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The
American Jewish Historical Society, in cooperation with Jewish Major
Leaguers, Inc., has created a commemorative baseball card set, Jewish
Major Leaguers: American Jews in America's Game. Each set contains
141 cards of every identifiable Jewish Major League baseball player
from 1871 to the 2003 All-Star break. Professionally printed for
AJHS by the Fleer Trading Card Co., this limited edition, gift boxed
set documents the history of Jewish players in professional baseball.
For 42 of these major leaguers, this will be their first and only
publicly issued card.
The Society
is printing a limited number of sets as a fund-raiser and the
cards will not be sold commercially. The cards are only available
as a token of the Society’s gratitude to new and existing
members and are not available otherwise or sold separately.
Find out
how much you know about the stats of Jewish baseball players …
1.
What percentage of major league baseball players have been Jewish?
Less than 1%
About 3%
Over 5%
Click
for answer
Accepting twenty dollars a week to play third base for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1866, Lipman Pike became baseball's first professional player. In 1871, the National Association— the first professional league— was founded, and "Lip" Pike played and managed the N.A. Troy Haymakers.
2. How many
Jewish players played in only one game?
3
7
12
Click
for answer
As an example, Jeffrey Alan Stember was the starting pitcher for the San Francisco Giants on August 5, 1980. He pitched three innings and had one at bat. That turned out to be his only major league appearance.
3. What was
the average batting average of all Jewish players?
.198
.265
.284
Click
for answer
The highest lifetime batting average is Hank Greenberg’s .313, followed by Lipman Pike’s .304.
4. How many
times did a Jewish player hit a cycle (single, double, triple
and home run in the same game)?
0
1
2
Click
for answer
5. What Jewish player has had the single best nine-inning slugging
performance in the history of baseball?
Hank Greenberg
Jason Marquis
Shawn Green
Click for answer
6. How many Jewish Major Leaguers are in the National Baseball Hall of Fame?
1
4
5
Click
for answer
Players Hank Greenberg, Sandy Koufax and Lou Boudreau, plus owner Barney Dreyfuss.
 
 
7. How many
no-hitters have been thrown by Jewish pitchers?
3
6
9
Click
for answer
 
8. What is
the ERA (Earned Run Average) for all Jewish pitchers?
3.55
3.66
3.77
Click
for answer
Barney Pelty had the lowest lifetime ERA of any Jewish Major Leaguer -- 2.62. Sandy Koufax had the second best ERA – 2.76.
 
9. How many
home runs have Jewish Major Leaguers hit?
Over 1,000
Over 1,500
Over 2,000
Click
for answer
Hank Greenberg hit more home runs during his career than any Jewish Major Leaguer – 331. The second best career home run record is held by Shawn Green – 328.
 
10. Which Jewish Major Leaguer spied for the United States during World War II?
Al Schacht
Moe Berg
Al Rosen
Click
for answer
Morris “Moe” Berg’s patriotic endeavors are featured in the biography “The Catcher Was A Spy” by Nicholas Dawidoff
These statistics were painstakingly compiled by Martin Abramowitz, who is the creator of the Jewish Major Leaguers card set. Some of the stats were first published in an article “The Making of a Card Set: American Jews in America’s Game” in the Fall/Winter 2003 edition of Heritage, the newsletter of the American Jewish Historical Society.
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