, “was the greatest thing — just one notch below playing for the Yankees.” In the league they were obliged to have at least two Jewish players on each team, and Blomberg had two Orthodox Israelis on his. When they asked for time out to say Mincha, he was taken aback. Then he saw the crowd joining them to daven behind the food concession. “It was the greatest rush of my life,” he said. “I was in the Holy Land, near King Solomon’s tomb. I knew I was protected.” But when the team still lost the game, he demanded: “You said your prayers — so what happened?”[9]
Scouting
Blomberg is a scout for the New York Yankees in the Atlanta area.
Writing
In April 2006, Blomberg's biography, Designated Hebrew: the Ron Blomberg Story[18] was released by Sports Publishing. It was co-written by Dan Schlossberg, the author of over 30 baseball books, including The Baseball Catalog, and host of the syndicated radio show, BallTalk. The book discusses Blomberg's life leading up to his major league career, his playing days as a Yankee, and his Jewish heritage.
In 2021, Triumph Books published The Captain & Me,[19] Blomberg's second book. It is subtitled On and Off The Field with Thurman Munson. Dan Epstein, a well-known baseball writer, assisted Blomberg, and Munson's widow wrote an introduction. Blomberg is using the book to advocate for Munson's induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.[20]
Summer camp
Blomberg has been running a summer baseball camp for kids at the New Jersey Y Camps since 2006. He also ran a baseball day camp in Paramus, New Jersey in the 1970s.
Philanthropy
After his retirement from baseball in 1978, Blomberg worked with numerous charitable organizations, most recently the Israel Cancer Research Fund, where he serves as honorary chairman and spokesperson.[15]
Ruttman, Larry (2013). "Ron Blomberg: Designated Hebrew". American Jews and America's Game: Voices of a Growing Legacy in Baseball. Lincoln, Nebraska and London, England: University of Nebraska Press. pp. 241–246. ISBN978-0-8032-6475-5.
