Thursday, 9/18/2014 @ 9:14pm

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…

Simon Rosenbaum: Israel baseball’s secret weapon

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…

Monday, 9/15/2014 @ 8:26pm

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…

Sunday, 9/14/2014 @ 12:46pm

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…

Saturday, 9/13/2014 @ 7:44am

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…

Thursday, 9/11/2014 @ 9:22am

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…

Wednesday, 9/10/2014 @ 9:41am

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…

Tuesday, 9/9/2014 @ 9:10am

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) ***

ARCHIVE: September 1-8, 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) ***…

2014 MLB draft netted at least six Jews

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…

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Al Clark: “Nobody grows up wanting to be an umpire”

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…

Welcome to the family, Sammie Starr

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….

UPDATED: March 24, 2015 @ 9:30am

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) * *…

Welcome to the family, Scott DeCecco

By Scott Barancik, editor One of the things I enjoy most about running this website is ‘discovering’ ballplayers we didn’t know were Jewish, and then introducing them to you. Today it’s my honor to welcome home the newest member of the Jewish baseball family: Seattle Mariners prospect Scott DeCecco. A New Jersey native who turns 23 tomorrow…

Braun greets boos with 3 HRs, rally-killing grab

By Scott Barancik, editor In an impressive display of strength and agility that spoiled the Phillies’ home opener Tuesday night, Ryan Braun blasted three HRs, collected seven RBIs, and made a diving catch to snuff out a rally and lead the Brewers to a 10-4 win. The second three-dinger performance of Braun‘s career — he hit a trio against the Padres on…

Borenstein steals 4 bases — including home — in win

By Scott Barancik, editor If catchers issued ‘Wanted’ posters featuring the base thieves they fear most, 2013 California League MVP Zach Borenstein would not be included. While the 23-year-old Angels prospect tore up opponents with his bat and legged-out seven triples last year, his five stolen bases in 10 attempts left noone quaking. Yesterday was a different story. In…