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Good afternoon and happy Friday!
This week’s Jewish Sport Report features updates on two major halls of fame, plus a feel-good moment from a New York Knicks game. Let’s dig right in.
Ian Kinsler becomes first Jew to earn Baseball Hall of Fame votes in 12 years, but drops off the ballot
Ian Kinsler played for Team Israel at the Olympics in Tokyo after 14 MLB seasons. (Courtesy of JNF-USA)
The Baseball Hall of Fame announced the results of its 2025 ballot on Tuesday, and former star player Ian Kinsler received 10 votes, becoming the first Jewish player to earn HOF votes since Shawn Green in 2013. He was the first Jewish player to make it onto the ballot since his fellow Team Israel coach Kevin Youkilis in 2019, who did not receive votes.
Jewish history aside, Kinsler’s 10 votes amounted to only 2.5% of all voters, below the 5% percent threshold required to remain on the ballot in future years. With 394 total voters this year, Kinsler would have needed to receive 20 votes to remain on the ballot, and 296 for induction. Ichiro Suzuki became the first Japanese player ever elected to the Hall of Fame, falling one vote shy of unanimity, and will be joined in this year’s class by pitchers CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner.
While Kinsler will fall off the ballot after only one year, his career remains worthy of celebration. In 14 MLB seasons, he won two Gold Glove awards for his defense at second base, while earning four All-Star selections and winning the 2018 World Series with the Boston Red Sox. Kinsler’s 54.1 career wins above replacement puts him at 20th all-time among second basemen, ahead of multiple hall of famers, including Bobby Doerr and Nellie Fox.
Next year, retired Milwaukee Brewers star Ryan Braun will have his chance at Cooperstown. Braun, who sometimes went by the moniker “Hebrew Hammer” during his playing career, won the 2007 NL Rookie of the Year and the 2011 NL MVP awards. He also received six All-Star selections and five Silver Slugger awards, but his legacy was tarnished when he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and served a 65-game suspension in 2013. Braun’s 352 home runs are the most all-time among Jewish players. Players known to have used steroids have thus far been shut out of the hall.
(Two-time All-Star second baseman Jason Kipnis also joins the ballot in 2026. Kipnis grew up Jewish but is now a practicing Roman Catholic — though he once celebrated a home run with a “Hava Nagila” dugout dance.)
Halftime report
YOU’RE IN! Speaking of halls of fame, the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in Israel unveiled its 2025 class, a group of 14 athletes and media personalities representing sports ranging from swimming and wrestling to judo and basketball. The group includes former NBA star Amar’e Stoudemire, legendary Argentine broadcaster Andrés Cantor (“Gooooooool!”) and Olympians from the United States, Israel, Mexico, Denmark, Germany and France. Meet all the honorees here. (And check out our 2023 feature on why there are so many Jewish sports halls of fame.)
“ONE OF OUR OWN.” Recently released British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari thanked her fellow Tottenham Hotspur fans, who had displayed yellow ribbons at the Premier League club’s London arena and chanted ‘She’s one of our own’ at matches during the war. “She is so touched and we can’t wait to join you again for a match,” Damari’s mother told The Standard. Tottenham has a long history with London’s Jewish community, and the team’s diehard fans are (sometimes controversially) known as the “Yid Army.”
HOUSTON, WE HAVE A THIRD BASEMAN. Spring Training is only weeks away, and star third baseman Alex Bregman is still a free agent. The longtime Houston Astros cornerstone has been linked to the Red Sox and Detroit Tigers this offseason, but recent reporting from The Athletic suggests that the door remains open for a reunion in Houston, where the two-time World Series champ has spent his entire nine-year career.
BEAR-SHERT. The Chicago Bears are one of many teams to hire a new head coach since the NFL regular season ended earlier this month, but possibly the only one to do so in Yiddish. The team’s CEO Kevin Warren used a popular word in the Mamaloshen to describe new Bears coach Ben Johnson, calling the hire “bashert,” which essentially means “soul mate.”
JOIN US! It’s not too late to sign up for JTA’s upcoming four-part virtual class on American Jewish sports history, featuring renowned Yeshiva University Professor Jeffrey Gurock. The course, which will trace the long lineage of Jews who left their mark on the sports world, begins Feb. 6. Learn more and sign up right here.
Jews in sports to watch this weekend (all times ET)
🏈 IN FOOTBALL…
The Kansas City Chiefs host the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship Game Sunday at 6:30 p.m. Tight end Anthony Firkser, who appeared in three games for the defending champions this season, remains on the Chiefs’ practice squad, but has not taken the field since a regular season game on Dec. 21.
🏒 IN HOCKEY…
Zach Hyman and the Edmonton Oilers host Jason Zucker and the Buffalo Sabres Saturday at 4 p.m. Sabres prospect Devon Levi has had a stellar season in the AHL, but has struggled during his brief stints in the NHL this season, including during a 6-4 loss on Monday. Quinn Hughes, Max Sasson and Mark Friedman’s Vancouver Canucks host Jakob Chychrun and the Washington Capitals Saturday at 10 p.m. Adam Fox and the New York Rangers host the Colorado Avalanche Sunday at 1 p.m. In the PWHL, Sam Cogan and the Toronto Sceptres host Abbey Levy, Elle Hartje and the New York Sirens Saturday at 2 p.m. Aerin Frankel and the Boston Fleet face Minnesota Saturday at 3 p.m.
🏀 IN BASKETBALL…
Deni Avdija and the Portland Trail Blazers face the Charlotte Hornets tonight at 7 p.m. and host the Oklahoma City Thunder Sunday at 6 p.m. Domantas Sabonis, who is converting to Judaism, and the Sacramento Kings play the New York Knicks Saturday at 7:30 p.m. In the G League, Amari Bailey and the Iowa Wolves host the Valley Suns tonight at 7:30 p.m.
⚽ IN SOCCER…
Matt Turner and his Premier League squad Crystal Palace host Brentford Sunday at 9 a.m.
⛳ IN GOLF…
Max Greyserman, David Lipsky, Ben Silverman and Daniel Berger are all competing in the PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego this weekend. Max Homa, who won the tournament in 2023, withdrew from the competition because of an illness.
Your feel-good moment of the week
The New York Knicks lost last Friday against the Minnesota Timberwolves, but one Knicks fan went home a big-time winner. Castelli Laflotte — a youth basketball coach who goes by “Coach Stelli” — went viral for sinking a half-court shot during a break in action during the fourth quarter. Laflotte won $1,000 and a new car, but it was his celebration with Jewish actor and die-hard Knicks fan Ben Stiller that helped make his story go viral.
As it turns out, Laflotte is a former basketball coach and athletic director at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, where he first met Stiller years ago. Here’s his slam dunk (or, more accurately, three-pointer) of a story.
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