IBL's biographer admits first season may be its last

Ron Kaplan, the authorized biographer of the Israel Baseball League and its founder Larry Baras, has been one of the most unapologetic supporters of the IBL, and an early public critic of the investigative work of Our Man Elli in Israel-- calling is original explosive IBL expose "a bit unnecessarily harsh." But this morning, the sports editor of the New Jersey Jewish News and blogger behind Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf has, for the first time, admitted that the future of the IBL is not as bright as he would have liked to imagine.

In a posting today on the burst of publicity over a possible documentary film about IBL vet Ari Alexenberg (which mistakenly refer to the 45-year-old as the "IBL's oldest player"-- that distinction goes to Scott Cantor, 51-- Kaplan calls Alexenberg "a 45-year-old Boston man who played in the first (and perhaps only) season of the Israel Baseball League last year."

Kaplan's admission that the 2007 IBL season may be "perhaps" its "only season" is a major admission from someone who is so closely tied to the IBL inner circle.

Miracle Met & Miracle manager Art Shamsky: "I will never say anything bad about the Israel Baseball League" (but I'm not coming back)

Art Shamsky, the 1969 Miracle Met who went on to become manager of the Modi'in Miracle in the first season of the Israel Baseball League, may still be listed on the IBL website of one of the league's managers, but he doesn't seem likely to return for the promised four-team, 20-game, three-week, momentum-keeping mini-season that looks more unlikely by the day.

Shamsky is interviewed by baseball writer and authorized Larry Baras-IBL biographer Ron Kaplan in the New Jersey Jewish News. He says he's writing a new book and "expects to be busy with speaking engagements."

Kaplan's article, while upbeat about the IBL, acknowledged the reality that was first reported here by Our Man Elli in Israel, an unflinching view that Kaplan had once complained was "a bit harsh": "From day one, the Israel Baseball League was beset by problems. Poor field conditions, missed payrolls, poor marketing strategies, and the mass resignation of several board members... just a few of the challenges that may mean the inaugural 2007 season was perhaps also the last."

But he adds, "Despite the difficulties, you won’t hear a negative word from Art Shamsky."

Says Shamsky by telephone: “I will never say anything bad about the IBL. They gave me an opportunity to be part of this great experience.

“I was reluctant to go at first because my initial thoughts were that (the IBL) wasn’t going to work (and) that Israel was a dangerous place. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized this was an opportunity to see this wonderful, beautiful country and to really help baseball get going there.”

From the article:

Sure, the conditions weren’t always the best, but it was baseball at its purest, reminding Shamsky of his days as a minor leaguer. “You never know who’s watching these games.” While major league scouts might not be flocking to Israel to watch them, “somebody knows somebody who knows somebody else,” he said.

Shamsky had particular praise for those IBL players — representing seven countries — who took the opportunity to tour the country on off days, visiting various cultural and religious sites. “We were playing in the holiest of places; I thought it was an incredible feeling to do that.”

Read the entire article here.

Israel baseball dreams inspire a Field of Life

Don't ever let anyone tell you that the Israel Baseball League left a stain on the Holy Land. Though it ended in financial disarray, accusations and shame, its weeks of play inspired all who watched the players in the game, not of the least of whom was graphic artist Dov Abramson, who's come up with his own spiritual metaphor in “Baseball: Field of Life.”

“A friend showed me an article a couple of years ago about the similarity in form between the [kabala] Tree of Life and the baseball diamond,” Abramson tells Ron Kaplan in the New Jersey Jewish News. “I always thought it would be cool to visualize the idea. I finally sat down and did it for Opening Day, 2008.”

Each defensive position on the baseball diamond, including a spot for the first base umpire, follows the Tree of Life design and retains the Hebrew headings.

"It got great response from baseball fans," Abramson tells Kaplan. "As with some of my work, which almost always deals with Jewish themes — sometimes in unexpected ways — I did expect some raised eyebrows about mixing kabala with baseball. But since I know that I did it with the utmost respect and with no intention of cheapening the kabala, I think it was received well.”

Abramson, 33, was born in Saratoga Springs, NY and now lives with his wife and two daughters in Jerusalem where he works as a “visual communicator.”

The article continues:

“I got bit with the baseball bug before I can remember,” said Abramson, who fondly recalled watching Yankees games broadcast by the late Phil Rizzuto and Warner Wolf on the evening news. “My parents tell the story that on the airplane to Israel, all I cried about was that I was being taken away from baseball.”

Needless to say, Abramson was overjoyed when baseball came to Israel in the form of the Israel Baseball League.

“Pro ball in the Holy Land? Never thought that would happen in my lifetime. So I dusted off the old gloves I brought with me in 1983, packed up the girls, and went to the ballpark at Gezer.”

“Even though I am married to an Israeli, speak Hebrew with my daughters, and rarely travel to the States, I now never miss a game or a stat.”

(...and a tip of the Tabloid Baby hat to authorized IBL biographer Ron Kaplan for the great story...)

What, Him Worry? Our Man Elli talks about the Israel Baseball League books that his work inspired

Our Man Elli in Israel, who turned the first season of the Israel Baseball League into an international subject of debate with brutally-honest exposé that was first published here, responds exclusively to news that there are two books on the IBL’s maiden voyage in works— one by a star player who got screwed when his last paycheck bounced, and the other a potential “official” version by a New Jersey sportswriter and PR man who’s got the blessing of league founder Larry Baras.

Elli, who'd been offline because of sick kids at home in Jerusalem, says about the book from Tel Aviv Lightning star Nate Fish: “I’m excited to hear about it! Nate is not only a great player but a great guy, and most importantly, an honest one. He refused to go along with the league's attempt at gagging players from telling the truth about what was happening all summer. I have no doubt that he’ll tell a great story.

"His book will be a first-person account—and an honest account-- of what took place during the IBL summer of 2007. And he’ll be able to offer an even more detailed description than what I gave, because he lived it, and he saw what the rest of the players went through, and how they were all treated by the league."

And before shutting down for Shabbos, he had these words for Ron Kaplan, who told us he’s writing a book with the “cooperation” of the embattled Boston-based IBL boss, and misspelled Elli’s name (as “Eli”) when he mentioned that he found Our Man’s article “a bit unnecessarily harsh”: “Kaplan says he’s not writing an exposé? So what is it? Considering that he’s someone who wasn't there watching the league—who wasn’t even in Israel- I question what he’ll be able bring to the table that hasn't already been written about everywhere over the last two years.

“The fact that Kaplan says he has approval from league management, and that he’d found my exposé ‘was a bit unnecessarily harsh, given the circumstances of the start-up enterprise,’ seems to promise that he’ll be offering the same spin that's been spun by the PR machine and repeated by the media everywhere.

“I look forward to what Nate Fish will write, cover and reveal… from the inside!”

And then it was lights out.

EXCLUSIVE! BARAS' REVENGE! ISRAEL BASEBALL LEAGUE FOUNDER AUTHORIZES BOOK TO COUNTER OUR MAN ELLI'S EXPOSÉ! EXCLUSIVE: "ELI (sic) WAS A BIT HARSH"

Two books about the snakebit first season of the Israel Baseball League are in the works and rushing to publication—and though neither is written by Our Man Elli in Israel, one of them is authorized by the league founder who’s been waging a behind-the-scenes smear campaign about the author of the article, first published here, that offered a no-holds-barred investigation into a bumbling, dangerous operation that cared more about the bottom line than the fans or the athletes.

One of the books is being written by Nate Fish, the All-Star infielder from Brooklyn, also known as the Pride of the Tel Aviv Lightning. Nate is not only a heavy hitter, but a straight shooter, and his insider's account could turn out to be the IBL's Ball Four.

Remember, as controversy swirled over Elli Wohlgelernter’s article in September, Nate was one of the few players brave enough to go public, telling us that his last IBL paycheck “bounced— which pretty much sucks.” Nate is bound to be candid and compelling, and edited well (Elli?), the book could be a delight.

More interesting for a different reason is the book from New Jersey-based sportswriter and public relations consultant Ron Kaplan (caricatured, above right), who tells us he’s got a “verbal agreement” with McFarland sports and reference book publishers to write a book on the IBL's first season.

What’s more, the book is being written with the cooperation of IBL founder Larry Baras of Boston, who until now has attempted damage control by with a behind-the-scenes character attack on Our Man Elli, the journalist who wrote the Story of Record about the launch of the IBL when he wrote the New York Times article that told the world that IBL's Opening Day was nigh. (In other words, Elli gave Baras and company the ultimate PR!)

"It is not an exposé"

After months of fierce argument among Israelis and sport fans, and shoot-the-messenger slurs that painted Elli as the killer of Israel’s baseball dream, Ron Kaplan officially entered the debate—and our radar screen— on Monday, when he commented on our exclusive report about the connection between the New York Yankees’ signing of two IBL players with little chance of making the Majors— and the Yankee honchos on Baras’ advisory board: Kaplan wrote, in part:

“…I would be more suspicious if the Yanks had signed on of the Israeli-born players, with less experience… I guess some people have no patience. They expect the fledgling league to start off making millions of dollars in a culture where the sport is totally foreign, with no negative experiences at all.”

If that sounded a bit like the Baras party line, it’s also the theme of Kaplan’s planned book. “I hope it will be an honest look at the joys and hardships of beginning a new enterprise, including the difficulties,” he tells Tabloid Baby. “I have several players lined up for interviews and they seem very forthcoming so far. This is meant as a baseball book marking an historic occasion. It is not an exposé.”

It is not first-person, either

Kaplan tells us that “in my job as sports editor for a weekly Jewish publication I have done many stories on the league,” but admits his “is not a first-person account,” as he lives in New Jersey and has never been closer to an IBL game than Hoboken.

Even so, he insists, “I thought Eli's (sic) article was a bit unnecessarily harsh, given the circumstances of the start-up enterprise. Bringing baseball into a culture that has no experience experience with it, no infrastructure behind it, is bound to prove difficult.”

The man who also runs the Ron Kaplan’s Baseball Bookshelf website is cagy about whether his book will be the “authorized” (read “whitewashed”) version of history, approved by Larry Baras. “I have spoken to Baras about it and he has not objected to it, so I suppose I have his cooperation.”

Whitewash

Any author will have to roll many layers of whitewash to cover up Elli’s already-classic and never-refuted exposé of a league that played to an overseas— not Israeli— audience, and failed to live up to the most minor league standards when it came to accommodations amenities or even adequate ice, leading to a season that wil be remembered for:

“...more errors than hits: players threatening to strike when paychecks were late; a manager hired to help give face to the fledgling league leaving in the middle of the season, after trashing the league to the media; and a player almost killed by a batting practice line drive, an accident that might have been prevented with proper equipment.”

After the article was first published on Tabloid Baby on August 28th, it appeared in various forms in Jewish weeklies across America. It was plagiarized by a Chicago Tribune reporter, and caused great backlash among baseball fans and league boosters, many of whom characterized the missteps of the first season as typical to any startup operation.

“Not so!” responded players and other insiders, who responded with stories of bounced paychecks, unpaid deals and dangerous field conditions.

Nixon

That was when Baras responded behind the scenes by taking shots at the messenger.

The IBL fundraiser could not refute the facts of the story, so he spread rumours that Our Man Elli was a disgruntled job seeker and had an axe to grind- rumours that were helped along by the whispering of advisers and cohorts like New York Yankees flak Marty Appel, whose malicious gossip about the veteran respected international journalist Wohlgelernter drew him even closer to Richard Nixon than did his relationship with the Alzheimer’s-afflicted felon George Steinbrenner.

We’ve contacted Our Man Elli about this latest turn of events. Stay tuned for his response.

Our thanks to Ron Kaplan for his forthright statement to Tabloid Baby this afternoon:

I would appreciate you NOT (running a story) at this point. No contract has been signed, just a "verbal" agreement.

In answer to your questions, however:

It is not a first person account. In my job as sports editor for a weekly Jewish publication I have done many stories on the league.

I have spoken to Baras about it and he has not objected to it, so I suppose I have his cooperation.

I hope it will be an honest look at the joys and hardships of beginning a new enterprise, including the difficulties. I have several players lined up for interviews and they seem very forthcoming so far. This is meant as a baseball book marking an historic occasion. It is not an expose. I thought Eli's article was a bit unnecessarily harsh, given the circumstances of the start-up enterprise. Bringing baseball into a culture that has no experience experience with it, no infrastructure behind it, is bound to prove difficult.

I have corresponded with Nate, who was a player in the IBL, but was unaware of his project; in any case, I'm sure our audiences will be different. It's not a race to see who gets published first.