Our Man Elli in Israel alerts us that there is baseball in Israel this summer, after all!
Only it’s in Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Valley News Dispatch
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Israel teams join Freeport Tournament
By Paul Kogut
Haim Katz, president of the Israel Association of Baseball, arrived last week in Pittsburgh to visit family members and prepare for the 14th annual Freeport International Baseball Invitational.
About 20 players and three coaches are expected to join Katz this morning, as Israel gets ready to participate in the weeklong event for the first time.
The Invitational, which goes by the motto "For the love of the game," offers a laid-back atmosphere.
There are about 100 games, but no playoffs or champions. Technically, results don't matter.
The main goals are having fun and exchanging cultures. Katz said this is the first time an Israeli baseball team will play in the United States in about four years.
"The players are very excited," Katz said. "We usually go to European tournaments and play four or five games. They're kind of high-powered games. Some players will play more, some less. If we come away and lose a lot of games, there can be a lot of tension."
That shouldn't be a problem this week. Israel, which will field two teams, will be in high demand this week.
Foreign teams are always at the top of local teams' request lists.
"Everyone is excited to see them play," Invitational president Chuck Sarver said.
Last year, Australia made its debut at the Invitational and was in the spotlight. Australia has returned, along with Japan and four teams from Canada...
3 comments:
no more news today? probably because there wasn't a google alert. You have no access. Eat my farts.
you want news? my new operation is so good that the ibl website still lists those ibl kids camps that were supposed to happen last summer at gezer and sportek (what's a sportek? does it come with hummus? can someone please tell me? I was out of the loop last summer). And the site has a picture of that famous jewish player from the lost tribe, elliot maddux. he was a good player. I liked him. Was here there last summer? Did he hang with Blomberg and Shamsky? That must have been cool!
Listen to me, read my lips, we're going to get this right. We are going to have our little festival of all-stars...Maximo Nelson is going to come back for a week. So is Jason Rees and Eldio Rodriguez. I heard we had a kid who tried out for the Sox, too. I've made up for the league with Ken Holtzman and he is going to manage the Israel All-Stars. Julio Guerrero is going to play also and get Vladimir to pay for everyone's airfare. It's going to be great! In fact, if it works out, Vladimir said he and some of his MLB all-star friends will invest in the league so I can really make it the Dominican Republic of the Middle East.
I swear this is going to happen or I WILL eat Martin's farts (but never Larry's...no way...have you ever been in the room when Larry farted? It burns your eyeballs!).
David Solomont
What were the Pittsburgh results?
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