At tonight’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Kansas City, Missouri, there will be two Jews on the field, or at least in the dugout: an improvement from last year’s one, but a downgrade from past years that have seen three or four Jews selected to compete in the Mid-Summer Classic.
Hard to say whom to root for: starting in outfield for the National League will be the Milwaukee Brewers’ Ryan Braun, last year’s Most Valuable Player; but he actually wasn’t voted a starter, and instead appears in the opening lineup as an injury substitution. Also not-starting, for the American League, is the Texas Rangers’ second baseman Ian Kinsler.
Not appearing at all is veteran infielder Kevin Youkilis. Having been either injured or producing poor numbers for the past couple seasons, including this one, the Boston Red Sox—with whom he won two World Series—traded him to the Chicago White Sox last month. To an almost weird extent, he has since been tearing it up: yesterday, he was named A.L. Player of the Week after he hit nearly .500 with three home runs and 10 RBI over a six-game span. He will be missed by the Jews, by the American League squad, but most of all by Red Sox Nation. Anyway, enjoy tonight’s game!
Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.