Gabe Kapler
by Jonathan Mayo
June, 2003--The life of a professional baseball player can be quite stressful. There's all the travel, the pressure to perform in a spotlight, your life constantly under a microscope, the invitations to Bar Mitzvahs.
OK, so maybe that last item only applies to the handful of Jewish players in the Major Leagues. And maybe it's not something that stresses them out.
"I've gotten my fair share of them," said Colorado Rockies outfielder Gabe Kapler. "During a game when I was in Detroit, I actually had an invitation to come over to this guy's house for Shabbat.
"He was yelling over the dugout, 'Gabe, we're Jewish and we'd like you to come over Friday night for Shabbat!' I respectfully turned down the invitation."
Kapler has grown accustomed to that kind of attention since he made the big leagues for the first time in 1998. Now with his third team, the 27-year-old Kapler is still trying to establish himself as a regular. In four-plus seasons, Kapler has a .272 career batting average, with his best year coming in 2000 with the Texas Rangers (.302, 14 homers, 66 RBIs). He knows the eyes of Jewish sports fans will be on him as he's set to begin his first full season in Colorado.
"Only because I think there's so few of us," Kapler said. "I don't think that they are hard-core baseball fans, but they feel elated there are some players that are Jews that are having some success."
Growing up, Kapler wasn't as aware of Jewish athletes as people are of him. His parents weren't huge baseball fans, so he wasn't raised with stories of Sandy Koufax and Hank Greenberg. While playing for the Tigers, he had the opportunity to speak extensively with Aviva Kempner, who made the film about Hank Greenberg.
"She schooled me a little bit on who's who, and the people who have come before me," Kapler said.
While Kapler is honored to be included in that lineage, he's not a particularly observant person. That's not to say he isn't thoughtful about religion. It's quite apparent it's something he struggles with on a regular basis.
"I think there are some misconceptions. I don't want people to necessarily think that I'm going to synagogue every week and that I'm keeping kosher. I don't mind if they do, but it's just not me.
"Right now, with everything that's going on in the world, I'm having a lot of trouble with religion. I'm having a lot of trouble separating religion from the problems in the world."
As a result, Kapler tends to connect with the cultural and national aspects of being Jewish.
"That's where I identify the most: heritage, blood, history," Kapler said. "I'm so proud to be who I am. I'm so proud of where I come from. I feel very strongly about being a strong Jew, not necessarily from a religious aspect."
Part of that identity is as Jewish ballplayer. People in today's society turn to sports stars as as people to emulate, fairly or not. That may even be truer in the Jewish community, where there haven't been many "strong Jews" in the sports limelight. Luckily, Kapler not only accepts that burden, he cherishes it.
"I embrace it, for sure," Kapler said. "It's motivation to perform at a higher level so that more recognition comes. It's great to be a Jewish baseball player, but it's more important to be a good Jewish baseball player, a la Shawn Green, Hank Greenberg, Sandy Koufax, hopefully myself as I progress in my career."
This article was filed early in the 2003 season. Unfortunately, Kapler was given his unconditional release by the Colorado Rockies on June 19, 2003. Since then, he signed with the Boston Red Sox and is performing well.
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