NEW YORK, New York – Former Major League Baseball pitcher Craig Andrew Breslow is among six Jewish athletes who will inducted into the Jewish Sports Heritage Association at a ceremony to be held on Sunday, April 28, at 10:30 a.m., at Temple Israel of Lawrence in New York.

Breslow, who grew up in Trumbull, was a Major League Baseball  relief pitcher for parts of 13 seasons beginning in 2005. He was a member of several teams, including the Boston Red Sox, San Diego Padres, Cleveland Indians, Minnesota Twins, Oakland Athletics, Arizona Diamondbacks and Miami Marlins. His finest season came in 2013 as a significant contributor to the World Series Champion Boston Red Sox. That season, he pitched to a 1.81 earned run average (ERA) in 61 games. For his career, Breslow pitched in 576 games with a 3.45 career ERA and 442 career strikeouts.

In 2017, Breslow pitched for Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic qualifier in Brooklyn, New York, earning a win in the team’s opening games.

Today, Breslow serves as director of Strategic Initiative for Baseball Operations for the Chicago Cubs.

Breslow is the son of teachers Ann and Abraham Breslow, both teachers, and younger brother to sister Lesley, a childhood cancer survivor. His experience as the brother of a sibling with cancer led him to found the non-profit Strike 3 Foundation, dedicated to raising awareness and funding in the fight against pediatric cancers.

Breslow is a 2002 graduate of Yale University with a degree in molecular biophysics and biochemistry. His reputation as an intellectual earned him the nickname “The Smartest Man in Baseball” by the Minneapolis Star Tribune. In 2010, he
was named “The Smartest Athlete” by Sporting News.

Currently, Breslow lives with his wife Kelly, twin sons Mason and Carter, and daughter Livia, in Massachusetts, Chicago and Florida.

The Jewish Sports Heritage Association is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to educating the pubic about the role Jewish men and women have played, and continue to play, in the world of sports.

Other members of the Class of 2019 inductees include: Anthony Ervin, a four-time Olympic medalist swimmer; Leah Goldstein, who won the 1989 World Bantamweight Kickboxing Championship and was Israel’s Duathlon champion; Mark Greenberg, one of the all-time great defensive lacrosse players and a member of the Johns Hopkins national championship  teams; Josh Pastner, head coach of Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team; and Marty Riger, head coach of the Brentwood (N.Y.) High School boys basketball team, voted League One Coach of the Year six times.

Admission to the Jewish Sports Heritage Association induction ceremony is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Alan Freedman at (516) 239-1140 or alan.freedman@tilny.org.