Chicago White Sox Shift Game for Yom Kippur

By JTA September 12, 2012

The start time of a Major League Baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and the Cleveland Indians has been changed due to Yom Kippur.

The Sept. 25 game will now start at 1:10 p.m. instead of 7:10 p.m., the Chicago White Sox organization announced Tuesday. The game will be played in Chicago.

The time change came after a “significant number” of White Sox fans contacted the baseball club over the game’s conflict with Yom Kippur, a statement from the team said.

The White Sox and the Indians discussed the possibility of a time change and reached an agreement to move the game earlier, according to the team.

Chicago White Sox third baseman Kevin Youkilis, who is Jewish, told the Chicago Tribune that he was pleased with the switch.

I guess that means I can play,” Youkilis told the newspaper. “I really didn’t know. I know there was talk that there was something about maybe changing it for the fans on that day. But it’s a good thing for the playoff stretch.”

Youkilis was traded in June by the Boston Red Sox to the Chicago White Sox.

Youkilis reportedly has never played a game on Yom Kippur.

This is not the first time a professional baseball game has been switched to accommodate Yom Kippur. In 2009, the Yankees and Red Sox moved a Sept. 27 game from evening to afternoon after an outcry from Jewish fans of both teams.

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