Is Rod Carew a Jew? Jewish Baseball Fans’ Obsession with Jewish Players

The paper examines how Jewish baseball fans understand their connection to Jewish players and theorizes about what that means for Jewish identity. Baseball was a pathway for Jews to become (White) Americans in the 20th century. Today a large cohort of Jewish baseball fans remain obsessed with counting and rooting for Jewish players, regardless of team affiliation. I will argue that these fans are motivated by both a continuing insecurity about their place in American life and a search for the meaning of their identity as American Jews. The paper will focus on the American Jewish players on Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic to explain the role Israel plays in the American Jewish imaginary, contrasted to the Southpaw League, an anti-Zionist virtual group of diehard Jewish baseball fans. It will also include a study of Jacob Steinmetz, the only Orthodox Jew in the MLB.