Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Also today in Israel Baseball League history


From the Israel Baseball League website:

Petach Tikva, August 19 (2007) – Following the winning of the first Israel Baseball League championship today by the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox, Commissioner Daniel Kurtzer has announced award winners as determined by league officials.

The Hank Greenberg Award for Most Valuable Player will be shared by Eladio Rodriguez of Modi’in and Gregg Raymundo of Bet Shemesh. (Greenberg, a Hall of Fame player in the Major Leagues, is considered the greatest Jewish hitter of all time).


The Commissioner’s Award for Sportsmanship and Character goes to Aaron Pribble (Tel Aviv) and Brendan Rubenstein (Ra’anana).


The Commissioner’s Award for Distinguished Service goes to Eric Holtz of Bet Shemesh, a player/coach with the team who also filled in as a player/manager during the course of the season.


The award for best pitcher goes to Juan Feliciano of Bet Shemesh.


The award for Most Valuable Israeli player goes to Dan Rothem of Tel Aviv. (Both his hometown and his team).
Nokona, a league sponsor presents three defensive awards: best outfielder: a tie between Josh Doane (Netanya) and Jason Rees (Bet Shemesh); best infielder: a tie between Nate Fish (Tel Aviv) and Hector De Los Santos (Netanya); and best catcher: Eladio Rodriguez (Modi’in).

The league’s batting champion in its first year was Eladio Rodriguez, who hit .461 in the regular season.

The home run champion was Jason Rees with 17.

Aaron Pribble
won the league’s ERA title, 1.94.


Full season statistics are available at www.israelbaseballleague.com/stats.

The Israel Baseball League is the first professional baseball league in the Middle East. Players from nine nations, including a dozen Israeli players, competed in the league’s initial season. The first tryouts for the 2008 season were held today in Hinsdale, MA, at the Dan Duquette Sports Academy.

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