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This Holocaust survivor and longtime Mets fan threw out the first pitch at Thursday’s game
(New York Jewish Week) — As a child, Holocaust survivor Leo Ullman attended baseball games at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn with his aunt, who believed it would help him become more American.
Yesterday, Ullman, a longtime New York Mets fan and prolific memorabilia collector, made an appearance at Citi Field. But this time, he was on the mound.
Ullman, 83, threw out the first pitch at the Mets game against the Philadelphia Phillies Thursday afternoon before a crowd of more than 38,000 fans. The event was organized by the Holocaust Memorial & Tolerance Center of Nassau County. (Ullman’s first pitch comes just weeks after another survivor, Helen Kahan, threw out the first pitch at a New York Yankees game in Tampa.)
Yesterday was unforgettable. Thank you @Newsday for capturing it so beautifully. Sands Point Holocaust survivor Leo Ullman throws out first pitch for the @mets on behalf of @hmtcli. #lgm pic.twitter.com/KEVHHK1ntU
— Dana Arschin (@DanaArschin) June 2, 2023
“It wasn’t a perfect strike, but at least it got to the catcher,” Ullman said after the game. He had been practicing his throw for weeks and had watched videos of failed first pitches.
At 83, Ullman is likely among the youngest Holocaust survivors. He was born in the Netherlands in 1939 and when the Nazis invaded, his parents put him into hiding with a policeman’s family in Amsterdam, where he hid for two and a half years before being reunited with his parents with the help of the Dutch Resistance.
“I think it’s important for people to know that they have to fight hatred in every way they can, including antisemitism,” he said yesterday. “And it’s very, very important to not be a bystander, but to confront hatred when you see it.”
The Ullmans immigrated to Long Island in 1947. Ullman still lives in Sands Point today.
Ullman would go on to serve in the Marines, attend Harvard and Columbia, and become a successful lawyer. He has been involved with various Holocaust organizations, including the U.S. National Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Anne Frank Center USA. He has also competed in more than 145 triathlons.
But ever since he was a child, Ullman’s primary love has been baseball. When his Brooklyn Dodgers left New York, Ullman was heartbroken — until the Mets were born in 1962.
In 1995, when Ullman traveled to Madison, Wisconsin for the birth of his grandson, he went to a card show near the hospital and bought 12 Nolan Ryan baseball cards for one dollar each. That moment would become the start of a collection that eventually grew to 15,000 pieces — or, as MLB.com put it, “the largest collection of Nolan Ryan merchandise on the planet.” Ryan played four seasons as a Met at the start of his career in the late 1960s.
Ullman donated his collection — which was valued at $1.2 million — to Stockton University in New Jersey last year.
At Citi Field on Thursday, Ullman was surrounded by family, dressed from head to toe in regalia for the team he has loved since its inception.
“It’s very thrilling to be out there at this beautiful stadium with all the people,” he said.
Ullman wasn’t the only person to throw out a ceremonial first pitch on Thursday afternoon. Jewish indie rocker Ira Kaplan, of the band Yo La Tengo — who for years played a series of Hanukkah-themed shows on each night of the holiday — also threw a ceremonial pitch before the game. (His throw was more of a strike.)
Kaplan is a lifelong Mets fan, and the band was named after a nugget from the team’s history: During their first season, in 1962, the team’s center fielder Richie Ashburn kept colliding with the shortstop Elio Chacon while trying to catch fly balls. Ashburn began calling “Yo la tengo!” (“I got it!” in Spanish) to remedy the situation.
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Trump Threatens to Hit Iran Infrastructure on Tuesday if Strait Remains Blocked
US President Donald Trump arrives to award the medal of honor to Master Sgt. Roderick ‘Roddie’ W. Edmonds, Staff Sgt. Michael H. Ollis, and retired Command Sgt. Maj. Terry P. Richardson during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 02 March 2026.
US President Donald Trump said in an expletive-laden social media post on Sunday that the United States will target Iran’s power plants and bridges on Tuesday if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened.
“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!” Trump said in a Truth Social post, referencing the key shipping lane that Tehran has effectively closed since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran more than a month ago.
“Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH!,” Trump said, ending his Easter morning post with: “Praise be to Allah.”
The president separately said he would hold a news conference on Monday in the Oval Office, after the US military rescued two US pilots whose aircraft were downed in Iran.
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Zelensky in Syria to Discuss Security Cooperation with Sharaa
FILE PHOTO: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy looks on during an interview with Reuters, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 25, 2026. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pledged to work for enhanced security in talks on Sunday with his Syrian counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa, as Kyiv seeks to promote its military expertise across the region following the outbreak of the Iran war.
Zelensky, continuing his tour of Middle East countries, also said Ukraine wants to contribute to food security in the region.
In recent weeks, Zelensky has visited several countries across the Middle East, offering Ukrainian expertise in countering drone and missile attacks, developed during its four-year war with Russia.
“We agreed to work together to provide more security and opportunities for development for our societies,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram. “There is a great interest in exchanging military and security experience.”
Zelensky told the Syrian leader that Ukraine, as a major grain producer, was a reliable supplier of food and said the two leaders “discussed joint opportunities to strengthen food security across the region.”
In Turkey on Saturday, Zelensky said he had agreed on “new steps” in security cooperation with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, and discussed opportunities in joint gas infrastructure projects and gas field development.
“Today in Damascus we continue our active Ukrainian diplomacy aimed at real security and economic cooperation,” Zelensky said on X after his arrival.
It was the Ukrainian leader’s first trip to Syria since diplomatic relations were re-established at the end of last year following the fall of Syria’s long-time strongman Bashar al-Assad.
Zelensky’s talks with Sharaa were linked to defense in light of the US-Israeli war in Iran, said one Syrian source, a government adviser. Syria is not known to have any air defenses capable of dealing with Iranian drones or missiles.
During Zelensky’s visits to Gulf states last weekend, Ukraine signed long-term military cooperation deals with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and he said that a similar agreement was close to completion with UAE.
Syria is home to two major Russian military bases, used by its navy and air force. Sharaa said on Tuesday at an event in Chatham House in London that work was under way to transform these into “centers to train the Syrian army.”
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China Ready to Cooperate with Russia to Ease Middle East Tension, Foreign Minister Says
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends the 14th EAST Asia Summit Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting at the National Convention Center, in Vientiane, Laos July 27, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Chalinee Thirasupa/File Photo
China is willing to continue to cooperate with Russia at the UN Security Council and make efforts to cool down the Middle East situation, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in a phone call on Sunday.
Wang said the fundamental way to resolve navigation issues in the Strait of Hormuz is to achieve a ceasefire as soon as possible, adding that China has always advocated political settlement of hotspot issues through dialogue and negotiation.
The foreign ministers’ call came ahead of a U.N. Security Council vote next week on a Bahraini resolution to protect commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz.
As permanent UNSC members, China and Russia should “adopt an objective and balanced approach and seek to win greater understanding and support from the international community,” Wang told Lavrov, according to a statement from his ministry.
China has repeatedly called for a ceasefire in the Gulf region and Middle East, urging an end to the fighting that has run for more than a month and largely closed the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping artery for oil and gas.