What It Means for the Jews When Youkilis, Braun, Kinsler Become All-Stars
By Mason Levinson
July 2 (Bloomberg) -- Jewish fans of baseball -- fascinated
with Hall of Famers Sandy Koufax, Hank Greenberg and Lou
Boudreau -- may have a new crop of athletes to dote upon at this
year’s All-Star Game.
Ryan Braun, Kevin Youkilis and Ian Kinsler lead in
balloting for the squads, and pitcher Jason Marquis had the most
wins in his league through June 30, meaning the four Jewish
players are favorites to earn invitations to Major League
Baseball’s All-Star Game on July 14. It would be the first time
four Jews were named to the event.
“We’re in a glory time for Jewish baseball players,” said
Howard Megdal, author of “The Baseball Talmud: The Definitive
Position-by-Position Ranking of Baseball’s Chosen Players.”
“The fact that you have three stars in Kinsler, Braun and
Youkilis all under the age of 30 and all seemingly continuing to
improve is a very impressive thing.”
Greenberg, Boudreau and Goody Rosen all were named 1945
All-Stars, though the game wasn’t played due to World War II.
Jewish players Mike Lieberthal, Brad Ausmus and Shawn Green each
earned the honor in 1999, and last year, Braun, Youkilis and
Kinsler were selected.
Youkilis, who turned 30 in March, was raised in a
conservative Jewish household, as was Marquis, also 30. Braun,
25, and Kinsler, 27, both said they consider themselves
representatives of the Jewish community after being born to
Jewish fathers and Christian mothers.
Both Kinsler, the Texas Rangers’ second-baseman, and
Youkilis, a first baseman for the Boston Red Sox, lead the
American League voting at their positions. Braun of the
Milwaukee Brewers is second in the National League outfielder
voting, with the top three earning starting positions.
Rockies’ Marquis
Marquis, who is 10-5 for the Colorado Rockies, two days ago
became the first NL pitcher to win his 10th game this season.
The All-Star starters will be announced on July 5.
“I don’t know if it’s a heyday or what you’d call it,”
Youkilis said in an interview. “Hopefully, there’s more to come
after us.”
Youkilis, who is batting .314, isn’t hesitant to joke about
his background with fellow Jewish players.
“He’ll throw little comments at me every once in a while
if I reach first while he’s playing,” Kinsler, who had 19 home
runs through June 30, said in an interview. “He’ll just say,
‘Happy Passover,’ or something stupid like that. He’s pretty
into it.”
160 Jews
Just 160 Jews -- those who either had a Jewish parent or
considered themselves Jewish -- have played in the big leagues,
according to the Jewish Sports Review, making up 0.9 percent of
the approximately 16,900-man all-time roster. While Jews make up
2.2 percent of the American population, according to the
American Jewish Yearbook, the 11 active pro players account for
1.5 percent of today’s major-leaguers.
With books on Jews and baseball, as well as a
documentary and even some college classes, the sport provides a
way for Jews, and all Americans, to think about the way the
world works, said Rabbi Rebecca Alpert, who teaches a course
titled “Jews, America and Sports” at Temple University in
Philadelphia.
“It’s a way of Jews feeling like we belong,” she said.
“If baseball is the national pastime, it’s kind of a way of
saying, ‘We’re part of that too. We’re part of that story.’”
‘Jewish Sports Legends’
The generalization of Jews as non-athletes was parodied in
the 1980 movie “Airplane!,” when flight attendant Elaine
Dickinson, played by Julie Hagerty, asked a passenger if she
would like something to read. When the woman asked, “Do you
have anything light?” Hagerty’s character replied: “How about
this leaflet, ‘Famous Jewish Sports Legends.’”
“There is this kind of self-image that somehow Jews were
not (athletes), either because of a religious dislike of blood
sport or a historic sense that Jews were supposed to be
studious,” Alpert said in a telephone interview. “Jews kind of
get counted out of the history of sport, and if you look back,
it isn’t quite so true.”
Megdal’s book ranks every Jewish major-leaguer by the
position he has played, using modern statistical analysis to
compare generations. He found that Greenberg narrowly topped
Koufax as the greatest Jewish ballplayer, and that third base
was the weakest Jewish position.
Third Base
“Third base is a paradox for the Jewish people,”
according to Megdal’s “The Baseball Talmud.” “Given the lack
of Jewish players at the position, you’d think the bag was made
of pork.”
“That’s pretty funny,” Braun said in an interview when
read the excerpt. Rather than Kosher considerations, he
suggested that the inactivity and tendency for short hops at
third base were the reasons he struggled there for a season
before being moved to left field.
Among those more famous for a Jewish background (thanks
partly to an incorrect mention in Adam Sandler’s “Hanukah
Song”) is Hall of Fame inductee Rod Carew. Though Carew married
a Jewish woman and raised his children in the religion, he never
converted or identified himself as Jewish. Had he, he would have
joined Ken Holtzman and Richie Scheinblum as a Jewish threesome
in the 1972 All-Star Game.
Megdal predicts that Braun will retire as the third-
greatest Jewish player, with Kinsler and Youkilis also making
the top 10. Carew, whose 3,053 hits are 22nd all-time, isn’t on
the list.
“Unfortunately not,” Megdal said. “He’d be nice at the
top of the order.”
July 2 (Bloomberg) -- Jewish fans of baseball -- fascinated
with Hall of Famers Sandy Koufax, Hank Greenberg and Lou
Boudreau -- may have a new crop of athletes to dote upon at this
year’s All-Star Game.
Ryan Braun, Kevin Youkilis and Ian Kinsler lead in
balloting for the squads, and pitcher Jason Marquis had the most
wins in his league through June 30, meaning the four Jewish
players are favorites to earn invitations to Major League
Baseball’s All-Star Game on July 14. It would be the first time
four Jews were named to the event.
“We’re in a glory time for Jewish baseball players,” said
Howard Megdal, author of “The Baseball Talmud: The Definitive
Position-by-Position Ranking of Baseball’s Chosen Players.”
“The fact that you have three stars in Kinsler, Braun and
Youkilis all under the age of 30 and all seemingly continuing to
improve is a very impressive thing.”
Greenberg, Boudreau and Goody Rosen all were named 1945
All-Stars, though the game wasn’t played due to World War II.
Jewish players Mike Lieberthal, Brad Ausmus and Shawn Green each
earned the honor in 1999, and last year, Braun, Youkilis and
Kinsler were selected.
Youkilis, who turned 30 in March, was raised in a
conservative Jewish household, as was Marquis, also 30. Braun,
25, and Kinsler, 27, both said they consider themselves
representatives of the Jewish community after being born to
Jewish fathers and Christian mothers.
Both Kinsler, the Texas Rangers’ second-baseman, and
Youkilis, a first baseman for the Boston Red Sox, lead the
American League voting at their positions. Braun of the
Milwaukee Brewers is second in the National League outfielder
voting, with the top three earning starting positions.
Rockies’ Marquis
Marquis, who is 10-5 for the Colorado Rockies, two days ago
became the first NL pitcher to win his 10th game this season.
The All-Star starters will be announced on July 5.
“I don’t know if it’s a heyday or what you’d call it,”
Youkilis said in an interview. “Hopefully, there’s more to come
after us.”
Youkilis, who is batting .314, isn’t hesitant to joke about
his background with fellow Jewish players.
“He’ll throw little comments at me every once in a while
if I reach first while he’s playing,” Kinsler, who had 19 home
runs through June 30, said in an interview. “He’ll just say,
‘Happy Passover,’ or something stupid like that. He’s pretty
into it.”
160 Jews
Just 160 Jews -- those who either had a Jewish parent or
considered themselves Jewish -- have played in the big leagues,
according to the Jewish Sports Review, making up 0.9 percent of
the approximately 16,900-man all-time roster. While Jews make up
2.2 percent of the American population, according to the
American Jewish Yearbook, the 11 active pro players account for
1.5 percent of today’s major-leaguers.
With books on Jews and baseball, as well as a
documentary and even some college classes, the sport provides a
way for Jews, and all Americans, to think about the way the
world works, said Rabbi Rebecca Alpert, who teaches a course
titled “Jews, America and Sports” at Temple University in
Philadelphia.
“It’s a way of Jews feeling like we belong,” she said.
“If baseball is the national pastime, it’s kind of a way of
saying, ‘We’re part of that too. We’re part of that story.’”
‘Jewish Sports Legends’
The generalization of Jews as non-athletes was parodied in
the 1980 movie “Airplane!,” when flight attendant Elaine
Dickinson, played by Julie Hagerty, asked a passenger if she
would like something to read. When the woman asked, “Do you
have anything light?” Hagerty’s character replied: “How about
this leaflet, ‘Famous Jewish Sports Legends.’”
“There is this kind of self-image that somehow Jews were
not (athletes), either because of a religious dislike of blood
sport or a historic sense that Jews were supposed to be
studious,” Alpert said in a telephone interview. “Jews kind of
get counted out of the history of sport, and if you look back,
it isn’t quite so true.”
Megdal’s book ranks every Jewish major-leaguer by the
position he has played, using modern statistical analysis to
compare generations. He found that Greenberg narrowly topped
Koufax as the greatest Jewish ballplayer, and that third base
was the weakest Jewish position.
Third Base
“Third base is a paradox for the Jewish people,”
according to Megdal’s “The Baseball Talmud.” “Given the lack
of Jewish players at the position, you’d think the bag was made
of pork.”
“That’s pretty funny,” Braun said in an interview when
read the excerpt. Rather than Kosher considerations, he
suggested that the inactivity and tendency for short hops at
third base were the reasons he struggled there for a season
before being moved to left field.
Among those more famous for a Jewish background (thanks
partly to an incorrect mention in Adam Sandler’s “Hanukah
Song”) is Hall of Fame inductee Rod Carew. Though Carew married
a Jewish woman and raised his children in the religion, he never
converted or identified himself as Jewish. Had he, he would have
joined Ken Holtzman and Richie Scheinblum as a Jewish threesome
in the 1972 All-Star Game.
Megdal predicts that Braun will retire as the third-
greatest Jewish player, with Kinsler and Youkilis also making
the top 10. Carew, whose 3,053 hits are 22nd all-time, isn’t on
the list.
“Unfortunately not,” Megdal said. “He’d be nice at the
top of the order.”
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