Israel’s shomer Shabbat pro baseball league opens June 24
Dovid Green has been playing baseball most of his life—which amounts to about 27 years. He started Little League at the age of eight, then went on to play for Maimonidies High School in Boston and Yeshiva University.
“I dreamed about playing in the Majors,” he recalls. “I dreamed that the (Boston) Red Sox would be so happy with my playing that they would let me not play on Shabbat.”
“It is a very weird feeling to know that my dream is coming true,” he adds.
Only not in Boston.
On June 24, Green will take the field for the Petach Tikva Pioneers at Yarkon Field at the opening game of the Israel Baseball League. His team will be managed by former Chicago Cubs pitching ace Ken Holtzman, and the other players will be from the U.S., the Dominican Republic and Australia. Tickets went on sale in May on israelbaseballleague.com, and the opener is already sold out. But not to worry—there are 44 games to go. Plus a championship game at the end of the season, and an All Star Game in July.
“This is the greatest summer job of all time,” says Green, who will return to graduate school at Columbia University in the fall.
For Holtzman, the opening game marks a return to professional baseball after a 27-year hiatus. When the big lefty retired in 1980 with five World Series rings and two no-hitters to his credit, he said “managing had no meaning for me.” Instead, he went into business in his native Missouri and coached Little League and college ball as a volunteer.
But Holtzman had always believed that baseball had potential as an international game and the prospect of managing a team on an international level lured him back. “The opportunity to promote the sport in a county like Israel is terrific,” he says. He expects the level of play to be the same as any other minor league team.
Unlike other professional sports in Israel, the Yud, as the league is called, will not play on Friday nights, Saturday afternoons or Tisha B’Av.
League founder, Boston businessman, Larry Baras, insists he is not making any religious or political statements by avoiding Shabbat play. There were practical reasons for the decision, including the fact that the Yarkon Field is located in the Baptist Village, and the church does not allow baseball on Shabbat in Israel.
”We’re just trying to have fun and create more links between Israel and the U.S.,” says Baras, who began working to bring professional baseball to Israel in 2005. Now, just weeks before the opening game, he says he feels like the mother of the bride before the wedding—so wrapped up in getting the details right he can’t feel the excitement.
Like many American Jews, Baras has strong ties to Israel and wanted to show his support. But he’s not comfortable serving on committees—the mainstay of communal Jewish life. After attending a minor league baseball game outside of Boston, he realized that bringing a family-style sport to Israel would be a different way to support the State.
“When I first started,” he says, “I had no clue whether baseball or softball existed in Israel. One of the first things I learned was in 1979 the first baseball field was built on Kibbutz Gezer.”
The Israel Baseball Association celebrates its 20th anniversary this year with a full schedule of amateur games. Over 3000 Israelis are involved in adult and youth programs throughout the country. On June 25, the IBL will salute their amateur brothers at IBA Appreciation Night at Yarkon Field.
The Yud, however, is professional. Players will be receiving salaries equivalent to those of minor league baseball players in the U.S. Tryouts were held last year in Massachusetts, the Dominican Republic, Florida and Los Angeles. In April, league leaders gathered for the first Israeli baseball draft. In a sentimental gesture, for their last pick, in the 10th ground, the Modi’in Miracle drafted 72-year old Sandy Koufax—known for his refusal to pitch on in the World Series on Yom Kippur. Each team will have 20 players.
In addition to Holtzman, Baras collected two other Jewish former major leaguers to manage teams: Art Shamsky of the “Miracle Mets” will manage Modi’in and former Yankee Ron Blomberg—the American League’s first designated hitter—will manage the Bet Shean Blue Sox. Dan Duquette, former general manager of the Red Sox and the Expos, is director of baseball operations. The advisory committee lists such baseball luminaries as commissioner Bud Selig and his daughter Wendy Selig-Prieb.
If the league is successful, Israel will field a team in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. That team could be enhanced by Jewish major leaguers; rules permit players who are eligible to have citizenship in a country to play for that team. The Dodgers’ Mike Piazza, for example, played for Italy in the last Classic.
Baras acknowledges that he expects most of the crowd at the first games to be tourists and immigrants from the U.S. Enthusiasm is high in the States, he says and adds “there are a lot of people who have used the baseball league as a catalyst to go to Israel this summer.”
Still, he says, the trappings will be Hebrew. Game announcements will be bi-lingual. The opening game and eight others will be broadcast, in Hebrew, by Arutz Sports. The goal is to bring the game to Israelis. To make baseball more appealing, all games will be seven innings and ties will be determined by a home run derby. Baras says he doesn’t expect games to run more than two hours.
Picnic grounds at the fields will add to the family ambience. And, as at all Jewish events, food will be an important element: barbeque, hot dogs, soft drinks and sweets will be sold. Beer will be available at most games, but not at the Baptist Village. Special promotions—Harmonica Night and Israeli Idol Night—are also on tap.
“Baseball is an amazing game and a cultural experience,” explains Green. “We want to ease Israelis into the culture. It’s different from games they’ve seen before.”
To build a fan base, the IBL is opening a baseball academy in Israel with clinics for beginning and experienced players. One of the league’s sponsors has donated 1000 balls and bats for Ethiopian-Israeli kids to learn the game. Israel’s fields will be upgraded for professional play with financial assistance from the Jewish National Fund. After the two-month IBL season, the fields will be used by local baseball programs.
Since this is a professional enterprise, Baras says it is privately financed and eventually the investors will see a profit. Sponsorships are available and a variety of merchandise is sold on the IBL web site, in addition to game tickets.
Baras has received some criticism in the Israeli media for bringing yet another American cultural icon to Israel. After all, Israel has football and basketball. Who needs a third sport?
“When Ben and Jerry went to Israel,” Baras responds, “the Israelis said ‘we have ice cream.’ Then they discovered that Ben and Jerry was a different kind of ice cream.
“When they see what a departure baseball is, I think they’ll fall in love with the game like we did.”
For league schedule and ticket sales, visit the IBL web site, www.israelbaseballleague.com
Six teams form the Israel Baseball League:
Bet Shemesh Blue Sox
Modi’in Miracle
Netanya Tigers
Petach Tikva Pioneers
Ra’anana Express
Tel Aviv Lightening
For league schedule and ticket sales, visit the IBL web site, www.israelbaseballleague.com.
View from the bleachers
You can take an American to Israel, but you can’t take away his love of baseball. Still three guys from Ramot have very different views, depending upon how long they’ve been in Israel.
“I miss baseball,” admits Jerry Stander, who made aliyah over 30 years ago and is married to an Israeli. “I would be very excited to go to games, even if the quality of play is no better than American Legion or Class A.”
Former New Yorker Mike Fixler says he was a fanatic Yankee fan at one time and still idolizes Mickey Mantle, but he hasn’t followed the game since the Mark McGwuire-Sammy Sosa home run battle in 1998.
He adds he would go to a game for the nostalgia factor.
“I am excited,” says Aryeh Lewis, who has not followed baseball since moving to Israel 40 years ago, noting “My Yankee stars are either dead or well into their 70s.”
For longtime Israelis like Lewis, there is also a cultural disconnect.
“This is a not a game you can take your kids or your grandkids to since they are not interested in it. It will be nostalgia and a time to see fellow Americans. I am of a generation gone by and will not be able to rekindle the flame that once existed.”
The three men agreed that having a shomer Shabbat league makes it more attractive, although Fixler points out, “We could be cynical and say that a major percentage of the ticket buyers are shomer Shabbat Americans anyway.”
Nadine Bonner is a freelance journalist and former sports writer living in Philadelphia, PA
