BBTF's Newsblog Discussion :: Bloomberg: Levinson: What Does It Mean for the Jews With Youkilis, Braun, Kinsler?

Baseball Primer Newsblog
— The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand

Thursday, July 02, 2009

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

Uhh…they can now completely forget Ross Baumgarten’s year with the Pirates?

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.”

...“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.

Repoz Posted: July 02, 2009 at 05:43 PM | 34 comment(s) | Login to Bookmark
Related News: General, History, Media, Books

Reader Comments and Retorts

Go to end of page

Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.

Page 1 of 1 pages

1. Craig Calcaterra Posted: July 02, 2009 at 06:01 PM (#3240616)

...“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.”

You could see that joke coming from a mile away, but I still lol'd.

2. Tulo's Fishy Mullet (mrams) Posted: July 02, 2009 at 07:55 PM (#3240832)

Maybe it should be renamed the "Hot Pork Sandwich Corner"

3. The District Attorney Posted: July 02, 2009 at 07:59 PM (#3240841)

Youkilis is/was a pretty decent 3B.

4. Bitter Calculus Instructor Posted: July 02, 2009 at 08:18 PM (#3240876)

I'd venture to guess that most of the Jewish ballplayers eat pork.

5. rLr Is King Of The Romans And Above Grammar Posted: July 02, 2009 at 08:23 PM (#3240881)

Wasn't Al Rosen a notable Jewish third baseman?

6. Pasta-diving Jeter (jmac66) Posted: July 02, 2009 at 08:51 PM (#3240918)

Wasn't Al Rosen a notable Jewish third baseman?

yeah--I was gonna say...

and it's interesting to me how Boudreau has made a comeback, so to speak, in his Semitism

7. Rich Rifkin Posted: July 02, 2009 at 09:13 PM (#3240932)

Speaking of those who won't eat pork (not counting him), has there ever been a born-and-raised Muslim in the majors?

8. Steve Treder Posted: July 02, 2009 at 09:20 PM (#3240935)

has there ever been a born-and-raised Muslim in the majors?

I don't know, was Sammy Khalifa Muslim? Maybe Turk Lown?

Turk Farrell? *rimshot*

9. Rich Rifkin Posted: July 02, 2009 at 09:31 PM (#3240945)

From Wikipedia on Sam Khalifa, who played for the Pirates:

His primary historical importance arises from his status as the first person of Egyptian descent to play major league baseball, and also as the first and only Muslim player of Arab descent, making him the Muslim Jackie Robinson. He ended his career with a .219 batting average, a .294 on base percentage, and a .285 slugging percentage. Khalifa's father, Rashad Khalifa, was murdered on January 31, 1990. Though no one was ever convicted of the murder, Islamic extremists opposed to his teachings have been connected to it.

Unless there was a widespread anti-Muslim prejudice in and outside of baseball stopping owners from signing highly talented Muslim players, Khalifa was not the Muslim #42. But it's cool to be #1.

10. Davo the Magnificent Posted: July 02, 2009 at 09:33 PM (#3240946)

Per Wikipedia, Sam Khalifa was the only Muslim to play in the majors.

11. Davo the Magnificent Posted: July 02, 2009 at 09:33 PM (#3240948)

Damn, my first coke.

12. puck Posted: July 02, 2009 at 09:36 PM (#3240949)

I don't know, was Sammy Khalifa Muslim

Holy cow, I had no idea about this story: Rashad Khalifa, Sam's dad.

He founded the religious group called United Submitters International (USI), a group which considers itself to be the true Islam, but prefers not to use the terms "Muslim" or "Islam," instead using the English equivalents of the Arabic: "Submitter" or "Submission."

...On January 31, 1990, Khalifa was murdered at Masjid Tucson. He was stabbed 29 times and his body drenched in xylol but not set alight.

This page refers to a fatwa that had been issued against the elder Khalifa.

Edit: a lot of cokeage goin' on here...

13. puck Posted: July 02, 2009 at 09:45 PM (#3240957)

Anyway, my one memory of Sam Khalifa might not even be right, but I remember a photograph of him being carried off the field in some pitcher's arms and looking like a little leaguer due to the height differences.

I thought the pitcher was Jim Bibby, but it doesn't look like he and Khalifa were on the same teams. Maybe I have it all wrong and it was Bibby carrying another diminutive infielder off the field.

14. Joe Bivens, Schmoo from Massachoosetts Posted: July 02, 2009 at 09:49 PM (#3240961)

Ryan, Kevin and Ian are jewish names? Who knew?

15. rLr Is King Of The Romans And Above Grammar Posted: July 02, 2009 at 09:50 PM (#3240963)

Ryan, Kevin and Ian are jewish names? Who knew?

You'd prefer Shmuley, Hymie, and Yossel?

16. Joe Bivens, Schmoo from Massachoosetts Posted: July 02, 2009 at 09:54 PM (#3240967)

It's a shonda!

17. rLr Is King Of The Romans And Above Grammar Posted: July 02, 2009 at 09:57 PM (#3240970)

You're a meshuggener.

18. Joe Bivens, Schmoo from Massachoosetts Posted: July 02, 2009 at 09:59 PM (#3240971)

Don't hock me a chynek.

19. Obama Bomaye Posted: July 02, 2009 at 10:02 PM (#3240972)

I thought the pitcher was Jim Bibby, but it doesn't look like he and Khalifa were on the same teams. Maybe I have it all wrong and it was Bibby carrying another diminutive infielder off the field.

Maybe it was Jamie Quirk?

20. rLr Is King Of The Romans And Above Grammar Posted: July 02, 2009 at 10:05 PM (#3240974)

No bickering in front of the goyim, my Litvak brother.

21. Home Run Teal & Black Black Black Gone! Posted: July 02, 2009 at 10:11 PM (#3240977)

Judaism. Man, that fad is sticking around, isn't it?

22. Der_K is getting more dogmatic. Posted: July 02, 2009 at 10:23 PM (#3240985)

Rashad Khalifa: Whoa - I had no idea.

23. Walt Davis Posted: July 02, 2009 at 10:43 PM (#3240996)

He ended his career with a .219 batting average, a .294 on base percentage, and a .285 slugging percentage.

I think this makes him the Muslim Rafael Belliard.

Not that I don't wish I was the Welsh-Irish-German-mutt-Episcopalian Rafael Belliard.

24. villageidiom Posted: July 02, 2009 at 10:45 PM (#3240998)

Ryan Braun, Kevin Youkilis and Ian Kinsler lead in balloting for the squads

Hey, balloting isn't done yet; they're not the chosen people. Oh, wait...

25. Russlan will never be fond of Jason Bay Posted: July 02, 2009 at 11:49 PM (#3241050)

Khalifa's father was actually much more famous (and eventually infamous) than his son in the Arab Muslim world for his mathematical analysis of the Koran that many people believe proves the divinity of the text. That's what made him famous. He later claimed to be a prophet from God, and that's what made him infamous.

His original work is ingenious. Here's a link that briefly describes what he discovered.

http://submission.org/quran/app1.html

26. Srul Itza Posted: July 03, 2009 at 01:01 AM (#3241112)

He later claimed to be a prophet from God, and that's what made him infamous.

Given that, for most Muslims, Mohammad is deemed "the seal of the prophets" -- the greatest and LAST of the prophets -- then anyone declaring himself a prophet of Islam is either very convinced of his station, has a death wish, or both.

27. Rich Rifkin Posted: July 03, 2009 at 01:37 AM (#3241131)

anyone declaring himself a prophet of Islam is either very convinced of his station, has a death wish, or both.

Wait a minute ... a death wish? What happened to the 'religion of peace'?

28. Rich Rifkin Posted: July 03, 2009 at 01:41 AM (#3241137)

His original work is ingenious. Here's a link that briefly describes what he discovered.

That is clever, finding 19 as a coincidental number. Yet surely he was looking for a coincidental number. He could have found thousands more examples where 19 plays no part in the Koran. That is not "science." The technical term is bullsh!tism." (*) There are schools of Jewish scholars who do that same sort of b.s. Then these guys -- Jews the same as Muslims in this case -- claim nonsense like, "This phenomenon alone suffices as incontrovertible proof that the Quran is God's message to the world."

*I suspect there are statistical wizards who post on Primer (or whose work is linked here) who could more thoroughly criticize that kind of statistical chicanery than I can. Yet I know enough to know that it is the kind of thing which could be done (if one wanted to) selectively assigning numbers to Heinrich Heine or William Shakespeare or maybe to the writings of Edward Gibbon.

29. Srul Itza Posted: July 03, 2009 at 01:50 AM (#3241142)

Wait a minute ... a death wish? What happened to the 'religion of peace'?

How about "eternal peace", now there's a thought.

30. simon bedford Posted: July 03, 2009 at 02:22 AM (#3241148)

Have any of you noticed that if you take the 46th word from the begining and the 46th word from the end of psalm 46 in the KJV of the bible you get the name "Shakespeare"? and Shakespeare was 46 when it was published in 1611? AND that the VW on the front of Abbey road said "28if" which would have been McCartneys age if he had been alive, except he was 27. Still makes you wonder...

31. PreservedFish Posted: July 03, 2009 at 02:39 AM (#3241152)

And both Shakespeare and McCartney were runners-up for the party's nomination for vice-president in '56.

32. Russlan will never be fond of Jason Bay Posted: July 04, 2009 at 01:28 AM (#3241904)

That is clever, finding 19 as a coincidental number. Yet surely he was looking for a coincidental number. He could have found thousands more examples where 19 plays no part in the Koran. That is not "science." The technical term is bullsh!tism."

I really can't comment on the Jewish studies but Khalifa's study was scientific enough to be published in Scientific America, not a journal but a scientific magazine.

33. Jeff K. Posted: July 04, 2009 at 02:12 AM (#3241921)

Judaism. Man, that fad is sticking around, isn't it?

Sure, everybody knows the real bargains come at the end, like the day after Christmas.

*ducks*

34. Jeff K. Posted: July 04, 2009 at 02:26 AM (#3241926)

And both Shakespeare and McCartney were runners-up for the party's nomination for vice-president in '56.

Shakespeare had a secretary named McCartney and McCartney had a secretary who once understudied Hamlet in Summerstock.

Page 1 of 1 pages

You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.

<< Back to main

Thursday, July 02, 2009

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

Reader Comments and Retorts

Support BBTF

Bookmarks

Hot Topics