What’s Jewish About Baseball?

Baseball is a game with two teams taking turns trying to hit a ball with a stick so they can run in a diamond shape. Judaism is a religion, a culture, and a people. Is there any overlap?

Q: How do we know that G-d plays baseball?

A: Because the Torah says, “In the big inning, G-d created the heavens and the earth.”

The Red Sox are a baseball team in based in Boston. The Red Sox Nation is a group of people connected by their love of the Red Sox. The Red Sox Nation is not a race nor is it an ethnicity — people of all races and ethnicities are part of the Red Sox Nation. Confusingly, the Red Sox Nation is not actually a nationality. You can live in any country and be part of the Red Sox Nation. Similarly, Judaism is not a race, ethnicity, nor nationality. Jews come from many racial, ethnic, and national backgrounds. Also, Judaism is not just a religion — you can be an atheist Jew (it’s very hard to be an atheist Christian or Muslim).

Baseball fans live in different cities and prefer to eat different foods as part of the baseball experience, yet they all engage with the same general experience. Similarly, Jews live in different places around the world and eat different foods as part of the same holiday experiences, yet still celebrate the same holidays.

The Chicago Cubs were the original baseball team in Chicago, dating to 1870. Then in 1900 the St. Paul Saints (founded in 1894 as the Sioux City Cornhuskers) moved to Chicago, changing their name to the Chicago White Sox. Now both teams consider Chicago their home, having been in Chicago for multiple generations. Similarly, the Jews were in the Land of Israel since at least 1200 BCE (the pottery changes around the time of Joshua, and there are no pig bones starting then, giving some evidence of at least that point in the Bible). The Palestinian Arabs have been in the same land since the Muslim conquest in the 7th century CE. Now both people consider the same place their home, having lived there for multiple generations.

The way that an overhand throw works is that the ball starts low, goes higher, and then gets lower. Similarly, a Haftarah pashta trope starts low, goes higher, and then gets lower.

In baseball, catchers use their fingers to signal to the pitcher what to do (though some teams use “PitchCom” to send messages electronically to the pitcher’s helmet). Before trope were written down by the Masorites in the 800s CE in the city of Tiberius (in modern Israel), one of the gabbais to the side of the Torah reader would use their hand to indicate to the Torah reader how each word should be sung. This required gabbais to have a tremendous amount of orally-transmitted knowledge, and this required Torah readers to simultaneously integrate the words in front of them with the signals in their peripheral vision. Today, some gabbais will still use chironomy to help a Torah reader if they don’t know the trope well-enough, especially to mark sentence endings.

In baseball, hand signals are used not only from the catcher to the pitcher, but also by coaches. This started in the 1800s because Deaf players couldn’t hear calls, and it had the advantage of not hurting the voice in trying to be understood in a noisy situation. In the Bible, the shofar was used as a way of communicating, such as when the shofar was blown as a command for the Israelites to shout outside of Jericho’s walls. Even today, the shofar is a signal for people to “wake-up” and think about their actions and relationships from the past year so that the coming year is better.

There are two teams in baseball, one hitting and one in the field. Each inning there are people on the “hitting” team who go around 3 bases before going home. Each base has a person stationed there from the team “in the field.” The people playing baseball wear baseball uniforms. Baseball games are run by an umpire, and sometimes players hit a double where they make it to second base. There can only be one runner on base at a time. Similarly, in “Torah Baseball”, there are people “in the field” and people who are going to those bases. The players “in the field” are the first gabbai, who is at “first base”, the Torah reader, who is at “second base”, and the second gabbai, who is at “third base”. There are 7 “innings”, each with one runner (some communities allow multiple people to be the “runner” in a given inning), plus an “automatic overtime”. In the first inning, the runner goes to the “first base-player” so their Hebrew name and the “inning” can be announced, and then goes to “second base”. At “second base”, the “runner” touches the appropriate spot in the Torah with the corner of their “Torah Baseball uniform” (tzitzit on their tallis). Once the Torah is read, that’s the end of the first inning. In the second inning, the same thing happens. However, when the “runner” goes to “second base”, the previous “runner” has to go to “third base” because you can only have one ”runner” on “base” at the same time. In the third inning, the same thing happens with all “runners” advancing one “base”; the “runner” on “third” then goes “home”, which is similar to the “dugout”. “B’nai Mitzvah Baseball” is similar to “Torah Baseball”, except that the “umpire” (cantor) calls up the “runner” during the “overtime inning” (Maftir) and they go to “second base” whereupon they play both the ”runner” and the “second-base player”.

”Take Me Out to the Ball Game” was written in 1908 by the Jewish song-writer Albert von Tilzer (in collaboration with Jack Norworth) and it is widely known among those in the world of baseball. Similarly, there are songs and prayers, such as “Kol Nidrei”, that connect Jews across communities.

People pray spontaneously during baseball games. These are “asking” prayers, usually asking G-d to help their team win. Jews not only pray fixed prayers, but also spontaneous prayers, sometimes called “kavannah” prayers (in contrast to fixed “keva” prayers). Sometimes these are Hebrew blessings over experiences, such as seeing a beautiful sunset (usually “thanking” or “praising” prayers), and sometimes these are prayers in the vernacular when Jews want to talk to G-d (usually “asking prayers”).

When the national anthem is sung at a baseball game, it unifies those present. When the Shema is sung at a service, it serves the same purpose, unifying those present (either through shared belief and/or singing the same words).

The baseball calendar has a few key dates, such as opening day and the World Series. These are not on a fixed date on the Gregorian calendar, but presumably have some internal logic that is not public. Since 2023, opening day has been on the last Thursday in March. Similarly, Jewish holidays are not on a fixed date on the Gregorian calendar, but they are on fixed dates on the Jewish calendar.

Baseball has the Official Baseball Rules, published by Major League Baseball. These rules govern how people do baseball and they have changed over time. Local situations are decided by the umpire. Because some situations are open to interpretation, this sometimes leads to complaining about the wrong call. Judaism has Halacha, based on a series of texts such as the Torah, Talmud, Mishneh Torah, and Shulchan Aruch, and the rules have changed over time (the Torah says that women suspected of adultery should go through the “Sotah” ritual and now that doesn’t happen). Local situations are decided by the rabbi, known as the “mara d’atra.“ Matters are often open to interpretation, and kvetching (complaining) is part of Judaism too. There is no universal body deciding how all Jews do Judaism.

In baseball, pitchers neither pitch entire games nor every game in a season. This is because it is not good for pitchers to never get a rest. Judaism recognized this centuries ago, with a day of rest being part of the Ten Commandments. The ancient Romans even accused the Jews of laziness because they didn’t work one out of every seven days (Tacitus “Histories” V.4.3; Juvenal “Satires” XIV.105-106).

In baseball, there are stages to a player’s baseball career. First they are “born as a player” by playing on a team as a kid; then they play in high school, and then in college. After that they “transition to professional-hood” by getting drafted by a team and going to the minor leagues. They are “wedded” to a major league team (often multiple times) by being called up to play in the major leagues, and then their career “dies” when they retire. A baseball player may not go through all stages of this cycle. Judaism also has lifecycle moments, the major ones being birth, B-Mitzvah, marriage, and death. All of these have traditional Jewish ways of marking them, and there are traditional and new rituals being created to mark the smaller moments that define a life (conversion, divorce, moving homes, etc.).

In baseball, there are certain foods that are associated with the experience, such as hot dogs, Cracker Jacks, beer, pretzels, and there is also regional variation. For example, a “Chicago-style” hot dog will look different from one in New York or one served in Texas. In Judaism, there are consistent culinary experiences, like wine / grape juice being used to bring in Shabbat around the world, while there is also regional variation (Shabbat dinner will look different in Poland vs. Syria vs. Uganda).

At baseball stadiums, there are many food options. One of them is hot dogs. Just as vegetarians now have options for hot dogs at many major league stadiums, so do those who keep kosher. As of 2025, there were kosher food stands at at least the following options: New York (Yankees and Mets), Philadelphia, Boston, Toronto, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Miami, Washington, Chicago (Cubs), and Cleveland (see https://www.totallyjewishtravel.com/blog/kosher-baseball-games-stadium-guide for more details). This is also an example of Jewish integration into American society, something dating back to at least 1787 when there was a “kosher table” at the celebration of Pennsylvania ratifying the Constitution.

In baseball, the post-season tends to overlap with the Jewish High Holidays. This has created questions for Jewish players, just as games on Shabbat creates questions for younger Jewish players (but those don’t usually make national news). In 1934, “Hammering Hank” Greenberg decided to play for the Detroit Tigers on Rosh Hashanah but not on Yom Kippur. In 1954, Al Rosen announced that he wouldn’t play for the Cleveland Indians (now Guardians) during the Yom Kippur game of the World Series, but the Giants swept the series before that game. In 1965, Sandy Koufax didn’t pitch for the Los Angeles Dodgers when the World Series fell on Yom Kippur. In 1969, Art Shamsky didn’t play for the New York Mets on Rosh Hashanah. In 1996, Jesse Levis played on Yom Kippur for the Milwaukee Brewers, but fasted the entire day. In 2001, Shawn Green cited Koufax in his decision to not play for the Dodgers on Yom Kippur. In each generation, these examples become sources of pride for Jews. To see a children’s book being read about Hank Greenberg, go to https://youtu.be/iwLHyh1PiPc?feature=shared, and here’s one about Sandy Koufax: https://youtu.be/TqSNjMF8kPQ?feature=shared

Before baseball was a professional sport, it was played by amateur teams. One of the stars of this early era, and one of the first players considered good enough to pay, was “Lip” Pike (1845-1893, played 1865-1887). Lipman Pike was the first “home run king”. He was known as “the Iron Batter”, outran a race-horse, and struck a ball nearly 360 feet to bend a metal rod that was 40 feet up on a pagoda at the Brooklyn stadium. Lip Pike was also a Jew, the son of Jewish immigrants from the Netherlands, and was the first Jewish manager of a baseball team. Richard Michelson wrote a children’s book about him in 2011, which you can see being read here: https://youtu.be/lOYTfvYw7j0?feature=shared.

Baseball is now played in many countries, with leagues within those countries, international competitions within regions, the World Baseball Classic, and the Summer Olympics. Israel has these also. It had the “Israel Baseball League” in 2007, it came in 2nd in the 2021 European Baseball Championship (and is playing again in the 2025 Championship), and it came in 4th in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, automatically qualifying it for the 2026 World Baseball Classic. Israel was also only one of 6 countries in the world to qualify for baseball the last time it was part of the Summer Olympics (2020).

There are many terms needed to play baseball in any language. This is also true in Hebrew. Most of the words are direct translations from English, but here are three less-expected ones:

Inning = סִבוּב = see-voov (literally “a turn”)

Base = תַחֲנָה = ta-cha-na (literally “a bus or train station”)

To slide into base = לִגְלושׁ = leeg-lohsh (literally “to surf”)

For a more complete list, JTeach.org has one here: https://jteach.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Baseball%20Hebrew%20Vocab.pdf

There are a number of values involved in playing baseball. Many of these overlap with Jewish values. For example:

Sportsmanship: This is like the Jewish value of “V’ahavta l’rei-acha kamocha”, “love your neighbor has yourself”. Think about how you would want to be treated if you won or lost, and then treat the other players the same way.

Taking care of your body: This is like the Jewish value of “Shmirat haguf”, “guarding your body”. You were created in the image of G-d, and taking care of your body is good both for respecting G-d and being able to play baseball.

Being careful with your words: This is like the Jewish value of “Shmirat halashon”, “Guarding your tongue”. Baseball players often speak to the press, and especially after a loss it’s important to not use your words to put down others.

Taking responsibility: This is like the Jewish value of “Achrayut”, “being responsible”. Being on a team means that you have to take responsibility both for doing your part for the success of the team and taking care of everybody else on your team.

Baseball can not be played as an individual. One can practice baseball skills, but in order to fully play, there is a minimum number of players needed (18). Judaism is fully practiced in community, when you have at least 10 adult Jews, called a “minyan”, so you can say all the prayers. Celebrating Shabbat and other holidays is much more enjoyable when you are not doing it by yourself as well.

In baseball, 18 is a good number because that is the minimum number needed to play a game (two teams that can put 9 people in the field: pitcher, catcher, first base, second base, third base, shortstop, left field, center field, and right field). In Judaism, 18 is a good number because the alphanumeric (“Gematria”) value of “life” (“chai”) is 18.

In baseball, players cover their heads. This is for safety reasons. In Judaism, men and women cover their heads too, sometimes for spiritual reasons and sometimes for modesty reasons.

During WWII, many baseball players signed up. For instance, superstar slugger Hank Greenberg was the second major-league player to enlist, while catcher Moe Berg served as a spy behind enemy lines. This is like how many American Jews served in the military in different ways, fighting in combat, working on the atomic bomb, etc. For example, both Greenberg and Berg were Jewish.

In baseball, those not at a game can see the games on their screens elsewhere. This allows for greater access to the game. In Judaism, many non-Orthodox synagogues have been streaming their services (on YouTube, Facebook, Zoom, and synagogue websites) since the Coronavirus pandemic came to the US in 2020. This also has allowed for greater access to the service.

In baseball, players go through Spring Training before their big Opening Day. In Judaism, B-Mitzvah students go through their own training before their big day, the opening of their adult Jewish lives.

When Jackie Robinson was the first African-American to play in the Major Leagues in 1947, he faced a lot of harassment from opposing White players. When he collided at first base with Hank Greenberg (on 5/17/47), many fans on both teams urged them to fight. They didn’t; they simply picked each other up and kept playing. The crowd kept yelling that Blacks shouldn’t play baseball and that Jackie should leave. When they met at first base again, Hank said to Jackie, “Don’t pay attention to these guys; stick in there”. Later, Jackie told a New York Times reporter, “Class tells. It sticks out all over Mr. Greenberg.” To see a children’s book about this encounter, go to: https://youtu.be/v4tvvPxWDh4?feature=shared. Many Jews, like Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, were involved in fighting for African-American Civil Rights after experiencing anti-Semitism in the US and Europe.

When WWII happened and many major league players went to the army, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was started (it’s featured in the movie “A League of Their Own”). One of the superstars was Thelma “Tiby” Eisen, who played in 966 games and had 674 stolen bases. She was later the force behind ensuring that the AAGPBL had a permanent exhibit at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. While the AAGPBL eventually ended, another first for women in professional baseball was when Justine Siegel became the first woman to pitch batting practice in Major League Baseball (MLB), doing so for Cleveland in 2011; she then became the first coach hired by an MLB team, working for the A’s in 2015. Both women were examples of Jews setting trends for women’s equality; Gloria Steinem (1970s feminism) and Bella Abzug (Congress) are other examples.

Dr. Solomon Schechter, the president of the Jewish Theological Seminary, once told Louis Finkelstein, then a rabbinical student there, “You cannot be a rabbi in America without understanding baseball.” As it turns out, neither Schechter nor Finkelstein cared much for the game (though their grandsons did: https://www.atlantajewishtimes.com/a-father-a-son-and-baseball/ and https://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/judaism-baseball-and-the-drive-for-normal/ ), but the point remained — in order to be an effective rabbi, you have to understand the lives and interests of the people you are serving.

As people came to America, their children took an interest in baseball. This was often distressing to their parents, who regarded it as foolishness. For example, there is a “Bintel Brief” advice column from “The Forward” newspaper (The Forvarts, August 6, 1903, No. 2027, vol.VII, p. 4) where a Jewish immigrant father asks what he ought to do about his son. Abe Cahan, the editor of the newspaper, responded that as long as baseball doesn’t interfere with his studies or cause him to have unsavory company, then the boy should be allowed to enjoy baseball because it is good for the body and will help him feel like he is becoming an American.

One of the classic pieces of baseball humor is “Who’s on First” (https://youtu.be/5FsJe4DScDs?si=HGccUAYfm_rGD5VK), by Abbott and Costello (1940s-50s). Bud Abbott had a Jewish mother, making this an example of Jewish humor as well. In 2007, Dodgers player Chin-Lung Hu hit a single against the Diamondbacks, meaning that Hu really was on first. (Watt was on second for the Washington Senators in 1923: https://generalist.academy/2020/11/13/hus-on-first/).

- https://jewishbaseballmuseum.com/

- http://www.jewishbaseballnews.com/

- https://www.baseball-almanac.com/legendary/Jewish_baseball_players.shtml

- https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jews-in-major-league-baseball-mlb

- https://theweitzman.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Chasing-Dreams-TeacherKit.pdf