BASEBALL
The first Jewish baseball player was Lipman Pike, broke into Professional Baseball in 1871 with the Troy Haymakers. Pike was also the first home run champion.
The first batter in Fenway Park was Guy Zinn, a Jewish ballplayer from the New York Highlanders, (now the New York Yankees). Not surprisingly a Yankee, (Zinn) scored the first run in Fenway after drawing a walk and scoring after one of his teammates drove him in.
The first unanimous (MVP) in baseball was Al Rosen, who played in the 1930s.
Major League Baseball currently has the most Jewish players since 1938, including Kevin Youkilis, Jason Marquis, Gabe Kapler, Ryan Braun, and Ian Kinsler.
BASKETBALL
When basketball first began in 1946, the majority of its players were Jewish. The first Jewish player in the NBA was Twister Steinberg.
In 1946, the first NBA game ever in Toronto. Four of the five starters on the Knicks were Jewish. By the end of the year all of them were released primarily because of anti-Semitism."
Currently, in the NBA there is one Jewish player, Jordan Farmar, who plays guard for the Los Angeles Lakers. Farmar is the first Jewish person to play in the NBA since Danny Schayes in 1999.
COLLEGE
The first Jewish basketball All-American in collegiate sports was Ed Wineapple who played basketball for Providence College in 1929.
The first Jewish college football player was Moses Henry Epstein who played for Columbia University in the third college football game ever played.
In 2009 the most prominent Jews in collegiate athletics are Duke forward John Scheyer and Tennessee Head Coach Bruce Pearl.
LEADERSHIP
Three of the major four sports have Jewish commissioners; David Stern the commissioner of the NBA, Gary Bettman of the NHL, and Bud Selig of MLB.
OWNERSHIP
In 2009 the number of Jewish owners outweighs the amount of Jewish players.
Mark Cuban of the Dallas Mavericks, Bruce Ratner of the New Jersey Nets, Jerry Reinsdorf of the Chicago Bulls, Dan Gilbert of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Ed Snider of the Philadelphia Flyers, Arthur Blank of the Atlanta Falcons, Daniel Snyder of the Washington Redskins, and Fred Wilpon of the New York Mets.
