The last time there was a Jewish
shortstop he didn’t know he was Jewish until later on in life nor did the
public know till his death. His name was Lou Boudreau, Hall
of Fame shortstop who played for the Cleveland Indians for 15 years. He was
born to a Jewish mother making him Jewish by religious standards. But his dad
who of French descent raised him as Catholic so he didn’t identify as a Jew
during his playing and managing days.
Fast-forward to the July 25th 2016
it is the debut of the Houston Astros new third basemen rookie Alex Bregman. He
would be taking the job from opening day third baseman Luis Valbuena, who would
have season ending surgery.
Bregman might be playing third base for the
Astros but make no mistake he is a shortstop. He has been a shortstop since
high school. As a freshman he helped lead his team to a high school state
championship. As a sophomore he won gold for the gold medal 16 and under USA
national team and was the MVP. During his junior year he won gold with 18-and-under U.S. National Team to a gold medal, and was all state with All-Metro honors and
All-District honors.
In
college he would win countless awards like the Brooks Wallace award for the country’s
best shortstop, an All-American, freshman of the year, SEC player of the year,
finalist for the Golden Spikes award, and was a Rawlings Gold Glove winner. Proving he can handle the position.
We all know he will not play shortstop for the Astros since Carlos Correa is entrenched at the same position. It doesn’t mean he can’t play
shortstop, he only converted to third base to get called up and to take
advantage of his great bat.
I’m not saying Bregman is going to be a Hall of
Fame player but there is a reason for this connection, but it’s a historic
connection as there haven’t been many Jewish shortstops with Ian Kinsler being
the last one before switching to second base full time when he debuted.
With baseball no longer in the Olympics since
2008, the only way to compete against the country in baseball has been the
World Baseball Classic in 2009 and 2013. Central America and Asia were ruling
the contest, because they play year round and are more ready to compete when
ever, unlike USA and Canada.
When it
comes to Team Israel who doesn’t just have Israeli citizens they have Jewish
born players no matter which parent, to play for them. They didn’t enter the
first and second times, but entered the third time for Qualifier round 1 where
they lost to France in 10 innings.
In that tournament they only had one major
league pitcher who is in the minors now (Josh Zeid), two quad A first basemen (Nate
Freiman and Josh Satin), a then 21 year old up and coming center fielder Joc
Pederson, and a then 40 year old Shawn Green who had been retired for six years
out there for them, besides the minor leaguers and national players from
Israel. The
lack of Major League players affected Israel far more than its opponents, none
of which were in the Major Leagues at the time.
So back
to Bregman it would be good for Israel, USA and the world for him to play for
team Israel in the WBC or in the Olympics since baseball will be back for the
2020 games. They haven’t had anyone with experience to play shortstop for
Israel, which is a key position like catcher.
It’s not
just Bregman, the last time major leaguers like Kevin Youkalis, Ian Kinsler,
and Ryan Braun were among some that were qualified to play, (since they have
one Jewish grandparent or are married to a Jew which is the eligibility rule for
team Israel) most of them declined or said only if they make it to the actual
tournament not the qualifiers.
If any one of the all
star players played for team Israel in the qualifiers in 2013 it may have made
a difference, but we don’t really know since they lost on a silly rule in extra
innings where they were eliminated due to the
tournaments modified
double-elimination format. This meant that the final game was
winner-take-all. But it might have helped which is why the current crop of
major league talent and future talent should play for Israel in this year’s
World Baseball Classic and the Olympics of 2020.
It’s
not about making the team better and winning which is a good reason, but it’s
about national pride which is why players in the NBA and NHL play in the
Olympics/World Cup Hockey/FIBA even if it takes time away from their personal
off time. It’s an honor to wear those colors for your team no matter if you are
wearing the colors of America, China, Germany, Brazil, or Israel in this case.
But since the team would be full of Americans it’s about being proud to call
yourself a Jew and wear the Star of David on your cap and the flag of Israel on
your jersey.
If
you look at in a different way you see how the NBA did it with the Dream-Team
playing in the Olympics. Back then we barely saw international players in the
league. After the Olympics that generation who was growing up watching those
games and the current pros playing for those countries that were on national
and local teams saw their countries play against the best and it sparked them
to want to pursue playing basketball in NBA, the premiere place for basketball.
It was a positive for both the NBA and the world. It sparked future NBA players
from countries like China, Germany and Argentina, like Yao Ming, Dirk Nowitzki,
and Manu Ginobili.
Look at
it now, the NBA has players from at least 30 countries or more and the same
goes for the NHL. The NBA really encourages the players with ties to other
countries to play for them even getting dual citizenship, to be legally allowed
to play for that country’s national team. They are always about growing the
game to even further heights despite how big it is already. MLB should take a
page out of the NBA’s playbook to make the game more global, by nudging the players
to play for the other teams in the WBC if they have any connection.
AnthonyRizzo of the Cubs has played for Team Italy in previous World Baseball Classics
despite being American born, but since he is third generation Italian he
qualifies for the team. This is an example of taking pride for your culture
even if you aren’t 100% and your third generation like Rizzo.
This
isn’t about those billion dollar leagues making more money it’s about the youth
of the world if not this country in particular. As someone who grew up playing
baseball and had the dream of playing in the pros and for team Israel, it was
reassuring for me to see someone like myself being represented in MLB. For me
it was Shawn Green, Kevin Youkilis, and Mike Lieberthal, to name a few.
It
would show no matter what country you were living in, as a Jewish kid who liked
playing baseball, it could be attainable no matter where you were born or if
you were Jewish, you could play in major league baseball. It’s not black and
white that all Jews live in the states or are from Israel, they are all over
the world, as Jews even live in Africa and Asia. It doesn’t matter which era of
baseball there was always one or two great Jewish players who inspired the next
ones.
Projected lineup if all Jewish players played:
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