Alon Leichman, an Israeli who serves as an assistant pitching coach for the Cincinnati Reds, showed solidarity for the hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza as the new Major League Baseball season began.
Leichman’s glove has the words "Bring Them Home Now!" stitched on the outside. It was spotted by WCPO-TV in Cincinnati last week, one day before the Reds opened their season against the Washington Nationals.
Leichman also has the Israeli flag on the glove.
The 34-year-old Leichman’s baseball story began in Israel, where he grew up in Kibbutz Gezer between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. While he has never played baseball in MLB, he coached and pitched for Team Israel, including during the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, where he threw a perfect inning against Team USA.
He became the pitching coach of the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers, a Seattle Mariners minor league affiliate, in 2022. In December of that year, he joined the Reds as their assistant pitching coach, becoming the first Israeli coach in MLB.