Here’s my back-and-forth on a baseball player’s identity and the line between who’s in and who’s out.
David Newhan is a Jewish former Major League Baseball player who believes in Jesus. Such believers are often called Messianic Jews. I wrote a column about Newhan, where I discuss how Jewish Major Leaguers, a company that issues an annual set of Jewish player cards, discontinued Newhan’s card in 2008 after discovering he was a Messianic Jew.
Newhan’s dad, Ross (who does not believe in Jesus), called Martin Abramowitz, the company’s president, and expressed his unhappiness with the exclusion. He told Abramowitz that his son is a Jew and that both Ross and his wife, Connie, are Jews. Abramowitz said he would “reinstate” David and would be pleased if Ross would write the bio for David’s card.
You would think that would have settled the matter, especially because Ross Newhan is a Hall of Fame baseball writer who wrote for The Los Angeles Times. However, when no David Newhan card appeared in 2009, I asked Abramowitz why, and he replied, “At some point, we learned that he had become identified with Messianic Judaism (Christ as the Savior), so we stopped including him.”
Now I have become aware of another Jewish organization that has excluded Newhan. Jewish Baseball News, which maintains a list of current and previous professional Jewish baseball players, had a curious entry for Newhan. Newhan played in the majors from 1999-2008, but Jewish Baseball News included only his 1999 stats, saying he became a Messianic Jew after that.
Photo courtesy TheSportsDB
As I had written about Newhan previously, I contacted Jewish Baseball News and heard back from its managing editor, Scott Barancik. Here is our conversation:
Matt Sieger: “I see you list David Newhan but only record his 1999 statistics because he became a Messianic Jew. I interviewed Newhan several years ago and wrote an article about him. Please consider adding a link to my article on his page, as he feels he has never stopped being a Jew. [I gave him the link to my article.] After you read the article and see the case Newhan and his father, Hall of Fame baseball writer Ross Newhan (not a Messianic Jew), make for David’s Jewishness, perhaps you could consider making his full career highlights available to your readers. Although one of your criteria is “does not practice another faith,” you have included Shawn Green, who is known as a JuBu and incorporated Buddhist mindfulness, meditation, and Zen principles into hitting and daily life. Does belief in Jesus alone disqualify your candidates from full inclusion on your roster? I would appreciate your response. Thank you.”
Scott Barancik: “Thanks for sending your article. After consulting with our colleagues, we removed David from our database last year. However, I failed to delete his bio page, which is what you saw. I have deleted it now. Newhan’s family and Newhan himself have long argued for inclusion on lists of Jewish ballplayers. And we appreciate them reaching out. (They’ve never reached out to me, but have reached out to others, as your article shows.) Our criteria for inclusion are quite clear: “We define the term ‘Jewish’ broadly. If a player has at least one Jewish parent or has converted to Judaism, does not practice another faith, and is content to be identified as a Jew, we include him.” Jesus does not figure into our definition. I realize that’s a choice, but everyone we know in this niche discipline agreed.”
Matt Sieger: “Thanks for getting back to me. My one question remains: Shawn Green clearly practices another faith, mainly Buddhism. He even wrote a book about it. Yet you include him. Do you see the inconsistency in your policy?”
Scott Barancik: “You served as a reporter when you wrote your article, but now you’re serving as an advocate for Newhan’s cause. Do you have a vested interest in the outcome?”
Matt Sieger: “I am a retired sportswriter. My interest is personal: I am also a Jewish believer in Jesus. I feel that your exclusion of Newhan is discriminatory, as he is as Jewish as any Jew, as am I. Regarding the inconsistency of your inclusion of Shawn Green, perhaps you need to amend your policy to read, “We define the term ‘Jewish’ broadly. If a player has at least one Jewish parent or has converted to Judaism, does not believe in Jesus, and is content to be identified as a Jew, we include him.” That would be more honest.”
Scott Barancik: “Please feel free to start your own website and include Newhan and other Messianic Jewish players.”
If I took up his suggestion, it would have one entry: Newhan. As far as I know, he is the only Messianic Jewish baseball player in the game’s history.
I’m still getting over the absurdity of only including Newhan’s 1999 statistics (when Jewish Baseball News thought he didn’t yet believe in Jesus), then excluding his remaining years. However, Mr. Barancik explained that they also deleted Newhan’s 1999 statistics a year ago. On their website, I saw the bio page that was just deleted and mentioned the 1999 stats. I appreciate that, in his category of players with Jewish ancestry who don’t identify as exclusively Jewish, he lists Newhan and links to my article.
In my view, a Jew who believes Jesus is the Jewish Messiah is as much a Jew as Shawn Green, who practices Buddhism, or any other Jewish person. After all, Jesus’ first followers were all Jewish.
But rather than getting into a theological discussion, I’ll close with this anecdote. Not all Jewish baseball aficionados dismiss Newhan. Howard Megdal, who ranked all Jewish baseball players by position in his book, The Baseball Talmud, rated Newhan #4 among second basemen.
As for why he included Newhan, whom he knew was a Messianic Jew, Megdal showed a sense of humor: “We as the Jewish people cannot afford to cast aside middle infielders.”
