Donald H. Harrison, JNS.org In front of Hank Greenberg is the pitcher, menacing, mean, wanting to strike him out and make him look like a fool. Behind him, what seems like a stadium full of anti-Semites. This is Detroit in the 1930s, home of Henry Ford, who churns anti-Jewish hatred in his Dearborn Independent newspaper with the same kind of assembly-line speed that has made his automobile factories famous. Adding to the feeling of discomfort for Greenberg, Detroit is also the home of the Jew baiter and hater of …More

Attention religious sports fans! No more homemade kippahs! A new company has started to produce official kippahs for the MLB and NBA. After the Emblem Source’s founder Brian Rutt saw fellow Jewish sports fans attending games clad in homemade team kippahs, he decided to produce official versions. The company, based in Dallas, Texas, manufactures the new kippahs, though no players in either league wear one. But the official kippahs are a huge hit in Jewish meccas like Brooklyn, New York, where the newly …More

Alex Rodriguez is expected to miss the start of the season due to a hip injury, but it seems as if the Yankees will still have a third baseman after Kevin Youkilis agreed Tuesday to their one-year, $12 million offer to play third base until Rodriguez returns. Youkilis, who hit .235 last season with 19 home runs and 60 RBI, would join the likes of Jimmie Reese, Ken Holtzman and Ron Blomberg as Jewish ballplayers to suit up for the Yankees. Before a trade to the Chicago White Sox in June, Youkilis had played his …More

Over the past week or so, while reading headlines in the sports section of different publications, I could not avoid the growing list of articles about violence. It started with Delmon Young, the MLB player who was sentenced to a trip to the Jewish Museum of Tolerance, then moved on to Tottenham fans attacked in Italy the night before the team’s match with Lazio, and ended with a bunch of news items from Israel about violence during games of all sorts. When reading the sports news from Israel, one cannot …More

Over the past decade, American sports have been coming to Israel, becoming more and more popular by the year. Israeli baseball made waves after the MLB World Classics, which featured Adam Greenberg among others. Now Israeli Football is on the rise. This week marks the start of an IFL season that includes Lions, Kings and more – but all in Hebrew, with Israeli players, far away from the NFL. Although the league has only been around for a few seasons, and football is considered a new sport in Israel, the AFI …More

Delmon Young is proof that anti-Semitism is still a problem in the United States. The 27-yr-old MLB outfielder pleaded guilty Wednesday to aggravated harassment for shouting an anti-Semitic slur and tackling a man to the ground outside a New York City hotel last spring. The alleged events occurred in April, when the Tigers were in town to play the New York Yankees. Young apologized to his team and was suspended without pay for seven days by Major League Baseball, costing him approximately $257,240 of his …More

Adam Greenberg finally made his first official MLB appearance Tuesday night, seven years after his only major league plate appearance in 2005. Greenberg led the sixth inning as a pinch-hitter for the Marlins, but struck out against New York Mets 20-game winner R.A. Dickey, who threw him three consecutive knuckleballs. Still, the Marlins won 4-3 in 11 innings. The game was Greenberg’s first since his major league debut with the Chicago Cubs in 2005, when he was hit in the back of the head by the first pitch …More

Adam Greenberg gets a long awaited second chance in the MLB, and credits Team Israel. The Jewish-American baseball player has signed a one-day contract with the Miami Marlins, and will play next week on October 2nd against the NY Mets. Greenberg’s debut appearance in the majors was on July 9, 2005, playing for the Chicago Cubs, against the Marlins. He faced a single pitch, with one plate appearance, but not an official at-bat, because a 92 MPH fastball hit him in the head – and changed his life …More

Israel’s National Baseball team has started their way through the early qualification stages of the MLB World Baseball Classics Cup. The team is looking to finish the first round in the number one spot (out of four), and set another record in the team’s first year – starting the World Cup from first place in their group. At the moment, Team Israel is ranked in 57th place in the world. Didn’t realize Israel had a national baseball team, or even a local league? Baseball is fairly young in …More

With September just a couple of days away, the Major League Baseball season is entering the home stretch. The next month will see the regular season come to a fast and furious finish, as teams look to lock up their spots in the 2012 MLB Playoffs. While players like Ike Davis of the New York Mets and Jason Kipnis of the Cleveland Indians had designs on the postseason as recently as July, their teams are far on the outside looking in as the calendar turns to September. Others, like Michael Schwimer of the …More

Whole barbecued pigs, cheerleaders and elegies to skinny-dipping farmers’ daughters. That was the organized noise Sunday night at the opening bash of the Republican National Convention at Tropicana Field, the home of Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg. For those seeking Jewish content, a noted rabbi was set to kick off the formal proceedings on Tuesday, and scattered through the rain-drenched towns of Tampa Bay were a number of events addressing the pro-Israel community’s …More

A prominent name has escaped our notice in recent weeks during Jspace's weekly Major League Baseball round ups: Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Sam Fuld. The 30-year-old Fuld injured his right wrist during Spring Training, and subsequently dropped off our radar, but he made his return in late July, and has made quite an impact in his return to the Rays' lineup. In 22 games since his return, the New Hampshire native has hit .315 (17-for-54) with four runs batted in, 10 runs scored and four stolen bases on five …More