Benjamin Ball, an 18-year-old senior outfielder at Hamilton High School in Chandler, starts each day by wrapping tefillin with his father. He wears his Star of David necklace on and off the baseball diamond and says the Shema before each game.
Ball, the fifth-rated Arizona high school senior baseball player according to Sports Illustrated, also has a Star of David on one of his baseball gloves and a cleat. He has the Israeli flag on another glove and “Am Yisrael Chai” on his other cleat.
“Just about everyone in my area knows I’m a Jew, I’m a very proud one, and I’m not afraid to show it,” Ball said. “There’s something special about being Jewish and especially being a ballplayer because so many kids look up to you, especially Jewish kids.”
Ball verbally committed to the University of Arizona just before his freshman year of high school and signed with the Wildcats baseball program earlier this year.
Ball’s parents were both Wildcats, with his father playing rugby there. The family regularly traveled to Tucson for Wildcat games of every stripe.
The Wildcats have a strong baseball program, having reached the College World Series last season with then-senior relief pitcher Eric Orloff, a Jewish player, on the roster.
Ball’s decision to commit to UA also had to do with the strong Jewish community and the opportunity to get involved with Chabad on campus.
Growing up in Chandler, he’s been one of only a handful of Jews in his school. He became a bar mitzvah in 2020, but due to social distancing rules at the time, it was a low-key event inside his home.
“Being in a very Jewish environment was something big for me,” Ball said. “I want to be somewhere where I can be myself. Arizona has a world-class coach in Chip Hale, and his wife is Jewish. I look forward to going to Chabad, learning more about Judaism, and getting involved. With a Jewish family, family means everything. My parents, sister, and grandparents can watch my games, and still being able to come back and go to High Holy Days is another big thing for me.”
Ball will also return to play in the Phoenix area, both when the Wildcats visit Arizona State in Tempe and when they compete in the Big 12 Conference Tournament each May at a spring training stadium in Surprise.
Ball said that although there was no single factor in his decision to lean more into his Jewish faith and identity, the largest factor was the horrific attacks of Oct. 7, 2023.
“For most Jews, Oct. 7 was a dramatic change,” he said. “That was hard on me, and that was hard on my family. The pride that I take in my Jewish identity has grown immensely since then. Our families did so much to get to America to be Jewish today. Because of how much they went through for us to get to where we are, representing my faith and identity is something I have to do.”
He’s also witnessed antisemitism firsthand.
He remembered a family trip to Hawaii where he wore a Team Israel baseball cap and a man approached him with comments about “controlling the world.”
“You’re fighting an uphill battle where people are ignorant, and they don’t care,” Ball said. “I take the high road, instead of giving it a big reaction.”
In middle school, there was a dress as your favorite book character day, and a classmate asked Ball why he didn’t dress as “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.”
He’s also witnessed teenagers in the Phoenix area delivering the Nazi salute.
“It’s a crazy time right now to be Jewish,” Ball said. “It kind of feels isolating. I stand up for my faith and identity. My great-grandparents fought in World War II, as did the great-grandparents of most American kids. Their great-grandparents would be very disappointed in them doing the Nazi salute. Americans died in that war.”
Ball said he’s fortunate not to have experienced any outward antisemitism on the field.
Describing a trip to Israel in his early teens as the “most amazing trip of my life,” he said he’d “one thousand percent” play for Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic, if given the opportunity.
“When my family was escaping Czarist Russia, some of our family stayed behind and ended up in Israel,” Ball said. “I got to meet them on that trip, which was awesome.”
Ball was called up to the Hamilton varsity as a freshman and was part of the Huskies’ ninth state championship in 2023. He’s hoping to add another ring this spring, before he heads south to Tucson.
Earlier this season, he faced a fellow Jewish player, Saguaro High School shortstop Zander Bratsipis, with Saguaro winning, 4-2. Bratsipis is Arizona’s eighth-rated senior high school baseball prospect and is committed to Kansas State. The duo could very well face each other in Big 12 competition in college.
“I’ve known Zander for a while,” Ball said. “I played against him when I was 12 or 13 and had no clue he was Jewish. Finally got to play with him on a team and bonded over our Judaism. We have a friendship rooted in history. He’s a great kid, great player, and very proud Jew. Normally, I’m the only Jewish kid on the team, but this summer, I played with four Jewish kids, all of whom are heading to play for Division I college baseball programs.”
Ball, a lifelong Arizona Diamondbacks fan, knows that playing professional baseball could be in his future if things go well in Tucson.
“Baseball is awesome, but no matter if you end up making $100 million or going to college for four years, baseball will end at some point,” Ball said. “I want to win a state championship and get on campus in Tucson, do my thing there and develop as a player and play the game the right way. I’ll keep grinding, respecting the game, playing it the right way, and whatever happens, happens.”
