Hank Greenberg in extra innings

Published on May 9, 2013

"I think Hank Greenberg was the great American hero," Washington filmmaker Aviva Kempner says. "What he did on Yom Kippur. What he faced. He was our Jackie Robinson."

Jackie and the Jews [Irish, Italians, Blacks, Poles]: Ethnicity in post-war America

By Michael Berenbaum
Published on April 8, 2013

Jackie was the first. Jackie could not just play the game for himself. He was playing the game for every one of his race who had been denied a chance, whose future was closed because of racism and segregation. Indeed, as I remember it, Jackie played the game for every minority kid whose opportunities were constrained because of discrimination.

All-star Jewish baseball team

Published on October 3, 2012

During Yom Kippur, many Jews fret over whether Jewish Major Leaguers will play on the holiest of holidays. This has become a growing problem, because the number of Jews playing Major League Baseball (MLB) has been increasing.

Art Shamsky to represent Israel baseball at Classic

Published on August 29, 2012

Former Major Leaguer Art Shamsky will serve as Israel's ambassador to the World Baseball Classic Qualifier in Jupiter, Fla.

Amid roasted pigs, country music and rabbinical blessings, Romney seeks to define himself

Published on August 28, 2012

Whole barbecued pigs, cheerleaders and elegies to skinny-dipping farmers' daughters. That was the organized noise Sunday night at the opening bash of the Republican National Convention at Tropicana Field, the home of Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg.

Baseball’s reluctant Jewish hero

Published on May 5, 2011

Hyman (Hank) Greenberg, Major League Baseball player extraordinaire and subject of “Hank Greenberg: The Hero Who Didn’t Want to Be One” by Mark Kurlansky (Yale University Press, $25.00), probably would have disliked being included in the “Jewish Lives” series published by Yale University Press.

A Minyan in the Outfield

Published on September 23, 1999

From his office in Pico-Robertson, Ephraim Moxson counts Jewish professional athletes. There are five playing in the National Hockey League, a couple in the National Basketball Assn., four in the National Football League. But in Major League Baseball, there will be, by the end of 1999, 11 Jewish ballplayers. "That's more than any decade, even the 1960s," says Moxson, co-publisher of the Jewish Sports Review.
Which raises two questions: Why so many Jews in the majors? And why should we care?