Jewish baseball stars to watch in 2014
In the biblical tradition of lingering in the desert en route to the Promised Land, Major League Baseball teams are packing up and embarking on their exodus from Arizona (and Florida) spring training sites to begin the new season.
Rosters won’t be finalized until this weekend, but nine Jewish players are likely to make the journey, led by Moses and Aaron — er, Ian Kinsler and Ryan Braun. A Jewish perennial, Kevin Youkilis, late of the New York Yankees, signed with Japan’s Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles for this season. And veteran pitcher Jason Marquis, a free agent who won nine games last season with the San Diego Padres, was still looking for a team.
Filling out the Jewish roster are mostly middle-of-the-road role players without any up-and-comers at the major league level. The World Series champion Boston Red Sox and the expected also-ran New York Mets each feature two Jewish players, and the Detroit Tigers have one player (and maybe a second later in the season) along with new manager Brad Ausmus, who guided the Israeli team’s World Baseball Classic entry in 2012.
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-features/1.582738