Laramie Park Baseball Diamond in Skokie, Il. was renamed on Monday in honor of a dedicated Orthodox Jewish baseball player named Caleb Maeir, who died of cancer at age 19. From now on, it will be known as Caleb Field.
Caleb passed away in December 2017, after bravely fighting the disease for two and a half years. His mother, Dina, told WBBM News Radio that she once asked her son Caleb what he liked most about baseball, and he answered that after the game’s over, you shake hands with the other team and can be their friend again.
“Caleb played sports like he lived life: with passion, with pride and always looking out for the other guy,” his mother said.
Caleb spent a year studying in yeshiva in Israel, but interrupted his studies to receive treatment for his illness in the US. After he passed away, one of his baseball coaches, Ezra Jaffe, began the drive to name the Laramie Park baseball field after the youth who loved baseball and Torah so much.