By Scott Barancik, Editor A total of 146 seasons have passed since Lip Pike became the first Jewish player to homer. Now, we have a new milestone to celebrate. Joc Pederson‘s game-tying, 2-run blast last night was the 113th Jewish home run of the season, tying the mark set in 2012. Pederson’s home run, his 25th of the year,…
xxxx By Scott Barancik, Editor Detroit 2B Ian Kinsler crushed his 200th career home run today in a 5-1 win over the Rays. The two-run shot, his second in two days, came off P Danny Farquhar in the 9th inning and struck the catwalk high above Tampa Bay’s Tropicana Field. Kinsler is the fifth Jewish player to reach the…
By Scott Barancik, Editor From 1976 until MLB officials told him “You’re out!” in 2001, Al Clark was one of baseball’s most respected umpires, and among very few who were Jewish. In a new memoir written with Dan Schlossberg, the 66-year-old Clark recalls the highlights and lowlights of his life in and out of baseball,…
Going shopping? Please use our Amazon.com link. —————————————————————————————————————————————— By Scott Barancik/Jewish Baseball News If it seemed like Jewish ballplayers were smacking a lot of home runs this season, it wasn’t your imagination. Several records were broken or matched in 2012. Jewish major leaguers (excluding pitchers) hit a combined 116 HRs, topping the prior record of…
By Scott Barancik/Jewish Baseball News When Ryan Braun smashed three HRs against the San Diego Padres on Monday night (see video), Jewish baseball fans everywhere celebrated. Here are a few more reasons to be proud: The Milwaukee Brewers right fielder is just the fifth Jewish player since 1918 to homer 3 or more times in a 9-inning…
JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Call it the Jewish Baseball News curse. Last month, we reported that Milwaukee Brewers LF Ryan Braun was leading the National League with 12 HRs and dared to speculate whether he might become the first Jewish home-run king since Cleveland Indians 3B Al Rosen in 1953. Braun, 27, didn’t hit another…
JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — It’s been quite a while since a Jewish ballplayer won a major-league home run crown. Fifty-eight years, to be precise. The last to do it? Cleveland Indians 3B Al Rosen, whose 43 HRs led the American League in 1953. Today, Rosen is 87 years old, which is a pretty good measure…
JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Baseball, as we all know, is a stats-obsessed sport. Some fans are more interested in a player’s career HR total or on-base percentage than in his personal journey to the Majors. That’s one of the nice things about Matzoh Balls and Baseballs, a book recently published by longtime Georgia State University…
