JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Major League Baseball has named Ryan Braun its National League Player of the Week for April 18-24, the 3rd time he has won the distinction. The award coincided with Braun’s signing of a 5-year contract extension that will pay him a total of $105-million. But that doesn’t even begin to describe…
JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Sam Fuld doesn’t strike out much. Through Saturday (4/23/2011) he had whiffed just 6 times, or once in every 18.5 at-bats, second best in the American League. But Fuld just can’t do anything half way. And on Sunday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays (4/24/2011), he put on a strike-out clinic….
JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — There was another display of Maccabee Power in Major League Baseball yesterday (4/23/2011). Four Jewish ballplayers — Milwaukee Brewers LF Ryan Braun, New York Mets 1B Ike Davis, Minnesota Twins 3B Danny Valencia, and Boston Red Sox 3B Kevin Youkilis — hit HRs, along with a combined 8 RBIs. It’s no…
JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS –Maybe it’s the matzoh. What is it about Jewish baseball players and Passover this season? On Monday (4/18), the night of the first seder, five Jewish batters hit a collective .650, each one knocking out anywhere from 2 to 4 hits apiece. Last night (4/23), the Jews brought their homer sticks to…
JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — On the first night of Passover (4/18/2011), five Jewish batters split the defense like the Red Sea, batting a collective .650. Every player had at least 2 hits, and each one saw his team win. Tampa Bay Rays OF Sam Fuld vaulted to first place in batting average among American Leaguers….
JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Tampa Bay Rays CF Sam Fuld has become one of baseball’s most unlikely stars this season. Thanks to jaw-dropping catches, a rifle of an arm, and clutch hitting, he has captured the imagination of fans both Jewish and not. Statistics gathered by Jewish Baseball News reader Jack W. provide hard evidence…
Note: This article by Jewish Baseball News editor Scott Barancik appeared in the April 17, 2011 edition of the St. Petersburg Times. All last season, my friend Jessica sent me updates about a Chicago Cubs prospect named Sam Fuld. Sam ran into a wall chasing a pop fly, she wrote. Sam threw out two runners….
JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — The Tampa Bay Rays played the Minnesota Twins on Friday night (4/15/2011), but for Jewish baseball fans, the game had a subplot: which team’s Jewish player would perform better? Both contributed. Twins 3B Danny Valencia, off to a slow start this season after finishing 3rd in last year’s A.L. Rookie of…
FULD BASEBALL NEWS — Just 11 games into his first season with the Tampa Bay Rays, CF Sam Fuld has become an Internet icon. Thanks to his superhuman catch in Chicago, his extra-base barrage in Boston, and a yearning for legitimate heroes in the age of steroids, the 29-year-old Fuld is seemingly everywhere. On Twitter,…
JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — When it comes to driving in runs, New York Mets 1B Ike Davis has some pretty elite company this season. Davis, a second-year player, has 11 RBIs so far. He shares the MLB lead with three offensive juggernauts: Milwaukee Brewers 1B Prince Fielder, Philadelphia Phillies 1B Ryan Howard, and Chicago White…
JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Only one player in Tampa Bay Rays history, B.J. Upton, has hit for the cycle in a single game. On Monday (4/11/2011), outfielder Sam Fuld gave up a chance at becoming the second such player to do something even greater. Fuld, 29, had already hit a double, triple, and 3-run home…
JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Sam Fuld has made a lot of highlight-reel catches in his career, but the diving nab he made in right field to stop a bases-loaded, two-out rally by the Chicago White Sox on Saturday (4/9/2011) left both teammates and opponents in awe. Here is video of the…
JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Three games into the 2011 season, Jewish players are aiming for the seats. On Sunday alone (4/3/2011) they hit four, raising the season total to 7 in 54 at-bats, or roughly one HR every 8 at-bats. For comparison’s sake, in 2010 players across all of major-league baseball hit 4,613 HRs in…
JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — The 2011 MLB season opened Thursday (3/31/2011), and Milwaukee Brewers LF Ryan Braun started things off on the right foot. Braun, 27, went 2/3 with a long blast over the center-field fence, two walks, and 3 runs scored in a 7-6 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. In 2010, Braun went 2/4…
JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — At least 19 Jews got playing time during Spring Training 2011, including five pitchers and 14 position players. Here are our awards honoring the best, worst, and most surprising performances: Best All-Around Offense: Ian Kinsler. The Texas Rangers 2B didn’t look like the same player who sat out nearly 100 games…
JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Scot Drucker has an MLB.com blog, a spirited Twitter feed, and a lot of personality. But there’s one thing the 28-year-old Toledo Mud Hens (AAA) pitcher doesn’t have anymore: a job. Drucker reported Monday (3/28/2011) that the Detroit Tigers, the Mud Hens’ parent team, had let him go. With spring training…
Scott Barancik, Editor The Boston Red Sox were already one of baseball’s more Jewish franchises when the team signed P Matt Kramer to a minor-league contract last month. But Kramer’s arrival in Bean Town was far less likely than it was for landsmen like 3B Kevin Youkilis, CF Ryan Kalish, and minor-league standout Ryan…
JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Early on in spring training, Sam Fuld‘s chances of making the Tampa Bay Rays’ opening-day roster didn’t look good. In fact, it was looking a lot like Fuld’s 2010 spring training with the Chicago Cubs, when the scrappy centerfielder hit a meek .143 with just 2 RBIs in 35 at-bats, earning…
JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Last season, Oakland A’s reliever Craig Breslow was the ace, and Chicago Cubs reliever John Grabow lost face. Breslow went 4-4 with a 3.01 ERA, 71 strikeouts and 29 walks in 75 appearances. At a salary of only $425,000, the Yale University alum was a bargain. Grabow , who cost the…
JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Michael Schlact, a 6’7″ pitcher who played in the Texas Rangers’ farm system from 2005-10, has signed a contract with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. “I’m very blessed and excited for the opportunity to play ball in the (independent) Atlantic League,” Schlact wrote on his popular Twitter feed. The Atlantic League…
