Shawn Green
(1972 - )
Shawn David Green (born November 10, 1972 in Des Plaines, Illinois) is a left-handed power hitter in Major League Baseball. He is noted for his swing and his arm in the outfield. He is also one of the most notable Jewish ball players.
Shawn Green was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1st round (16th pick) of the 1991 amateur draft and made his Major League debut on September 28, 1993. He spent most of 1993 and 1994 playing in the minors, where he compiled impressive numbers. In 1994, he hit .344 with 13 home runs and 81 RBI with Toronto's AAA affiliate, the Syracuse Sky Chiefs.
In 1995, his rookie season, Shawn started slowly but picked up the pace later on as he became more comfortable with Major League pitching. He started in 97 games that season, hitting 15 home runs and batting .288. The 1996 and 1997 seasons were very similar in that Shawn faced limited at-bats, wasn't trusted to hit left-handed pitching, and continued to produce only in sporadic intervals. He was, however, developing in other ways. He proved to be more aggressive on the base paths in 1997 than any previous year and stole 14 bases. He was also developing his upper body strength in hopes of alleviating the skinny kid persona which had followed him from the minors.
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"Shawn Green Looks Forward to Playoffs, Bar Mitzvah"
by Mordechai Spektor
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. --After the New York Timesreported recently that Toronto Blue Jays rightfielder Shawn Green was thinking about a belated celebration of his Bar Mitzvah, the offers came rolling in.
Five rabbis and a synagogue president inquired about preparing the ballplayer for his religious rite of passage, according to Howard Starkman, the franchise's vice president for media relations.
"Yeah, that's something that I'd like to do eventually, when the time is right," affirmed Green about having a Bar Mitzvah, during a recent conversation at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis. "When I get a chance I'm going to try to do it."
For now, Green is all about baseball; specifically, he's looking to help the Jays in the hunt for the wild card berth in the American League play-offs. Last season was Green's "break-out year," in the words of Gary Matthews, Toronto's batting coach. The lanky, southern California native smacked 35 home runs, drove in 100 runs and hit for a .278 average. He also stole 35 bases, becoming the first Blue Jays player -- and only the 9th AL player -- to join the 30/30 club, hitting at least 30 home runs and stealing 30 bases.
"This year's he's just following it up and being very consistent," commented Matthews.
Indeed, Green showed his consistency this year with a 28-game hitting streak, the longest in the AL this year and breaking the Toronto club record of 26 consecutive games set by John Olerud in 1993.
"It was a lot of fun," said Green of his 28-game run. (Gabe Kapler, the Jewish outfielder for the Detroit Tigers, helped end Green's run on July 31, by robbing the 26-year-old slugger of a hit, with a sensational over-the-shoulder catch, at the warning track.) "It was the kind of thing where every day you come to the park and you're just hoping to get a hit and keep the streak going, but at the same time, we were winning so that was the most important thing and it made it that much more enjoyable."
Green's great 1999 season -- he came into series with the Minnesota Twins batting 321, with 33 home runs and 97 RBI -- has included his first career appearance in the All-Star game, where he got a hit in his only at bat.
"The All Star game was great, it was a great experience, especially in Fenway Park, a historic place, with the [100 All-Century team players] there...It was a special time," said Green, who added that he was most impressed by Ted Williams, the legendary Boston Red Sox batsman.
Knowledgeable baseball fans know about Shawn Green, and the casual observers of the game are starting to take notice due to the increasing press focus on the promising athlete. Like the New York Times story, a\recent feature story in ESPN magazine - entitled "Bat Mitzvah" - focused on the heritage of Jews in the big leagues. Green is being compared to such luminaries as Hank Greenberg, the late Detroit Tigers slugger who\was enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
"There have been some great Jewish players in baseball history," Green responded with typical modesty to such treatment. "I'm honored to be associated with guys like that.
For their part, the Toronto Blue Jays brass are edified by Green's development as a player and by his activities off the field. "Shawn's one of the fan favorites...he's certainly made his mark in the community,"\observed Gord Ash, president of the Toronto Blue Jays. "He's a very mature young man, a very smart young man...he's been a credit to the organization."
And Green recently responded to a crisis in the Jewish community. In the aftermath of the July 2 shootings of Jews near a shul in West Rogers Park, Green visited with young campers at the Bernard Horwich JCC in\Chicago. Green spoke with the children and posed for pictures. "They were quite excited, it was a big deal for our kids," said Selwyn Gordon, the JCC's summer camp director.
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