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Marquis’ Bar Mitzvah promise

Colorado Rockies’ Jason Marquis — family man, proud Jew and pitcher on top of his game. (Gerald Mellman) RECENTLY I had the golden opportunity to interview pitcher Jason Marquis in the Colorado Rockies dugout.

I had received a call from Denver community leader Warren Toltz tipping me off that Marquis, 30, is not only Jewish, but had moved in next door to the Toltzes’ former Hilltop home.

Now an “official” Hilltopper in Denver’s venerable East Side neighborhood, Marquis is enthusiastically happy with his Denver surroundings.

According to a recent article in the Israeli daily Haaretz, Jason Marquis knew he wanted to be a baseball player as early as age 12, much to the chagrin of his Conservative Jewish parents.

“It’s not that they wanted me to be a doctor or lawyer,” he told the paper. “But they would always ask me, ‘What are you going to do after 35? What if you get injured? You need to get yourself a profession.’”

Marquis was born on Staten Island, NY, in the Arden Heights neighborhood.

He attended Hebrew school. He says that his mother was strict with his Jewish upbringing given that her parents are Holocaust survivors.

His mother works for the New York City board of education and has a teaching degree, while his father owns a check-cashing business in Brooklyn.

His Bar Mitzvah had a baseball theme. His parents surprised him with a 15-by-15-foot replica scoreboard from the game line of his Little League World Series no hitter against Canada.

The gift, he said, was “the most moving thing I ever received, except the days my two kids were born.

“In return, I promised I’d go to college, and not play on Jewish holidays,” he told Haaretz.

Marquis has kept the second part of the promise. Higher education slipped through the cracks, although in high school he was a member of the National Honor Society.

HE began his baseball career at the ripe old age of 17 as a rookie with the Danville team of the Appalachian League.

The right-hander intended to embark on college life; the University of Miami had offered him a scholarship.

But on draft day, 1996, Marquis was pitching in a high school playoff game. His mother was at home waiting for an important phone call. She showed up during the second inning with the good news that Jason had been drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the first round. Marquis’ team won the game and went on to win the city championship.

He signed with the Atlanta Braves July 18, 1996, a month prior to his 18th birthday.

From 1996-2000 he played with five minor league teams, ranging from A to AAA: Danville, Macon, Danville, Myrtle Beach, Greenville and Richmond.

Marquis was called up to the majors by the Atlanta Braves in June, 2000, at the age of 21 — the 10th youngest player in the National League.

He became a starting pitcher in 2001, joining a celebrated staff which included Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine. He won 14 games and lost 15 with Atlanta through 2003.

His next venture was with the St. Louis Cardinals, 2004-2006, winning 42 games and losing 37.

He had a banner year in 2004, winning 15 games while losing only seven. His last team before joining the Rockies was the Chicago Cubs in 2007-2008, winning 23 and losing 18 games.

The Colorado Rockies acquired Jason Marquis from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for pitcher Luis Vizcaino on Jan. 6, 2009.

General Manger Dan O’Dowd told the IJN, “We like Marquis’ athleticism, age and durability.”

It should be noted that aside from his formidable pitching ability, Marquis renders top quality in every aspect of the game. Sometimes he is called upon to pinch hit — a rarity for a pitcher. He’s even been adept as a pinch runner with the Rockies.

Through all his success on the diamond, Jason Marquis has maintained his connection with Judaism.

Haaretz reported that while paying his dues in the Braves’ farm system, the pitcher was always able to avoid playing on Rosh Hashanah, Passover and of course, Yom Kippur.

Things got trickier once he hit the big leagues.

“I asked the manager [one Yom Kippur] if I could come to the game as late as possible, and I went to temple to pray. Then I got to the game without eating or drinking. I actually won. The next day I was back in temple,” he said.

Another time he asked a coach to push up his starting day, giving him three rather than the customary four days of rest between starts. “I didn’t have a good game, but the important thing is that I kept the holiday.”

While with the Chicago Cubs, Marquis once played on the evening following a High Holiday. “I went to temple, prayed every day and then went to pitch. It was actually great preparation,” he recalled.

Marquis and his wife Debbie are the parents of two young children, Reese Madison and Andrew. He recently told the Los Angeles Times that his family comes before everything else.

He’s been around the country enough to know which cities he relishes, and it appears that the move to Denver has been good for Marquis.

In his winning effort against the Pirates on Aug. 13, Marquis was 13-8, which places him among the top winners in the National League. He leads all Rockies pitchers with around 10 starts left until the end of the season. He could become the Rockies first 20-game winner.

We’ll have to hope, wait and see for this outcome, remembering that no Rockies pitcher has ever won more than 17 games in a single season, and that includes Kevin Ritz, Astacio and Jeff Francis.

An all-star in many ways, Marquis was granted the most significant honor of his career when he was selected to pitch for the National League in this year’s All-Star game.




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