AN URGENT CALL TO THE FRIENDS AND FAMILY OF LARRY BARAS! His emailed message to Our Man Elli has us worried about his state of mind and well-being

"Elli,
you have totally
destroyed me.
You win.
Congratulations.
Won't you stop now?
Please?"
--email message
from IBL founder Larry Baras
to Our Man Elli in Israel

Someone please check on Larry Baras and make sure that he's all right.

Seriously.

The story of the implosion of the Israel Baseball League, the lawsuit against its founder Larry Baras, resignations of its leadership and the controversial creation of the rival Israel Professional Baseball League all played out exclusively on Tabloid Baby for months, but now that the story was ripped off without attribution by the Associated Press, it is this morning spreading around the world and beyond, from Israel to New York to Paris to Baghdad-- to the headline news being beamed to the shuttle up in space.

It's a story about baseball. And business. And the history of a nation. It's also the story of man, Larry Baras, who according to those who know him, is a hardworking, well-intentioned Zionist who wanted to bring a good thing to Israel and "who ran to replace a popsicle for a child... who had perspiration marks up and down... making it all happen on opening day, stress and sweat oozing out of his pores... picking up left behind trash towards the end of the game..."

That is why this response to Our Man Elli's request for a comment on the latest turn of events is so disturbing to us.

It read like a suicide note. Or at the very least, a cry for help.

For Larry Baras to blame Our Man Elli for his predicament is unfair and baseless.

Elli, you have totally destroyed me...

Our Man Elli wrote a balanced news article about the ups and downs of the first season of the Israel Baseball League. Yes, that article in the days after the season's last out led to the first widespread negative publicity the IBL had received since its creation. But remember, in midseason, financial problems caused the cancellation of the league's broadcasting deal with Sport5 cable TV, players had threatened a strike over late paychecks and living conditions, and manager Ken Holtzman quit spectacularly. Later, players and vendors complained of bounced checks. Native Israelis complained that they were not appreciated by the league.

Our Man Elli had nothing to do with the lawsuit filed against Larry Baras by an investor in his stuffed bagel company. The banking group that was to provide him a bridge loan canceled the deal because Larry Baras did not inform them of the federal securities fraud suit.

The IBL commissioner and advisers who walked away last week did not do so because of Ell Wohlgelernter's or Tabloid Baby's reporting. They did so, because they "were distressed that the league's finances and business operations were not handled in a more professional manner and, in particular, that the league was unwilling to provide relevant financial information concerning its operating results. They also noted significant staffing and other organizational problems that have beset the league since inception."

You win. Congratulatons (sic).

You win? Win what? Tabloid Baby is a journalistic cooperative and forum. No one gets paid to express their views on the is site. We, and everybody wins, if the league's problems are repaired and the ump shouts "Play ball!" in Israel in 2008.

Won't you stop now? Please?

It doesn't work like that. We are journalists. We follow a story. And as a story develops, we report its twists and turns wherever it leads us. And this particular path concerns us greatly. We urge Larry Baras' friends and family members to give him a call, bring him some chicken soup-- see that he's all right.

We do not want his or anyone's blood on our hands.

For the record:

THE FOLLOWING IS THE OFFICIAL RECORD OF THE RESPONSES TO OUR MAN ELLI'S E-MAIL REQUEST FOR COMMENT FROM LARRY BARAS:

FROM OUR MAN ELLI, Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:23:23 -0800 (PST)
hi larry,
would you care to comment on the law suit?
elli wohlgelernter

FROM LARRY BARAS, AT IBL EMAIL ADDRESS, 3 minutes later:
is there a new lawsuit or do you mean the one I know about?

FROM OUR MAN ELLI, 8 minutes later:
blacher's.
also, to the board members' claim of non-transparency. i'm writing a story and thought, even though a small chance, that you might want to comment.

FROM LARRY BARAS, 32 hours later:
Tue, 20 Nov 2007 20:54:08 -0500 (EST)
Elli, you have totally destroyed me. You win. Congratulatons. (sic) Won't you stop now? Please?

( UPDATE: Last night, Baras was reached at his home by WCVB-TV. He said the claims in the lawsuit against him are "absolutely, 100 percent, not true," that his SJR Foods is still "a profitable, functioning company of which (Blacher) is a shareholder," that Blacher could still see a return on her investment, and that "the goal is still to sell the company and distribute the proceeds to the shareholders." Baras denied using any money invested in SJR Foods to prop up the baseball league, which he said will continue to operate "despite the distractions.")

Cream cheese-filled Israel Baseball Bagelgate! Investigation shows IBL founder Larry Baras' greatest "invention" was invented by someone else!

“A filled bagel dough product has a hollow spherical shell filled with cream cheese. The dough is formed into an open ball, which is sealed after insertion of a scoop of cream cheese. The filled ball is steamed to skin outer and inner crusts, then baked to provide a dense crumb. The resulting product is freezable for long shelf-life.”

---Abstract from U.S. Patent #5514395,
“Filled bagel dough product and method,”
awarded to Alvin Burger of Miami, Florida

Larry Baras. Baseball, Baras. Baras, bagels. Bagels, Baras… Any thanks due Boston businessman for bringing the American dream of professional baseball to Israel in the Summer of 2007 have been overshadowed by shouts that he be spanked for messing up and leaving behind a million dollars in debts and an uncertain future like some kind of sporting Max Bialystock. But even after Our Man Elli in Israel's reporting brought down his house of baseball cards, one thing you couldn’t take away from the guy was the fact that he invented something no Jew would have imagined possible: a bagel with a schmear you could eat in the car without having the cream cheese schplutz out and schplat onto your lap.

The Unholey Bagel (such a name!), inspired by the jelly donut and first marketed in 1997 by Larry’s SJR Foods, inspired a dream of another kind: Natalie Blacher’s dream to market through Larry’s innovative blintzlike bagel around the world. To those ends, she says she invested $275,000 in the Unholey dream-- only to wind up suing Larry Baras-- now known as “Boston bagel baron Baras”-- in federal court for securities fraud complaining that he used her money on personal expenses and setting up his big deal league.

And now— oy, the pain!— mega giant conglomerate Kraft Foods comes out with its new substance-filled Bagel-er bagel-like sticks! And with it comes a real pickle: evidence that Larry Baras did not invent the cream cheese-filled bagel after all.

A story posted yesterday on the blogsite So Good (“an absurd look at the world of food”) contends:

“…The ‘Unholey Bagel’… was released by SJR foods in 1997. Larry Baras is credited as the inventor by some sources.

"However, A U.S. Patent for the idea of a cream cheese filled bagel was issued on May 7, 1996 to a man named Alvin Burger. It is unclear what Burger’s involvement with the ‘Unholey Bagel’ is, but he was working to patent the idea around the same time, after he lost the rights to a product he invented called the ‘Bagel Ball’ while he was the owner of Roasters & Toasters.

“Alvin Burger holds a U.S. patent not just for the idea of a bagel pre-filled with cream cheese, but for the boiling process, steaming process and forming process involved in making it. He is also credited with founding Al’s Famous Filled Bagels, and for creating Bagel sticks and New Orleans style bagel sticks.”

And looking back, our team finds a trail of factoids and obvious clues that some in the mainstream media and businessworld overlooked. For instance, The Boston Business Journal reported on January 24, 1997:

"One year ago, Larry Baras had a business epiphany.

"'I used to have to eat in the car. So one morning, I went to Dunkin' Donuts for a bagel and cream cheese.

"'As I was driving around, I opened the bag to find an unsliced bagel, a plastic knife that couldn't cut much of anything, a tube of cream cheese and a napkin. So I tried to cope and put the cream cheese on the bagel while I was driving. Eventually, the cream cheese ended up all over my suit and the car upholstery. And then I thought, "There's got to be a better way."

"From that point on, Baras was on a culinary mission: Make the world's first bagels with preinstalled cream cheese and sell them. Lots of them."

A USA Today article from March 5, 1997 that’s posted on Baras’ SJR Foods site reads in part:

"Can you teach an old bagel new tricks?

"Larry Baras thinks so.

"He has created the UnHoley Bagel, which not only has no hole but also comes pre-filled with cream cheese.

"The 44-year-old Boston-based financial planner frequently found himself eating one on the run, which usually meant grabbing a bagel and cream cheese at a convenience store. But he often ended up with more cheese on his tie and the steering wheel than on the bagel.

"`They call it a convenience food, but I knew there had to be a better way.'

"So Baras, riding a boom in the $2.6 million bagel business, worked with a local Boston-area bakery to develop a bagel that could be pumped full of cream cheese after baking."

But midway between those two publications, on February 28, 1997, The South Florida Business Journal came out with an article that made it clear Baras was no (Alexander Graham) Bell of the bagel— though his claim of a brand new thing apparently “rang a bell”:

“…If the Unholey Bagel rings a bell with Miamians, it's because the concept is strikingly familiar to that of the Bagel Ball-- a ball-shaped bagel with cream-cheese baked into the middle that has been served for years at Suniland's Roasters & Toasters restaurant.

"Alvin Burger, a former Roasters & Toasters owner who invented the Bagel Ball… who lost most of his rights to Bagel Ball royalties after litigation with a former business partner, has been busy since then inventing two similar products: a creamcheese-filled bagel 'stick,' and a normal-looking bagel with the cream cheese baked inside."

So Larry Baras didn’t even invent the cream cheese-filled bagel? It was actually invented in the same place where Natalie Blacher lived around the same time Baras claimed to have come up with the bagel brainstorm? Say it ain't so, Schmoe! What’s next? An admission that there won’t be a second season of the IBL?

Hey, how about a Broadway show?

"Public lynching!" "Bone scavenging!" A fan defends Israel Baseball League founder Larry Baras

Well, now we can say fo certain that somebody is blaming Tabloid Baby and Our Man Elli in Israel-- not Larry Baras, the embattled founder of the Israel Baseball League-- for the fine mess that could destory, for the time being, at least, every Jew's dream of professional baseball in the Promised Land. A site called Welcome Israel Baseball League!, said to be written by an anonymous fan who calls himself "Tiger" ("Thrilled there is finally baseball in Israel. Father of two, husband of one. Electrical engineer by profession."), but whose URL ("IsraelBaseballLeague.blogspot.com") has led some in the Tabloid Baby office to suspect an official connection to the IBL, has lain dormant since September, one month to the day after the publication of Elli Wohlgelernters's special report on the IBL's first season, when it posted the Pollyana bromide:

Over the holidays this year we were discussing what we felt most thankful for. We were discussing the past year and what was very apparent was that the summer was far more joyful than any other one in memory. No war. No intifada. Baseball.

We cannot wait til next season but in the meantime, thank you Israel Baseball League management, founders, players and all who made it a summer to pleasantly remember!

Today, Tiger's site-- and a linked, day-old blogsite called Tigerviews, has run a more pointed story:

Israel Needs The Israel Baseball League.
The Israel Baseball League Needs Larry Baras.

I am disturbed to read of the public lynching which has gone on relative to IBL founder Larry Baras. Lynching may be too kind a word. I am thinking bone scavenging. We ought to ask ourselves WHY? There almost seems like there is money and power behind a campaign to discredit this man. Every single person who supports and benefits from professional baseball in Israel should be just as distressed. Any fair person ought to question how can something like this can rightly happen.

I know Larry as a person who ran to replace a popsicle for a child near me at a game when it dropped. I know Larry as the person who had perspiration marks up and down, beside and in front of his polo shirt making it all happen on opening day, stress and sweat oozing out of his pores-- and I even witnessed someone taking his seat leaving him without one at the same opening game. ( there was that overflowing crowd of thousands) I even saw him picking up left behind trash towards the end of the game... as we all left the Yarkon with happy hearts and the nicest evening memory in years. I mentioned to my friend-- gee-- I wonder what time he started his day.

My wife knows of his family - a wife and great kids who are solid. That is who Larry is. Without question, the IBL could have never gotten off the ground without his herculean efforts. Players would not have known the joy of signing autographs, Israeli children would not have had the summertime of baseball. Adults would not have had the joy of watching a good game after work. Players and coaches would have not lived moments of feeling like superstars. While detractors point to unpaid obligations that is unfortunate but not necessarily permanent as anyone in a new business knows. If one were to ask anyone who has put together a new business, particularly one thousands of miles away, it is not unexpected. Those who stick by Larry and support this league and what is right are correct and you are heroes.

I myself am rededicating myself to doing more. I am writing to the IBL offering to put together a baseball event for my company during the upcoming season. The reality is that Israel, a land which is known for dissention, war, disagreement, rudeness ---had the beauty of baseball, courteous lines at the snack stand and in the parking lots. The world saw a happy story on the news. Fans were truly created. The world was able to see an Israel which can exist, which ought to exist.

I suggest we all consider the fact that Larry Baras has done the most work in making this happen at all and he is publically being blamed and demonized for what could be shortcomings attributable to any new business particularly one which is undercapitalized despite hard work and dedication, along with the huge market potential which exists.

This is not a post for discussion. It is a post to hopefully make people think.

This make us think of the old phrase, "Say it Ain't so, Joe!"

What do you think?

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.

Israel Baseball: Our Man Elli advances the story

While "mainstream" news organizations like the Associated Press are just now getting to rehashing and taking credit for the Israel Baseball League news that Tabloid Baby and its multitalented investigative reporter Our Man Elli in Israel have been bringing you exclusively since August, Elli Wohlgelernter continues to advance the story here and elsewhere.

Today, as lazy sports editors in places like Boston (hometown of embattled IBL founder Larry Baras--where the Globe buried the story as the last item in a baseball notes column), Jerusalem-- and the International Herald Tribune-- copy the nine-day old AP news, Our Man Elli brings readers of the New York Jewish Week up to date:

Dueling Israeli Baseball Leagues?

Rough diamonds: IBL Commissioner Dan Kurtzer,
left, resigned last week. And embattled IBL
founder Larry Baras, right, has been hit with
a fraud lawsuit against his company, SJR Foods, Inc.

by Elli Wohlgelernter/Jerusalem

Is Israel ready for not one but two professional baseball leagues?

That was the question this week as the Israel Baseball League, which launched its inaugural season last summer, seemed to be unraveling — and a new league, the Israel Professional Baseball League, seemed to be taking shape.

The IBL’s commissioner, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer, resigned last week along with 10 members of the IBL advisory board. Yet the IBL, plagued with problems on and off the field in its first season, says it is moving forward with a second season.

The resignations came amid charges by the IBL board members of a lack of transparency in the league’s financial operation, as well as revelations of a fraud lawsuit against IBL founder Larry Baras.

The league’s Web site has not been updated since Aug. 31, except for the removal of the list of advisory board members, including those of Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig and members of his family.

At issue for the board members, as well as for Spectrum Capital Group, an investment banker group that pulled out of an agreement with the league, was the failure by Baras and league President Martin Berger to disclose both the extent of the league’s finances, as well as the suit against Baras.

“Several of us had been arguing with Larry and Martin for some time in view of our understanding that they were continuing to solicit investors, without providing them or us with the financial results of operations by the league and its franchises for last season,” said Marvin Goldklang, a part owner of the New York Yankees and owner of four minor-league baseball teams.

The suit against Baras and his company, SJR Foods, Inc., was filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts on Sept. 24 by Natalie Blacher of Dade County, Fla., alleging fraud, securities fraud and breach of fiduciary duty.

Baras did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

Berger sent an e-mail to the players thanking the resigning board members “for their help in launching this amazing venture. I want you all to know that this will have no effect on the incredible things going on right now with the League.”

Meanwhile, many players say they have not been paid in full for last summer.

Some have helped found the new IPBL, which sent a letter to IBL players Sunday decrying the “frustratingly destructive inability of management to communicate on basic matters of the financial affairs of the league. As such, it is apparent that the original leadership has lost the much-needed credibility with vendors, lenders, past and future league participants to adequately carry on the affairs of a professional baseball league in Israel.”

The IPBL said it has “the funding and understanding of all the problems and concerns that occurred last year.”

Those behind the new league include: Jeffrey Rosen, a major IBL investor who also owns the Maccabi Haifa basketball team; Andrew Wilson, who was a facilitator on the ground for the IBL and now works for Rosen; Alan Gardner, a lawyer from New York, who was the centerfielder for the Beit Shemesh Blue Sox; and Michael Rollhaus, a businessman from Queens and major IBL investor.

But what, no link?

EXCLUSIVE: LAWSUIT AGAINST ISRAEL BASEBALL LEAGUE FOUNDER ALLEGES SECURITIES FRAUD TIED TO IBL'S OPENING

The rumoured financial problems and improprieties clouding the future of the Israel Baseball League and its founder exploded to the surface today with the details of a federal lawsuit filed against Boston-based businessman Larry Baras.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts and obtained exclusively by Tabloid Baby, alleges fraud, securities fraud and breach of fiduciary duty on the part of the embattled founder and managing director of Israel's first Major League-style professional baseball league.

Baras has been in headlines in recent months due to allegations that he owes money to players and vendors involved in the league's first season, and to the frustration of many, has been silent on the question of whether the lBL will return for Season Two. He has yet to address serious questions abut the IBL's management in wake of the disturbing August 28th report on the first season by Our Man Elli In Israel.

In the lawsuit filed September 24th, Natalie Blacher of Dade County, Florida sued Lawrence S. Baras and SJR Foods, Inc., claiming that the founder of the Israel Baseball League duped her out of $275,000 that was supposed to go into a successful bagel company, but instead went to “his personal living expenses or expenses which should be charged to IBL.”

Blacher contends that she spent $275,000 to buy stock in Baras’ SJR Foods on Baras’ word that the company was generating $10 million per year, only to discover that the company was $1,500,000 in debt and that despite his claims, Baras was spending all his time—and possibly stockholders’ money-- on the IBL.

Unholey

The story begins in early 1998. Blacher says she was Senior Director of Produce Marketing for Burger King when Baras and his wife Robyn approached her to pitch BKC a product called the “Unholey Bagel”—“a bagel without a hole filled with cream cheese.” Burger King passed on the Unholey Bagel idea, but Bacher stayed in contact with the couple. After leaving Burger King later that year, she says she provided informal consulting services to them.

According to the lawsuit, in the summer of 1999, “Baras told Blacher he intended to raise substantial capital for the Company through a private placement of stock… Baras represented… that the Company was already generating revenues of approximately $10 million per year and that his plan was to increase revenues to $100 million within a couple of years.”

Blacher says she invested a total of $275,000 in the company, relying on Baras’ word that the “company was doing well. After years of frustration in getting financial statements from Baras, Blacher says she found out in November 2006 that “the company had a negative worth of almost $1,500,000.

Promises, Promises

The lawsuit elaborates: “In mid-2006, Blacher learned through a Google search that Baras had started a new venture, the Israel Baseball League (‘IBL’) and that it was receiving widespread press in major media, e.g. the New York Times, New York Daily News, Boston Globe and YouTube. In response to Blacher’s inquiry, Baras told her that his involvement with IBL was very limited.

“In late 2006 and early 2007, it became increasingly difficult for Blacher to communicate with Baras. Baras’ apparent preoccupation with the IBL, as opposed to the Company, caused Blacher to be very concerned. In February, 2007, she telephoned Baras and, again, complained about the lack of financial documentation and demanded financial statements as soon as possible. Baras promised her that he would.

“…from February through May 2007, contrary to his promise and fiduciary duties to Blacher and despite his verbal assurances, Baras failed to provide to provide Blacher with any financial statements or otherwise comply with her request for financial statements and the other material documentation regarding the Company’s business and financial condition.

24/7

"On April 26, 2007, in a video posted on the IBL website (www.IsraelBaseballLeague.com), Baras stated that he had been working ‘24/7’ on the IBL for the past two years…

“During the summer of 2007, Baras’ principal excuse for failure to provide the requested financial information was that he was busy with the IBL’s inaugural season.”

The suit alleges that “Baras has operated the Company and IBL from the same location" and "may have charged and may be continuing to charge the company substantial amounts which represent either his personal living expenses or expenses which should be charged to IBL.”

Blacher is seeking $275,000 plus 6% interest from the investment dates and attorneys' fees.

Major league snag for meeting to decide baseball future in Israel: Officials want new league to pay Larry Baras' debts before first pitch is thrown!

Whoever wants to pick up the ball and carry on with professional baseball in Israel will first have to pick up the tab left unpaid by the Israel Baseball League, that’s been run out of the Holy Land because of its staggering debts and wailing wall of silence.

And that just might be the dealbreaker, as the future of professional baseball in Israel is decided far from the Holy Land, at a meeting in New York City on Thursday morning.

The summit will be led by former IBL commissioner (and US Ambassador to Israel and Egypt) Daniel Kurtzer, who quit, along with most of the IBL’s distinguished advisory board, the day after Our Man Elli in Israel revealed that the debt-ridden IBL founder Larry Baras was facing a federal lawsuit charging IBL-related securities fraud (that and the fact that Baras wouldn’t release any financial information-- as in showing where all the money went), and attended by potential investors in Israel’s baseball future.

Yesterday we told you that Israel’s governing body for baseball, The Israel Association of Baseball canceled its contract with Baras and his embattled IBL, citing “its unpaid bills from the 2007 season, and the clear inability… to produce a baseball league in Israel in 2008.”

And that’s the twist. Will the successors to Larry Baras have to pay his debts? We spoke with Elli Wohlgelernter to get the latest.

TABLOID BABY: Do you realize it's five months to the day that we ran your original exposé on the IBL's first season?

OUR MAN ELLI: Who'd have thought it would lead to this?

Not us. So?

So, we’ll know everything this Thursday. January 31st at The Penn Club in Manhattan. With five months to go until an Opening Day-- if there's gonna be an Opening Day-- the main principals are going to meet.

Do you think they’re going to serve Unholey Bagels?

What?

At the meeting. You know, the Baras bagels at the heart of the lawsuit.

Should I hang up now?

All right. We’re serious. We know Kurtzer will be there. Who else?

Marvin Goldklang will be there. He’s minority share-holder of the New York Yankees and former member of the Advisory Board of the IBL; Marty Appel, the Yankee PR legend who was the head of public relations for the IBL; Jeff Rosen—- he was an IBL investor and head of the new Israel Professional Baseball League; Michael Rollhaus, a former IBL investor of the IBL and current IPBL investor; Jeffrey Royer, IBL investor and a general partner of the Arizona Diamondbacks; and Martin Berger, the president and COO of the IBL. He’ll be representing the IBL.

Should be quite a meeting.

Oh, yeah.

What do they hope to accomplish?

Marty Appel released a statement saying they’re discussing the future of baseball in Israel with current and potential investors, and that they hope to play ball this summer. Sounds like they’re looking to pick up the pieces and get a new league rolling.

The official statement released by Martin Appel:

“It is a meeting to discuss the future of baseball in Israel involving a number of current and potential investors, as well as people who have experience and advice to contribute. It is not an IBL meeting, although issues related to the IBL's experience will be discussed. It is an in-person meeting, not a teleconference. All the participants are hopeful that professional baseball will return to Israel this summer.”

So what’s this with the new league being forced to pay the vendors and players that the IBL stiffed?

Yeah, the main issue is dealing with the enormous debt. Look, like I told you yesterday, there’s a general sense that in principle at least, any new league-- most likely the Israel Professional Baseball League shouldn’t be forced to pay Baras’ bills, but on a practical level, they’re going to have to offer some kind of partial relief.

We thought the IAB is demanding it.

They are. Peter Kurz, the IAB’s secretary-general told me, and here’s the quote: “Our policy is that whoever wants to run pro baseball and wants our licensing has to pay the debts of the IBL.” And also, remember on a PR level, this whole enterprise will be getting bad press, as others catch up to what we've been reporting. The word “failure” will be appearing in every story about baseball in Israel with the same frequency that the word “change” appears in every speech by a US candidate for president.

At least they’ll finally be getting some press.

Yeah.

So how much of a debt are we talking about?

My sources tell me that in Israel alone, it’s $420,000, spread out among at least twenty-three people and places, including Kfar Hayarok, where the players stayed, the bus transportation company— it goes on from there. And that doesn’t include expenses in the United States, where the IBL is based, let alone the money still owed to Berger and Dan Duquette, the league’s baseball operations director.

So Thursday’s meeting is the day before February, five months before the season should start. A little late for 0-8, no?

It's late. Very late in the game, true enough, and while the game of baseball has no clock, the business of baseball certainly does. But the good thing is that the people coming to the meeting are honest men with their heart in the right place-– they all are looking for way to make baseball happen in Israel in 2008.

Throw in the word “change” and you’ll sound like one of those presidential candidates. Very inspiring.

Hey. It is inspiring. Kurtz told me, quote, “We’re definitely trying to bring all the parties together so that there is baseball in 2008.” He also said the number of kids now playing baseball in Israel is up 30 to 40 percent.

Again, I quote: “If they can come together in any way, we are interested in meeting with them and moving forward with them. I’m optimistic there will be pro baseball in Israel this summer.”

Think the meeting will succeed?

As one participant told me: “Well, if the former Ambassador to Egypt and to Israel can't bring about some small accord here…” We’ll know more at the end of the week.

We’ll be waiting.

Right. And one more thing. Those pictures you ran yesterday, supposedly showing people mourning the death of baseball in Israel— very bad taste. There’s real suffering here that you can’t imagine back there in Los Angeles.

Hey, we have to remind people they’re getting their news from Tabloid Baby. If they want taste, they can go to the New York Times or Jerusalem Post—oh right, they can't get their news from those places, because they’re following us a week or so later...

Settle down, Beavis.

One more thing in this end— any truth to the rumour that after they’re done taking testimony on steroids from Roger Clemens, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is planning to take testimony on fraud from Larry Baras?

Good night.

Stay tuned...

Israel Baseball League founder ignores Elli's exposé

Our Man Elli in Israel's no-holds-barred report on the potentially-fatal failures of the just-completed first season of the Israel Baseball League has reverberated around the world. As it is reposted and published in various forms online and in newspapers, there has been outrage from diehard fans of baseball and Israel-- and praise from observers like this Tabloid Baby commenter:

"Elli has just 'scratched the surface' of the problems with the IBL. The IBL is intended as a profit making enterprise and the positive spin is also designed to attract investors. Many of the issues have nothing to do with 'typical start-up' problems but have to do with a lack of experience, common sense, and professionalism of management-- regardless of good intentions."

So what impact has the expose had on the ones who ran the league long-distance from the east coast of the United States? Elli's article and sidebar debuted on this site on Tuesday. This weekend, league founder Larry Baras sent out an urgent post to supporters, investors and subscribers.

"A Message from the Founder Larry Baras" doesn't refute a single word in Elli Wohlgelernter's exposé. In fact, Mr. Baras' message makes no reference at all to the story that laid out the mistakes and was full of warnings for the future:

A Message from Larry Baras

Greetings once again.

It is so hard to believe that the first season is now in the books. We have already held our first tryouts for next season and have already selected five new players to join us next year. We hit the ground running upon our return from Israel and look forward to improving upon what we accomplished this past year.

This missive is meant to be a note of thanks to those who contributed so much to the launch of the IBL. But I find myself re-writing it over and over again, trying to find the right words, hoping not to omit anybody. It is proving to be impossible. How do you sufficiently show appreciation to people who worked doggedly day after day, week after week, at little or no pay, to make this all happen? You just can’t.

This union of two distinct concepts – Baseball and Israel – is one that has been resonating for over a year now. I have been trying to make sense of it all, and now that I have personally witnessed a whole season unfold, interacting with fans and meeting with players, I think I finally have gotten it.

Last summer in Israel, it was the Summer of the Lebanese War. The summer before that was the Summer of the Disengagement. In the three summers before that, it was the Summer of the Intifada.

For the baseball fraternity, it has also been a period of turmoil, dominated by Barry Bonds’ quest for home run supremacy under the cloud of steroid abuse. The game has become as much a business as it is a sport in many ways, with ticket prices often serving as a barrier to entry for the most avid fans.

What Baseball in Israel became was a return to innocence and idealism for both Israel and for Baseball. If you were lucky enough to go to a game, especially at the magical Gezer Field in Kibbutz Gezer, what you experienced was a throwback to earlier times for both baseball and Israel. Parents were there with their kids, explaining the game or sharing the nuances. Once a week, I noticed two men well into their twilight years, sitting together and watching the games, clearly reminiscing about times and players past. They probably hadn’t seen a ballgame in 40 years. You saw kids gawking at their new role models -- sports heroes resplendent in their uniforms, displaying physical prowess the likes of which dreams are made.

There is a popular phrase in Hebrew that has become the refrain for many different tunes. Hineh Ma Tov Uma Naim, Shevet Achim Gam Yachad. How good and sweet it is, brothers sitting together. That wistful phrase became personified at the baseball field in Israel. Grandparents and grandchildren, Americans and Israelis, religious and secular, men and women…it didn’t really matter. Everyone was there as one community, regaling in the splendor of baseball being played in Israel.

Thanks to everyone -- those who worked tirelessly, those who played the games, those who watched, those who cheered from afar. You made this summer the Summer of Baseball in Israel. It was good and it was sweet.

Stay tuned for more exclusive coverage of the Israel Baseball League fallout here. And send your comments to the founder Larry Baras at info@israelbaseballleague.com.

EXCLUSIVE! IT WAS THE DEBT! AND SILENCE! OUR MAN ELLI IN ISRAEL HAS THE STORY BEHIND THE DEATH OF A DREAM CALLED THE ISRAEL BASEBALL LEAGUE

We told you it's official. The Israel Baseball League is as dead as Heath Ledger. The Israel Association of Baseball, the nation's baseball governing body, has canceled the league’s contract and effectively kicked the IBL out of the Holy Land. In a letter to IBL founder Larry Baras and his Israel Baseball Properties, IAB president Haim Katz says he's revoking permission for the IBL to operate in Israel “in light of its unpaid bills from the 2007 season, and the clear inability of the IBP, due to its current financial situation, to produce a baseball league in Israel in 2008.”

The Katz letter is just some of the new exclusive information being gathered by Our Man Elli in Israel, the journalist who first exposed the problems behind the professional league’s maiden season. We’re not waiting for Elli Wohlgelernter to write another muckraking opus. We got him to spill the beans immediately:

TB: Just cut to the chase.

OUR MAN ELLI: Yes, the Israel Baseball League is dead. Maybe not in a legal sense, but they are done. As John Parsons, my old News director back in New York would say: "tutti finutti." The Israel Association of Baseball sent a letter to the IBL on January 9th, canceling the contract. The IAB is the governing body for baseball in Israel, and without their certification, no one can play. So the IBL is over.

My rebbe just-a wrote me a letter...

How did the letter come about?

I just spoke to the Peter Kurz, secretary-general of the IAB, and asked him the same thing. “They owe money in Israel, that's why we terminated the relationship,” Kurz told me. “We have been pressuring them for six months, and their answer was, ‘We’ll have the money next week, we’ll have it next week.’ And we got tired of it.’”

It’s always been about the money-- the enormous debt incurred by the IBL in that first season. To this day, Larry Baras, the league’s founder—

The Boston bagel baron--

Right.

The guy who invented the “Unholey Bagel”—

Right, the bagel without a hole stuffed with cream cheese. Anyway, Larry Baras still hasn’t given anyone an accounting of how much money he raised or where the money went. Though I did a little investigating and found out he’d registered at least six limited liability corporations for the league in that corporate haven, Delaware.

1) ISRAEL BASEBALL PROPERTIES, LLC - 05/08/2006
2) POLOGROUNDS MANAGEMENT LLC - 07/13/2006
3) GEZER PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL TEAM LLC - 07/13/2006
4) BET SHEMESH BASEBALL TEAM, LLC - 02/13/2007
5) ISRAEL BASEBALL LEAGUE, LLC - 03/26/2007
6) MODI'IN PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL TEAM, LLC - 04/09/2007

I’m not sure why he had to go with six LLCs. And remember, Baras has stonewalled despite a pretty good offer I’ve learned about. Back in the fall, he had a free offer to have an independent financial professional—somebody he’d find acceptable-- review and assemble the financial information of the league. Baras turned down the offer.

I don’t now. Maybe the Baras apologists can explain it all. Like IBL player Eric Holtz, who believes that all the problems are only because “I have seen in business over the last 22 years that there are vultures that try to pick off the last pieces of meat off of a carcass and to me that is exactly what is going on with this whole IPBL nonsense”; or Leon Feingold--

The professional competitive eater, right?

Right. Leon said the real problem is that “there are many people who had no patience for the problems with the current league and wanted to tear it down.” Well, there you go. Looks like the patience ran out.

What’s next? Will there be baseball in Israel?

Right now it looks like the Israel Professional Baseball League seems to have the inside track. They’re already getting their ducks in order. And there’s a general consensus that this new league shouldn’t have to be responsible for the debts of the IBL. So they’d start with a clean slate.

And what about the meeting in New York City on Thursday?

Well—

Hold it right there, Elli. We’ll let our readers digest all this first.

Stay tuned here for details on the meeting that could bring Israel’s baseball dream back to life…

Exclusive! Boston businessman continues raising funds for 2009 Israel Baseball League season that sources say won't be allowed to take place

Yes, we went cold turkey on coverage of the scandal of the Israel Baseball League after a solid year of intense, exclusive, controversial and Pulitzer Prize-nominated reporting. And in light of that Pulitzer nod, we’ll be checking in occasionally with updates provided by the tenacious and world-beating reporter Elli Wohlgelernter—known here as Our Man Elli In Israel-- who carried this story singlehandedly and reported recently that there will be no professional baseball in Israel until 2010 at the earliest.

Our Man Elli’s reportage apparently stirred up a reaction from the Boston-based businessman who's now heading the putative league-- and apparently still drumming up money from American investors for the battered IBL. He sends along this latest, exclusive report:

It appears it ain’t over for the non-existent Israel Baseball League, which continues to squeeze the American Jewish community for money and solicit unsuspecting American Jews and Zionists for an Israeli baseball season that’s already been blocked by Israeli officials.

I obtained an email sent by David Solomont, who took the reins of the IBL from embattled Boston bagel baron Larry Baras (and was immediately tagged with the sobriquet “El Presidente of the Dominican Republic of The Middle East Baseball League”) stating his intention to play professional baseball in "the summer of 2009 and have a winter season Nov to Jan 2009/2010”:

From: David Solomont
To: ***** ****************
Cc: ****…
Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 7:39:24 PM
Subject: Re: Baseball In Israel
Unfortunately, there is no baseball next week.
We expect to kick off the 2009 season in late June and play the summer of 2009 and have a winter season Nov to Jan 2009/2010.
David Solomont
(617) ***-****

As I reported on December 3rd, sources tell me that one thing is for sure: the Israel Association of Baseball, which governs the sport in the nation, will not negotiate with David Solomont.


The controversial Boston businessman and de facto head of the IBL is persona non grata, ever since he announced a twenty-game 2008 IBL season ... make that seven-game… er, six-game... would you believe a five-game "festivus" that never took place?

Even so, the front man for disgraced IBL founder and former president Larry Baras continues raising cash for a pro baseball league in Israel in 2009.

Every source close to the Israel sports establishment tells me that Solomont may have a chance kicking off a 2009 season in Santo Domingo starring Chico Escuela, but has little chance of running a season in the Holy Land.

There will be no sequel to the rousing documentary Holy Land Hardball, because the Israel Association of Baseball is not, and will not, negotiate any deal with the league that survived a single season in 2007.


Solomont is also urging potential investors to sign up on the IBL website for news. When we last looked, there hadn't been a new posting since the infamous July 24th, 2008 announcement that stated explicit plans for:

"…a week-long baseball festival starting on August 17th that will pit an IBL All-Star team against a team made up of premier Israeli players.

“Details of the baseball festival, which will run from August 17th through August 21st, will be announced on this site in the upcoming days.

“Players have already begun to arrive in Israel for the event, which will also feature clinics during the week in Hashmonaim and Bet Shemesh. Photograph sessions will be available before and after every game with your favorite IBL star. Tickets will be sold at the door with all proceeds to benefit JNF's Project Baseball."

As of today, December 20th, there is no update on the now-legendary Festivus.

And speaking of Larry Baras-- remember my report of December 3rd, I asked:

“Why is the JNF in bed with the IBL? “And how much money is stuffed inside the mattress of that bed?”

Now, it turns out they've pulled up the sheets to snuggle even closer:

Larry Baras is now on the board of the New England branch of the JNF.

Stay tuned…

(And catch up on all our coverage of the Israeli Baseball saga here, at our Baseball in Israel website.)

EXCLUSIVE! CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE SET TO LAUNCH INVESTIGATION OF THE ISRAEL BASEBALL LEAGUE'S FINANCES

The chairman of the US Congressional hearing into steroid use by Major League pitching superstar Roger Clemens may be turning his committee’s attention to Boston businessman Larry Baras and how he channeled funds raised in the United States that were earmarked for the Israel Baseball League but remain unaccounted for.

Tabloid Baby has learned exclusively that Rep. Henry A. Waxman of California’s 30th District, the target of criticism for using the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to focus on Clemens— and who reportedly expressed regret for doing so— is being urged to continue on the baseball trail to investigate how Baras and his team spent as much as $3 million in funds from US investors for a 2007 IBL season that ended in shambles, with more than a million dollars in debts and no accounting of how money was spent.

“Waxman’s taking heat for a hearing that didn’t answer any questions and only hurt Clemens’ reputation even more,” says our source. “But some people are saying an investigation into the IBL is a great way to save face. The fact that Baras won’t say what he did with the money, that he spent it in the Middle East, and that American investors are crying foul makes this a major issue-- and a Homeland Security issue if you want to stretch it. Is this money in a shoebox or was it spread across the Gaza Strip?

“Waxman’s a major supporter of Israel, and don’t forget that the commissioner (of the IBL) is a former ambassador to Israel. And look, Waxman and Congress couldn’t find the nine billion dollars that went missing in Iraq. Maybe they can find a million dollars between here and Israel.”

Waxman, indeed, has been a lifelong supporter of Israel in and out of Congress, and is known as the “Dean” of the 27 Jewish House members.

Our sources say the idea to put Baras and the IBL under the spotlight came up during the Clemens hearing when Clemens referred to current IBL director of baseball operations Dan Duquette. Duquette was general manager of the Boston Red Sox in 1996, and before the steroid and HGH allegations came up, had come under more than a decade’s ridicule for doing so.

"We'll leave his name out of it," Clemens said with a sneer—though sportswriters and baseball fans everywhere knew he meant Duquette when he continued: “He made what I feel was a smart-aleck remark that I was in the 'twilight of my career.’ And in that 1996 season when I was in the twilight of my career, I tied my own single-season record of 20 strikeouts. I led the league in strikeouts that year. I was in the top 10 in innings pitched and ERA. If I was in the twilight of my career, I doubt the Toronto Blue Jays would have made me the highest-paid pitcher in baseball the following year."

The Duquette swipe has been repeated in the media this past week, and according to our source, led to the call to Waxman.

"Waxman and Congress
couldn’t find
nine billion dollars
that went missing in Iraq.
Maybe they can find
a million dollars
between here and Israel.”

“There’s no way around the fact that the so-called dream of professional baseball in Israel is an offshore, American-financed operation,” says our source. “Money was raised. It supposedly was funneled into the Middle East. But the people in the Middle East who were supposed to be paid, weren’t. And Baras won’t open up the books. This is a no-brainer for Waxman. All he has to do is follow the money.”

Baras is already facing accusation of federal securities fraud in a lawsuit from an investor in his company, SJR Foods, who claims her investment in a product called the “Unholey Bagel” was used by Baras for personal expenses and IBL start-up.

No lawsuits have been filed in connection with the IBL debts, which the New York Times estimated at over $1 million.

Ironically, the idea that Waxman would look into the IBL was floated on this site in January—as a joke, when we asked Our Man Elli in Israel:

“Any truth to the rumour that after they’re done taking testimony on steroids from Roger Clemens, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is planning to take testimony on fraud from Larry Baras?”

Elli’s response? “Good night.”

(Do you think Congress should use its valuable time to look into the IBL? You can reach Rep. Henry Waxman in Washington at 202.225.3976, or at his Los Angeles office at 323.651.1040, 818.878.7400 or 310.652.3095. What, no 800 number?)

Three Days Later: The New York Times finally reports on the resignations that rocked the Israel Baseball League. But do they credit Our Man Elli?

Three days after we broke the story here that the commissioner and nine members of the Israel Baseball League advisory board had resigned over financial concers about league founder Larry Baras, the New York Times has finally picked up the story. Baseball Hall of Fame sportswriter Murray Chass buries the item in a potpourri baseball column with a headline about past Major League drug use.

Not surprisingly, the venerable traditionalist does not credit Tabloid Baby for the scoop on Thursday, nor does the former "newspaper of record" mention the controversial investigative piece by Our Man Elli in Israel, the three months of uproar and revelations that followed in its wake, or the federal lawsuit against Baras-- the details of which were published exclusively here last week.

Instead, with his first nine words, Chass picks up the IBL spin, and raises new questions about his, and the New York Times coverage of the league (see below):

The New York Times
November 18, 2007
ON BASEBALL
By MURRAY CHASS

Split in Israel League

The Israel Baseball League had a successful first season, but its founder may be hard pressed to keep that success going.

Last Thursday, Daniel Kurtzer, the league commissioner and former ambassador to Israel and Egypt, resigned with nine members of the advisory board, including Marvin Goldklang, a limited Yankees partner; Randy Levine, the Yankees’ president; and Andrew Zimbalist, an economics professor at Smith College.

In their letter of resignation, summing up the concerns of all, Goldklang and Zimbalist wrote that “it has become apparent that the business leadership of the league has ceased to perform in an effective, constructive or responsible manner and has failed to manage its capital and other resources in a manner likely to produce successful results.”

Furthermore, they said, the league had not paid some players, managers and umpires.

In a telephone interview, Goldklang added, “The biggest issue was the feeling that trust in the management of the league was compromised.”

The criticism was aimed at Larry Baras, the Boston bagel entrepreneur, who founded the league. Baras was not available Friday, but in a phone interview Martin Berger, a Miami lawyer who is the league president, said: “We are upset and disappointed that they’re leaving, but we are going ahead for next year. We have been talking to people who potentially are going to purchase the teams.”

Dan Duquette, a former major league general manager, will continue to be the league’s baseball operations director.

The advisers who resigned said the league was unwilling to provide financial information.

“They were asking us for things that we didn’t have yet,” Berger said. “We haven’t done our financials for this year.”

Interesting that the esteemed baseball journalist lets Berger slide on that last point. The IBL hasn't done its financials, three months after the close of the season? As one member of the IBL 10 told Our Man Elli: "The league doesn't have financial information to share with the advisory board, yet is out trying to sell franchises in the league. How in the world do they think they can sell franchise rights without properly disclosing the results of league and franchise operations to date?"

Which raises the question of why the New York Times writer is giving the IBL a pass and, why, after all these months of on-the-record statements by IBL players here on Tabloidbaby.com, Chass would write "they said" players and others have not been paid. Chass was given the exclusive story of the IBL for his Times column of May 13, 2006. And he's written about the IBL at least four times since-- not once scratching the surface or moving beyond PR for an idea that seen as good for proud Zionists in the States and baseball fans in Israel (Chass' son resides in Bet Shemesh, Israel-- home, in name at least, to the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox).

Let's hope Murray Chass continues to chase that comment from Larry Baras. Meanwhile, we guess this makes Tabloid Baby the new newspaper of record.

Prediction: No pro baseball for Israel in 2008

2008 has dawned with a big question mark and Joe Btfsplk cloud over the future of baseball in Israel. And if we may go all Carnac on your asses, we will take a leap of cynicism and predict there will be no professional baseball in Israel this year, thanks to the mess left behind by the Israel Baseball League in the summer of ’07.

And don’t blame Our Man Elli.

He merely reported (and a monumental report it was) the facts of a debacle of a season that somehow everyone took seriously only after New York Times columnist Murray Chass took all of Elli’s droppings and stepped in last week to report that the IBL owes a lot more than a few bounced paychecks and ice cube bills— a debt that reaches, and by our sources’ accounts, surpasses, one million US dollars (more on that to come)-- and badwill that guarantees that embattled IBL founder Larry Baras will not be involved in an IBL sophomore season whenever and if ever that may take place, or for that matter, set foot in Israel, where the ankle above that foot would probably be clamped with a shackle as soon as he steps out of the jetway.

Yet, the charade continues, with an announcement of a 2008 IBL schedule, followed by bobbled IBL tryouts in Miami a couple of weeks back, under the watchful eye of league president and local attorney Martin Berger and his operations director Dan Duquette. About thirty hopefuls showed up. Our scouts tell us about two players displayed an inkling of talent, yet none is destined to get an El Al coach ticket to a summer of fun.

And, yes, Larry Baras was nowhere to be seen.

The coalition of the wishing described by Chass last week (“mediators” led by former IBL commissioner Dan Kurtzer and former advisers Marvin Goldklang (a minor league team owner and limited partner in the Yankees) and (Smith College economics prof) Andrew Zimbalist hope to pull together all the potential movers— and derail the rival Israel Professional Baseball League rebels in the process—in a meeting later this month.

They also want Baras out. Sources tell Tabloid Baby that the Boston businessman who’s been hit by a federal securities fraud lawsuit connected to his IBL startup and who bounced paychecks to players and left vendors hanging, is claiming he’s been out of pocket to the tune of 90,000 US dollars.

The ones trying to restart the league may pay him off and send him back to his bagel-stuffing business. But sources say Baras may hold out for more. Don’t fall for his woe-is-me act, they tell us. Baras will look to leave with his pockets stuffed with cash the same way his UnHoley Bagels are filled with cream cheese.

But in the wake of the IBL’s first season, the biggest problem will be getting anyone in Israel to cooperate with mercenary carpetbaggers looking to skim more shekels from Holy Land (baseball) diamonds. Right now, it’s safe to say that just about no one in Israel trusts the IBL, nor will they do business with it-- not Gezer, not Baptist Village, not vendors, not landscapers, not television channels-- not anyone, even in the unlikely scenario that Baras raises the money to get out of debt and start fresh. In fact, most every Israeli will likely be gun-shy about working with anyone who utters the word beysbol (baseball).

Meanwhile, another question many have been asking is why Berger and Duquette are still tied in with Baras. We know Duquette lost out on the Pittsburgh Pirates GM gig, which would have sent him packing from the IBL faster than spoiled baba ghanoush through a digestive system. But he can't now. Duquette owns about a quarter of the league, and is owed a lot of money, and so is Berger. Lots.

So for now, think Bagelstock and Bloom. And Bloom. That’s where we're all standing, and where the future of baseball in Israel is not.


Stay tuned here, and thanks for all the tips and a tip of the Tabloid Baby hat to you all.