Tagged Major League Baseball

(JTA) — Dean Kremer, the first Israeli baseball player to be drafted into the Major Leagues, was called up to the Baltimore Orioles and earned a victory in his debut — all in less than 24 hours. Kremer led the Orioles to a 5-1 win over the New York… Read more »

(JTA) – Former pro baseball player Cody Decker said that anti-Semitism is “rampant throughout baseball” and that an Oakland Athletics coach should be suspended for making a Nazi salute after a game. Decker, who played briefly for the San Diego Padres and for Israel’s national team in the World… Read more »

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (JTA) – Sitting on a couch near his locker at the Houston Astros’ spring training facility here in mid-March, Alex Bregman is reflecting about an encounter his father had at the World Series last fall. It was in Los Angeles, between innings of the opening… Read more »

(JTA) — October marks the beginning of a new year, a time of fresh starts and second chances — and playoff baseball, the climax of a summer of (we still insist) American Jewry’s favorite sport. But if Jews and baseball go together like peanuts and Cracker Jacks (Jewish immigrants found America “in baseball,”… Read more »

(JTA) – For many, summer is all about the three B’s: baseball, beaches and books. With the weather and pennant races sizzling, two journalists and the mayor of baseball’s mythical home village of Cooperstown, New York — all Jewish — have provided their takes about a sport that has… Read more »

(JTA) – Will Joc Pederson rebound from his second-half struggles of last season? Can Kevin Pillar build on his strong 2015 campaign? Will injuries derail one-time MVP Ryan Braun? These are some of the questions to be answered as these Jewish players and others get set for the Major… Read more »

(JTA) – For Justine Siegal, attending Opening Day games of the Cleveland Indians with her grandfather led to a lifelong passion for baseball – and dreams of one day playing for the Tribe. “Heaven,” she called the outings, where she sat in the best seats in the house —… Read more »

PHILADELPHIA (JTA) – Visiting Israel the past few winters to see his daughter and her family led to an unexpected job for Jerry Narron, a devout Christian and a baseball lifer: a coaching position for Israel’s team in the next World Baseball Classic. In 2013, Callie Mitchell had just… Read more »

Major League Baseball's official historian, John Thorn, pictured holding a royal decree knighting his great-grandfather, says the past enhances the present in sports as well as family matters. (Hillel Kuttler).

CATSKILL, N.Y. (JTA) – The past escorts John Thorn home from the moment he greets a visitor at a 139-year-old railroad station, crosses the Rip Van Winkle Bridge and arrives at his residence, a county historical landmark. Clad in a facsimile jacket of the defunct Negro Leagues’ Kansas City… Read more »