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Only 2 Jewish players are in the baseball Hall of Fame. Who could join Koufax and Greenberg in Cooperstown?
(JTA) — Any Jewish baseball fan knows the names of the two Jews in MLB’s Hall of Fame: Sandy Koufax and Hank Greenberg.
But since Koufax got his Hall call 52 years ago to the day — when he became the youngest player ever elected, at 36 — exactly zero Jewish players have made it into Cooperstown. And that drought will stretch for at least one more year: No Jews appear on the 2024 Hall of Fame ballot, whose voting results will be announced on Tuesday, Jan. 23, by the Hall’s Jewish president, Josh Rawitch.
Jewish players are actually pulling their weight, more or less, when it comes to making the Hall of Fame: Of the 20,532 players who have appeared in what is now known as Major League Baseball, 194 have been Jewish — a ratio of 0.9 percent. That’s not much higher than the 0.7 percent of Hall of Fame players who are Jewish — two out of 270.
Three Jewish executives — Barney Dreyfuss, Bud Selig and Marvin Miller — have also made the Hall. Two-time curse-breaking front-office maven Theo Epstein is a near certainty to join that group one day.
But for those eager to see another Jewish player inducted into the Hall, is there any hope? Is anyone worthy of joining Koufax and Greenberg in Cooperstown?
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency surveyed a number of Jewish baseball writers and experts — including the MLB’s official historian and multiple Hall of Fame voters — for their predictions. Read on to see what they said.
How to make it in
Sandy Koufax, left, and Hank Greenberg are the two Jewish players in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. (Getty Images)
For any baseball player, just getting onto the Hall of Fame ballot is an achievement.
To get a shot at the Hall, players need to have played 10 or more years in the major leagues. They must then pass a screening committee that filters out clearly under-qualified candidates (like Jewish veteran players Gabe Kapler and Jason Marquis, who didn’t make the cut in 2016 and 2021, respectively). Qualified players first appear on the ballot five years after retirement and can remain on the ballot for up to 10 years.
The ballot is voted on by members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, and to get into the Hall, a player must receive at least 75% of the vote. If he receives 5% or less, he’s removed from consideration in the future.
The last two Jewish players to appear on the ballot were Boston Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis in 2019 and Houston Astros catcher Brad Ausmus in 2016. But the most recent Jewish player to receive any votes was Shawn Green in 2013, who got only two votes out of 569 ballots that year. One of the writers who voted for him, Jill Painter Lopez, cited his Jewish identity in justifying her vote. She did not respond to a request for comment.
Other Jewish players have had a shot in the past. Three-time World Series champion pitcher Ken Holtzman received votes in 1985 and 1986 but fell well short of induction. Lipman Pike, the first Jewish baseball star and one of the first professional baseball players ever in the 1860s-80s, received one vote in the veterans’ election in 1936, Cooperstown’s first year of voting.
The retired players with a chance
Ian Kinsler, left, and Ryan Braun are the next two Jewish players to join the Hall of Fame ballot. (Getty Images)
While no Jews are on this year’s ballot, one is on deck and another is in the hole.
Ian Kinsler, a four-time All-Star with a 14-year MLB career, is set to join the ballot next year. Ryan Braun, the former National League MVP with the most home runs of any Jewish player (352), will be on the ballot the following year, in 2026.
Kinsler — a former Team Israel player and manager who won two Gold Gloves for his defense and a World Series in 2018 with the Red Sox — is eighth all-time among second basemen with 257 home runs. By some metrics, Kinsler has a shot at a plaque in Cooperstown: He is 20th on sabermetrician Jay Jaffe’s ranking of second basemen by Hall of Fame worthiness, ahead of several Hall of Famers.
Braun, who spent his entire 14-year career with the Milwaukee Brewers, won the 2007 NL Rookie of the Year and the 2011 NL MVP. He also received six All-Star selections and five Silver Slugger awards for his offensive prowess.
Braun’s legacy was tarnished when he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and served a 65-game suspension in 2013. Other erstwhile all-time greats who were busted for steroids — such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens — have so far been denied Hall of Fame induction, an ominous sign for Braun.
But Braun, who sometimes went by the moniker “Hebrew Hammer” during his playing days, has gotten some recognition: He was recently chosen for induction into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
In the veterans committee category — where players who were not inducted on the ballot get a second look — Pike could be a candidate. He helped professionalize the sport and was one of baseball’s first sluggers. Pike led the sport in home runs four times (peaking at a grand total of seven home runs in a season — it was a different sport then) and finished his 10-year career with a .322 batting average.
What about active players?
Alex Bregman, left, and Max Fried are the top two Jewish players in the MLB today. (Getty Images)
Among players still on the field, Astros third baseman Alex Bregman and Atlanta Braves pitcher Max Fried are the best bets.
Bregman, the two-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion, has 165 home runs and a .274 batting average through his first eight seasons. He won the Silver Slugger in 2019, when he also came in second place in American League MVP voting. Bregman is additionally a decorated postseason hitter — he ranks in the top 10 all-time in postseason games, at bats, home runs, runs scored, total bases, runs batted in and walks.
A recent MLB.com article on “40 potential Hall of Famers we’ll see play in 2024” listed Bregman 17th, part of the third-ranked tier of players who are “well on their way.”
Bregman, who has been involved in the local Houston Jewish community, will also have to overcome an ethical asterisk on his baseball resume: the Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal, which tainted the team’s championship season.
Fried’s biggest hurdle may be staying healthy. When he’s on the mound, Fried is among baseball’s elite starting pitchers — MLB Network ranked him the ninth-best starter entering 2024, and he was ranked seventh the year before. The Los Angeles native grew up idolizing Koufax and is a Maccabiah Games alum.
In 2022, Fried posted a 2.48 ERA with 170 strikeouts and 14 wins, finishing second in the NL Cy Young Award voting and earning his first career All-Star selection. He won three consecutive Gold Gloves from 2020-2022 and the 2021 Silver Slugger — the last-ever pitcher to win the offensive award. Fried also helped lead the Braves to a World Series title in 2021.
What do the experts say?
If there’s one thing Jews and baseball fans both love, it’s a debate. We reached out to a number of Jewish baseball writers, some of whom vote on the official Hall of Fame ballot, to seek their predictions.
Here’s what they had to say.
Ken Rosenthal, senior baseball writer for The Athletic and a Hall of Fame voter:
I’ll go with Bregman. He’s not really on a Hall of Fame track at the moment, but he still has a chance to have a long, stellar career. And by the time he is eligible — probably 10 or more years from now — the sentiment against members of the sign-stealing Astros might be diminished. [His Astros teammate Jose] Altuve could be in by then.
Jonathan Mayo, reporter for MLB.com and MLB Pipeline:
As a Jewish fan of baseball, I wholeheartedly wish there was an obvious “next up” for Cooperstown. As someone who writes about the game professionally and analyzes it, however, I can’t see anyone who currently fits the description. Alex Bregman is having a very good career and Max Fried has had some very good seasons, but I think their ceiling is the “Hall of Very Good.” I love young players like Zack Gelof, and you should never say never (keep an eye on his brother, Jake, too!), but again, they don’t jump out as Hall-worthy type players. But that won’t keep me from wishing.
Bob Weschler, managing editor of jewishbaseballmuseum.com:
Of the current active players, Max Fried might have the best shot if he stays healthy. He’s a free agent next year, and signing with a media-saturated, successful franchise like the Dodgers could help his chances.
It’s too soon to consider Zack Gelof, who’s only played 69 games. Only 20 second basemen are in the Hall.
It’ll never happen, but Lipman Pike — the first home run champion — should be in the Hall.
If we’re talking non-players, Theo Epstein will be the next Jewish inductee.
Jayson Stark, senior baseball writer for The Athletic and a Hall of Fame voter:
Is Alex Bregman going to wind up Cooperstown? He’d be my pick from the current pool of active Jewish players.
He ranks top 10 in the modern era among all third basemen in a category I look at closely — park-adjusted, era-adjusted OPS+. And he’s an excellent defender who is still agile enough to play shortstop.
Seven full seasons into his career, he has never had a bad season. And he’s made an indelible impact on a team that has done nothing but win since he showed up. But now comes the hard part — his 30s!
He hasn’t reached 1,000 hits or 200 homers yet. So these next seven years are going to have to look a lot like his first seven.
But I’ve always believed you can’t be great at anything unless you aspire to be great. And it’s always clear that greatness is where Alex Bregman sets his bar.
Scott Barancik, editor of jewishbaseballnews.com:
No current or recent Jewish player has much chance of making the Hall, in my opinion. Ryan Braun is out due to PED use. Alex Bregman is a no because of Houston’s sign-stealing scandal. Active veterans lack Hall-level stats. As for newbies like Zack Gelof and Matt Mervis, it’s too soon to tell. The player with the best chance? I’d say Max Fried. But pitcher is by far the most competitive position in Hall voting.
Howard Megdal, author of “The Baseball Talmud: The Definitive Position-by-Position Ranking of Baseball’s Chosen Players”:
It is tempting to select Max Fried and his 2.66 ERA since 2020, but the counting stats may work against him, even with two top-five Cy Young finishes and three Gold Gloves by age 29.
Similarly, Zack Gelof’s OPS+ of 137 as a rookie was overshadowed by the Oakland Athletics’ team drama but remains one of the most impressive rookie seasons of any Jewish player. For comparison: Hank Greenberg’s rookie OPS+ was 119, Al Rosen’s 145.
But my pick for the next Jewish Hall of Famer is Alex Bregman. Through his age-29 season, he’s already collected 35.4 win shares, 19th all-time among third basemen through age-29. Most of the third basemen ahead of him are in the Hall of Fame — the third baseman just below him is the late, great Brooks Robinson. He’s consistent, he’s durable, he’s yet to post what anyone could consider a down year, and he’s got precisely the type of makeup and profile that should age well. (As Al Rosen proves, durability is as important as dominance when it comes to creating a Hall of Fame resume.)
There aren’t enough third basemen in the Hall of Fame. And Alex Bregman is a good bet to fix that.
Finally, MLB’s official historian, John Thorn, said he believed that no Jewish player aside from Koufax and Greenberg are worthy of entry to Cooperstown. Rather than offer a prediction — “my crystal ball works only in retrospect,” he said — Thorn shared his insight on why Jews love baseball.
“First, because in Europe outdoor play had been forbidden to their children,” he said in an email to JTA. “Second, because for an oppressed people it offered a window onto freedom and joy; and third, because it promised a level playing field from which heroes might emerge, like Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax … heroes who were like us.”
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Vast Majority of US Jews Reject Jewish Voice for Peace, Other Anti-Zionist Groups, Polling Data Shows
Pro-Hamas protesters led by Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) demonstrate outside the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 14, 2024. Photo: Derek French via Reuters Connect
A new poll released on Wednesday underscores how far removed Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and other anti-Zionist organizations that claim to represent Jews are from mainstream Jewish views on Israel, Zionism, and the ongoing conflict with the Palestinians.
Commissioned by The Jewish Majority, a nonprofit founded by a researcher whose aim is to monitor and accurately report Jewish opinion on the most consequential issues affecting the community, the poll found that the vast majority of American Jews believe that anti-Zionist movements and anti-Israel university protests are antisemitic.
The findings also showed that Jews across the US overwhelmingly oppose the views and tactics of JVP, a prominent anti-Israel group which has helped organize widespread demonstrations against the Jewish state during the war in Gaza.
Founded in 1996 at the University of California, Berkeley, JVP describes itself as “the largest progressive Jewish anti-Zionist organization in the world.” It was infamously one of the first organizations to blame Israel following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the deadliest single day for Jews since the Holocaust.
“Israeli apartheid and occupation — and the United States complicity in that oppression — are the source of all this violence,” JVP said as Israelis were still counting their dead and missing.
American Jews who responded to The Jewish Majority’s poll overwhelmingly reject this line of thinking. Seventy percent said they believe that anti-Zionism of any stripe is antisemitic; 85 percent believe that Hamas, whom JVP described as “the oppressed,” is a genocidal group; and 79 percent support vocally pro-Israel groups such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an organization JVP has defamed as “not a credible source on antisemitism and racism.”
Additionally, JVP’s methods of protest are unpopular among American Jews, The Jewish Majority added, noting that 75 percent disapprove of “blocking traffic” and only 18 percent approve of protesters’ wearing masks to conceal their identities. Sixty percent also disagree with staging protests outside the homes of public officials, a common JVP tactic.
“Plain and simple, Jewish Voice for Peace is an extremist group that does not represent the views of the overwhelming majority of American Jews,” Jonathan Schulman, The Jewish Majority’s executive director, said in a statement accompanying the poll results. “American Jews share a strong and consistent stance against anti-Zionists as well as a deep concern over rising antisemitism and the tactics used by organizations like JVP.”
He continued, “It is high time people see through the charade: JVP is not representative of anyone but a marginal fringe, even if a few radical Jews are involved in their movement.”
The Jewish Majority’s poll was conducted by Public Opinion Strategies.
Jewish Voice for Peace’s inner workings, messaging, and political activities were recently documented in a groundbreaking report on the group published last month by StandWithUs, a Jewish civil rights group based in Los Angeles, California.
Titled, “A Shield for Hate, Not a Voice for Peace,” the report noted that JVP has promoted a distorted history of Zionism and Israel, accusing the movement for Jewish self-determination of everything from training US police officers to violate the rights of African Americans to abusing “Jewish history.” In doing so, it has allied with extremist groups such as WithinOurLifetime — whose founder has threatened to set Jews on fire and led a movement to harass Jews on New York City’s public transportation — and Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), which celebrated Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre and has proclaimed that “the Zionist entity has no right to exist.”
The report also stated that JVP has collaborated with anti-Israel entities such as Samidoun, which identifies itself as a “Palestinian prisoner solidarity network,” to hold rallies. Samidoun described Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities in Israel as “a brave and heroic operation.” The United States and Canada each imposed sanctions on Samidoun in October, labeling the organization a “sham charity” and accusing it of fundraising for designated terrorist groups such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
JVP has also compared Zionism to Nazism.
“This is Holocaust inversion — an antisemitic tactic in which the genocide Jews faced in the past is used to promote baseless hatred against Jews today,” the StandWithUs report said. “The only group benefiting from JVP’s Holocaust inversion is Hamas — a truly genocidal terrorist group. JVP has helped shield them from accountability for launching the war, ruthlessly militarizing civilian areas across Gaza, stealing humanitarian aid, and rejecting nearly every proposed ceasefire and hostage release deal.”
In June 2024, the Anti-Defamation League filed a complaint with the US Federal Election Commission (FEC) accusing the political fundraising arm of JVP of transgressing federal election law by misrepresenting its spending and receiving unlawful donations from corporate entities, citing “discrepancies” in the organization’s income and expense reports.
The complaint lodged a slew of charges against Jewish Voice for Peace’s political action committee (JVP PAC), including spending almost no money on candidates running for office — a political action committee’s main purpose. From 2020-2023, JVP PAC reported spending $82,956, but just a small fraction of that sum — $1,775, just over 2 percent — was spent on candidates, according to the complaint. The money went elsewhere, being paid out in one case for “legal services” provided by a company which “doesn’t appear to practice law” and other expenses.
JVP continues to have the support of powerful friends in the world of progressive philanthropy, a formidable subset of the American elite, amid these scandals and controversies.
Since 2017 it has — according to a 2023 report by the National Association of Scholars — received $480,000 from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, a philanthropic foundation whose endowment is valued at $1.27 billion. Between 2014 and 2015 alone, JVP brought in over half a million dollars in grants from various foundations, including the Open Society Policy Center — founded by billionaire George Soros — the Kaphan Foundation, and others.
According to the recent StandWithUs report, JVP has received substantial financial assistance from organizations tied to Lebanon and Iran.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Vast Majority of US Jews Reject Jewish Voice for Peace, Other Anti-Zionist Groups, Polling Data Shows first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Turkey’s Erdogan Demands Israel Pay Reparations for Gaza, Says Palestinian State ‘Must Not Be Delayed’
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a joint statement to the media in Baghdad, Iraq, April 22, 2024. Photo: AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/Pool via REUTERS
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday demanded Israel pay reparations “for the harm it inflicted through its aggressive actions in Gaza” and urged the immediate establishment of a Palestinian state.
During a press conference with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in West Java, as part of his Asian tour to Malaysia and Pakistan, Erdogan rejected US President Donald Trump’s plan to “take over” the Gaza Strip to rebuild the war-torn enclave while relocating Palestinians elsewhere during reconstruction efforts.
Like many other Middle Eastern leaders who rejected Trump’s proposal, Erdogan also advocated for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“The creation of a sovereign, territorially united State of Palestine within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital cannot be delayed any further,” he said during the press conference, as aired by the Turkish TRT Haber TV channel.
“Any step, proposal, or project that undermines this matter is illegitimate in our view, and it means more conflicts, bloodshed, and instability,” he continued.
During Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House last week, Trump called on Egypt, Jordan, and other Arab states to take in Palestinians from Gaza after nearly 16 months of war between Israel and Hamas.
“Until there is peace in Gaza, until the Palestinians achieve peace, peace in the region is impossible,” the Turkish president said.
With talks underway to extend the fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire, Erdogan also demanded that Israel must pay reparations “for the harm it inflicted through its aggressive actions in Gaza.”
“The cost of Israel’s 15-month attacks in Gaza is about $100 billion,” he said. “The law dictates that the perpetrator must compensate for the damage.”
Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists started the war in Gaza when they murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages during their invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.
Last month, both sides reached a ceasefire and hostage-release deal brokered by the US, Egypt, and Qatar.
Under phase one, Hamas agreed to release 33 Israeli hostages, eight of whom are deceased, in exchange for Israel freeing over 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, many of whom are serving multiple life sentences for terrorism-related offenses.
So far, 16 of the 33 hostages have been released during the first phase, which is set to last six weeks.
During the press conference, Erdogan also announced that Turkey and Indonesia will join forces in the reconstruction of Gaza.
Last month, Erdogan met with Hamas leader Muhammad Ismail Darwish in Ankara.
Turkey has been one of the most outspoken critics of Israel during the Gaza war, even threatening to invade the Jewish state and calling on the United Nations to use force if it cannot stop Israel’s military campaign against Hamas.
Last year, Ankara also ceased all exports and imports to and from Israel, citing the “humanitarian tragedy” in the Palestinian territories as the reason.
Erdogan has frequently defended Hamas terrorists as “resistance fighters” against what he described as an Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. He and other Turkish leaders have repeatedly compared Israel with Nazi Germany and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Adolf Hitler.
The post Turkey’s Erdogan Demands Israel Pay Reparations for Gaza, Says Palestinian State ‘Must Not Be Delayed’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Boston University Rejects Proposal to Divest From Israel
College students in the Boston, Massachusetts area hold dueling demonstrations amid Israel’s war with Hamas in April 2024. Photo: Vincent Ricci via Reuters Connect
Boston University has rejected the group Students for Justice in Palestine’s (SJP) call for its endowment to be divested of holdings in companies which sell armaments to the Israeli military, becoming the latest higher education institution to refuse this key tenet of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.
“The endowment is no longer the vehicle for political debate; nevertheless, I will continue to seek ways that members of our community can engage with each other on political issues of our day including the conflict in the Middle East,” university president Melissa Gilliam said on Tuesday in a statement which reported the will of the board of trustees. “Our traditions of free speech and academic freedom are critical to who we are as an institution, and so is our tradition of finding common ground to engage difficult topics while respecting the dignity of every individual.”
Gilliam’s announcement comes amid SJP’s push to hold a student government administered referendum on divestment, a policy goal the group has pursued since Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Its hopes were dashed on Tuesday when what SJP described as “technical difficulties” caused the referendum to be postponed indefinitely. However, SJP hinted that the delay may have been caused by its failing to draw a “representative sample of BU’s undergraduate population” to the polls.
SJP’s relationship with the university is poor, according to The Daily Free Press, Boston University’s official campus newspaper. In November, the Student and Activities Office issued the group a “formal warning” following multiple violations of policies on peaceful assembly. SJP, the Free Press said, occupied an area of the Center for Computing and Data Sciences for two days and tacked anti-Zionist propaganda — which included accusations that Boston University profits from “death” — on school property inside the building despite being forewarned that doing so is verboten. Following the disciplinary action, SJP accused the university of being “discriminatory towards SJP and our events.”
American universities have largely rejected demands to divest from Israel and entities at all linked to the Jewish state, delivering a succession of blows to the pro-Hamas protest movement that students and faculty have pushed with dozens of illegal demonstrations aimed at coercing officials into enacting the policy.
Trinity College turned away BDS advocates in November, citing its “fiduciary responsibilities” and “primary objective of maintaining the endowment’s intergeneration equity.” It also noted that acceding to demands for divestment for the sake of “utilizing the endowment to exert political influence” would injure the college financially, stressing that doing so would “compromise our access to fund managers, in turn undermining the board’s ability to perform its fiduciary obligation.”
The University of Minnesota in August pointed to the same reason for spurning divestment while stressing the extent to which the Israeli-Palestinian conflict polarizes its campus community. It coupled its pronouncement with a new investment policy, a so-called “position of neutrality” which, it says, will be a guardrail protecting university business from the caprices of political opinion.
Colleges and universities will lose tens of billions of dollars collectively from their endowments if they capitulate to demands to divest from Israel, according to a report published in September by JLens, a Jewish investor network that is part of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Titled “The Impact of Israel Divestment on Equity Portfolios: Forecasting BDS’s Financial Toll on University Endowments,” the report presented the potential financial impact of universities adopting the BDS movement, which is widely condemned for being antisemitic.
The losses estimated by JLens are catastrophic. Adopting BDS, it said, would incinerate $33.21 billion of future returns for the 100 largest university endowments over the next 10 years, with Harvard University losing $2.5 billion and the University of Texas losing $2.2 billion. Other schools would forfeit over $1 billion, including the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, and Princeton University. For others, such as the University of Michigan and Dartmouth College, the damages would total in the hundreds of millions.
“This groundbreaking report approached the morally problematic BDS movement from an entirely new direction — its negative impact on portfolio returns,” New York University adjunct professor Michael Lustig said in a statement extolling the report. “JLens has done a great job in quantifying the financial effects of implementing the suggestions of this pernicious movement, and importantly, they ‘show their work’ by providing full transparency into their methodology, and properly caveat the points where assumptions must necessarily be made. This report will prove to be an important tool in helping to fight noxious BDS advocacy.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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