Inducted: 2006
Sam’s contribution to Bay Area baseball fans is enormous. Without Sam’s mentoring activities, through his Oakland youth leagues, they would be poorer indeed. The longtime Temple Beth Abraham congregant and nonagenarian pointed future legends like Frank Robinson, Curt Flood and Vada Pinson in the direction of the Big Leagues. Popular legend has Robinson claiming Bercovich “took the knife out of my hand and gave me a bat.”