Reuben Ewing

{{Short description|Ukrainian-American baseball player (1899–1970)}}

{{Infobox baseball biography

| name=Reuben Ewing

| position=Outfielder

| image=

| birth_date={{Birth date|1899|11|30|mf=y}}

| birth_place=Odessa, Russian Empire

| death_date={{death date and age|1970|10|5|1899|11|30}}

| death_place=West Hartford, Connecticut

| bats=Right

| throws=Right

|debutleague = MLB

| debutdate=June 21

| debutyear=1921

| debutteam=St. Louis Cardinals

|finalleague = MLB

| finaldate=June 27

| finalyear=1921

| finalteam=St. Louis Cardinals

|statleague = MLB

| stat1label=Games played

| stat1value=3

| stat2label=At bats

| stat2value=1

| stat3label=Hits

| stat3value=0

| teams=

St. Louis Cardinals ({{mlby|1921}})

| highlights=

}}

Reuben Ewing (born Cohen on November 30, 1899) was a Ukrainian-born American professional baseball player for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Early life

Ewing (then Cohen) was born in Odessa, Russian Empire to Ukrainian-Jewish parents and emigrated with them to the United States in 1904, and was Jewish.{{cite journal |title=Big League Jews|journal=Jewish Sports Review |date=January–February 2020 |volume=12 |issue=137 |page=18}} As a child he showed brilliant athletic talent, a foreshadow of his later achievement of making the major leagues. In order to avoid antisemitism Cohen became "Ewing". He later attended Hartford High School and Lebanon Valley College.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qETFBAAAQBAJ&q=%22Reuben+Ewing%22+%22high+school%22+baseball&pg=PA75 |title=Jews and Baseball: Volume 1, Entering the American Mainstream, 1871-1948 |author=Burton A. Boxerman, Benita W. Boxerman |date= 10 October 2014|isbn=9781476605142 |access-date=2020-02-04}}

Professional career

In 1921, while still a student at Lebanon Valley, Reuben received a contract with the St. Louis Cardinals.{{cite book |last1=Horvitz |first1=Peter S. |last2=Horvitz |first2=Joachim |title=The Big Book of Jewish Baseball |date=2001 |publisher=SP Books |isbn=978-1-56171-973-0 |page=57 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9ZzxydPInwgC&pg=PA57 |access-date=9 March 2022 |language=en}} His short career featured no highlights and lasted only three games and spanned only seven days from June 21 to June 27.

In the only plate appearance of his professional career, he was struck out by future Hall of Fame pitcher Eppa Rixey while pinch hitting for pitcher Tink Riviere.{{cite web |title=Cincinnati Reds at St. Louis Cardinals Box Score, June 27, 1921 |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN192106270.shtml |website=Baseball-Reference.com |publisher=Sports Reference |access-date=9 March 2022 |language=en}}