From the Archives | Home (Plate) for the Holidays?
When important baseball games fall on Shabbat or the High Holy Days, what’s a Jewish baseball player to do?
22
Jul
30
Oct
When Baseball Was Too American for Jews
Albert Dabah, the writer and director of the truly wonderful drama Extra Innings, has delivered a heartrendingly personal portrayal based on his own life story.
07
Sep
How Two Jewish Baseball Players Processed the 1972 Munich Massacre
They weren’t just Jews but Jewish athletes, going about their professional lives in a strange city, as the Israelis had been doing a day earlier.
06
Apr
As Baseball Season Starts, Still Cheering for Team Israel
As the Major League Baseball season starts this week, some of us Jewish baseball fans are still reminiscing how well Team Israel did last month in the World Baseball Classic.
16
Nov
Is This The Golden Age of Jewish Baseball?
A new generation of high-caliber Jewish major league players—including four All-Stars—takes the field. Plus exclusive profiles of Ryan Braun, Craig Breslow, Ike Davis, Danny Valencia and Kevin Youkilis.
26
Aug
In or Out of the Jewish Clubhouse?
by Theodore Samets
“Of the roughly 17,000 guys who’ve played professional baseball, precious few are Jews.”
That was how Scott Barancik, editor of Jewish Baseball News, framed the debate in the New York Times over whether to welcome Ralph Branca to the rather small club of Jewish ballplayers.
Not everyone agrees with Barancik, who argues that the revelation that Branca’s mother converted from Judaism to Catholicism is evidence enough for Jewish sports fans (a group far larger than professional Jewish athletes, it would seem) to claim Branca, a pitcher most famous not for something he did right, but for something he did wrong.
On Oct. 3, 1951, Branca, pitching in relief for the Brooklyn Dodgers, gave up a game- and series-ending three-run home run to New York Giants outfielder Bobby Thompson. The moment became known as the “shot heard...
16
Dec
Play Hard, Pray Harder
By Gabriel Weinstein
Just two years after leaving the University of Florida facing charges of larceny and theft Auburn University quarterback Cameron Newton was full of gratitude winning the Heisman Trophy. Though Newton thanked his parents, coaches and teammates, he opened his speech thanking someone who has never helped him ice sore muscles or analyze a blitz–God. He proclaimed: “First giving all the honor and glory to God, who is the head of my life. Without him we would not even be here right now. Thank you for that.”
The number of athletes publicly proclaiming their faith has ballooned over the past 50 years through the establishment of sports ministry organizations such as Athletes in Action and Fellowship of Christian Athletes. These ministry organizations have made religious expression more socially acceptable in the locker room and on...