Jacob Levy, who played infield for the Tel Aviv Lightning of the Israel Baseball League, gives Our Man Elli in Israel his reasoned analysis of the announcement that the Israel Baseball League is back for a second "season" in 2008 after, all with a four-team, 20-game, three week schedule.Ultimately, Levy has hope:
"I hope. The sagacity of the decision to execute an abbreviated second season will be borne by the quality of the third season. I hope that the league's executives are thinking about the components of a stable foundation for the league and year over year increases in the fan base as opposed to pulling off individual seasons.
"If this second season is executed at a cost that is absorbable without injury to the effort to execute a proper third season it is the right decision. If the effort to execute a full schedule, properly executed third season is damaged beyond the value of the contiguous presence the second season represents then it is the wrong decision.
"Per the caliber of play, I imagine that last year's level can be nearly matched or surpassed even depending on the resources available for scouting and salaries. Baseball is an amazing game full of unpredictable individual stories. For some older (26-32) year old players having hung up their spikes recently, a month-long season in Israel would be perfect. Remember, as good as almost all of the guys from last year were as people, the bottom half were not the baseball peers of the top half.
"I hope. I do think baseball in Israel is a successful proposition. Like any end, a process must be designed to achieve it, that process must be designed properly and that process must be executed properly."
"If this second season is executed at a cost that is absorbable without injury to the effort to execute a proper third season it is the right decision. If the effort to execute a full schedule, properly executed third season is damaged beyond the value of the contiguous presence the second season represents then it is the wrong decision.
"Per the caliber of play, I imagine that last year's level can be nearly matched or surpassed even depending on the resources available for scouting and salaries. Baseball is an amazing game full of unpredictable individual stories. For some older (26-32) year old players having hung up their spikes recently, a month-long season in Israel would be perfect. Remember, as good as almost all of the guys from last year were as people, the bottom half were not the baseball peers of the top half.
"I hope. I do think baseball in Israel is a successful proposition. Like any end, a process must be designed to achieve it, that process must be designed properly and that process must be executed properly."
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