How a Jewish roommate at U. of Florida led 6’9″ power forward Alex Tyrus to convert to Judaism, play ball in Israel (9/23/2014) *** Maxx Tissenbaum is one of 4 Rays prospects who will play in Australia for the Brisbane Bandits this Fall (9/23/2014) *** In limited play — 30 ABs in 15 games —…
[Editor’s note: Jewish Baseball News correspondent Stuart M. Katz recently visited Chasing Dreams, a baseball-themed exhibition currently at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. He offered to share his thoughts.] By Stuart M. Katz, correspondent Chasing Dreams: Baseball and Becoming American, a wonderful exhibition highlighting the deep and historic connection between American Jews…
Best news of all? Ryan Lashley and Adam Kam have a Jewish teammate: Ben Ruff, who led the United League in relief appearances. Welcome, Ben! (9/20/2014) *** In fact, Ryan Lashley just missed winning the United League triple crown: .369 B.A. (1st), 6 HRs (1st/tie), 45 RBIs (2nd)…(9/20/2014) *** Amazing season for two Jews on the independent Fort…
Cardinals “rookie-league” prospect Adam Ehrlich went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs last week as the State College Spikes won the New York-Penn League championship (9/19/2014) *** With the “AAA” finals over now — his team came in 2nd — Ryan Lavarnway is back with the Boston Red Sox (9/19/2014) *** Every so often, Diane Firstman (@dianagram) picks…
Toronto’s Kevin Pillar doubled and scored a run in a pinch-hit appearance Wednesday (9/18/2014) *** L.A.’s Joc Pederson, a sixth-inning sub Wednesday, singled and walked in two trips to the plate (9/18/2014) *** Oakland carried a 1-0 lead into the 9th Wednesday thanks to Sam Fuld‘s RBI single, but Texas’s 6-run inning put the game out…
By Scott Barancik, editor With the 2014 Minor League regular season complete, we thought you might want to see how Jewish players did at the plate. The more ambitious among you can download this Excel file and crunch the numbers yourself. For the rest of you, look below. You’ll find a table showing all 31 players…
By Stuart M. Katz, Jewish Baseball News correspondent Even among followers of Jewish baseball players, Simon Rosenbaum is not a household name. Not yet, anyway. A 20-year-old junior at Pomona College in California, Rosenbaum ranked 2nd in the nation among Division III players last season with a .474 batting average. D3Baseball.com and ABCA/Rawlings both named him a Division…
Check out our Q&A with Simon Rosenbaum, a Division III star who’s also become Israel baseball’s secret weapon (9/15/2014) *** Adam Greenberg, who suffered a beaning in his MLB debut but recovered enough to play 6 years of pro ball, was inducted in the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame yesterday (9/15/2014) *** Israel debuted at…
Joc Pederson, whose 100 walks ranked 2nd among all minor-leaguers in 2014, drew 2 Saturday in the Dodgers’ 17-0 rout of the Giants (9/14/2014) *** Ian Kinsler singled in a run and made this nifty play in first-place Detroit’s 5-4 win Saturday. We’ll forget that he was picked off at first… (9/14/2014) *** Sorry to report…
Jew X 2: After Oakland’s Nate Freiman singled Friday, Sam Fuld knocked him in with an RBI bunt. Fuld also walked and stole his 20th base, tying his career high (9/13/2014) *** Ike Davis contributed a pinch-hit sacrifice fly in Pittsburgh’s 7-3 win Friday. In 30 pinch-hit ABs, he’s hitting .300 with 3 HRs and…
Ryan Braun hit his 19th HR on Thursday, an opposite-field shot deep to right-centerfield in Milwaukee’s 4-2 win (9/12/2014) *** An RBI single by Ike Davis gave Pittsburgh its first run in a 4-1 win over the Phillies on Thursday (9/12/2014) ***
Jew X 2: Danny Valencia went 2-for-4 with an RBI double off the centerfield wall and an RBI single in Toronto’s 11-1 win on Wednesday, while Kevin Pillar added a double of his own (9/11/2014) *** Oakland’s Sam Fuld went 0-for-3 with a walk Wednesday. More notable was his new moustache, which a teammate compared to Ned Flanders’ of…
Making a difference: Toronto is 14-7 this season in games where Kevin Pillar is a starter, and 61-62 in all others (9/10/2014) *** Toronto’s Kevin Pillar has 7 hits over the past 3 games and is auditioning for a 2015 starting spot, says this article (9/10/2014) *** Jew X 2: Kevin Pillar went 3-for-4 in Toronto’s 9-2 win Tuesday, while Danny Valencia singled and made an…
Sam Fuld saved a run Monday with a leaping grab at the wall…and put the A’s ahead in the 8th with an RBI bunt single (9/9/2014) *** Jew X 2: Kevin Pillar and Danny Valencia stroked RBI singles in Toronto’s 8-0 win Monday. Pillar also doubled and scored from second on an error (9/9/2014) ***
No, Detroit rookie Kyle Lobstein is not Jewish. But aided by Ian Kinsler‘s RBI double, he earned his first career win Sunday for manager Brad Ausmus (9/8/2014) *** Kevin Pillar singled twice Sunday and made a leaping grab into Boston’s Green Wall to end the game for victorious Toronto. You can even hear the impact! (9/8/2014) ***…
Baseball America rates Vanderbilt junior Rhett Wiseman the 28th best prospect in the 2014 Cape Cod League, a collegiate summer program that has many alumni in the Majors (8/31/2014) *** The Mets have recalled Josh Satin from the Las Vegas 51s (AAA). He last played for the Mets on May 9, 2014 (8/31/2014) *** The Albuquerque…
By Scott Barancik, editor (Editor’s note: Coverage of the MLB amateur draft is a collaboration between Jewish Baseball News and our friends at Jewish Sports Review, a bi-monthly newsletter that tracks Jewish athletes in multiple sports around the globe. Click here for subscription information.) At least six Jewish players were selected in MLB’s 2014 amateur draft, led by Princeton hurler Michael Fagan, a 9th-round…
By Stuart M. Katz, correspondent When he was growing up in Trenton, N.J., Al Clark’s family thought he might become a rabbi. They couldn’t have imagined that he instead would spend more than 25 years on Major League Baseball fields as the American League’s first Jewish umpire. From 1976 to 2001, Clark had a bird’s eye…
By Scott Barancik, editor For the second time in a week, we have the pleasure of introducing you to a newly-discovered member of the Jewish Baseball family: Baltimore Orioles prospect Sammie Starr. A 25-year-old infielder from Toronto, Starr’s father is Jewish, his mother converted to Judaism, and Starr himself became Bar Mitzvah. Baseball is a family tradition….
The wrestling brothers featured in the movie Foxcatcher were “raised in poverty by their Jewish mother” * * * Tulane center Aaron Liberman, a redshirt sophomore, is a 6-foot-10-inch Orthodox Jew whose mother was an Israeli sprinter * * * Bravo to Baseball for All, which just completed its first 2-day clinic for Jewish and Arab Israeli sixth-graders (3/11/2015) * *…
