Fledgling league touts Israel as pro baseball's next stop


The enthusiastic but unsuccessful Gluck was one of 65 hopefuls at Friday's tryout for the Israel Baseball League, which welcomes Jews and those of other faiths. Organizers hope to start play this summer, and want to turn the violence-torn country with only one full-sized diamond into the next great baseball nation.

"Hopefully, the region will be stable so we can play ball in the summertime," said player development director Dan Duquette, a former general manager for the Boston Red Sox and Montreal Expos. "But you know, baseball could very well be a unifying force for the country. And wouldn't that be something if it was?"

Hey, I was just gonna post this!

This sounds pretty cool, other than the possibility of getting killed by a rocket. The Duke might have been stiff as a board, but his heart's in the right place. He loves baseball.

That really is so cool. My cousin in Israel is 14 now I believe but he's really into American baseball and even plays on one of the few little league teams near Tel Aviv. He always sia dthat he wanted to go watch a real baseball game and had his first Fenway experience this June vs. the Mets.

I plan on attending a few games this summer. We should have a Holy Land Royal Rooters Outing. Who's in?

When do the games start? I'll be in Israel visitng family at the beginning of June and then again in early November for a cousin's bar mitzvah.

Edit: I'm an idiot, I didn't read close enough but games start after I'm gone. And I doubt they continue until November although that would be cool if they did.

Stay on a little later in June. If we can't get a Holy Land Rooters Outing before I leave the Mideast, I'm going to set something on fire.

Here's a link to the IBL's website. You can also sign up for updates here.

I would stay longer if it wasn't a family trip.Then again the final dates aren't hammered out and I'd absolutely love to combine my two greatest things in life, my first trip to Israel and an Israeli baseball game. I really can't wait to go.

Then I'll put it out as a challenge. I'm having this Outing, even if I'm the only Rooter there!

Let's do this for peace...and for the Maccabe and Taybeh beers.

Cornbread55, RedSoxinIsrael...are you in? RSNDiaspora, it's time for you and the lovely 'Ette to re-live that fateful trip. Who'd I miss?

Unfortunately, I'm precluded by the one activity more Jewish than going to Israel: going to law school. Boy, I would love to make it to this outing. More important than the peace is that I never got the opportunity to try Taybeh while I was there and for some reason the liquor store down my street carries Colt 45 and Olde English 800, but not Taybeh or Maccabee.

At least I can recall one of my favorite scenes from "Airplane!":

Elaine Dickinson: Would you like something to read?
Woman: Do you have anything light?
Elaine Dickinson: Umm, how 'bout this leaflet: "Famous Jewish Sports Legends"?

i think oil can jolmy may have a passing interest in the state of Isreal and Judaism in general....anyway, i know he likes beer....

Crap...With PI shut down, I completely forgot about OCJ! But he may be too busy doing the one activity more Jewish than either going to Israel or attending law school...he's running Hollywood.

As part of a new project I was just assigned to today, I was asked how I felt about traveling to Israel.

I'm all for it, of course. Beer, baseball, and the best oranges in the world.

I'm guessing probably a kickoff meeting in February and a design review in midsummer. I'm looking forward to it.

Count me in (I hope). I just don't want RamallahSox to set anything on fire.

Nah...Ramallah guys are more known for wanting to party than just about anything else, at least among Palestinians. Here's a joke I heard a couple of years ago, in the West Bank...

Three young Palestinian men walk up to an Israeli checkpoint. The Israeli soldier asks the first one, "Where are you from?"

"Gaza," the man replies.
"Put your hands against the wall and don't move."
"What about you?" asks the soldier.
"Nablus," answers the second man.
"Up against the wall."
"And you?"
"Ramallah," replies the third.
So the soldier takes off his rifle and hands it to the Ramallah guy.
"Hold my gun while I search these f*ckers."


Meet me at the Baptism site in Jordan?

How about we have one in June 2008? I put in a search for a timeshare thru RCI tonight for June or July of next year. It will be either there or Hawaii.

Julie Alexenberg - 45 year-old observant Jew signs contract to play professional baseball



Ari Alexenberg, a 45 year-old southpaw from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, was offered a contract to play professional baseball. Former general manager of the Boston Red Sox’ Dan Duquette said "He gives hope to all the middle aged men in the world.”

update from Israel




Yaakov Lappin - Israeli baseball gets star boost; Former Major League pros come to Israel to kick-start local baseball league




Three former American Jewish Major League baseball stars will arrive in Israel to manage teams in the newly created Israeli Baseball League, the former US ambassador to Israel, Daniel Kurtzer, announced.

Ron Blomberg, Ken Holtzman and Art Shamsky, will manage three of the six teams in the league, which will begin play on June 24.



...

The Israel Baseball league will be composed of "international players of all races, religions and nationalities, with 20 players per team. Many of the players have been selected from tryout camps run by Dan Duquette, the former general manager of the Montreal Expos and Boston Red Sox," the statement said, adding that "the teams will be announced later this month."

The prominence of these athletes reminds me of that scene in Airplane!:

Elaine Dickinson: Would you like something to read?
Hanging Lady: Do you have anything light?
Elaine Dickinson: How about this leaflet, "Famous Jewish Sports Legends?"

It actually sounds like they've got a good operation going, and the number of American ex-pats should at least provide some basis of fan support. But there are really only three sports to Israeli Jews: Israeli basketball, Euroleague basketball, and the NBA. Israeli Arabs only really know of one sport: soccer. Baseball will take some getting used to over there.

From what I've heard from my cousin who lives north of Tel Aviv, baseball isn't as non existant as one would think. He's 14 or 15 now and he plays on a team in a mini-league and loves to follow American baseball. I can't wait to see what he thinks of this. I really hope this takes off with the younger generation of kids in Israel.

Just returned from an eight-day visit to Israel. Business took up most of the days, but we did manage to squeeze in a guided tour of Jerusalem, a walk on the beach at Tel Aviv, and a day trip to Caesarea, the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights.

Things I did not see in Israel:
rock-throwing youths
Molotov cocktails
burned-out vehicles
hostility of any kind
bacon cheeseburgers
baseball

Things I did see in Israel:
Gorgeous women (everywhere)
Incredible landscapes
Lots of broad-brimmed black hats
Good beer (I liked Maccabee better than Goldstar)
Arabs selling handmade yarmulkes to Jews in Jerusalem
Japanese tourists
Syria (from a safe distance)

I'm assigned to this project on a fairly long-term basis, so I hope to get back over there (at Company expense, of course) sometime later this year. I'd like to move "baseball" off the first list and onto the second.

Like you I marveled at the plethora of gorgeous women there. Plus most of them served in the military, so they can probably kill you with their left thumb, which is kinda hot.



Definitely a bigger fan of the Maccabee over Goldstar, though I'll drink either. Ramallah Sox assures me that the Palestinian beer, Taybeh, is also a good brew. I look forward to trying that one whenever I return.



The dichotomies there are pronounced. I was in Jerusalem on a Saturday, and I noticed the shirt I wanted to wear that day to services (if I wasn't gonna go in J'lem, when would I go?) was wrinkled beyond belief. I noticed that the ironing boards they had on every floor of the hotel were gone, so I called down to the front desk. The Arab guy working the desk told me, "Only after Shabbat." The previous night I had been at a place called "New York Pizza," a Palestinian-run establishment. Always had to chuckle at those instances.

I'm probably returning when I graduate law school. Diasporette and I met on the flight there, and I've been itching to return ever since. If the IBL is still running, I really want to schedule my trip to fit in some games. I said earlier in this thread that the league will face some challenges--aside from American ex-pats, Israeli Arabs and Palestinians really only care about soccer and Israeli Jews tend to only care about basketball. I hope baseball really catches on there.

More IBL News:



Can baseball make it in Israel?

Former Yankee player now turned manager says he feels privileged to bring game to Israel

Yaakov Lappin

For former major league baseball player Ron Blombger, coming to Israel to help launch the all-American game is more than just a sporting event.

The Israeli baseball league will be formally launched at a press conference in New York on Monday evening. In addition to Blomberg, former professional Jewish players Ken Holtzman and Art Shamsky will also come to Israel to manage three of the league's six teams. The league will begin play in June.

Jewish major leaguers introduce first Israel Baseball League

The teams will be the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox, and the Modi'in Miracle, (sharing Gezer Field in Kibbutz Gezer), the Tel Aviv Lightning and Ra'anana Express (sharing Sportek in Tel Aviv), and the Netanya Tigers and the Petach Tikva Pioneers (sharing Baptist Village Field in Petach Tikva).

In bringing three ex-major league stars to the helm of the clubs, the league is reaching out to people with deep roots in the professional game.

Ken Holtzman is the Jewish pitcher with the most wins in major league history with a lifetime 174-150 record, compiled over 15 seasons (1965-1979), with the Cubs, Athletics, Orioles and Yankees. (Sandy Koufax won 165 games). Holtzman hurled two no-hitters for the Chicago Cubs.

Art Shamsky played for the Reds, the Mets, the Athletics and the Cubs over eight seasons, (1965-1972). He was a member of the 1969 "Miracle Mets" and once hit four consecutive home runs for the Reds in 1966.

Ron Blomberg was the nation's number one draft pick in 1967 and spent eight seasons in the majors with the Yankees and White Sox (1969, 1971-76, 1978), earning a footnote of fame as baseball's first designated hitter.

Tony Massarotti, Boston Herald - Baseball goes to bat in Israel: Duquette aids fledgling IBL


Between now and June 24, when the IBL opens its inaugural season, Duquette indicated that the IBL hopes to sign roughly 130 players to fill the six rosters. According to Duquette, roughly 80 players already have been signed from eight countries, including the United States, Canada, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Australia, Venezuela, Belgium and Israel.

The league currently has tryouts scheduled in the Dominican Republic (next week) and in California (April 15). Duquette also is hopeful that the league could attract any players released from current major league camps during spring training.

“We’re asking major league teams to direct kids that don’t have (jobs in the majors or minors) to go to the camps,” Duquette said.

In its inaugural season, each team in the Israeli league will play a schedule of 45 games. The obvious idea is to grow and promote baseball in Israel, where roughly 300,000 of the 7 million residents are transplanted Americans.

Murray Chass, NYTimes - A Whole New Ballgame for Blomberg


“Look at who they’re bringing in,” Blomberg said. “They’re bringing in three Jews to be coaches. Is it going to work? I think it’s going to take time. In America, soccer isn’t a big deal other than high schools and colleges. I think this will be the same thing. They have soccer and basketball and now baseball.”

With a large American population in Israel, Blomberg will probably be a central figure among the league’s personnel. The town whose team he will manage has a particularly sizable population of former residents of New Jersey and New York, and many remember Blomberg as a popular member of mediocre Yankees teams in the early 1970s.

He has basically been out of baseball since 1978, but he has remained a familiar figure to many fans.

“I do a lot of Yankee fantasy camps and corporate speaking,” Blomberg said. “I still do a lot of bar mitzvahs and speaking for Jewish organizations.”

Blomberg, 58, said the number of speaking engagements had risen since the publication last year of his book, “Designated Hebrew.”

Lenny Megliola, MetroWest Daily News - Duquette digging for diamonds in Israel



Dan Duquette is on the other end of the phone: "They haven't played baseball in the Holy Land for 500 years. Don't you think that's a bigger story than Manny Ramirez reporting to spring training?"

The ex-Red Sox general manager who brought Ramirez to Boston is kidding, of course. But he's dead serious about baseball in Israel. Duquette is the director of baseball operations for the nascent Israel Baseball League which opens play this summer.

Baseball in Israel?

"Other than players, fans and facilities, we have everything we need," said Duquette. But that's rapidly changing.

...


The league has a website (Israelbaseballleague.com) and has attracted players from all over. A promising Australian pitcher, Adam Crabbe, traveled from his homeland to Duquette's baseball academy in Western Massachusetts to try out. Duquette was impressed. "He looks like Derek Lowe. He has the same type of hair."

Duquette wants Israel to enter the 2008 World Baseball Classic tournament where Jewish players like Kevin Youkilis, Gabe Kapler, Shawn Green, Mike Lieberthal, Jason Marquis and Brad Ausmus, among other big leaguers, could backbone the team. Former major league players Ken Holtzman, Ron Blomberg and Art Shamsky have agreed to be managers.

From the March 4, 2007 Herald:

Tony Massarotti - Baseball in Israel is no joke: When fledgling professional league starts this summer, the game’s good-time gospel will spread to the Holy Land



The story starts like a bad joke: A Jewish man walks into a bar, or, in this case, a baseball stadium. He is searching for his purpose. He sees children playing and adults laughing, and he decides to do the darnedest thing.

He brings professional baseball to Israel.

“It started back in July 2005,” said Larry Baras, who is the founder of the Israel Baseball League.

No joke.

“I’m simply someone who has relatives in Israel and I’ve been there a lot. I went to a lot of the Israeli organizations and nothing really spoke to me,” Baras said. “I went to a Brockton Rox (minor league) baseball game one night and what I saw was a bunch of kids and parents running around, having a good time, and I was transported back to the ‘50s.

Sandy Koufax, 71, Drafted By Israeli Baseball Team


Forty-one years after he retired from baseball, Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax was the final player chosen in the draft to stock the six teams for the inaugural season of the Israel Baseball League.

Koufax, 71, was picked by the Modi'in Miracle in the draft conducted by former major league general manager Dan Duquette, who heads baseball operations for the league and is a former general manager of the Boston Red Sox.

"His selection is a tribute to the esteem with which he is held by everyone associated with this league," said former big leaguer Art Shamsky, who will manage the Miracle. "It's been 41 years between starts for him. If he's rested and ready to take the mound again, we want him on our team."

now that is freakin awesome....show 'em what you got Sandy!

Hana Levi Julian - Israeli Baseball Season Opens in Two Weeks

The first real stress-buster, of course, will be held on 8 Tammuz, June 24, at 6:00 p.m. at a Petach Tikvah stadium, the league's opening game between the Modi'in Miracle and the Petach Tikvah Pioneers.

The final draft of the debut season, intended as a tribute only, was 71-year-old baseball legend Sandy Koufax, who was tapped for the Modi'in Miracle. It is not expected that Mr. Koufax will attend the game.

...


Former Boston Red Sox manager Dan Duquette and businessman Larry Baras decided to team up more than a year ago to create a professional baseball team here in Israel, with the hopes that it might morph into a national baseball league.

Visions of peanuts, popcorn and kosher hot dogs danced in the heads of those who heard about the plan. Would-be players flocked to the fields when they heard tryouts were being held. After a year-long process, all that now remains to be done is to fill the bleachers and "Play ball!"

I'm in Israel right now and at least on the dish, they have commercials for the IBL. It's going to be a lot of fun, it seems like. According to people I've talked to, it's not too serious or anything, just something fun. I plan on walking around Tel Aviv tomorrow and looking around, see what I can find about everything.

How long will you be in my front yard? Is any semblance of a Holy Land Outing going to happen?

Oh, and Clyde Engle stood me up. I think he was scared.

Elli Wohlgelernter, NYTimes - Israeli League Is Ready to Play Ball


JERUSALEM, June 23 — In the land of milk and honey, it is time for peanuts and hot dogs — the Israel Baseball League makes its debut Sunday night when the Petach Tikva Pioneers play host to the Modi’in Miracle. A high demand for tickets has moved organizers to double the seating capacity at the Yarkon Sports Complex to accommodate a projected 2,000 spectators expected to attend.

The game will be televised live in Israel by the local sports channel, whose broadcasters will handle the play-by-play in Hebrew. The game will also be broadcast in English in the United States next Sunday on PBS affiliates in New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and West Palm Beach, Fla.

So I just got this but I was in Israel the 5th-15th (including travel days). I wish I could've been there to take my cousins to the IBL. Oh well, I already took one of them to Fenway last summer and the IBL would seriously pale in comparison.

Hana Levi Julian - Israel Baseball League Launches Inaugural Season

No one expected 3,112 paying fans to show up, but they did. And the fans didn’t seem to mind having to deal with a "standing room only" situation, especially since players whose teams were not on the field were happy to shmooze with them throughout the game.

In the tradition of "Jewish time," almost half the fans trickled in sometime during the second inning. Jeffery Royer, part owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks and a member of the IBL’s Advisory Committee, told The Jewish Press that the cause was a bottleneck at the gate because security personnel insisted on checking every person.

...

"The Israeli players will grow with the league," said Dan Duquette, the league’s director of baseball operations.

Duquette, who served as general manager of the Boston Red Sox and the Montreal Expos, noted that because there is no history of professional baseball in Israel, "it is going to take time for the Israeli players to come up to speed. But they will."

Marty Appel - Hardball In The Holy Land

It started as the dream of Boston businessman Larry Baras, who had a love for Israel and a love for baseball (albeit the old New York Giants), and who, while sitting at a minor league game in Massachusetts, dreamed up a pro league Israel could call its own.

Over the ensuing months, he assembled a distinguished team of advisers and executives to help make the dream a reality. Among them was Daniel C. Kurtzer, the former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, who agreed to serve as commissioner. Also aboard were Dan Duquette, the former general manager of the Boston Red Sox, three former major leaguers as managers (Ron Blomberg, Ken Holtzman and Art Shamsky), economist Andrew Zimbalist, club owner Marvin Goldklang, and no less than Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig on the advisory board.

Josef Federman, AP - Israeli baseball league: We're returning

JERUSALEM—Israel's professional baseball league announced Thursday that it is coming back for a second season after a tumultuous inaugural campaign that left it on the brink of collapse.

The Israel Baseball League said it would begin play on July 27, about a month behind its original schedule and in abbreviated form. The league will consist of four teams, down from six last year, and the length of the season is being cut in half to 20 games.

Still, simply returning to the ball field is an accomplishment for the fledgling league, which suffered from low attendance, financial difficulties and a mass defection of executive board members last year.

"While it is important to acknowledge, correct and learn from the mistakes that happened in year one, at the same time, we cannot lose sight of the incredible accomplishments that were attained in a short period of time," said Dan Rootenberg, a former player who is the league's new president.

"The goal of having a three-week season this summer is to keep the momentum going, build on the fan base that was created last summer ... and bring back the high level of talent," he said. "We hope that all of this will lay the groundwork for a 45-game-season in 2009 and beyond."

If you want to know exactly what's going on with the IBL check out the premiere this weekend of "Holyland Hardball". Most of the main people from the league will be there. Here's a review.