Yankees draft a player who drew a swastika on Jewish classmate’s door
Core Jackson was mentored by Yeshiva University basketball coach Elliot Steinmetz before being drafted
A view of Yankee Stadium on Sept. 11, 2016. Photo by Christopher Pasatieri/Getty Images
(JTA) — The New York Yankees drafted a player last month who admitted to having drawn a swastika on a Jewish student’s door as a freshman in college, according to The Athletic.
Core Jackson, 21, was drafted by the Yankees following approval from several high-ranking Jewish leaders on the team, including team president Randy Levine, despite informing the major league team about the antisemitic incident ahead of the 2024 season, according to the sports news site.
Jackson was a 17-year-old freshman at the University of Nebraska when he drew the swastika on a Jewish student’s door, telling The Athletic that he was “blackout drunk” and could not remember the act or why he did it.
“I felt like the worst person in the world,” Jackson told the Athletic. “I don’t want there to be any excuses for my actions.”
The University of Nebraska fined Jackson, had him undergo basic sensitivity training online and assigned him community service after the incident. Jackson told The Athletic there were “no other repercussions.” He said he had wanted to apologize to the student but claimed he was told not to contact them by campus police.
“I think it’s important that it is part of my story,” Jackson told The Athletic. “I have this platform now that God has given me, and I can share my story about his forgiveness.”
Jackson’s agent, Blake Corosky, has also represented Jacob Steinmetz, who became the first Orthodox Jewish player to be drafted in the MLB in 2021. After learning of the incident from Jackson in 2024, as Jackson prepared to go pro, Corosky contacted Steinmetz’s father, Elliot, the head men’s basketball coach at Yeshiva University, as a courtesy.
Steinmetz recommended that Corosky try to teach Jackson about antisemitism — then called the player himself.
“Right away,” Stenmetz told The Athletic, “you could tell (Jackson) was the nicest, sweetest kid in the world, (but) dumb as rocks when it came to these kinds of issues.”
Corosky agreed to continue advising Jackson as long as he informed all Major League Baseball teams about the antisemitic incident and agreed to work with Steinmetz to understand the consequences of his actions.
Steinmetz connected Jackson with Ann Squicciarini, a graduate student at Yeshiva University who studies interfaith Holocaust education. She designed a five-week course for Jackson that he completed.
Swastika graffiti on dormitory doors is relatively frequently reported, with incidents taking place in recent years at Stanford University and Tufts University, among others. While the incident at Nebraska did not appear to make the news, it came less than a year after a man was arrested for allegedly painting swastikas on the door of a local synagogue.
Jackson is not the first athlete to face allegations of antisemitism. In 2022, NBA star Kyrie Irving drew outcry after he posted a link to an antisemitic film. A year earlier, fellow player Meyers Leonard was suspended from the Miami Heat for using an antisemitic slur in a video game. Both stars took steps to show that they demonstrated penance.
Ahead of the draft, Yankees amateur scouting director Damon Oppenheimer told The Athletic that he called Utah head coach Gary Henderson, who said that Jackson had “turned a corner.”
The Yankees did not speak with anyone at the University of Nebraska about the incident, but Oppenheimer told The Athletic the decision to draft Jackson followed the most thorough “due diligence” he had seen in his career there.
Jackson was also charged with driving under the influence on the University of Utah’s campus in September 2024, where he played for his last two seasons of college. Following the incident, Jackson performed community service, received substance abuse training and paid fines, Corosky said.
“I feel that moving forward, we’ve got a good citizen and a good person and a good baseball player,” Oppenheimer told the outlet.
Jackson was drafted to the Yankees with a bonus of $147,500 for a spot that typically holds a value of $411,100.
Jackson told The Athletic he would ask “forgiveness” from anyone who may be upset about his past, adding that he would “let them know I’m not the same person I was when that happened.”
“I’ve grown up. I’ve learned. I’ve reconciled,” Jackson said. “I’ve done the things I needed to do to learn about it.”
