By Bill Simons

A few weeks ago, a high school cheerleader encountered an uncomfortable situation. Bonding, the cheerleaders gathered in a circle to pray. It was a Christian prayer. The young woman, the only Jew on the squad, talked to her mother, herself a cheerleader back in the day, about the incident. The mother contacted the coach to explain that their family was Jewish. Contemporaneously, her brother became aware that there were no other Jewish players on the football team. He really likes football and his teammates, but seemed to be wondering if the sport was a Jewish activity. Brother and sister had both attended a Jewish elementary day school. To provide anonymity, I do not identify their names, hometown or relationship to me. These episodes and the many that preceded it during the generations of my life reinforce my resolve to continue to write about Jewish participation in sports. 
Gentiles should recognize that Jews are present on the gridiron, diamond, hardcourt, rink, track, links, ring, mat, bars and net. And Jews, particularly our youth, should know that we are not strangers to sport. In fact, many of us have come to advocate for muscular Judaism. In that spirit, I present the following article, naming my choice for the Jewish Most Valuable Player of the 2025 baseball season. Having followed this practice for several years through my columns, I do not regard the designation as either whimsical or satiric. Hopefully, it will encourage aspiring Jewish athletes while countering stereotypes about Jews as people of the book, but not of the bat.
One of the best pitchers of this generation, New York Yankees southpaw Max Fried is the undisputed 2025 Jewish Most Valuable Player. Not since the Baltimore Orioles’ Steve Stone won 25 games and the Cy Young Award in 1980 has a Jewish hurler done more. Nicknamed Maximus for his dominance on the mound, Fried won 19 games, the most victories notched by any MLB pitcher in either league this past season. With only five defeats, he also paced qualifying pitchers with a .792 won-loss percentage. Tall and lean, the 6’4”, 190 pounds, Fried yielded only 51 walks in a career high 195.1 innings while notching 189 strikeouts. Named to the All-Star Game roster for a third time, Fried declined due to concerns about managing his regular-season innings pitched. His 2.86 earned run average ranked fourth lowest in the American League. Fried received his fourth Gold Glove Award, given annually in the two leagues to the best defensive player at each position. (An excellent all-around athlete, Fried won a Silver Slugger Award during his time with the Atlanta Braves prior to the National League joining the American League in elimination of batting by pitchers.) 
Fried garnered big headlines even before the start of the 2025 campaign. He opted for free agency after establishing himself as one of the game’s elite pitchers during eight seasons with the Braves. The Yankees won the Fried bidding war, giving the southpaw an eight-year $218 million contract that set MLB records for lefty pitchers and Jewish ballplayers. 
The acquisition price proved worth it. With a glacial blank stare, precision control painting the corners of the plate and a deep arsenal of pitches, Fried deconstructed opposition batting orders. Mixing up his cutter, sinker, curveball, four-seam fastball, changeup, sweeper and slider, Fried appeared nearly invincible during the first half of the 2025 season. By June 25, he sported an MLB high 10 wins against only two losses. Then, a blister presaged a tough July and August. Media doubters questioned whether AL batters had caught onto the Fried repertoire, signaling an end to his early season idyll. Then, September brought redemption, with Fried tallying five victories, not losing a single game and registering a 1.89 ERA for the month. 
Even a disappointing post-season – no decision in the Wild Card Series, defeat in the Division Series, early elimination of the Yankees – could dim the luster of Fried’s debut season in New York. 
Circumspect concerning religion and romance, Fried is a private person. When the Yankees formally introduced their new addition, however, Fried’s mother, Carrie, and girlfriend, former collegiate volleyball star Reni Meyer-Whalley, took part in the ceremony. Both of Fried’s special ladies received flower bouquets from the Yankee brass at the start of the press conference. 
By parentage, identification and deed, Fried is Jewish. His idolization of Sandy Koufax reinforces that identification. A 15-years-old Fried traveled to Israel in 2009 as part of the U.S. junior baseball team that won a gold medal in the Maccabiah Games. Nonetheless, in contrast to dramatic Yom Kippur episodes featuring the refusal of Detroit Tigers slugger Hank Greenberg to take the field during the 1934 AL pennant race and Koufax declining to pitch the opening game of the 1965 World Series, Fried has never faced such a polarizing public controversy over his religion. In 2019, Fried, while observing a Yom Kippur fast, took the mound for the Braves, during the NL Division Series. Of attention to his religion, Fried stated, “It’s special because there aren’t very many Jewish players in the majors. I’m happy about it…” 
Unlike Alex Bregman and Dean Kremer, Fried did not don a Star of David in an MLB game during the Hamas-Israel War. Nor has Fried, unlike several other past and present Jewish major leaguers – including Kremer, Shawn Green, Jason Marquis, Ian Kinsler, Joc Pederson, Garrett Stubbs, Ryan Lavarnway and Spencer Horwitz – yet played for Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic. But talking with the New York Post, Fried’s Jewish consciousness came to the fore remembering his journey to the Dachau concentration camp: “Me growing up Jewish and understanding that I have a lot of family that were killed in the Holocaust… You go into the grounds… to experience it in person… see the gas chambers… brought a heaviness and a weight and more of an understanding.”
By the end of the 2025 season, the 31-year-old Fried ratcheted his career total to 92 wins against only 41 losses for a remarkable .692 winning percentage. If Fried stays healthy and on track over the course of his contract, he has a good chance to surpass Ken Holtzman’s Jewish pitcher record of 174 career victories.