the rETURN (1990’s - 2000’s)

Black-and-white illustration of Shawn Green in a Los Angeles Dodgers uniform holding a bat in a stadium.

In contrast to the 1980’s, the 1990's witnessed an explosion of new Jewish baseball players, as well as Jews in other roles, arrive on the baseball scene.

Of particular significance were two players. The first, Shawn Green, was the first legitimate Jewish slugger since Al Rosen, and had a long, highlight-filled career.  The second, Ryan Braun, was a Rookie of the Year Award winner as well as a National League MVP, who had a potential Hall of Fame career derailed by a performance-enhancing drug scandal.

Other players of note during this period include the Boston Red Sox star and fan favorite Kevin Youkilis, One & Done Adam Greenberg, Superman Sam Fuld, and the eccentric player and manager Gabe Kapler.

As mentioned, this period also featured many non-playing Jews of note. For example, wunderkind Theo Epstein, as a General Manager, broke not only The Curse of the Bambino for the Boston Red Sox but also The Curse of the Billy Goat for the Chicago Cubs. 

GREENBERG REDUX

SHAWN GREEN (1972 - )  

WATERCOLOR ON PAPER, 12x16

JAMES FIORENTINO (2023)

A LH-hitting star outfielder from Southern California whose original family name was Greenberg. During his 15-year career, Shawn became the most outstanding Jewish baseballer since Koufax. When he originally signed with the Toronto Blue Jays, Shawn received the second largest signing bonus in Major League history; a true Mensch, he donated part of that bonus to a charity which feeds poor kids. Although he received little religious training growing up, the enormous support Shawn received from the Toronto Jewish community awakened his Jewish pride. While a Blue Jay, Shawn became the first Jewish Major Leaguer to join the 30/30 Club (season home runs & stolen bases). At his request, Shawn was traded to the L.A. Dodgers to be closer to home and play before a larger Jewish community; he thereafter made an annual $250,000 donation to the team's Dream Foundation. While a Dodger, Shawn ended his major league leading consecutive game playing streak in order to observe Yom Kippur. Also while a Dodger, he had one of the greatest offensive performances in baseball history, setting the record for total bases in a game (19), including 4 HRs. A very modest ballplayer, Shawn allowed himself the only fist pump of his career when he hit his 2nd HR in his first postseason game. Late in his career, Shawn agreed to become a NY Met to play before NYC's enormous Jewish fan base; he then donated $180 (10 times 'Chai') for each HR he hit at home. Although only 34 years old, Shawn retired so that he could spend more time with his young daughter. In retirement, Shawn co-authored The Way of Baseball, recounting his spiritual development while in baseball. Shawn briefly came out of retirement in 2013 to play for Team Israel, its initial appearance in the World Baseball Classic. (See cartoon text itself for additional info.) 

BIO-ILLUSTRATION drawing (with a copy containing digitally added text), FOR SPORTS COLLECTORS DIGEST, 7x11 (each image)

RONNIE JOYNER (2012)

MR. SELF-CONFIDENCE

BRAD AUSMUS (1969 - )  

color pencil, acrylic paint and marker on illustration board, 18x22

stephen burkett (2024)

Brad is a Dartmouth grad from Connecticut who played 18 years, primarily for The Houston Astros, becoming the team's all-time greatest catcher. He ranks third in Major League catching history with nearly 13,000 putouts, and also is third in fielding percentage. Brad ranks first among Jewish Major Leaguers in career games played (1,971). Always self-assured, he successfully predicted as a child that he would attend Dartmouth and then play in the Major Leagues. His game-tying bottom of the 9th HR helped the Astros win the historic 18 innings final game of the 2005 NL Division Series. That season, Brad became the first Ivy League catcher to play in the World Series since 'Chief 'Meyers in 1916. One of only five Jewish managers in Major League history, he managed the Detroit Tigers to the AL Central Division title in his first year; he later became the first Team Israel manager in the World Baseball Classic.  Brad was raised with little Jewish religion - his mother was Jewish and his father Christian - but he embraced Judaism as an adult. When he didn't play one Yom Kippur, Brad joked that he "...was trying to atone for my poor first half of the season."

THE CURSE BUSTER

THEO EPSTEIN (1973 - )

ACRYLIC, WATERCOLOR, OIL & COLOR PENCIL ON BAINBRIDGE COLD PRESS ILLUSTRATION BOARD, 13x17

CF PAYNE (2024)

Theo is the Massachusetts-raised, Yale-educated baseball executive who, as Boston Red Sox GM, helped erase the 86-year-old Curse of the Bambino, and who, as Chicago Cubs President of Baseball Operations, helped end the 71-year-old Curse of the Billy Goat. In 2017, he was ranked by Time Magazine as one of the World's 100 Most Influential People. When Theo happened to resign from the Red Sox on Halloween, he left Fenway Park in a gorilla suit to avoid reporters. Thinking ahead, Theo chose his law school professors based upon their class absence policies because he simultaneously would be working for the San Diego Padres. In both Boston and Chicago, Theo organized benefit concerts - called Hot Stove, Cool Music, to assist disadvantaged youth and their families. Due to a prank played by Theo's father, the Boston Globe incorrectly reported that Theo had married at Nathan's Coney Island hot dog stand.

THE BALLER

MICAH FRANKLIN  (1972 -  )

INK, ACRYLIC & COLOR PENCIL ON CANVAS, 16x20

NATHAN BERG (2024)

Micah is a San Franciscan with a Jewish mother and an African-American father. He briefly played OF for the St. Louis Cardinals and also spent 12 years playing in the Minors. In addition, Micah played four seasons in Asia, two in Japan and two in S. Korea. He was the first Jew to play baseball in South Korea. In Japan, Micah played for a team with the kosher-challenged name The Nippon Ham Fighters. His middle name, Ishanti, honors Micah's African roots. After serving as hitting coach for several Major League teams, Micah was appointed the first-ever General Manager of the Oakland Ballers, an independent Pioneer League team created to fill the void left in Oakland, CA by the departure of the Oakland Athletics for Las Vegas.

A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS

GABE KAPLER  (1975 - )

Gabe is a Hollywood, CA former pro weightlifter/health guru who was an OF for six different baseball teams. Known as The Body, he is best remembered as a ballplayer for helping the Boston Red Sox win the 2004 World Series and reverse TheCurse of The Bambino. Gabe was the only Democrat on that Red Sox 25-man roster. A fiercely proud Jew, Gabe is tattooed with affirmations of Jewish identity & pride, including a Star of David, the motto Never Again and the dates of The Holocaust. He won the 2008 MLB Play of the Year award, voted on by 12 million fans, for a HR-robbing catch which landed him in the left field seats at American Family Field in Milwaukee. While Player Development Director of the LA Dodgers, Gabe switched the Dodgers' clubhouse totally to organic fare and forbade junk food. As manager of the NL West Champion SF Giants, he was voted NL Manager of the Year. In 2020, Gabe  was the first manager to publicly support Black Lives Matter. In 2022, due to continuing school mass shootings, skipper Gabe announced he would not come out of the dugout for The National Anthem until America got on a better track. After rescuing his future wife from an abusive boyfriend, he created the Gabe Kapler Foundation which is dedicated to preventing domestic violence. Kapler currently is General Manager of the Miami Marlins.

INK & MARKER CARTOON ON PAPER, 18x18

MICHAEL RICIGLIANO (2023)

A JEW WITH A DIFFERENCE

DAVID NEWHAN  (1973 -  )

GRAPHITE, COLOR PENCIL, RAW UMBER ACRYLIC PAINT WASH & OPAQUE ACRYLIC PAINT ON ILLUSTRATION BOARD, 16x20

BRENT NAUGHTON (2024)

David was a long-time utility player for five different teams, though he primarily played for the Baltimore Orioles. Despite being raised Jewish, and having had a Bar Mitzvah, David became a Jew for Jesus sometime as a young adult, though he still considers himself to be Jewish. Nicknamed Son of Scribe because of his Hall of Fame sportswriter father Ross Newhan, this Los Angeles kid didn't follow in his Dad's footsteps because "Playing seemed a lot more fun than writing."  In order to prepare David to play 1B, his college coach insisted that he dress in catcher's gear before he would hit grounders to him. An avid surfer, during his playing career David sustained the same potentially life-threatening injury which turned star movie actor Christopher Reeves into a quadriplegic, an injury to vertebra C2 (known as The Hangman's Fracture.) Miraculously, David survived without serious injury and was able to continue his baseball career.

A DIEHARD FAN

PAUL SIMON  (1941 - )

CONCERT POSTER (proof copy) FOR BILL GRAHAM CO, 14x20

CHRISTOPHER PETERSON (2000)

Paul first showed his love for baseball - and the NY Yankees - by name-dropping Joltin' Joe DiMaggio in the song Mrs. Robinson from The Academy Award nominated Best Picture, The Graduate.  Years later, he sang for Yankee Stadium fans from DiMaggio's old CF haunt, on the day that a monument to DiMaggio was unveiled in the ballpark's Monument Park. Paul had been a Yankees fan since his childhood in the 1940's, but grew up in Queens, future home to the NY Mets and Shea Stadium.

THE GREEK GOD OF WALKS

KEVIN YOUKILIS (1979 -  )

MIXED MEDIA & WATERCOLOR cartoon ON PAPER, 18x22

FRANKIE GALASSO (2023)

Kevin is a two-time World Series champ from Cincinnati who set the Major League record at 1B for errorless games -238 - and fielding chances - 2,002. He acquired the nickname Euclis, The Greek God of Walks because of his stellar ability to get on base and due to confusion over his actual (Romanian) ancestry. Kevin was a favorite of Boston Red Sox fans because of his grittiness; he was regularly serenaded in Boston with choruses of "Yoooo...k." Kevin had a crazy batting stance, but was known as a clutch hitter with extraordinary vision (20/11) that allowed him to have exceptional strike zone success. Highly empathetic, Kevin shaved his entire head during the 2007 postseason in solidarity with a pediatric cancer patient. Kevin now runs an award-winning California brewing company whose profits benefit his charitable foundation, Hits for Kids, which supports youth healthcare. Among its offerings, Kevin’s brewery makes a wine labelled Sauvignyoouuk Blanc. Kevin had a relative who worked during Prohibition as a Rum Runner for notorious gangster Al Capone in order to raise money to bring the rest of the Youkilis family to America. Kevin is married to the sister of football's GOAT quarterback, Tom Brady.

MR. PERSERVERANCE

ADAM GREENBERG  (1981 - )

bio-ILLUSTRATION drawing (with a copy containing digitally added text), FOR SPORTS COLLECTORS DIGEST, 7x11 (each image)

RONNIE JOYNER (2009)

On the very first pitch he saw in the Majors Leagues, as a Chicago Cubs pinch-hitter fighting the late day shadows at Wrigley Field, Adam was severely injured from being hit in the back of his head by an errant fastball.  This speedy CF - who also was known as a great defensive player - then spent years gallantly attempting a comeback but that resulted only in his being given a 1-day contract seven years later by the Miami Marlins and getting one ceremonial At-Bat. During his years attempting to rejoin the Majors, Ryan happened to again face Valerio de los Santos - the pitcher who had beaned him - and Adam singled in his first AB against him. Adam later played for Team Israel in the 2013 WBC Qualifier, and then retired. When he went down South to attend college years earlier, Connecticut-raised Ryan was astounded to find that nearly all of his U. of North Carolina baseball team had never met a Jewish person. In retirement, Adam unsuccessfully ran as a Republican for the Connecticut State Senate seat previously held by the son of former U.S. Senator, Democrat Ted Kennedy. (See cartoon text itself for additional info.) 

WISE GUY

CRAIG BRESLOW   (1980 - )

ACRYLIC ON CANVAS, 18x24

BRAD DAVIS (2023)

A Yale double major in molecular biophysics & biochemistry, Brad was a LH reliever for seven different teams over twelve seasons. He had his greatest success with the 2013 World Champion Boston Red Sox. Known as The Smartest Man in Baseball, Craig once helped a teammate win a bet by computing how many times a baseball spins on the way to home plate. Another teammate quipped about him: "Breslow knows everything. I want to be Craig Breslow when I grow up." Effective because of his ability to mix up six different pitches, Craig did deep dives into analytics and video in an effort to improve his pitching. In 2012, he and fellow Jew Ryan Lavarnway formed the first All-Yale battery in the Majors since 1883. To respect both his religion and his baseball team, Craig pitched on Yom Kippur while fasting. He created The Strike 3 Foundation to fight pediatric cancer, inspired by his sister's having had childhood cancer. Craig currently is Chief Baseball Officer of the Boston Red Sox.

THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING

NATE FISH  (1980 - )

GRAPHITE, COLOR PENCIL, RAW UMBER ACRYLIC PAINT WASH & OPAQUE ACRYLIC PAINT ON ILLUSTRATION BOARD, 16x20

BRENT NAUGHTON (2024)     

Nate is the self-styled King of Jewish Baseball. He has been intimately involved with Israel baseball for many years while simultaneously pursuing a career as a writer and artist. Nate played in the Israel Baseball League, winning a Gold Glove at 3B, managed Team Israel at the World Baseball Classic, and was Director of the Israel Association of Baseball after having played for Israel at various European Baseball Championship tournaments. Nate founded a program, Baseball L'Kulam, Baseball for All of Us, to bring together Israel's Jewish and Arab children. He also won a gold medal with Team USA at multiple Maccabiah Games in Israel. A world traveler, Nate also has played pro baseball in Germany, Argentina, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. In addition to being a published writer & poet, Nate also has had solo exhibitions in NYC of his visual art.

MARRIED TO THE MIKE

SUZYN WALDMAN(1946 -)

& THE HOMER

JOHN STERLING (1938 -)

OIL ON CANVAS, 18x24

TONY LIPPS (2025)

POSTER INSERT IN THE DAILY NEWS, 9x12

ED MURAWINSKI (2009)

[Not Original]

Suzyn Waldman is the first female regular color commentator in Major League history, partnering with John Sterling on NY Yankees' WFAN radio broadcasts. Previously, she did play-by-play announcing for WPIX, the Yankees' local TV station. Suzyn has been nicknamed Ma Pinstripes because of the excessive enthusiasm she exhibits for the Yankees. Displaying another of her many skillsets, she brokered an end to the fourteen year feud between Yogi Berra and George Steinbrenner, which had resulted in Berra refusing to ever appear at Yankee Stadium. Suzyn helped broadcast the first Major League games ever played in Europe, the Yankees vs. the Red Sox in London, England.  Before baseball, Suzyn was a Broadway actress in musical theatre, notably playing Dulcinea in Man of La Mancha. A gifted singer, she has performed the National Anthem at Yankee Stadium many times.

John Sterling was The NY Yankees radio play-by-play announcer for over 15 years, at one point covering 5,060 consecutive games. He also presided over most Yankees' special events, including Old-Timer's Day, Monument Park inductions and Uniform Retirement ceremonies, not to mention Yankees' World Series celebrations. In 2019, he called the first Major League games played in Europe.  Working alongside color commentator Suzyn Waldman, John gained the moniker Pa Pinstripes for his partiality towards the Yankees. John had a very distinctive announcing style, nicknaming and creating unique HR calls for all Yankees players. But his signature call was "Yankees Win! Thaaaaaa Yankees Win!" after every Yankees' victory. While broadcasting at Yankee Stadium one evening, John was hit in the head by a foul ball, but he was so devoted to his job that he simply continued broadcasting.

Painting of two people in a televised interview, one woman with short dark hair wearing a striped shirt speaking into a microphone with 'WFAN' logo, and one man with glasses and light hair wearing a pinstripe suit speaking into a microphone with 'YES' logo.

A DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH

IAN KINSLER   (1982 -)

PRISMACOLOR & ACRYLIC ON MDF BOARD, 16x20

CHRIStopher BROWN (2024)

Ian is a ‘5 Tool’ All-Star 2B from Arizona, who overcame his lifelong Asthma to shine on several Major League teams, primarily the Texas Rangers. He is first in career steals of all Jewish Major Leaguers. Primarily a leadoff hitter, Ian is the first in MLB history to go 6 for 6 in a game while hitting for ‘The Cycle’. He is one of only three 2B in Major League history to have a 30/30 (HRs/SBs) season, and he did it twice. Ian was the first winner of the Diamond in the Rough Award, which recognizes a player who rose from obscurity to achieve greatness, i.e., he entered pro baseball as a little-valued 17th round draft pick. The child of a mixed marriage, Ian identifies as Jewish and was appointed manager of Team Israel at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, after having made Aliyah to play for the team at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Previously, he won a gold medal for Team USA at the 2017 WBC.

'1/1' ENLARGED digital ILLUSTRATION book page, FROM BASEBALL & BELONGING by ryan lavarnway, 16x20

CHRIStopher BROWN (2023)

THE MAN WITH NO SHAME

RYAN BRAUN  (1983 - )

’1/1’ dIGITAL CARTOON ON PAPER (and the signed draft), 16x20

SAM VILLAREALE (2023)

Ryan was a slugging LF whose 13-year career, all with the Milwaukee Brewers, included National League ROY and MVP awards, as well as 6 All-Star team selections and 5 Silver Slugger awards. He was the first Jewish ballplayer to become a ROY. However, Ryan's Hall of Fame chances were shattered when he was suspended for failing a testosterone test which revealed that he had used PEDs during his NL MVP season, which he then lied about, attempting to falsely blame the drug tester and alleging Antisemitism. In 2008, he sent the Brewers to the playoffs for the first time in over 25 years by hitting an 8th inning go-ahead HR. Ryan ended his career as the All-Time Jewish HR leader with 352. Although he was raised in Los Angeles without religion by his Israeli Sabra father and Christian mother, Ryan claims to take pride in his Jewish roots. In a series of unusual coincidences, Ryan's surname Braun is that of Sandy Koufax's birth father, and Ryan spent vacations with his maternal grandfather who coincidentally lived in Hank Greenberg's former home.

The Draft

SUPER SAM

SAM FULD (1981 - )

'1/1' DIGItal ILLUSTRATION, Based on A drawing IN BASEBALL & BELONGINg by ryan lavarNway, 16x20

CHRIStopher BROWN (2023)

Sam is a New Hampshire boy renowned for his spectacular outfield dives and for crashing into walls. Small in stature but very speedy, he was nicknamed Super Sam after becoming a Chicago Cubs hero by making a game-saving, flying catch, while crashing into the Wrigley Field outfield ivy, to preserve the team's 2007 NL Central Division lead. Another of Sam's teams, the Tampa Bay Rays even held a Super Sam Superhero Capes kids' giveaway in his honor.  Raised with both Jewish & Christian religious cultures, he proudly played for Team Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic. Sam was a stats freak from childhood, even carrying around The Complete Baseball Handbook as a security blanket. In order to play baseball, Sam had to continually regulate the Type 1 Diabetes from which he has suffered since age 10. A Stanford grad, he holds the College World Series record for most career hits. Sam currently is General Manager of The Philadelphia Phillies. His wife Sarah, a Princeton grad, is herself a great athlete, having won 2 national lacrosse championships while a student there.

OAKLAND A's CHEER CARD ON CARD STOCK, FOR YP.COM, 12x18

UNCREDITED ARTIST (2014)

[Not Original]

A HEAD OF THE GAME

STU STERNBERG (1959- )

OIL ON CANVAS, 18x24;

​​​​RILEY WAITE (2025)

A born & raised middle-class Brooklyn boy, Stu Sternberg rose to become a multi-millionaire investor and, in 2005, Managing General Partner of the Tampa Bay Rays. His Brooklyn childhood was full of baseball, both as a player and fan, with one of Stu's fondest memories being his having watched Sandy Koufax pitch in 1965 at Shea Stadium. Sternberg bought the Rays together with fellow Jew and Goldman Sachs partner Matthew Silverman, who served as the team's President, neither of whom had previously run a business or a sports team. Despite having a very low payroll and playing in the same highly competitive Division as the Yankees and Red Sox, the Rays regularly made the playoffs since 2008, even making the World Series twice. Since 2008, only the Yankees and Dodgers have won more total games. Sternberg & Silverman took the Oakland A's 'Moneyball' concept and perfected it, doing anything they believed could give them a competitive edge, such as creating 'The Shift' on defense, and using a relief pitcher for a single batter. (MLB has since banned both practices.) Despite the Rays continued on-field success, the team never was able to build a large fan base - regularly being at or near the bottom of MLB in attendance. This resulted from the Rays winning strategy of regularly trading their high-priced stars for low-salaried prospects, making it hard to develop a loyal fan base. Because of this fan failure, the Rays' regularly embarrassing rich teams by winning with much less money than them, and MLB's history of getting rid of free-thinking, maverick owners like Sternberg, Stu was pushed by MLB to sell the team. In 2025, he procured a sales price of $1.7 billion, dwarfing the $200 million which his investment group had paid.

THE AGELESS ISRAELI

SHLOMO LIPETZ   (1979 - )

OIL ON CANVAS, 16x20

MIKE KUPKA (2024)

Shlomo is a soft-tossing, side-arming RH pitcher from Tel Aviv, and has been the face of Israel baseball since its late 1980's start. A Sabra, his baseball journey started as a 10-year-old pitcher for Israel at the 1989 Little League preliminaries in Germany. Shlomo played in Israel's first international game, a 50-0 loss to Saudia Arabia. He pitched for the Netanya Tigers in the one season of the Israel Baseball League in 2007, with a league leading .098 ERA. Shlomo also pitched for Team Israel at multiple World Baseball Classics, at the Olympics and at the European Championships. At the 2013 World Baseball Classic, he was the only native Israeli to play for Team Israel. At the old age of 42, Shlomo pitched once again for Team Israel at the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Currently, he is VP of Programing & Music Director at City Winery, a NYC-based national food & music venue.

MS. BASEBALL FOR ALL

JUSTINE SIEGAL  (1975 - )

OIL ON WOOD PANEL, 16x20

COURTNEY PASTERCHICK (2024)

While growing up in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Justine kept hearing that baseball was for boys. She nevertheless went on to create The Sparks, the first All-Girls team to compete in a national baseball tournament. A movie, Girls of Summer, was made about that 2002 experience. Later, Justine became the first female coach of a pro men's baseball team, the first woman to throw batting practice to a Major League team and the first female to coach a Major League team. Justine also was a coach for Team Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic. In addition, she was the first woman to coach in the Japanese and Mexican baseball leagues. Justine has a Ph.D. in sports psychology. She has created a non-profit, Baseball for All, to promote gender equity in youth baseball.  Justine also is the co-founder of the WPBL  (Women’s Pro Baseball League), the fifth ever all-female pro baseball league, with play to begin in 2026.

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