Kuttler: Q&A with Mike Epstein, proud to be known as ‘Super Jew’
From Hillel Kuttler at the Jewish Baseball Museum on June 16, 2016:
Dubbed with one of the game’s most memorable nicknames, “Super Jew,” Mike Epstein was a hard-hitting first baseman for four major league clubs, most prominently the Washington Senators and the Oakland A’s. Over four seasons running, his home run totals were 30, 20, 19 and 26, and he won a World Series with the A’s in 1972. He hit three home runs in one game; another time, he hit four homers in four straight at-bats over two consecutive games.
He burst on to everyone’s radar as a farmhand with the Baltimore Orioles’ Rochester Red Wings. Epstein earned the International League’s 1966 Most Valuable Player award, and nearly the Triple Crown, with a .309 batting average, 29 home runs and 102 runs batted in. Eventually, he had his best year in 1969 under the eye of first-year manager Ted Williams, hitting 30 homers for the Washington Senators in 1969.
After a successful post-baseball business career, he returned to the sport as an instructor and has been acclaimed for preaching “rotational hitting”: a weight shift emphasizing the entire body, rather than the arms and legs alone, to swing. He and his son Jake run Mike Epstein Hitting in suburban Denver.
Read the full article here: http://jewishbaseballmuseum.com/spotlight-story/the-mike-epstein-file/
Originally published: June 16, 2016. Last Updated: June 16, 2016.