On Tuesday night, New York Mets fans will look to rookie left-handed pitcher Steven Matz to help them win their first playoff series in nine years.
Many of the team’s Jewish fans will likely have another question about the local southpaw: Is he Jewish?
Though his name sounds like a Jewish adaptation of the team’s, the answer is no. You demand proof? Well for starters, his Twitter account references a passage from the New Testament.
The 24-year-old — who grew up in a family of Mets fans in Stony Brook, on New York’s Long Island — has made a strong impression in his first MLB season, despite being having been interrupted by several injuries. In his first game, he drove in four runs, breaking the team record for a major league debut.
Matz isn’t the only surprisingly not-Jewish player in the playoffs. Trevor Rosenthal — Rosenthal! — a relief pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, is not a member of the tribe either.
The totally un-Jewish sounding Ike Davis, a power-hitting first baseman, was the most recent Jewish member of the Mets. He was with the club until 2014 and now plays for the Oakland Athletics.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
