In the two years since he was drafted in the 40th round by his hometown team, Itamar Steiner has prospered.
You might even say that without picking up a bat, the lanky Skokie native has been the most productive Cubs draft pick since Ian Happ was taken in the first round in 2015. No offense to his fellow class of 2018 draft picks Nico Hoerner and Brennen Davis.
Advertisement
Steiner, who was drafted with the 1,208th pick in a feel-good Cubs moment in 2018, is a rare bright spot in a blighted draft record for the Cubs, one that caused them to upend their development infrastructure last season.
Unfortunately for any Itamar Steiners out there, there is no 40th round this season. There isn’t even a sixth round. In an effort to cut costs during a pandemic, MLB’s draft, which begins Wednesday, has been culled to five rounds. That hurts scores of college players and it helps college programs who might get more high-end high school prospects enrolling this fall.
And it eliminates the chance for an uplifting story like this one, which I first wrote about in 2018.
Steiner certainly wouldn’t help the Cubs climb up from the basement of prospect rankings, but given the state of the world, they could use a bit of his spirit and his devotion to tikkun olam, which is a Hebrew phrase for making the world a better place.
Since getting drafted, he has finished two years of undergraduate work at the University of Illinois, where he is majoring in political science and minoring in urban planning.
He has interned for an urban planning company, Brinshore Development, working on mixed-use and affordable housing projects.
He was the president of Hillel at Illinois and founded a chapter of J Street, a group aimed at promoting a peaceful two-state solution in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
He has worked as a tour guide on campus and he even ran a marathon. Now that he’s home in Skokie during the pandemic, he started a gardening business.
And he’s looking to follow in his late father David’s altruistic footsteps.
“I’ve always been a political person, my family is pretty activist,” he said in a phone conversation on Sunday morning.
A week ago, Itamar found himself in Minneapolis. With protests intensifying after George Floyd was killed by a police officer, he and a friend decided to drive up and stay with a friend in St. Paul and help. They bought masks and granola bars and water bottles for protestors and attended a protest.
Advertisement
“We didn’t really have much of a plan,” he said. “It was kind of on a whim. We felt like that was the place that needed the most support. We found a donation center and went to the store to get supplies. We bought face masks, water bottles, granola bars and bandages and brought it to the donation center my friend found on social media.”
While he was out there, he got text messages from his worried family members, but also one from his grandmother Robinn Steiner: “You’re your father’s son.”
Once he saw protests were starting in Chicago, Itamar and his friend Bella came home, but Itamar’s mother laid down the law on future protests. While he wore a mask in Minneapolis, he now had to abide by social distancing because his mother Irit Revivo is an acupuncturist who sees patients.
“It makes sense because of her situation,” Steiner said. “In the grand scheme of things, breaking social distancing for this cause is necessary.”
Growing up, Itamar heard stories about his parents volunteering as escorts during anti-abortion protests at women’s health clinics in Chicago. When he was old enough, he would tag along with his dad, especially.
“As a kid, I would go to rallies all the time with my dad,” he said. “Gay rights rallies, some anti-racism rallies here and in Israel. He was all for it.”
Before I texted, Steiner had been thinking of Poogy and Deng, the South Sudanese refugees he met while living in Israel. They became his close friends and when they were deported to Uganda, it turned into a cause his father fought for. Their lives mattered to them.
The Steiners were in Uganda, making a documentary about the boys, when their bus crashed and David Steiner was killed. This was less than two months after the Cubs won the World Series, a memory the two cherished and a goal they prayed for at the Western Wall.
David’s death spurred family friend David Rugendorf to write a letter to Jason McLeod to inquire about using their last draft pick for Itamar, who started for Niles North’s baseball team. To their surprise, McLeod not only read the letter, but he decided to do something about it.
Advertisement
“Obviously there was a local slant to the story,” McLeod told me two years ago. “But seeing what (David Steiner) did for this community, how he tried to help those that are disadvantaged, it was … again, you can’t do this for everyone or every time someone reaches out like this, but it makes you feel great when you can do something like this.”
Steiner was working as a counselor at Camp Tavor in Michigan, struggling with a shoddy internet connection when he learned the Cubs selected him with their final pick of the 2018 draft.
“It was actually a good end to the story of my relationship with my dad and the work we did with Poogy, Deng and the Sudanese refugees,” Steiner said. “It’s always a sad story, but it’s a necessary story to tell. It was a feel-good happy ending, getting drafted to honor my dad.”
That summer, he wound up getting to sing the seventh-inning stretch with Cubs fan Jeff Garlin, who asked me in the comments section for Steiner’s contact information. Last spring, Steiner got a tour of the Sloan Park complex courtesy of McLeod when he went to Arizona for spring break with his grandfather Joe.
While Steiner hasn’t played baseball since being drafted and hasn’t even played intramural softball in Champaign, he’s still a devout Cubs fan. Above the door in his bedroom is a portrait of the Wrigley Field marquee. His father shared with him both his love of the Cubs and his dedication to social activism and he likes to think he carries both with him today.
During his freshman year, Steiner would tell people about his experience — who wouldn’t brag about being a Cubs draft pick at the University of Illinois — but he said he doesn’t bring it up much anymore. Maybe he should, he said, but life moves on.
Itamar Steiner loves the Cubs and getting drafted by them is a memory he cherishes, but he has other passions as well and people that he can help. As he’s gotten older, Itamar has an even deeper understanding of how unjust the world can be and he’s working to change it however he can.
Advertisement
“Baseball is my first love and my lifetime happy place is being at Wrigley Field,” he said. “But when you grow up, you learn there are other places to give your attention to, other causes.”
The Cubs could certainly use Itamar Steiner.
(Photo of Itamar Steiner and his grandfather Joe Steiner at Sloan Park: Jon Greenberg / The Athletic)
