By Stuart M. Katz, correspondent When centerfielder Sam Fuld and nine other Jewish athletes head to Israel on January 3 for what might be dubbed a ‘Baseball Birthright’ trip, they won’t be alone. Wives, parents, sons, and a fiancée will be traveling with this minyan of Major League players and prospects, all of whom plan to represent…
By Stuart M. Katz, correspondent Dean Kremer spent this past Summer like many other college students, traveling and meeting new people. But unlike his peers, Kremer returned home with an award: Best Pitcher in the European Pool C Championships in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Playing for tourney champ Israel, the 18-year-old Californian started two games and went 2-0 with…
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…
Author: Joshua L. Berkowitz (Website; Facebook) Published: 2012 Pages: 288 Price: $12.07 at Amazon Our rating: 5 stars (out of 5) Reviewed by Stuart M. Katz for Jewish Baseball News Overview In Third Base For Life, author Josh Berkowitz recounts the extraordinary but true journey taken by a rag-tag team of third-graders from a sandlot behind a Jewish day…
Authors: Peter Ephross, Martin Abramowitz Published: 2012 Pages: 227 Price: $35 (Amazon.com or McFarland Publishing/800-253-2187) Our rating: 4 stars (out of 5) Reviewed by Stuart M. Katz for Jewish Baseball News Overview In Jewish Major Leaguers in Their Own Words, authors Peter Ephross and Martin Abramowitz present oral histories of 23 of the Jewish players who were on Major…
Author: Chad Harbach (Blog; Twitter; Facebook) Published: 2011 Pages: 528 Price: $15.30 at Amazon.com Our rating: 5 stars (out of 5) Reviewed by Stuart M. Katz for Jewish Baseball News Overview Widely touted as a “must read” of 2011, The Art of Fielding is about baseball players and the people who love them. Set at the fictitious Midwestern,…
Author: Aaron Pribble (Twitter; Facebook) Published: 2011 (website) Pages: 280 Price: $16.47 ($24.95) at Amazon.com Our rating: 4 stars (out of 5) Reviewed by Stuart M. Katz for Jewish Baseball News Overview The Israel Baseball League (“IBL”) played its inaugural season in the summer of 2007. During an eight-week, 45 game season, six teams –…
