TabloidBaby.com presents the world's most comprehensive coverage
of professional baseball in Israel,
reported by Jerusalem-based journalist Elli Wohlgelernter, AKA "Our Man Elli In Israel"
The new site that explores American imperialism through the exportation of baseball to countries across the globe went up earlier his month. Earlier this week, blogger Elliott earlier this week treated the Israel Baseball League as a continuing enterprise, instead of the monumental failure it turned into. After we pointed out the error in a post titled "Israel baseball blogger arrives late to the game," Elliott got in touch and we continued in a very pleasant email exchange that led him to add our Baseball in Israel archive site to his link list and, last night, a new posting that reads in part:
The past few days have been a whirlwind of information about Israeli Baseball for me and I am just starting to get a grip on the story. When I posted… before, the information I had on the IBL came from their website. I thought it was a little strange that their last update was on February 20th, but I really didn’t think anything of it. My full intention… was to tell a story about conversation I had with my Israeli cousins over the weekend… they told me that they have never heard of professional baseball in Israel. I was astonished…
One of my cousins was also talking about how Americans always think that Israeli’s need some sort of distraction in their world. She went on to say that in her view, the attacks and everything around that are just events of her daily life, and she got used to them. That led me to start thinking about who’s interest are we trying to serve here.
Luckily, Sam Peters of Tabloidbaby opened my eyes to the entire issue. To literally quote part of our email correspondence: “A major flaw in the Israel Baseball League blueprint was its lack of promotion among native Israelis. They were playing to a US-based big money audience and not the punters who fill the stands-- which is why your cousins never heard of the league. How could that be possible? It is.”
This pretty much answers the question that the needs and “dreams” of the United States were really being granted in this expedition. This is a theme I hope to touch on later with the recent promotion of baseball in China.
…The IBL, albeit not officially announced on their website, will not be playing ball next year. This is an example of exporting of baseball that did not work.
Check out The Great International Pastime site. It promises to grow into quite an authoritative destination. As for Elliott, he’s definitely one of the good guys…
UPDATE:Oy! See how factoids and disinformation spread? Now somebody set this guy straight...
“At some point, in some post, we should point out that not everyone who has written about the Israel Baseball League in the past ten months is misinformed or behind the curve,” says Our Man Elli in Israel from a table at the Café 1868 kosher restaurant on Beth Lechem Road in Baka, Jerusalem’s last real neighborhood. “One guy in particular has been honest in his writing, pure in his study of the sport, and straightforward about giving credit where it’s due.
“I salute the man behind bIBLmetrics. He’s a software engineer who took the game and the promise of the league so seriously that he applied sabermetrics (analysis of baseball through statistics) to try and make some baseball sense out of stats from a league that was defunct the day the season ended.
“He calls himself ‘iblemetrician,’ and he spent an unbelieveable amount of time doing this for the love of the game.
“The Iblemetrician, though, he alone gave credit to Tabloid Baby for every bit of information that he shared with his readers. I don’t think there's a website editor alive who can boast that— except maybe Luke Ford, but he did it in passing. And this guy devoted all this effort, in effect, to the players themselves. And they’re the real beneficiaries of all that work. Indeed, those inside-baseball numbers he produced just might REALLY be all that the IBL players walk away with from the summer of 2007 . Those stats and the memories of having played with some really great guys.
“Look, it’s your site, I realize you’re protecting the brand and the exclusives we’ve gathered, but there’s been a real negativity recently with all the anonymous sniping. And the apologists are clever, claiming we’re actually happy that the crooks and schnooks fouled out for 2008.”
Thanks, Elli. And in fact, we we did indeed salute the Iblemetrician back in October 2007, declaring that his work, combined with Elli’s landmark expose of the IBL’s 2007 season, creates a full picture of the experience. In response, he sent us this comment:
“Glad you like the site. Thanks for the link. (To make sure it's clear: I don't do this for a living! I'm a software engineer with a newly-rediscovered baseball addiction.) In case you're curious, I enjoyed the IBL and hope it survives and thrives, but that doesn't change the fact that Elli's article was an excellent piece of journalism. It was outrageous that no local journalist cared to cover the league seriously during the season. (Reprinting league press releases doesn't count.)
“The IBL has some work to do if it wants to make this last. Avoiding and ignoring media criticism doesn't solve anything.”
Sadly, bIBLemetrics last posted in January, writing,
“The fat lady has sung. Or at least, the IAB has. Looks like the IBL won't be back in '08. Let's hope the IPBL folks can get their act together in time for this summer. Baseball is still about dreams.”
We hope professional baseball comes back to Israel in some form soon, if only so bIBLEmetrics can work its magic. Hope, as always, springs eternal, and is, of course, the thing with feathers.
Do you have a Good Guy Award nominee? Send it here and we'll give a shoutout!
Another day... another supposedly cutting edge blogger a year behind the times and spewing a mishmash of factoids when it comes to the major international saga of baseball in Israel. What are we missing here? What are folks in Israel missing? Why is the "mainstream" media allowing so many people to avoid the fact that there will be no professional baseball in Israel in 2008? Months after we'd predicted it, weeks after it was confirmed, promotional websites with misleading information, league websites with information well past its sell date, and uninformed well-intentioned sports fans are leading millions of sports fan to miss the entire cycle of news broken by Our Man Elli in Israel.
The latest is on the Real Tel Aviv blogsite ("the real deal on Tel Aviv," "the best blog about Tel Aviv!!"), which this morning offers a "guest post by Chick Chick" entitled "Top 5 Tel Aviv Spectator Sports."
"Israelis are HUGE sport fans - We’ll give our heart and soul for our local teams, and we love and cheer our national teams like crazy. Tel Aviv sports the country’s hottest teams and best stadiums, and also hosts most of the national sporting events. This makes it the perfect place to get a taste of the Israeli sports scene!!"
Chick Chick offers four top sporting events of the future:
Maccabi Tel Aviv Euroleague Basketball at Nokia Arena The Tel Aviv Football Derby at Bloomfield Stadium World Cup 2010 Qualifying Round at Ramat Gan Stadium International Tennis in the Ramat Hashron
Fair enough. But then he/she had to go and add a "Bonus” :
Bonus: Israeli Baseball LeagueIf you talk to a typical Israeli about baseball, he will laugh and wonder why you are interested in that stupid game with the sticks and chubby players. But since Israelis come from all over the world, some American born citizens have been able to slip this long time tradition into the holy land. In November 2007, a few Jewish-American investors announced the Israeli Baseball League, a professional league with 6 teams with names that automatically bring a smile to your face, like the Raanana Express, the Petach Tikva Pioneers, and the 2007 champions - the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox. The league has a eight week, 45 game season that takes place during July and August. If you want to catch this up and coming league in Tel Aviv, your best bet is to see the Tel Aviv Lightning or the Netanya Tigers, who both play in the Sportek Baseball Field, in the Western end of Park Hayarkon, a short walk from most of Tel Aviv’s seaside hotels. You might catch some of Major League Baseball’s future stars - in 2008, eight ILB players were signed to minor league contracts in the United States. So play ball!!! Play ball!!!??? Chickie, baby, not this year...
“Think about the goals of Baseball in Israel… Are we going over to offer a distraction? Do they need a distraction? Is this another example of America trying to act as a hero?”
A new baseball website has us wondering, as we’ve stopped to do more than once over the past nine months, why the mainstream sports, business and political media have overlooked, and actively ignored— the story of the Israel Baseball League and efforts to bring professional baseball to Israel-- a story that’s of such interest and importance to so many people around the world. With league founder Larry Baras a colorful, controversial and lawsuit-laden bagel baron based in Boston, with a would-be rival league headed by a controversial lawsuit-laden toymaker taking cash from auditioning athletes in Miami, and minor and semipro leagues around the world picking up IBL refugees, there would seem to be enough local angles, mysteries, sports fans and Jewish readers out there for some award-hunting reporter or editor to feel the thrill of the hunt as they follow the money.
Despite a year of raucous infighting, accusations and outrageousness that was enough to fill an entire website called Baseball in Israel, this new internationalist site picks up the story of the Israel Baseball League in a much simpler time, before the drama of the past year, when the spin was only starting to pick up speed, and doesn't seem to realize that greed and bad business killed off baseball in Israel in 2008:
"Baseball in Israel was one of the first topics I thought of when I decided to talk about world baseball because I feel that its known in America more than in Israel and I have often questioned the motives for it (but I do love it, don't mistake that). I root for the Modim Miracle only because of their Manager, Art Shamsky, who was a '69 Met, so I am a little biased when it comes to their teams.
"I found this video on YouTube not too long ago (about two weeks ago). The video was added online a little over a year ago, but makes a lot of insightful points subliminally. When you watch it, think about the goals of Baseball in Israel? Are we going over to offer a distraction? Do they need a distraction? Is this another example of America trying to act as a hero? I have been thinking about this clip now for over two weeks, and I still have not finalized my opinion about it. "
These of course are questions first posed by Our Man Elli almost a year ago, so we don’t know whether to be frustrated that the author didn’t do a Google search of “Israel Baseball” or gratified that someone’s at least sniffing out the story. We sent Elliott a link to our site. Once again, we’ll see if the bloggers pick up where the mainstream journos dropped the ball.
"No baseball in '08 really? Who's your source?" "It ain't over 'til it's over." When it comes to baseball in Israel, the pioneer spirit of the nation and American businessmen's undying thirst for profit will guarantee that blips and blasts about the possibility of a 2008 season will continue through New Year's Eve. And thought we're sticking with the news we broke back in January (and which the so-called "mainstream" sports media has yet to catch on to) that 2008 is a wash, Our Man Elli in Israel and our staffers in the home office keep in touch with our sources and keep an eye on the usual websites, including that of the Israel Baseball League, which still offers directions to the ballparks (at least one of which doesn't exist) and promises a season that's not be be:
Opening Day has been set for Sunday, June 22nd, with two exciting games taking place. At Gezer Field, the IBL Champion Bet Shemesh Blue Sox will be playing host to its arch rival, the Modi’in Miracle. And at the Baptist Village, a future rivalry will be born when the Tel Aviv Lightning takes on the new Jerusalem Lions. Both games are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.
But there's more fodder on the IBL site that seems even more outrageous in light of the debts and outrage Larry Baras and his team left behind after 2007: A claim, written by Baras' father, that the IBL was the logical culmination of Biblical prophesy.
BASEBALL IN THE TIMES OF OUR FOREFATHERS Compiled by Hyman S. Baras
While baseball is generally considered a “modern” sport, there are references in the Bible that could lead one to deduce that, in fact, baseball dates back thousands of years. Along the same line of thinking as The Da Vinci Code, note the pattern of the following passages, which clearly illustrate that there were Giants in those days as well.
* And Abner said to Joab, “Let the young men…arise and play before us” -- Samuel II 2:14 *…and all the people rose up… -- Exodus 33:8 * And Juhoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder; and Sheva was the scribe…” -- Samuel II 20:24 * And they said unto Jephtha, “Come and be our Captain” -- Judges 11:6 * ...and he measured two lines… -- Samuel II 8:2 * ...and he set the bases… -- Kings I 7:39 * And they stood every man in his place round about the camp -- Judges 7:21 * Behold, Rebecca came forth with her pitcher… -- Genesis 24:45 * Ehud, the Benjamite, a man left-handed… -- Judges 3:15 * The children of Israel asked,…”Who shall go up for us first against the Canaanites? -- Judges 3:15 * ...Seek out a man who is a skillful player… -- Samuel I 16:16 * ...Judah shall go up first… -- Judges 20:18 * And Judah took… -- Judges 1:18 * Three times… -- Exodus 23:14 * ...and it was good… -- Genesis 1:4 * And Abram went down… -- Genesis 12:10 * ...out at the base… -- Leviticus 4:18 * And Moses …smote… -- Exodus 7:20 * ...and (it)…was foul… -- Exodus 7:21 * And Moses went out… -- Numbers 11:24 * ...and none came in… -- Joshua 6:1 * ...and there was not a man left… -- Joshua 8:17 * And Miriam was shut out… -- Numbers 12:15 * And the children of Benjamin went out… -- Judges 20:31 * ...and went into the field… -- Numbers 22:23 * ...and Aaron waved… -- Leviticus 9:21 * And he looked this way and that way… -- Exodus 2:12 * ...and he delivered up… -- Numbers 21:3 * ...and they ran as soon as he had stretched his hand…And they fell on their faces to the ground… -- Judges 13:20 * Get thee up; wherefore liest thou upon thy face? -- Judges 7:10 * ...for it was an error… -- Numbers 15:25 * ...second and third… -- Genesis 6:16 * And Joseph spoke… -- Genesis 45:3 * ...concerning the error which he had committed… -- Leviticus 5:18 * ...make an atonement for thyself… -- Leviticus 9:17 * Thou shalt fan them… -- Isaiah 41:16 * Then Joseph commanded to fill…the…sacks… -- Genesis 42:25 * ...and all the people saw this and they shouted… -- Leviticus 9:24 * Who can stand before the Giants? -- Deuteronomy 9:2 * ...and Aaron waved… -- Leviticus 9:21 * ...and pitched on the other side… -- Numbers 21:13 * And suffered not a man to pass… -- Judges 3:28
* ...but…the seventh… -- Exodus 31:15 * Gideon… smote… -- Judges 8:21 * ...Israel…at first… -- Joshua 8:33 * And Noah went in… -- Genesis 7:7 * And the young man ran… -- Numbers 11:27 * ...he turned and went back… -- Judges 18:26 * ...unto the base… -- Numbers 8:4 * Noah walked… -- Genesis 6:9 * Let us go and sacrifice… -- Exodus 5:8 * And Moses lifted up his hand and with his rod he smote… --Numbers 20:11 * ...the hide… -- Leviticus 9:11 * ...a long blast… -- Joshua 6:5 * ...outside the camp… -- Judges 7:17 * ...for an ‘omer… -- Exodus 16:36 * And the men of Israel and of Judah arose, and shouted… -- Samuel I 17:52
You Israel baseball fans know the Bible better than we do. Can you think of any Biblical passages the Barases may have left out?
(UPDATE FROM OUR MAN ELLI IN ISRAEL: "I might add: the New York Times had a few of those Bible quotes on its Op-Ed page about 25 years ago. I'd clipped and saved the article, and gave it to Baras, who said he hadn't seen those. I never got it back from him.")
"... The IPBL’s organizer, Jeff Rosen... someone so rich he thought he could just dial up a new league, someone trying to show up Baras on how it can be done-- and somebody who can’t-- or won't-- get somebody’s name right. He’s learned that money can buy a lot of things, but not necessarily a baseball league in Israel. He has a lot to learn if he wants to attempt it again next summer. It's my name. It's all I've got. Elli. Wohlgelernter. And when I have to correct someone three times, I don’t care who he is...I expect to be respected on that issue. Like I said, If I was a million dollar investor in the IPBL, I guaran-eefin-tee he’d know how my name is spelled..."
There will be no professional baseball in Israel this year. The missteps, secrecy, debts and monumental task of starting from scratch has turned the great sports dream into a dream once again. And as thousands of sports fan kick at the dirt, sports goes on.
The world-traveling blogger Ms. Babble (“U.S. Army veteran, writer, musician, jack of all trades…”) posts this morning on the American Babble site about one imported sport that's thriving in Israel— Basketball, man.
Some highlights:
Macabbi Elite: Israeli Basketball
In Israel, basketball is king.
It isn’t the only sport here. They have baseball but the Israel Baseball League didn’t form until last year and doesn’t seem to be all that popular yet.
…Soccer is actually considered the number one sport in Israel in front of basketball but I wouldn’t know the difference.
They don’t have a professional American football team at all. (gasp!)
But what they do have is basketball.
Right now it’s an exciting time for Maccabi Elite which is the national basketball team based out of Tel Aviv. They’ve found a spot in the Euroleagues Final Four and are close to a championship. It’s kinda like getting to the NBA Finals only the competition is between countries instead of cities.
E’s cousin S just returned to Israel from traveling the United States for the last six months. He made it back just in time to see Maccabi play Barcelona last week. Being the sports fan I am, I jumped at the opportunity to watch it with him.
We went to the store prior to the game to pick up some beer. I was ecstatic to find Miller Genuine Draft sitting in the cooler for me! These small American finds are what make my day. Little reminders of home to make me smile. I made a mental note of the Miller and then grabbed the local beer instead which is also called “Maccabee”.
…With beer in hand, S advised me that they usually eat pistachio nuts during the game. It’s just like how we eat sun flower seeds at a baseball game. This time, though, we bought a couple bags of pastries called burekas. They’re filled with everything from cheese to mushroom to pizza sauce to potatoes.
After half time, he heated up the pastries and we ate them with coffee. Needless to say, it was a little different from watching American sports at home. Especially American football, which usually consists of far too much beer, junk food, a river of bad mouthing, and the occasional breaking of something (body parts or otherwise)… It was much more civilized.
…To be quite honest, half of the Israeli players looked and played acutely American. The style. The attitude. Their movements on the court. Was I watching Maccabi or the L.A. Lakers?
I pointed this out to S who advised me that just like in the NBA, they could recruit players from different cities and states. But here it’s on an international scale! There is no rule saying that every player on a national team has to be from that nation. It just so happens that all the best basketball players are from the United States.
A lot of Israelis find this recruitment of non-Israelis to be insulting to their national pride… But just like in America, we have to throw away national pride in order to win. And in a sporting competition, that’s the ultimate goal.
So when we saw the black American point guard fly over a Barcelona forward for a “Jordan-esque” slam dunk we joked by saying, “Macabbi sure does have some fantastic Ethiopian Jews on their team this year!”
Israel Macabbi is playing in the Euroleague Final Four in Madrid beginning May 2nd.
Our Man Elli in Israel kept in touch from the road during his recent lecture tour (and ballpark tour) of America and broke a few stories along the way, but he waited til he was back home in Jerusalem to drop the bombshell— his exclusive report yesterday that the Israel Baseball League nor the upstart Israel Professional Baseball League will be rolling out a season in 2008. Time for a talk.
Tabloid Baby:So, that’s it, huh?
Our Man Elli: That’s it. No baseball this year. And I gotta hand it to you. You called it back in January.
A regular Carnac. But we thought the IPBL had the pedal to the metal.
Too little, too late, too bad. Even before their tryouts, they knew. And then they had the tryouts. The quantity of the players was promising. The quality? Not so. The last I’d heard, the IPBL was talking about setting up exhibition games in Israel among teams comprised of players born in different countries like the US, Canada, the Dominican Republic, and possibly, Europe.
And then Larry Baras surfaces, talking bout the joy of kosher hot dogs. What’s up with the “Lah-di-dah” attitude?
The questions for Larry Baras remain the same as they’ve been since last summer: How much money was raised for the IBL? And how much money was spent. That's it. His problems with his bagel company, and whether bagel money was used to help the IBL, will be determined in that lawsuit brought against him by Natalie Blacher. Whether he used IBL money to help his bagel business is another matter.
More than a year ago, Baras told me that he was budgeting $3 million for the inaugural season, and he said he'd be able to raise it "very easily." “Very easily.” Those were his words. We do know that the American Jewish community went hog wild, you should pardon the expression, over the idea of baseball in Israel, and people everywhere were eager to help in any way they could. And they did. How many investors were there? And how much money was raised? If $3 million could be had "very easily," how about $4 million?
We have no idea, because until today there’s been no accounting of any of it.
Hmmm… You’d think maybe Baras might be hiding something.
(LOOKING FOR A LINK? CLICK HERE TO GET TO OUR BASEBALL IN ISRAEL ARCHIVE SITE: THE ENTIRE STORY AND EVERY POST ON BASEBALL IN ISRAEL.)
You know, we have some interesting anonymous commenters on this site. There’s Scooper 0007 from Haifa—
Yes, a tip of the hat to him. He’s obviously close to an insider, because he does deliver good bits and pieces—
There’s Pooper Scooper—
I thought that was the same guy--
Nope.
A fine cub reporter—
And then there are people like this guy “Allen” who posted this morning, accusing you of being angry about the idea of baseball in Israel. What’s up with that?
I love and respect your readers. But that kind of talk is beyond stupid. It’s like the schmucks who deliberately spell my name wrong. If I were a million dollar investor, they’d spell it right. But this? I don’t have to prove my bona fides to anyone. What reason would I have for not wanting baseball in Israel? Shooting the messenger is an old tactic. Accusing me of wanting a job is getting old, too.
Hey, we had the campaign going, but you said you wouldn’t accept it.
Like I need those kind of distractions.
We had the hats—
Anyway, again I have to repeat myself: So far, no one has been able to prove or even claim that anything I ever wrote about the league wasn't true. All they can do is spin why it happened. But the facts are still the facts.
And the facts are?
The facts are that the 2007 season was a poorly run effort led by an organizer who lied to everyone with whom he made a deal. And the fact is that 2008 was a non-starter from the beginning, because of poor planning and organization, and an attempt by one rich man to bully his way into creating a new league. The facts? No more baseball because of poor planning, organization and, sorry, greed.
So what point are they missing?
This story has divided everyone into two camps since the season ended. One side swallowed the Kool-Aid, and they still believe that Larry Baras is an honest businessman who may have been in over his head, but was only trying to do the best he could and wasn’t prepared for all the things that came up. Ask them how much money was raised and where the money went, and they change the subject.
And a lot of the people in that camp were some of the marginal players who were just happy to be playing professional ball. They didn’t even care that he even owed them money.
Baras's charm and awe-shucks persona was able to convince that half of his sincerity— and convince them that I was to blame for all his troubles-- that if only I hadn't written those nasty little stories about what happened in the summer of 2007, he would have been able to raise the money from more investors and paid off the 2007 debt and start up the 2008 season.
Me. I'm to blame.
Of course, that doesn't explain why the commissioner and nine others from the advisory board of the IBL quit.
Touche.
The second camp was more forthright and critical. They didn't shy away from asking the basic questions, including how much money was raised and where it went. And it was that exact question that moved the commissioner and the advisory board members to quit.
If I may borrow a political analogy, it's like the liberals in Israel. No matter how many times you showed them the actions of Arafat, they still believed he had good intentions in him.
Whoa. Mr. International Affairs in La-la Land.
I had another political analogy. With Barack Obama and accusing the working class of being bitter. Are you bitter?
What? Me worry? No way. We’re talking baseball. Not Gaza. This entire experience is the definition of “pastime.” I only wish I had a season to follow this summer.
We posted a story about the South Coast League in the States that went belly up the same way as the IBL. What was the difference?
I’d say honesty. They seemed to be very upfront about their problems and missteps, so when they announced they’d suspended the 2008 season, there was real disappointment—but not anger.
Look, starting up a league is difficult. But nothing can fly without transparency. And there hasn't been any transparency with the IBL.
Now what about the IPBL? These guys are really tight-lipped as well. Why the secrecy? And why do they keep their webpage on some finance company’s website?
It's on the business site of the IPBL’s organizer, Jeff Rosen, and he didn't bother to create a separate Web site for the league. Greed is not part of this equation, because everyone knows it will take years to turn a profit. Arrogance? Maybe arrogance, from someone so rich he thought he could just dial up a new league, someone trying to show up Baras on how it can be done—and somebody who can’t—or won't-- get somebody’s name right. He’s learned that money can buy a lot of things, but not necessarily a baseball league in Israel. He has a lot to learn if he wants to attempt it again next summer.
I know he doesn’t like to answer questions. But it sounds like he got your goat.
It's my name. It's all I've got. Elli. Wohlgelernter. And when I have to correct someone three times, I don’t care who he is, he can go take a flying—
We get it.
Hey, I expect to be respected on that issue. Like I said, If I was a million dollar investor in the IPBL, I guaran-eefin-tee he’d know how my name is spelled.
And how was your trip to the States?
Wonderful. And successful. It was great to drive around America, listening to Sirius radio—
We won’t pay for radio.
I know, but it came with the rental car. It’s great. And I got to explain Israel to the American Jewish community, especially the kids on campus who are woefully ignorant of the situation here. And I got to go to see a lot of baseball games.
So is this story over?
Baseball in Israel? It’s only beginning.
I told you it was a book.
Now I'm starting to believe you. Talk to you later.
Murray Chass, the venerable, folksy old New York Times baseball writer who ran a distant second to Our Man Elli in Israel in reporting the goings of the Israel Baseball League (but managed to stay far ahead of That Putz Greenberg and every news agency in Israel), is on the verge of taking a buyout at the New York Times, according to a report from Radar Online.
Should the Hall of Fame sportswriter accept the retirement package, Israel baseball backers will need another prominent mouthpiece to float their plans and spin their activities. And we'll be left with one fewer major news copying our reportage without attribution. Mazel Tov! And le'chayim, Murray, you Mensch!
Daniel Kurtzer, former commissioner of the old Israel Baseball League, is leaving baseball behind-- but stepping into a new Israel-related controversy with an increasingly prominent role as foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama as he angles for a role in Obama's Presidential administration.
Kurtzer, a former US ambassador to both Israel and Egypt, was a very prestigious name for Boston bagel baron Larry Baras to add to the roster of sports and industry bigwigs that propped up a league that brought MLB-style play to Israel last summer. But days after Tabloid Baby revealed the details of a federal lawsuit that accused Baras of securities fraud in connection with the league's startup, Kurtzer resigned his post in November, leading an exodus of board members and helping ensure the fall of Baras' house of cards.
This morning, the JTA news service reports that Obama's camp is using Kurtzer ("the first Jewish U.S ambassador to Egypt and the first Orthodox Jew to serve as envoy to Israel") to bolster Obama's appeal among Jewish voters in advance of the April 22nd Pennsylvania primary:
"President Bill Clinton named him to the Cairo post in 1997, and President Bush sent him to Tel Aviv in 2001.Such credentials are important for a candidate whose Jewish campaign has been dogged by questions about the fierce criticism of Israel embraced by his former pastor as well as some advisers who counsel more balance in the U.S. ...
"Yet Kurtzer, 58, could prove to be more problem than solution, at least among the more established elements of the pro-Israel community. If anything, he is more pronounced in advising a balanced approach to Middle East peacemaking than any of the real and purported advisers to Obama already singled out for criticism by pro-Israel hawks..."
WHILE IT IS CERTAINLY NO SURPRISE WITH REGARD TO THE IBL, THE IPBL'S DECISION WAS APPARENTLY MADE LAST MONTH, PRIOR TO THE MIAMI TRYOUTS, AS A RESULT OF "FINANCIAL AND VENUE ISSUES."
STAY TUNED TO TABLOIDBABY.COM FOR THE LATEST UPDATES...
In a shocking development, Boston bagel baron Larry Baras, founder of the embattled, debt-ridden, lawsuit-beriddled, former Israel Baseball League, has emerged from nearly six months of silence in an article about Fenway Park hotdogs.
The article in his hometown paper, The Jewish Advocate indicates that Baras is back to business that targets American Jewish consumers of the great National Pastime. But pointedly, he makes no mention of the state of his own national disgrace.
Until now, Baras’ last public comment was recorded on November 20, 2007, when, amid our exclusive revelations of an IBL-related federal security fraud lawsuit filed against him, he wrote to Our Man Elli in Israel, accusing the journalist of “destroying” him because of the IBL-related stories he had broken.
In the months since, Baras has refused to respond to questions regarding the million dollars in debts left behind in the IBL’s first and last season, and while IBL players have signed on to other leagues around the world, left no indication of how money had been spent or if the league will ever return in any form.
But suddenly, today, Baras showed up in the lead paragraph of Vladimir Shvorin’s story about a kosher hot dog vending machine in Fenway Park!
"There’s a new dog in Beantown.
"No longer will those that obey the laws of kashrut have to stare wide-eyed at the offerings at Fenway Park, dreaming of having options when it comes to dining at the game.
"Fenway is now the first recipient of the new hot dog-dispensing Hot Nosh machines that use patented technology to sear non-frozen hot dogs with infrared heat, cooking and dispensing them, bun and all, inside a Styrofoam container in under a minute.
“'I remember going to games as a kid, and as wonderful as my memories were, I would also remember having to pass the hot dogs down the isle, never being able to join in on that tradition,' recalled Larry Baras, founder of the Israel Baseball League, which is headquartered in Boston.
"But no more. Thanks to Wayne Feder of Brookline’s Hot Nosh Boston, LLC, and New York’s Kosher Vending Industries, the two rival cities have been able to put their Major League Baseball differences aside for the benefit of kosher dining at the ballgame. It was a natural collaboration, considering that Fenway claims to sell more hot dogs than any other ballpark in the country..."
Neither Baras nor the reporter makes mention of the state of the IBL, where the IBL funds came from or how they were allocated. Fans across the country -- and the world-- remain befuddled by the question. Watch this space.
The South Coast League of Professional Baseball will be suspending business operations and postpone the 2008 season indefinitely.
The league made its Inaugural Season debut in 2007 to six markets located in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Most recent plans called for the replacement of one team by a new addition to the league out of Jackson, Mississippi.
Recent developments within the company as well as lengthy discussions with the entire ownership group led to the decision that was handed down to league officials and the markets currently home to the league’s teams.
Like many businesses caught in the economic downturn, the South Coast League has not been able to close on a sufficient amount of debt and equity financing to ensure a successful 2008 season.
The league owners have indicated that they will continue to plan for a possible restart in 2009, possibly under new ownership.
The South Coast League wants to thank the many fans, sponsors, and local leaders who made the 2007 season possible.
Too bad. The South Coast League featured the Macon Music, who'd planned an Eliot Spitzer night on June 13th. The former New York governor was invited to throw the first pitch, and any fan with the name Eliot, Spitzer, or 'Kristen' (the working name of his call girl) would get in for a dollar.
(And a tip of the Tabloid Babyhat to commenter Pooper Scooper, who got us the scoop!)
A trio of standout players from the dead-in-the-water Israel Baseball League face off on Opening Day tomorrow, a long way from the Holyland— the Fatherland!
Seth is keeping in contact with his proud dad Robert back in the States, and dad is keeping us informed on his Robert’s Rants & Binder’s Blurbs, which also features his musings on the unfortunate Israel Baseball League.
Thank you to all the players who participated at the March 30th tryout. The IPBL will be contacting players regarding their status by no later than the end of April. Please note that the April 6th tryout has been cancelled. If you have any questions, please call 305-933-8308.
OFFICIAL (IPBL) WEBSITE COMING SOON!
Triangle is launching a NEW professional baseball league called the (IPBL) for the upcoming 2008 season.
(The call for players, contributors and workers follows... "No later than the end of April"... a new deadline.. and new hope for baseball in Israel...)
We don't usually run blind items, but this one is too good and bizarre to pass up:
There’s an unconfirmed rumour floating around that a certain maker of boiled dough products from a city known for its beans who once fronted a sports operation in the Middle East and left it in financial shambles with many unpaid creditors calling for this head, has resurfaced! We are hearing that this embattled businessman, whose wife may or may not have filed for divorce, is looking to work with the Jewish National Fund to arrange free baseball camps and clinics for kids in July, and then hold two weeks of pro exhibition games, all the while trying to raise the money to pay off the debts he’d left behind.
That’s what we’re hearing. We will leave it to Our Man Elli in Israel and our loyal readers like 0007 Snooper from Haifa to get to the bottom of this!
A week ago, on April 2nd, we told you that former Israel Baseball League manager (and NY Yankee) Ron Blomberg had confirmed on the rubber chicken circuit Our Man Elli in Israel's exclusive report that the IBL was not going to dust off home plate for a second season in 2008.
We quoted the Daily Reporter newspaper in Wellsville, NY: "Blomberg said the IBL is going through some financial problems currently and may not be able to play its season this summer, but he thinks it will eventually get back up and running in the not-so-distant future."
This morning, a week later, an Israeli news service reprints our story-- but doesn't attribute it to us or the local newspaper. "This news operation is known as Arutz 7, a right-wing nationalistic news service, which is usually first with the news when something happens in Judea and Samaria, i.e. a terrorist attack in the territories, but is often late with other news," notes Elli.
Well, in this case, even if they did have to take the road to Wellsville for a story in their own backyard, better late than never!
Arutz Sheva 7 is the first Israeli news organization to catch up with the latest developments and rumours that Our Man Elli-- and loyal readers like "0007 Snooper" in Haifa have been chasing down for months. The article is also notable for offering a third variation on the spelling of Ron Blomberg's name, which is misspelled so often as "Bloomberg" that it's been accepted as an alternative.
4 Nissan 5768, April 9, '08
Israel Baseball May Take a 'Shemittah Inning' Stretch
(IsraelNN.com) Ron Blumberg, who managed the Beit Shemesh Blue Sox championship team in last year's inaugural Israel Baseball League (IBL) season, said the IBL may not return to action until next year. He revealed that financial problems may force the league to take a one-year break this summer, which is the Sabbatical (Shemittah) year.
Speaking at a New York area annual sports event, Blumberg added that "baseball would do extremely well" in Israel. Also present at the event was Art Shamsky, who managed the Modi'in Miracles, which lost to the Blue Sox in the championship game. He said the only thing he regretted in the IBL was that his team lost. Shamsky praised the launching of baseball in Israel. "The fact that we started up something and to be a part of that initial experience was great," Shamsky said. "The fact you were playing baseball in this holiest of places was very, very special."
The Laredo Broncos of the Texas-Louisiana United League Baseball have signed Israel Baseball League veteran Johnny Lopez for the 2008 season. Big "Johnny Lo-Lo," the first- and third baseman from the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox, came highly recommended by his former manager Ron Blomberg as well as the failed IBL's Director of Baseball Operations (and former Red Sox GM) Dan Duquette.
The six-foot-three LoLo, a native Floridian who turns 27 next month, batted .370 with fourteen homers and 44 RBIs in Israel in the IBL's first and last season.
His signing to the Texan border town team in a league that's not affiliated with Major League Baseball or any minor leagues, was overshadowed by the announcement that the team had also grabbed Garry Templeton Jr., whose father, Garry Templeton Sr., played sixteen years with San Diego and the St. Louis Cardinals. Templeton Jr. was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels and spent three years in the Anaheim Angels farm system, and has played the last three years with the Fullerton Flyers of the Golden League-- managed by his dad.
“Some folks asked me about baseball in Israel. They knew I had written about it. I told them the truth, and we all agreed it's one big shame.”
Just in time for the first crack of the bat of Major League Baseball’s 2008 season, Tabloid Baby special correspondent and sports editor Our Man Elli in Israel is back in his homeland, the great US of A, for his annual speaking tour of universities, synagogues and Jewish groups, telling firsthand the state of the Israeli nation fielding the occasional baseball question, and along the way, catching as many baseball games he can fit in.
This morning, the man who broke and owns the vitally-important story of professional baseball in Israel checks in from the road:
As the clock ticks closer to the death of all hope for professional baseball in Israel in the summer of 2008, another standout from the inaugural season of the former Israel Baseball League has returned to his roots and gone back to where he started before he was lured by the dream of hardball in the Holyland.
Matlow was working the outfield for the independent Barrie Baycats of the semi-pro Intercounty Baseball League in Ontario when he was drafted by the IBL at the end of the 2006 season. He's back with the Baycats for 2008.
He spent last summer with the Tel Aviv Lightning and finished as an all-star, third in league hitting with a .381 average.
The Barrie Examiner reports that Matlow moved on from Israel to play in Australia from October until last month, "where... he led his Australian team in all hitting categories, including a team-high .351 average.
“Although Matlow was offered a playing position in the Holland Pro League for this season, he wanted to return home to Thornhill and complete his last year of a post secondary degree at Canisius College in New York, and play once again for the Baycats.”
The Baycats’ schedule runs through July. Read between the lines and see that despite reports that the upstart Israel Professional Baseball League is scrambling to get its act together in time for the summer, the all-star did not get an offer to return to Israel.
“Blomberg said the IBL is going through some financial problems currently and may not be able to play its season this summer, but he thinks it will eventually get back up and running in the not-so-distant future…”
Blomberg, Shamsky helping to bring baseball to Israel By Paul Jannace Daily Reporter
HORNELL - Ron Blomberg says he ruined baseball forever in 1973, but he also helped bring baseball to Israel last summer.
Blomberg, one of the guest speakers at the 35th annual Sports Night, became Major League Baseball’s first designated hitter for the New York Yankees on April 6, 1973, and drew a bases loaded walk in the first inning against Boston’s Luis Tiant.
“It screwed up the game of baseball,” Blomberg said in between signing autographs. “And I’m proud of it.”
...Currently working as a scout for the New York Yankees, as well as doing some work for FOX and ESPN, Blomberg will be featured on ESPN April 16 in a piece celebrating the 35th anniversary of the designated hitter. Blomberg spent seven of his eight Major League seasons with the New York Yankees, winning a World Series in 1977 and 1978.
While Blomberg may or may not have ruined baseball, he recently was part of the inaugural season of the Israel Baseball League along with fellow Sports Night attendee Art Shamsky (left, tall), who played 13 seasons, including being part of the 1969 World Champion New York Mets.
Blomberg’s Bet Shemesh Blue Sox, sporting the New York Yankees’ colors, defeated Shamsky’s Modi’in Miracle, who wore the colors of the New York Mets, to win the first ever Israel Baseball League championship.
“It was one of the most gratifying things I’ve ever done in my life,” Blomberg said. “If you’re Jewish or Catholic, it’s a wonderful thing.”
While most of the players and coaches in the league are Jewish, it is not a prerequisite, as there are players from all over the world and eight of them who played last summer have signed deals with Major League clubs.
“The quality of baseball is good,” Blomberg said. “For the first year, I would say it’s A-ball.”
Shamsky joked that his only regret to being in the IBL is that he lost to Blomberg in the championship game. “He out-managed me that day,” Shamsky quipped.
Ken Holtzman, who pitched 15 season in Major League Baseball with the Chicago Cubs, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics and Baltimore Orioles, also managed during the IBL’s first season. Dan Duquette, a former general manager of the Boston Red Sox, is the league’s director of baseball operations and is helping to develop a baseball academy in Israel.
“The fact that we started up something and to be a part of that initial experience was great,” Shamsky said. “The fact you were playing baseball in this holiest of places was very, very special.”
Blomberg said the IBL is going through some financial problems currently and may not be able to play its season this summer, but he thinks it will eventually get back up and running in the not-so-distant future.
“Baseball would do extremely well over there,” Blomberg said…
