2009 highlights

• Hit .444 with 4 home runs and 14 RBIs in June
• Batted .276 with 8 home runs, 30 RBIs and a .552 slugging percentage against lefties; hit just .150 with no homers, 2 RBIs and a .167 slugging percentage against righties
• One of five AL players with at least 2 pinch-hit home runs, including a game-winner on June 12

Career highlights (as of 2009)

• Selected by the Detroit Tigers in the 57^th round of the 1995 draft (1,488^th overall)
• Went 1-for-4 with a stolen base in MLB debut with the Detroit Tigers (1998)
• Hits best when batting cleanup: in 86 career at-bats, has 6 home runs, 25 RBIs, .360 batting average, .434 on-base percentage and .628 slugging percentage
• Kapler is a lifetime .301 pinch hitter
• Had a 28-game hitting streak in 2000
• Bats well against Jewish pitcher Scott Schoeneweis, with 2 home runs and six hits overall in 17 at-bats

MLB career bests, by statistic

• AVG: .302 (2000)
• 2B: 32 (2000)
• HR: 18 (1999)
• RBI: 72 (2001)
• BB: 61 (2001)
• SB: 23 (2001)
• OBP: .360 (2000)
• SLG: .498 (2008)
• At bats per home run: 25.6 (2009)

On being Jewish

• Kapler’s 2009 salary was $1,000,018. The number “18” has special significance in Judaism. It is the numeric value of “chai,” the Hebrew word for Life.
• Has a Star of David tattooed on one leg and the phrase “Never Again” on the other (Boston Globe; Aug. 15, 2004)
• On Aug. 8, 2005, Youkilis and two other Jews then with the Boston Red Sox – Gabe Kapler and Adam Stern – all took the field during the ninth inning. It was the most Jewish players on the field at once since the New York Giants put four in the lineup once in 1941. (Jewish Tribune, Ontario, Can.; Sept. 29, 2005)
• Kapler, on deciding whether to play on Yom Kippur: “I have mixed emotions. Nobody is more proud of their heritage than I am and nobody is more proud of being Jewish than I am. It’s something I have to mull over.” (ESPN.com; Sept. 26, 2001)
• Kapler, on his decision to play during the Jewish holidays in 2000 but remain open-minded about future years: “I have a relationship with God, but it’s my own relationship and the way I choose to practice my beliefs. I’m skeptical when it comes to organized religion. I feel like there’s a lot of brainwashing that goes into it.” (ESPN.com; Sept. 26, 2001)
• Kapler “grew up with a Christmas tree in his Los Angeles home. His level of religious observance changed significantly after his mother began working at a Jewish preschool. ‘We started practicing a little more and attended a Conservative synagogue,’ said Kapler, who had a Bar Mitzvah. ‘I feel really proud of my heritage and my bloodlines.’” (Boston Jewish Advocate; July 31, 2003)
• “On the back of his left leg, he has a Star of David tattoo that reads, ‘Strong Minded.’ On the other leg there are two dates: the start and end of the Holocaust.”(Boston Jewish Advocate; July 31, 2003)
• Although his wife, Lisa, is Catholic, (Kapler’s) two children will know the history of Judaism. ‘They both go to the preschool that my mom teaches at. They will definitely know where they came from and will be proud of their Jewish roots.”(Boston Jewish Advocate; July 31, 2003)

For more information

• Jewish Baseball News articles
• Minor-league statistics
  

MLB stats