WHAT A HOT DOG! LARRY BARAS BREAKS SIX-MONTH SILENCE IN "FRANK" INTERVIEW!

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.