Did you know that Jewish baseball player Shawn Green of the Los Angeles Dodgers holds the best, all-time hitting record for a single game? In 2002, during a match against Milwaukee, he hit four home runs, a double and a single, all within nine innings. Baseball statistics like this one, for the 142 Jewish players in major league history, have become easier to compile now that the American Jewish Historical Society (ajhs), in conjunction with Jewish Major Leaguers, Inc., has created a limited-edition commemorative set of baseball cards called "American Jews in America's Game."

An avid baseball card collector, Jewish Major Leaguers President Martin Abramowitz said the fact that 42 of the 142 Jewish Major Leaguers didn't have baseball cards was "killing him" because he could never complete his personal collection. Only 0.8 percent of the roughly 16,700 major leaguers (through 2002) were Jewish, and not all of them had long careers. Nonetheless, he says, they made an important contributions to the sport and deserve to be remembered.

The baseball card set is available with the purchase of a Sports Membership to the AJHS. For more information, call 1-800-863-8650, log on to www.ajhs-store.com or visit the AJHS Boston chapter at Hebrew College.

back to top