The Jewish Sport Report: A Jewish comedian makes his pitch for baseball history

• Published date: 12 April 2024
• Author: JACOB GURVIS/JTA
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Let's get to it

Jewish comedian Eitan Levine is on a mission to make baseball history.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the unclaimed record for most ceremonial first pitches thrown by one person in a baseball season would be 40. So New York City-based comic Eitan Levine is shooting for 50.

For Levine, the journey is both very fun and very personal. He hopes to raise $100,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation by asking fans to donate on social media and at each park he visits. Levine survived cancer as a child and had his own Make-A-Wish experience, opening for comedian Jim Gaffigan when he was 15.

Levine has confirmed dates for games with 46 teams — 12 in the major leagues, the rest with minor league teams ranging from the Alaska Sun to the Norwich, Connecticut Sea Unicorns to the Akron, Ohio RubberDucks. He will also throw out the first pitch for the Durham Bulls, of "Bull Durham" fame.

At least four of the pitches will take place during the teams' Jewish heritage nights. Levine said his Jewish background helped inspire the project.

"A lot of stuff I've done has had a volunteerism element that is definitely from the Jewish heritage side of myself," he said.

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