Jacobson: Koufax, Greenberg, and more at the new Jewish Baseball Museum

From Cole Jacobson at The PostGame on October 11, 2016:

To many, the term “Jewish sports legends” might make them think of the scene from “Airplane,” in which this topic is considered light reading. But to Chicago real estate executive and lifelong baseball fan Jeff Aeder, it’s no laughing matter, and earlier this year, he launched the online Jewish Baseball Museum.

The website is filled with interviews, statistics, memorabilia, historical anecdotes and more, chronicling Jewish contributions to the game.

“It was a love for baseball, love for history and pride in my Jewish heritage,” Aeder said. “A combination of all three of those led me to get interested in the history of Jews in baseball. I learned more about it, and I loved the stories and the characters, so I wanted to put something together to share with others.”

Even casual baseball fans could probably drop names like Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax if asked about big-time Jewish ballplayers. But what about eight-time All-Star and 1948 AL MVP Lou Boudreau, 1953 AL MVP Al Rosen or 1980 AL Cy Young winner Steve Stone? Then there are more recent stars like Kevin Youkilis, Shawn Green, Ryan Braun, Ian Kinsler, Kevin Pillar and Joc Pederson. All have their career achievements have been chronicled on Aeder’s site.

Overall, Jews account for three of the 217 players in the National Baseball Hall of Fame (Greenberg, Koufax, Boudreau) and a combined six MVP awards in the MLB’s live-ball era – not too shabby for a group that is estimated to account for 0.17 percent of the world’s population.

 

Read the full article here: http://www.thepostgame.com/jewish-baseball-museum-chicago-koufax-greenberg



Originally published: October 13, 2016. Last Updated: October 13, 2016.