2008 Woodie Awards
Land of Milk, Honey, Peanuts and Cracker Jack
Issue date: 9/4/07 Section: Sports
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This summer, six teams competed in the inaugural season of the Israel Baseball League. The Modi'in Miracle, Netanya Tigers, Petah Tiqwah Pioneers, Tel- Aviv Lightning, Ra'anana Express, and Bet Shemesh Blue Sox played a 40-game season at three scenic venues in Israel: Sportek Park in northern Tel Aviv, beautiful Yarkon Field by the Yarkon springs outside Petach Tikvah, and Kibbutz Gezer, with a field of sunflowers growing beyond its right-field wall.
The players hailed from very diverse backgrounds. For example, on the champion Bet Shemesh team, there was Californian Gregg Raymundo, a former Pittsburgh Pirates minor leaguer and devout Christian, Jason Rees, an Australian power hitter with a strong arm, and Alan Gardner, a 45-year old lawyer from New York City. Third baseman and hometown hero Jeff Mor lives in Bet Shemesh, and his son was the bat boy for the first few weeks of the season. Juan Feliciano, a right-handed pitcher from the Dominican Republic, played professional baseball in Japan for the Hiroshima Carp.
The level of play in the league impressed fans. Some of the pitchers, former major league prospects, threw in the mid-90s, with vicious breaking balls and deceptive changeups. There were hulking batters clubbing the ball over 400 feet in batting practice, and contact hitters batting well over .350. But the most impressive part of it all was how well everybody got along. Most of the players were housed together in Kfar Hayarok. They stayed in the same rooms as players from opposing teams, and went out touring together on Shabbat, when there were no games scheduled.
In addition, the athletes got along really well with the fans. After games, the players signed baseballs, hats, t-shirts, soccer balls, whatever the kids had and were begging them to sign, and the fans routinely invited guys over for Shabbat dinner at their homes.
During the season, they players met hundreds of young ballplayers. One of the main aims of the new league was to bring baseball to a new country, and they did that by spending time with the younger generation, teaching them how to hit, throw and catch. The league ran baseball clinics in conjunction with the Israel Association of Baseball, an organization that runs little league programs in Israel. Some of the young fans came to so many games that the players knew them by name. Lucky fans often received private batting and fielding lessons sometimes before games. The kids were eager to learn the right way to play, and they showed quick improvement throughout the season. In the last week of play, the Blue Sox let their two bat boys take a round of batting practice each, an experience they the youngsters say they will never forget.
The players hailed from very diverse backgrounds. For example, on the champion Bet Shemesh team, there was Californian Gregg Raymundo, a former Pittsburgh Pirates minor leaguer and devout Christian, Jason Rees, an Australian power hitter with a strong arm, and Alan Gardner, a 45-year old lawyer from New York City. Third baseman and hometown hero Jeff Mor lives in Bet Shemesh, and his son was the bat boy for the first few weeks of the season. Juan Feliciano, a right-handed pitcher from the Dominican Republic, played professional baseball in Japan for the Hiroshima Carp.
The level of play in the league impressed fans. Some of the pitchers, former major league prospects, threw in the mid-90s, with vicious breaking balls and deceptive changeups. There were hulking batters clubbing the ball over 400 feet in batting practice, and contact hitters batting well over .350. But the most impressive part of it all was how well everybody got along. Most of the players were housed together in Kfar Hayarok. They stayed in the same rooms as players from opposing teams, and went out touring together on Shabbat, when there were no games scheduled.
In addition, the athletes got along really well with the fans. After games, the players signed baseballs, hats, t-shirts, soccer balls, whatever the kids had and were begging them to sign, and the fans routinely invited guys over for Shabbat dinner at their homes.
During the season, they players met hundreds of young ballplayers. One of the main aims of the new league was to bring baseball to a new country, and they did that by spending time with the younger generation, teaching them how to hit, throw and catch. The league ran baseball clinics in conjunction with the Israel Association of Baseball, an organization that runs little league programs in Israel. Some of the young fans came to so many games that the players knew them by name. Lucky fans often received private batting and fielding lessons sometimes before games. The kids were eager to learn the right way to play, and they showed quick improvement throughout the season. In the last week of play, the Blue Sox let their two bat boys take a round of batting practice each, an experience they the youngsters say they will never forget.
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