WOULD BATMAN PLAY FOR TEAM ISRAEL IN THE WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC?? This is a question that only someone who is unhealthily obsessed with baseball, comics, and the Jewish people would think of, much less try to answer. So, of course, with the World Baseball Classic underway, this question popped into my head uninvited, yet I can’t seem to ignore the weirdly specific pull of it. Thank goodness I have a captive audience – I mean, welcoming congregation! – to bear witness to my efforts to answer this question, and maybe learn a bit more about Jewish peoplehood (and Batman, and baseball) along the way.
The first question you are probably asking is, “Since when is Batman Jewish?” Of course, almost every popular comic book character, from Batman to Superman to Spider-Man to Captain America, was created by Jewish comic book legends like Stan Lee (neé Stanley Leiber) and Jack Kirby (neé Jacob Kurtzburg). Yet even if we consider these men to be the “fathers” of these characters, that doesn’t mean that the characters themselves are Jewish in-fiction, whether we accept patrilineal descent or not! So if Jewish authorship doesn’t make a character Jewish, what does?
People often think that Spider-Man is Jewish (he’s not) because he’s from Queens, throws yiddishisms into casual conversations (or supervillain fights), relies on humor to disarm his enemies, and is motivated by an overwhelming sense of guilt. Likewise, some Jewish comics fans marvel at the uncanny similarities between Superman and Moses’ origin stories, and point to his Hebrew-sounding birth-name (Kal-El, which means “Voice of God” in Hebrew) as proof that The Mensch of Steel is Jewish. Yet despite real books with titles like Up, Up and Oy Vey! and Is Superman Circumcised? Clark Kent is, in fact, canonically Methodist. So what about Batman? Is Bruce Wayne Jewish, and if so, why is it not a major source of Jewish knowledge and pride? I promise you, like the Dark Knight, I will return to answer this question. But first, let’s talk baseball!
I’m about to get into the weeds here, so feel free to skip this next two paragraphs if you’re easily bored by sabremetrics or comic book lore. The first point of consideration: Would Bruce Wayne be a skilled enough baseball player to make it onto a World Baseball Classic baseball team? The World Baseball classic is a tournament that occurs roughly every four years before the start of the Major League season. Keep in mind, the bigger the country’s baseball fandom, the bigger the talent pool. So, for example, the US WBC team is stacked from top to bottom with perennial all-star Major Leaguers. Whereas smaller countries’ teams are typically a mix of journeymen with some Major League experience, minor leaguers, semi-pro and college prospects. Team Israel, for example, features several talented Major League regulars (Orioles starter, Dean Kremer, and former Met and Yankee centerfielder Harrison Bader). There are a few other players on Team Israel’s roster with Major League experience, and a bunch of minor leaguers (including top Yankees pitching prospect, Harrison Cohen). Could Bruce Wayne crack that lineup?
Let me answer that question with another question: According to cannon (accepted comics continuity), did Bruce Wayne ever play any level of organized baseball? Absolutely not. And following the tragic murder of his parents, which led him down a path of vigilante justice, he probably never even saw a little league field. So how could we ever expect Bruce Wayne to hit a 98mph heater or turn a double play at shortstop?? And yet, we know that in training to become Batman, Wayne was able to master 127 forms of martial arts, in addition to gymnastics, boxing, and fencing (not to mention being an excellent polo player). So clearly, he has significant athletic ability. He has also dedicated himself to being in peak physical condition, able to benchpress well-above 500 lbs (far more than the average professional athlete), and has finely-developed reflexes, able to catch or dodge all manner of projectiles thrown or shot at him by his adversaries. His hand-eye coordination is also world-class, and in the comics, he often throws his batarangs with pinpoint accuracy under cover of night. And with the unlimited resources of his family fortune at his disposal, Wayne could easily outfit the Batcave with top of the line baseball training equipment and coaches, and use his obsessive drive to develop specific baseball skills through endless repetitions and drills.
In fact, there is evidence that Bruce may have done just that! There are three instances I could find of Batman playing baseball in the comics. The first was on the cover of World’s Finest Comics, all the way back in 1941. We see Batman preparing to hit, with Robin catching. The second is from DC super-Stars issue 10 (1976). In this issue, the DC heroes (Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, etc) are forced to play baseball against all of the DC villains. The issue shows Batman batting from the opposite side of the plate (a switch-hitter!), working out a tough 7-pitch walk to drive in a run with the bases loaded in the 9th. According to the play-by-play and box score from the end of the issue, Batman went 3-4 with an RBI walk and a sac-bunt. He also caught for the whole game. A pretty impressive line against superpowered villains! More recently, in issue 37 of a limited 2017 series written by Jewish comics writer Tom King, Batman and Superman are spending some bonding time together at the batting cages, where they both complain that even the fastest setting of a pitching machine is too easy, and later in the issue, they find a baseball field and Batman is able to get a hit off of Superman! So to answer the baseball question, I think it’s clear that if Bruce Wayne wanted to, he could try out and make just about any roster for the World Baseball Classic (especially if he agreed to fund some flashy new uniforms!).
So we have established Bruce Wayne’s baseball bonafides. Now let’s return to the tantalizing question of Batman’s possible Jewish yichus. It all begins…with Batwoman. Not to be confused with Batgirl (Commissioner Gordon’s daughter, Barbara. Comics are complicated). Introduced in the comics in 2006 to fill the vacuum following the sidelining of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman during Infinite Crisis, a major DC crossover event, the current version of Batwoman is a Jewish lesbian named Kate Kane. Her Jewish identity was established from the very beginning (she celebrates Hanukkah in an early appearance). Over the next several years, Batwoman became a major character, even getting her own TV series where her Jewish and gay identities are retained and respected. As the comics explored her family background more deeply, it was revealed in 2013 that Kate’s father, Jacob Kane, was Martha Wayne’s brother. The writers were able to make this connection because in the 90’s, Martha was given the maiden name Kane as a tribute to Jewish Batman co-creator Bob Kane (neé Robert Kahn). So, Kate Kane is Jewish. Her father, Jacob Kane, is Jewish. Which means his sister, Martha, was also raised Jewish! Therefore, according to Jewish law, since Batman’s mother is Jewish, Bruce Wayne himself is unambiguously Jewish!
So why was Bruce Wayne’s Jewish identity never explored in the comics? The most obvious reason is because this part of Bruce’s backstory is a retcon – a relatively recent innovation that then ripples backwards in time, retroactively informing the entire history of a character. Batman’s first appearance was in 1939 (at the height of Hitler’s reign of terror). Martha wasn’t given the maiden name of Kane until the 1990’s. Kate Kane wasn’t introduced until 2009, and her family ties to Martha weren’t established until ten years ago. But even if we accept that, thanks to this retcon, Martha Wayne has been Jewish all along, it still makes sense that the comics have never referenced her or her son Bruce’s Jewish identity. After all, Bruce was only eight when both of his parents were killed, so there would have been very little time for him to absorb any of his mother’s Jewish heritage. Also, since Martha married Thomas Wayne, an old-money Episcopalian, it was likely that there was very little acknowledgement of Martha’s Jewish background at Wayne Manor in Bruce’s childhood.
However, there have recently been some small yet significant attempts to recognize Bruce’s newly-established Jewish heritage. In 2021, after Alfred’s funeral (spoiler!), Bruce places a stone on his grave. A quiet yet unmistakable nod to this heretofore unexplored part of Bruce’s identity. And just over a year ago, Bruce comes across a rare silk handkerchief of his mother’s, which he explains was a Hanukkah gift from his father! So there you have it, Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, has unimpeachable Jewish lineage on his mother’s side, and even though the tragic deaths of his parents kept him from being raised with any Jewish identity, he has now, in canon, fully acknowledged his Jewish heritage.
So we know that Bruce is a naturally gifted athlete with the resources and discipline that have allowed him, on occasion, to excel in even less familiar sports like baseball. We also know that he has Jewish roots. But would he be eligible to play for Team Israel? Unlike the Olympics, which requires every player to be a current citizen of their team’s country, the WBC has very flexible rules for eligibility. So, for example, Mike Piazza was able to play for Team Italy because one of his grandparents came to the U.S. from Sicily. Likewise, almost all of the players on Team Israel are American-born Jews, who are eligible to play for Team Israel because they would automatically be granted citizenship in Israel should they choose to move there. As a prominent philanthropist and billionaire, and given his newly-discovered eligibility, it’s not entirely unrealistic that Bruce would be recruited by Team Israel’s scouts if they ever saw him play, not just for the publicity, but for his actual skillset. But would the Dark Knight accept the offer?
Many of the major league players on Team Israel over the past 10+ years have had very little Jewish background, much less connection to the State of Israel. But it has been very moving to see how they have embraced the opportunity to explore their Jewish heritage as a team, bringing pride and nachas to Jewish baseball fans around the world. And in the process, many of them were able to explore a side of Israel that most Americans don’t see – up close and personal, based on a shared heritage and not just what we see on the nightly news or our social media feeds. I’d like to think that Bruce, who is more concerned with street-level justice than complex geopolitics, would view this as a chance to explore a unique connection with his mother, while getting to know a community that he has thus far shied away from. So, if invited, would Bruce Wayne play for Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic? I believe the answer is yes. Score one for Truth, Justice, and Jewish Peoplehood!
Wishing you all an easy transition to spring, and may you have the experience of exploring your hidden (or not so hidden!) passions with the same amount of joy and discovery that I have!
Postscript – putting the bat in Batman: In Jewish author Bernard Malumud’s novel, The Natural (as well as in Jewish director Barry Levinson’s 1984 film version starring Robert Redford), Roy Hobbs’ prize possession is a bat he hand-carved from a tree on his family farm that was struck by lightning. He named the bat Wonderboy. The Boy Wonder is, of course, the nickname of Batman’s beloved crime-fighting sidekick, Robin. So I’m sure Bruce Wayne’s bat would also have a lot of sentimental value. Let’s just hope that no one steals his Bat-signals while he’s calling pitches from behind the plate!
Cantor Eric Schulmiller
