CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS: ‘King of Jewish Baseball’ began reign in Shaker Heights
Originally Written by, Les Levine, writer at Cleveland Jewish News
If you were told there was such a person known as the “King of Jewish Baseball,” you might be thinking of Hank Greenberg, Sandy Koufax, or these days, Ryan Braun. But you would be wrong.
The self-proclaimed King of Jewish Baseball is Nate Fish, former shortstop at Shaker Heights High School. Fish, now 33, was recently named national director of the Israel Association of Baseball.
The Israel Association was in the news recently, as former major leaguers Brad Ausmus, Gabe Kapler and Shawn Green took over the managing and coaching duties as the team attempted to qualify for the World Baseball Tournament.
Fish will move from New York City and take over the position after he helps coach the United States 18-and-under team in the upcoming Maccabi Games. Fish recently told me there are more than 1,000 league players in Israel under the age of 18.
Among his many duties, Nate will oversee the national team, as well as the coaches and umpires in the leagues, as well as a national stadium that will be built in Ra’anana. The stadium, which will be along the lines of modern minor league stadiums here, will seat more than 1,000, with an expected budget of $5 million. Many American donors, including some involved in major league teams, are expected to help make this dream become a reality.
Fish, a teammate of New York Yankee Kevin Youkilis at the University of Cincinnati, thinks he finally will give up playing once he gets to work in Israel. In New York, he put on hitting clinics and continued to play despite injuries. You can follow his exploits @kingofJewishbaseball.
UPDATE: Last week I mentioned three men’s college Jewish basketball coaches with local ties. They were Cleveland Heights High School grad Larry Shyatt at Wyoming, Rob Senderoff at Kent State and Keith Dambrot at Akron, who last week won his 11th straight game, which was the nation’s leading consecutive streak.
He has company at Akron: Jodi Kest, now in her seventh season as the Zips’ women’s coach. She has more wins at Akron than any women’s coach in history. After graduating from Mayfield High School, Jodi earned All-American honors, twice, at Slippery Rock in Pennsylvania.
After assistant jobs at a couple of places, including Cleveland State, Jodi took over the head coaching positions at Gannon College in Erie, Pa., and then at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, where she compiled a 73-40 record from 2003-06. From there she went to Akron. After this weekend’s action, the Zips are only one of five teams in the Mid-American Conference with a winning record, 12-7, including 3-3 in league play.
Originally posted by the Cleveland Jewish News: https://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/features/sports/local_sports/king-of-jewish-baseball-began-reign-in-shaker-heights/article_2f56aeac-6af3-11e2-b938-001a4bcf887a.html