ATLANTA, GA – AUGUST 14: The New York logo is displayed on a hat during the MLB game between the New York Yankees and the Atlanta Braves on August 14, 2023 at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The New York Yankees remain focused on ending one of the longest championship droughts in franchise history, with the organization continuing to build around a roster capable of competing deep into October.
While the attention surrounding the Yankees naturally centers on their current stars and executives as they face a tough American League Division Series test against the rival Tampa Bay Rays, the club’s long history continues to produce unexpected connections to the game around the world.
That includes a former Yankees catcher whose post-playing career took him into managing and coaching across Major League Baseball, and now sees him help shape a significant cultural change taking place in Israel.
Former New York Yankees Catcher Turned MLB Manager Plays Important Role In Israel’s Baseball Adoption
Jerry Narron debuted with the Yankees in 1979 before continuing his playing career with the Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Angels, eventually moving into a long coaching and managing career.
Off the field, Narron is a devout Christian Zionist, who passed on his religious beliefs to his children. And now his baseball legacy is helping his daughter in an entirely different setting, thousands of miles from Yankee Stadium.
Narron’s daughter, Callie Mitchell, has emerged as a key figure working to grow the sport of baseball in Jerusalem, and her father’s connections have already provided some very tangible assistance.
“Basketball and soccer are the two most popular sports in Israel by a long shot,” Howard Blas noted for the Jerusalem Post. “If Callie Mitchell, an American-born Jerusalem resident, Evangelical Christian, and mother of four with boundless energy, has anything to do with it, baseball may soon be creeping up on those sports. Thanks to her knowledge of and passion for the sport affectionately known as America’s Pastime, baseball’s popularity is already growing in Jerusalem and in the Holy Land.”
Mitchell serves as the Jerusalem regional director for the Israel Association of Baseball and directs the Jerusalem Lions Baseball nonprofit. She took over the program after the 2023-24 season and has helped expand participation substantially, with 75 people involved the following year and more than 90 attending a recent open house.
Narron, meanwhile, has remained connected to Israeli baseball himself. The former Yankees catcher coached Team Israel at the 2017 and 2023 World Baseball Classics and has helped support his daughters work in a big way.
New York Yankees Connection Makes Impact In Cultural Change For Jerusalem
While Narron’s faith has ultimately driven his daughter’s work in the Holy Land, his baseball connections have played a more tangible role in her work to grow the sport in Israel as well/
“Her dad’s connections in the baseball world have already helped Callie in her work with baseball in Jerusalem,” Blas added. “When she took over as director, Mitchell says, ‘I started the season with less than 12 balls until boxes arrived as a donation from my dad. He also gave us a set of catcher’s gear. He helped me get started.’”
Blas also reported that Narron called upon Yankees’ veteran first baseman Paul Goldschmidt for a key donation as well.
For the Yankees, Narron’s playing career belongs to another era. But his connection to the franchise has now become part of a much more unusual baseball story — one in which his experience is helping his daughter build the game in Jerusalem.
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