Hebrewin' Up a Ballclub

Thursday, September 27 2007 @ 01:08 PM EDT

Contributed by: Mick Doherty

Recent discussion in the Holy Cow! Look at These Numbers thread suggested the possibility of an All-Jewish All-Star team -- or what we call in these here parts, a Hall of Names roster.

And with guys like Sandy Koufax, Al Rosen, Lip Pike, youngster Ryan Braun and former Jay All-Star Shawn Green among those available to populate the lineup, it might turn out to be a fine ballclub ... a club that Mike Green has suggested we call "The Seed of Abraham," but for which a truer baseball name might be "The Milwaukee Hebrewers" ... Okay, maybe as a home city, Milwaukee doesn't so much work there. But we'll do our best in putting together a team we will grit our teeth to call ...

Sabbath and Ball
** indicates Hall of Famer
* indicates MLB All-Star

Player/Manager: Lou Boudreau** (1162-1224, one title)

LINEUP
C Mike Lieberthal* (.274, 150 homers through 2007)
1B Hank Greenberg** (331 HR, 2 MVP, just 1394 games)
2B Buddy Myer* (.303, 156 SB, 1925-41)
SS Lou Boudreau** (.295, 1938-52; '48 AL MVP)
3B Al Rosen* (.285, 192 homers, 1948-57; '53 AL MVP)
LF Lip Pike (.321, 1871-81, '87; did all but P, C)
CF Sid Gordon* (.283, 202 homers, 1941-55; also 3B)
RF Shawn Green* (.283, 328 homers through 2007)
DH Ron Blomberg (.293, 1969-78; first-ever DH)

BENCH
C Brad Ausmus* (.252 since 1993)
IF David Eckstein (.286 since 2001; '06 WS MVP)
IF Ryan Braun (.325/33/94 so far in 2007)
OF Richie Scheinblum* (.263, 1965-74)
OF Benny Kauff (.311, 1912, '14-20)
OF Gabe Kapler (.270, 64 HR, 1998-2006)

ROTATION
LHSP Sandy Koufax** (165-87, '63 NL MVP, three Cy Young Awards)
RHSP Joe Horlen* (116-117, 1961-72)
LHSP Ken Holtzman* (174-150, 1965-79
RHSP Steve Stone* (107-93, 1971-81; 1980 AL Cy Young)
LHSP Bo Belinsky (28-51, 1962-70)

BULLPEN
CL-RH Larry Sherry (53-44, 82 saves, 1958-68; '59 WS MVP)
LH-SET Scott Radinsky (42-25, 52 saves, 1990-2001)
LH-SET Scott Schoeneweis (43-49 since 1999)
LH-LONG Ross Baumgarten (22-36, 1978-82, mostly as SP)
RP-LONG Jason Marquis (68-61 since '00, mostly as SP)

As you might expect, a number of other folks have already taken a run at building such a squad, and I should at least recognize them here as, uh, "resources" ...

As the Dreidel Spins ... Not included on this list are players who are listed as having converted to Judaism (though Steve Yeager might have made a nice backup catcher) while those who had a single Jewish parent but who were not necessarily Jewish themselves (we're looking at you, Hall of Fame shortstop Lou Boudreau) are, in fact, eligible ... Some players don't fit either of those definitions, and some may not have been the most devout of Jews (not pointing any fingers there!), but nonetheless are here deemed eligible by way of (well, what else to call it?) birthright ...

Okay, Braun and Scheinblum have cases to start there, but Blomberg is the DH simply because he was, in fact, the original designated hitter -- the first player to ever fill the role in a regular season game, with NYY in 1973 ... What, Moe Berg doesn't make the team? Well, sure, The Catcher Was a Spy, but he was also a .243 hitter with minimal power over parts of 15 seasons, so he best fits as, maybe, some sort of advance scout ... Similarly, there is no room on the roster for Al Schact, but there will always be a seat in the dugout or the press box for "The Clown Prince of Baseball" ... Braun is likely to be the 2007 AL Rookie of the Year ... The pitching staff leans heavily to the left -- insert political joke } ...

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