LAKE ELSINORE— It may seem like "old home week" any time members of San Diego¹s Jewish community go out to watch a Storm baseball game.

The Storm, which sponsors the Jewish Community Directory on the back page of Heritage, is a Class-A farm team of the San Diego Padres. Its owner, Gary Jacobs, president of the United Jewish Federation of San Diego and a past president of the Lawrence Family JCC, Jacobs Family Campus, makes certain the Diamond in Lake Elsinore is a haimische (homey) place to visit.

For example, at a California League twi-night double header last Saturday, in which the Storm twice defeated the Inland Empire 66 (a farm team of the Seattle Mariners), an announcer directed the fans' attention to the presence in the stands of a girls' softball team from Escondido, named after the Storm, whose players, aged 10 and under, were in attendance. One of the
adults leading the team was Nancy Johnson, the JCC's chief financial officer.

Lake Elsinore Storm team members changed jerseys from white to black between games, and only those with the sharpest of eyes (or inside information) might have noticed that one catcher warming up pitchers in the bullpen was transformed from #1 to #16. Those were the jerseys that happened to be available for Adam Jacobs, 17-year-old son of the owner, who spent the
evening getting some valuable practice and tips from the older players. (Typically, Class A players range from 19 to 25.)

Adam Jacobs, a junior, plays catcher for Torrey Pines High School and has set his sights on going to a "Division I" college— that is, one with a high-class baseball team likely to get noticed by Major League scouts. "And, one with good academics," adds his father, listening to the brief interview.

Besides being shown how to better position his mitt so as to convince a hesitating umpire that the ball just pitched was, indeed, a strike, Adam also had the thrill of being besieged by the little kids in the stands to sign autographs. Yeah, true, he's not really a player, but if ever he becomes one, especially a well-known one, those autographs he signed back when he was 17 may be real collectors' items.

There was a California League ballplayer named Greg Jacobs playing right field for the 66ers. No, Gary Jacobs replied, as far as he knew, this right fielder wasn¹t a cousin. "Maybe another member of the Jewish community?" I asked him. Gary Jacobs didn¹t know, so we hiked up to the press boxes, where reporters covering the 66ers didn¹t know either, and then onto the field
between games to ask Greg Jacobs personally.

"Nope, Italian," the ballplayer replied. The family changed its name a couple of generations back. He wasn¹t sure why they picked "Jacobs." In the pre-Gary Jacobs era, before the Storm became a farm team for the San Diego Padres, it had been a farm team for the Anaheim Angels. At that time, Greg Jacobs pitched for the Storm. But now, he's playing right field.

As Greg Jacobs is a good hitter, that's for the best. In the California League, the "designated hitter" rule is used, meaning substitute hitters take the place of pitchers when their turns come to bat.

As you look up from the field, Gary Jacobs' owner's box is just to the left of the glassed-in press box, but it's rare that you will find him in it. He enjoys walking around the stands of the Diamond greeting visitors, talking about baseball with fans who enjoy the grand old pastime, and enjoying the antics of Thunder, the Storm's mascot.

Thunder, a costumed character most resembling a dog, cavorts in the stands and on the field, with one of his favorite shticks being a between-innings game of "race the mascot," in which some tyke must try to run around the bases and reach home before Thunder does. While the child starts from first base and Thunder starts from second, the mascot really doesn¹t have the
advantage, as his attention is invariably diverted from his task.

Another favorite between-innings feature of a Storm game is when cheerleaders use a sling shot to propel rolled-up souvenir Storm T-shirts into the crowd. Other crowd pleaser are Frisbees flung into the stands from the field.

There's fun on the promenade around the stands as well. There are traditional junk food stands, of course. But, in addition, those plump hot dogs sold at the Randy Jones Barbecue overlooking right field are from Hebrew National.

Tasty as the kosher hot dogs are in ordinary circumstances, something makes them even better at a ballfield where the emphasis is on watching a game, having fun and being among friends.