No matter where Rob Kaminsky is drafted next Thursday, no matter which team selects him, no matter if he decides to sign with that team or enroll at the University of North Carolina, he will have the most unusual background among the more than 1,200 players who will be selected in this year’s draft.

Actually, he almost certainly has the most unusual background of all of the thousands of players who have been picked in the 49-year history of the draft.

Kaminsky, a left-handed pitcher from Englewood Cliffs, N.J., attended a Jewish day school through eighth grade and then he went to a Catholic high school.

Other Jewish kids go to Catholic schools for sports, but it’s not very likely that any of them have begun their education in Jewish day schools. And it is highly unlikely that any player taken in previous drafts or who will be, selected next week can match Kaminsky’s resume.

Kaminsky was recently named …

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Let’s see if I have this right. The Boston Red Sox fire Terry Francona, who managed them to two World Series championships, including the franchise’s first in 86 years. They hire Bobby Valentine, who manages them to a last-place finish in their worst season in nearly half a century.

The Red Sox then hire John Farrell to replace Valentine, and despite a gloomy forecast he manages them into the American League East lead or a tie for the lead for the first 38 days of the season and in second or tied for second for another 14 days, a total of 52 days of the first 55 days of the season.

Meanwhile, after a one-year hiatus from managing, Francona goes to Cleveland, where he manages the Indians into the A.L. Central lead with one of their best starts in recent years (24-17 then, 27-21 before Sunday).

The Red Sox fired Francona despite those World Series championships and eight winning records in his eight seasons. The team didn’t make the playoffs in Francona’s final two seasons, and he was accused of losing control of the team at the end of his tenure.

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The umpires are in the news again. And though bad calls by umpires are hardly new, the omnipresent television replays of blown calls have led to renewed and justified demands from fans for baseball to take steps to improve things. In my opinion, the remedy is obvious and I suspect the baseball authorities will soon agree it is time to act.

Baseball is an industry that changes slowly and for most of us that pace is fine. But the umpiring profession is mired in ancient structures. For years baseball leadership has ignored umpires and treated them as if they were like the bases – necessary but hardly worthy of attention.

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