From Bloomberg: What Does It Mean for the Jews With Youkilis, Braun, Kinsler?

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What Does It Mean for the Jews With Youkilis, Braun, Kinsler?

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.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Mason Levinson in New York at mlevinson@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: July 2, 2009 00:00 EDT
 

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BRaun is not jewish....his dad was, mom isnt.....the jewish religion considers itself determined by the mom.....his mom has been quoted as saying she hates the media claiming him as jewish, and he isnt.

he has confirmed this, yet was careful to denounce his jewish heritage not wanting to offend others, but he was not raised jewish and doesnt observe holdiays much and plays on yom-kippur etc....
 

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I didn't know Lou Boudreau was Jewish; I would have guess French Canadian or there-about. Some people change their names along the way; one never knows.

I remember when the Miami (Florida Marlins) franchase started up; their ss was Walt Weiss. I guessed that with the large Jewish population in Southeast Florida (Dade & Broward) they need a player of Jewish lineage on the rooster.
 

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I didn't know Lou Boudreau was Jewish; I would have guess French Canadian or there-about. Some people change their names along the way; one never knows.

I remember when the Miami (Florida Marlins) franchase started up; their ss was Walt Weiss. I guessed that with the large Jewish population in Southeast Florida (Dade & Broward) they need a player of Jewish lineage on the rooster.

Turns out, Walt Weiss is not Jewish (see below).

The Marlins thought they were honoring their Jewish first baseman when they decided to give away Mike Jacobs T-shirts as part of Jewish Heritage Day at Dolphin Stadium this afternoon.
One small problem — Jacobs isn't Jewish, a fact the Marlins would have learned if they'd asked Jacobs himself.
Better yet, they could have contacted Martin Abramowitz.
As records custodian for the non-profit Jewish Major Leaguers Inc., Abramowitz is on a mission to catalogue every Jewish player who ever played in the majors — from Lipman Pike of the 1871 Troy Haymakers to Kevin Youkilis of the 2006 Boston Red Sox.
He's at 154 now, and his mission also includes distinguishing the likes of Shawn Green and Brad Ausmus from imposters like Mike Jacobs and Walt Weiss, players with common Jewish names who are not.
 

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18) Ian Kinsler

This second-year second baseman for the Texas Rangers is short on track record but long on potential, after finishing 7th in Rookie of the Year voting last season and swatting 17 homers so far this year. On the downside, you ever try getting a decent potato knish in Arlington, Texas? Not easy.

17) Brad Ausmus

His life looked so promising 20 years ago. Smart kid from Connecticut, shuns the Yankees out of high school and goes to Dartmouth instead. Ausmus would later leave the Big Green to take up baseball as a career. Oh sure, he's now a 15-year veteran considered one of the best defensive catchers to ever play the game. Still -- an Ivy League education, and he chooses mound meetings with Jose Lima over a career in law or medicine? Oy gevalt!

16) Dave Roberts

No, this isn't the guy who famously stole second base in Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees, launching the Red Sox's historic run to the World Series. This Roberts, from Gallipolis, Ohio, pitched 13 seasons in the big leagues for eight different teams. He showed flashes of brilliance, especially in 1971, when his 2.10 ERA ranked 2nd in the league and placed him 6th in Cy Young voting. On the 61-100 Padres, though, that was merely good for a 14-17 record, typifying a career spent with some forgettable ball clubs.

15) Ryan Braun

My buddy Chris Liss of fantasy sports site Rotowire.com has dubbed Braun "the Hebrew Hammer" -- but I'm pretending I made it up. The 23-year-old Southern California native ranks among the major league leaders in batting average, home runs and slugging percentage. Had he gotten the call before late May, Braun would be a legitimate candidate for MVP, an award only two other rookies (Fred Lynn 1975, Ichiro 2001) have ever won.

14) Kevin Youkilis

In Michael Lewis' bestseller "Moneyball," Billy Beane famously referred to Youkilis as "the Greek God of Walks." Not quite. The Red Sox first baseman has parlayed a great batting eye into a key role on baseball's best team. But he's actually Jewish, not Greek. He's also the inspiration for the funniest Internet clip ever about Jews in baseball. "Where's Mel Gibson now?! Where's Mel Gibson now?! He's in rehab, and Youkilis is at first base!"

13) Harry Danning

"Harry the Horse" was a four-time All-Star for the New York Giants, ranking as one of the best catchers in the National League in the late '30s and early '40s. Danning's career was solid if not quite spectacular -- kind of like fellow Giant Freddie Lindstrom's career. The biggest difference between the two: Lindstrom made the Hall of Fame on the strength of his teammates' success a few years earlier, while Danning could only settle for No. 13 in this slightly less illustrious fraternity.

12) Benny Kauff

The Ty Cobb of the Federal League hit .370 and .342 in his two seasons in that splinter circuit, before catching on as an outfielder with the Giants in 1916. Historians have long called the defunct Federal League an inferior version of the major leagues. But Kauff's stats still count on his career record -- a .311 batting average and 234 stolen bases. Kauff later evoked some of Cobb's uglier personality traits, getting implicated in a car theft ring that prematurely ended his career. Although later acquitted, commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis upheld Kauff's ban from the game, calling the acquittal "one of the worst miscarriages of justice that ever came under my observation."

11) Ron Blomberg

A high school star in baseball, football and basketball, Blomberg received 125 scholarship offers to play college hoops and 100 more to hit the gridiron. Choosing baseball instead, Blomberg was drafted 1st overall by the Yankees in 1967, where he spent most of his impressive, but injury-shortened eight-year career. Asked for his thoughts on becoming the first designated hitter in major league history, Blomberg quipped: "I've been a DH all my life: Designated Hebrew."

10) Mike Lieberthal

Lieberthal ranks 5th on the list of Jewish major leaguers with the most homers, with 150. He's now a rarely used backup for the Dodgers, finishing out an impressive career that includes 13 prior seasons with the Phillies and a pair of All-Star berths. Lieberthal wasn't raised in the Jewish faith, and only his father is Jewish, which would disqualify him according to certain branches of Judaism. Here, we say, "Bruchim habaim" (welcome)!

9) Steve Stone

For the first nine years of his career, Stone was an effective if uninspiring pitcher, toiling for his fourth team. Then, in 1980, the light clicked on: Stone went 25-7, posted a 3.23 ERA in 250.1 innings, and became one of the unlikeliest Cy Young Award winners ever. A year later, he was out of baseball after ongoing struggles with tendinitis. His broadcasting career has met with mixed reviews, with supporters admiring his cerebral take on the game and his critics complaining about his sometimes abrasive style.

8) Sid Gordon

An excellent hitter who posted a .377 career on-base percentage and made two All-Star teams, Gordon is nonetheless unfairly remembered as the reason the Braves left Boston for Milwaukee in the 1950s. When franchise shortstop Alvin Dark and veteran second baseman Eddie Stanky stopped getting along with embattled manager Billy Southworth, the Braves responded by trading them to the Giants for a four-player package, led by Gordon. Dark led the 1951 Giants team to the pennant and the 1954 team to the World Series title. Gordon enjoyed three excellent seasons in Boston, but the fans hardly noticed, as attendance plunged from 14,000 a game before the trade to 3,000 per game in 1952. The next year, the team fled for Milwaukee.

7) Shawn Green

Growing up, Green felt little connection to Judaism, and was not bar mitzvahed. That all changed when he cracked the big leagues as a sweet-swinging outfielder for the Blue Jays. Green began embracing his religion while developing a bond with that city's vibrant Jewish community, often getting invited to local simchas. Traded to the Dodgers in 1999, he continued to reconnect with his Jewish roots in Los Angeles. When he famously took a day off to honor the Jewish atonement day of Yom Kippur, he evoked memories of Koufax decades earlier. With more than 300 homers and 1,000 RBIs in his standout career, Green ranks as one of the prolific Jewish sluggers of all time.

6) Ken Holtzman

Only Koufax won more games or struck out more batters among Jewish pitchers. Holtzman's 15-year career included three World Series titles with the A's in the '70s, capped by a 21-13, 2.97 ERA effort in 1973. One of the most successful postseason pitchers in history, Holtzman spun a 6-1 record and 2.30 ERA in four playoff appearances. Like Blomberg, Holtzman is a manager in the fledgling Israel Baseball League, where he serves as skipper for the Petah Tikva Pioneers.

5) Al Rosen

Considered by many as the 3rd-greatest Jewish player in MLB annals, Rosen ranks 5th on this more inclusive list. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Rosen's 1953 MVP season remains one of the best ever for a third baseman: .336 batting average; .422 on-base percentage; .613 slugging percentage, with 43 homers and 145 RBIs. The four-time All-Star and five-time 100-RBI man retired at age 32 due to back and leg injuries. But Rosen's legacy lived on in his 20 years in MLB front offices, including a turnaround with the Giants from worst in 1985 to first two years later. Slurred in his youth and his playing days for his Jewish heritage, Rosen was a tough customer who'd stand up to anyone who insulted his lineage. An amateur boxer who broke his nose 13 times during his baseball playing career, Rosen defied the stereotype of the skinny, nebbish Jew who lacked toughness.

4) Lou Boudreau

He wasn't raised Jewish and never identified with being Jewish. But his mother was on the team, so he is too. Boudreau was one of the greatest shortstops of any faith to ever play, making eight All-Star teams and winning the MVP award in 1949 with a .355 average and 106 RBIs. Following a long managing career, Boudreau was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1970, making him one of four players on this list to be enshrined.

3) Rod Carew

"O.J. Simpson, not a Jew. But guess who is? Hall of Famer Rod Carew."

Adam Sandler missed the mark a bit in his "Chanukah Song," since Carew isn't actually Jewish. But the man who once appeared on the cover of Time as "Baseball's Best Hitter" stood by his convictions. Carew received death threats when he announced plans to marry a Jewish woman, but went through with the ceremony. He went on to observe Jewish customs, including raising his kids in the Jewish faith. One of the best pure hitters the game has ever known, Carew retired with 3,053 hits, a .328 batting average, and a 1991 induction in Cooperstown.

2) Hank Greenberg

As with Ted Williams, you wonder what Greenberg's career numbers would've looked like if he hadn't taken three years off for World War II. Even with those lost seasons, the two-time MVP was one of the most feared sluggers of his day. The original Hammerin' Hank, Greenberg's 58 homers in 1938 stood as the single-season record by a right-handed hitter for 60 years. He was also the first Jewish baseball player to gain widespread attention for refusing to play on Yom Kippur, a decision that was especially controversial since it occurred in the middle of the 1934 pennant race. If you've never seen the superb 1998 documentary "The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg," run, don't walk, to your Netflix queue.

1) Sandy Koufax

This year's Hall of Fame ceremony brought 55 of the 63 living inducted players to Cooperstown, including Willie Mays, Bob Feller and Tom Seaver. But only one player truly left me in awe -- Koufax. Tremendous career, one of the best pitchers who ever lived, yada yada. But how about this: In 1995, a New Jersey collectibles company sold yarmulkes signed by Sandy for $75 each. Let's see Tom Terrific do that.
 

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great thread for us members of the "tribe". as an aside, a famous story that many older relatives like to tell, is that koufax actually missed a ws game to celebrate yom kipper. my elders always bring this fact up every yom kipper when we are temped to go to work and ignore the high holidays. as an aside, shawn green plays baseball on the high hoidays. does it make you "less jewish" if you don't celibrate the holidays and customs? also, though it is an ancient jewish law that "you are what your mother is" i think this is a vestige from the past. in antiquity, you only knew for sure, who the mother is. nowadays, genetics can tell us who the father is if there is a doubt. genetics tell us that you inheret 50% of your genes from each parent. so you are "equally as jewish" whichever parent is jewish in a mixed marriage.
 

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Hey Artie ............how is the little bundle of joy ?
you getting any sleep?
 
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14) Kevin Youkilis

In Michael Lewis' bestseller "Moneyball," Billy Beane famously referred to Youkilis as "the Greek God of Walks." Not quite. The Red Sox first baseman has parlayed a great batting eye into a key role on baseball's best team. But he's actually Jewish, not Greek. He's also the inspiration for the funniest Internet clip ever about Jews in baseball. "Where's Mel Gibson now?! Where's Mel Gibson now?! He's in rehab, and Youkilis is at first base!"
where is this clip, anyone know?
 

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5/22/2011:

Kevin Youkilis extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a two-run triple in the seventh inning for Boston, which secured its eighth win in nine outings.
 

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