MLB’s Jewish headcount hits even dozen with Stern call-up

30-year-old from Ontario, Canada, will be the 12th Jew to play for a Major League Baseball team this year.

By JERUSALEM POST SPORTS STAFF
ST. PETERSBURG, Florida – The Milwaukee Brewers are putting injured CF Carlos Gomez on the disabled list and calling up CF Adam Stern from AAA to replace him.
Stern, a 30-year-old from Ontario, Canada, will be the 12th Jew to play for a Major League Baseball team this year. Through 12 games with the Nashville Sounds this season he is batting .349 with one HR, four RBIs and a .429 on-base percentage.
Stern may not have much time to impress Milwaukee. Gomez, 24, strained his rotator cuff but is eligible to return to the Brewers‚ lineup as early as May 19. He is batting .276 with a pair of HRs, six RBIs, a .321 on-base percentage and six stolen bases in as many attempts.
Milwaukee already boasts one of baseball’s best Jewish players, power-hitting LF Ryan Braun. Stern’s arrival raises the intriguing possibility that the Brewers’ outfield soon might feature two Jews, if only briefly.
Few would have predicted Stern’s return to the major leagues afternearly a three-year layoff. A third-round pick of the Atlanta Braves in2001, he made his big-league debut with the Boston Red Sox in 2005. Butin two seasons with Boston he batted a mere .143 and struck out 8 timesin 35 at-bats.
Stern played two games for the Baltimore Orioles in 2007 but without asingle plate appearance and has lingered in the minors ever since.
In addition to Stern and Braun, the active Jewish MLB players thatround out the auspicious list include Brad Ausmus, Gabe Kapler, IanKinsler, Kevin Youkilis, Craig Breslow, Scott Feldman, John Grabow,Jason Marquis, Scott Schoeneweis and Ike Davis.
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