Billy Crystal Is Yankees’ ‘Designated Hebrew’

By Aram David March 12, 2008

The Yankees have been without a significant Jewish player for quite some time, but that is all about to change with yesterday’s minor-league signing.

Billy Crystal — yes, that Billy Crystal — has signed a one-day minor-league contract with the Yankees and will be playing in an exhibition spring-training game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday. Crystal could be seen Wednesday taking batting practice and warming up with Derek Jeter in the Yankees’ Tampa facilities. The signing was a gift from the franchise to the famed comedian for his 60th birthday, thanking the life-long Yankees fan for his support of the team over the years.

But some fans and sports columnists have lashed out at the move, arguing that it undermines the seriousness of spring training. Others have objected to Crystal on the grounds that he is a part-owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who dealt the Yankees a crushing defeat in the 2001 World Series.

Not that this is the first time a celebrity has played in a spring-training game — Garth Brooks, Tom Selleck and Bruce Hornsby have all played in spring-training games before.

It is yet to be determined how many at-bats Crystal will get or whether he will play the field but, according to ESPN, when a fan asked him what position he will play, Crystal responded “DH — designated Hebrew.”

UPDATE: Watch Billy Crystal get ready for his big day:

Hat tip for the video: JTA’s Ami Eden

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

This year, we have stood together in strength and sorrow. Our Forward team has worked around the clock to help you find clarity amid the chaos.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO