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Yankees Trade For a Jew

Pitcher Hirsh’s mother must be so proud

by
Marc Tracy
July 30, 2009

The New York Yankees surely have a robust Jewish fanbase: the Bronx squad is not only Major League Baseball’s most popular team (if also its most hated), it’s also the most popular team in the heavily Semitic Tristate Area. Yet the Yankees’ last Jewish player, southpaw pitcher Kenneth Holtzman, left the team over 30 years ago. So we are pleased that pitcher Jason Hirsh could become the next Jew to sport those obnoxiously aristocratic pinstripes as soon as this season. Yesterday, the Yankees traded for Hirsh, and assigned him to their top minor league team. (Though Hirsh has started big-league games in the past, he has struggled with his rotator cuff for over a year.) Here’s hoping he makes it up to the rotation, or at least the bullpen, in time for one of the Yankees’ three remaining series against the Red Sox. We would pay good money to see him face off against Boston first baseman Kevin Youkilis, the most accomplished current Jewish ballplayer and star of literally the greatest video clip in history.

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.