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　The Red Sox, by contrast, on August 8, 2005, put 3 Jewish players on the field at
once, reportedly the first time in MLB history that a single team has done this (there was
a game in the 1940s with four Jewish players, but two on each team). Also, the Red Sox
are the only team to have had four Jewish players on their 25 man roster at one time (also
in 2005).
　This story was written with irony, in places quite hilarious, as if to say?“I know
this is not the most important thing about baseball or Judaism.” But behind the humor,
the author does not hide a genuine admiration for the Jewish Red Sox, who “make Jews
proud to be Americans, to be budding young ballplayers, to be Jewish.”

　John Carpenter and Stephen Greyser (a founder of the field “sports business” at
the Harvard Business School) offered helpful advice on the project along the way, as did
longtime friend Takano Naoto, my neighbor and Boston Globe editor Jim Concannon,
and colleagues at Harvard: Alison Frank, Ted Gilman, Peter Kelley, Mark Kishlansky,
Susan Pharr and her husband Robert Mitchell. My daughter Megumi read the very first
drafts of the first chapters and offered much encouragement and editorial advice.

　Mid-way through the summer, my older daughter was married to a wonderful
young man on a glorious day. Fortunately, it was a Saturday evening when Matsuzaka
was not pitching, so I was spared a difficult choice of which to attend. I am indeed
grateful to Jennifer, her husband Luke, and my wife Yoshie for putting up with my
occasional distraction from wedding plans over the course of the season.