Ryan Braun: Controversial Slugger
If the controversy surrounding Ryan Braun’s Jewish identity is not enough, his narrow win for 2007 National League Rookie of the Year has only added to it.
The Milwaukee Brewers’ third baseman received 17 first-place votes out of 128, giving him a slight edge over Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, who received 15 first-place votes out of 126. Though Braun’s batting average, home runs, runs batted in and hits are comparable with Alex Rodriguez’s first season in the majors, he committed a whopping 26 errors. Many favored Tulowitzki after he led all other shortstops in the Major League in fielding percentage and had some key hits in very decisive games.
Monster numbers always shine brighter than intangibles in the very stats-dependent world of baseball analysis, and while Tulowitzki seemed to be the only glimmer of hope for the Rockies in the World Series, Braun’s sheer offensive force won him Rookie of the Year. Forget that he hit a grand slam and a three-run homer in his first spring-training game; Braun’s numbers trump those of N.L. rookie winners in the past three years. Braun finished the season with a .324 average, 34 home runs and 97 RBIs.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
-
Israel News Watch: What happens next with Israel’s judicial overhaul?
-
Israel News ‘A very, very dangerous situation’: An Israeli journalist’s key takeaways from recent protests
-
Israel News Fresh water could be in extremely short supply in Israel in just a few decades, study says
-
Israel News Jerusalem twin bombings: Deadly innovation stirs old traumas
Most Popular
- 1
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
- 2
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 3
News Student protesters being deported are not ‘martyrs and heroes,’ says former antisemitism envoy
- 4
Opinion What Jewish university presidents say: Trump is exploiting campus antisemitism, not fighting it
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture This Jewish New Yorker survived the Holocaust and the Hungarian Revolution, and is still helping others today
-
Fast Forward Trump says he and Netanyahu are ‘on the same side of every issue’ following talks on Iran, tariffs
-
Fast Forward California school board members accused of antisemitism during contentious meeting
-
Fast Forward Over 100 Chicago-area rabbis and cantors condemn Trump’s campus crackdown
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.