To some, baseball is revered as a religion. It follows a seasonal calendar, its history abounds with tales of mythic heroes, and its fans study arcana with the intensity of Talmudic scholars. Rebecca Alpert of Temple's Religion Department says baseball can teach believers a thing or two about justice and fairness. She remembers sitting with her mother at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn and watching Jackie Robinson's Dodgers. "She would say, 'This is the team that integrated baseball,'" making it clear which side to root for. Alpert sees a connection between those days and her current work, which includes a forthcoming book on how Jews helped black baseball players get to the major leagues.