Childhood pal Carl: "If Solomont is willing and able to raise money from others... more power to him!"

As we await word on the future of the new and improved Israel Baseball League that will probably drop shortly after the end of Shabbat, the man on whom the future seems to hinge is David Solomont, the controversial Boston businessman who's stepped in with promise of being the IBL's financial saviour but more likely was handed off Larry Baras' top hat and cane in what appears to be an attempt to raise money from other investors, while keeping hope alive and appearances up.

We were the first to bring up Solomont's past troubles in the form of a well-publicized 2004 lawsuit in which he was accused of siphoning more than a million dollars in funds from a software firm while he served as its CEO.

We indicated that Solomont's past may not bode well for the IBL's future.

But a different take comes from the Israel Matzav site ("Israel is treated unfairly by much of the mainstream media... Our own self-hating Jewish and Israeli left has not helped. This blog aims to tell you what's really going on Israel..."), written by a blogger who identifies himself as Carl in Jerusalem (a neat twist on Our Man Elli in Israel):

"I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for twenty-six years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 4 to 24 years and one grandson..."

Carl read our David Solomont coverage on our Baseball in Israel archival site (where you can find all of our Israel baseball coverage, uninterrupted), and gave his insider's view in a post entitled, "The 'new' Israel Baseball League: Is it different from the old?":

"The league plans to play a 20-game season this year with only four teams, beginning on July 27. Obviously, the league needs funding. "To raise money for the league to continue, Baras turned to another Boston businessman, 56-year old David Solomont (Hat Tip: Lance K.). (That last name may ring a bell with some of you). David Solomont was the defendant in a nasty lawsuit four years ago. The lawsuit was settled, but it is not clear whether the settlement was ever carried out. In any event, David Solomont did not - as far as I can tell - face criminal charges. Blogger Baseball in Israel has a problem with Solomont doing the fundraising.

"In an uncanny similarity to a federal lawsuit filed against IBL founder Larry Baras, the start-up scandal lawsuit stated: 'Solomont has become overextended, and is robbing Peter to pay Paul...' (See our teaser story.)

"Honestly, that's irrelevant. Like hundreds of other entrepreneurs, Solomont was caught in the downdraft of the dotcom implosion of the early part of this decade. The existence of lawsuits and paying money to settle them doesn't prove anything in the real world. There's not a failed startup in the world that hasn't led to lawsuits (except for the ones that never reached the point of raising money from outside investors). And if Solomont is willing and able to raise money from others (which is what he is doing according to my sources) to bring baseball back to Israel, more power to him. Does Baseball in Israel wish to kill the reason his blog exists?

"In sum, I say give the League a chance to get its act together. It's just about the only clean fun we have in this country.

"I should note my connections to some of the people in this story (so that some genious doesn't go searching the web to find them and claim that I am biased or hiding something). I know David Solomont from my childhood - one of his brothers went to school with me from Kindergarten through 12th grade. In the past, I have done some legal work for that brother, some of which was unpaid. I met Larry Baras a year and a half ago in Boston. His brother went to college with me. I did a small amount of legal work (as an American lawyer working for an American law firm, and not as an Israeli lawyer) for the Israel Baseball League in its early days."

Another lawsuit clouds Israel's baseball future: Founder of rival league embroiled in ugly legal battle over kid-killing toys

Lawsuits continue to vex the future of professional baseball in Israel.

A week after we revealed the federal lawsuit against Israel Baseball League founder Larry Baras, readers of this site have brought to our attention an even more serious legal action involving one of the leaders of the rival league that was announced this weekend.

The Chicago Tribune reported in May that the MEGA Brands toy company "allege in a lawsuit that (Israel Professional Baseball League leader) Jeffrey and Lawrence Rosen -- the brothers who sold them Rose Art (makers of the Magnetix building sets), then led that division after the merger -- didn't fix the problems with the dangerous toy in part because they didn't want to jeopardize personal multimillion-dollar payouts tied to profit targets.

"Kenny Sweet Jr., a suburban Seattle toddler, died, and at least 27 other children suffered serious intestinal injuries after swallowing tiny magnets that fell out of Magnetix toys.

"In a statement, the Rosen family denied Mega Brands' allegations, saying that 'prior to its acquisition by Mega Brands' the family 'acted in a thorough and responsible manner with regard to the manufacture, safety, quality control and sale of its Magnetix toy products.'

"Four months before Kenny's death in November 2005, Mega Brands bought Rose Art from the Rosen family for $315 million in cash and stock, plus the assumption of $35 million in debt.

"The Rosens said they told Mega Brands before the merger that customers had complained that magnets were falling out, and the family said it disclosed an attorney's claim that a child was injured..."

The Rosens are suing MEGA Brands in United States District Court in the Southern District of New York, contending that it failed to pay them $51 million, as they say the 2005 sale required. MEGA Brands has countered in court that it does not owe the money to the Rosens. Earlier this year, a federal judge sent the case to arbitration.

Jeffrey Rosen was an investor in the Israel Baseball League who joined with player-attorney Alan Gardner and other IBL veterans to start up the rival Israel Professional Baseball League to take the place of the IBL, which saw its commissioner and nine advisory board members bolt last week, days after Tabloid Baby revealed the details of a federal securities fraud lawsuit against founder Baras.

The Boston bagel and baseball visionary had planned keep the IBL afloat with money from the Spectrum Capital Group, but the investment bankers backed out of the deal after Tabloid Baby revealed that the suit alleged that investments in his "Unholey Bagel" company were being used to prop up his sports operation.

The letter announcing the formation of the new IPBL said the new leadership was "made up of participants from the ’07 season, all of whom have a uniquely inside view of what happened and will make sure that it does not happen again."

The accusations within the Rosen toy case are not connected directly with the baseball league, unless one counts dead and seriously injured kids as potential fans, and the spectre of little victims has already stirred up taunts of "blood money" from opponents to the "new leadership"-- just the tip of another ugly and angry battle being waged largely by anonymous commenters on the Tabloid Baby site, which has become the forum for debate and information surrounding the dream of professional baseball in Israel.

The editors of Tabloid Baby have, in fact, nominated Our Man Elli in Israel to be commissioner of the new league.

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...

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.

Israel baseball blogger arrives late to the game

“Think about the goals of Baseball in Israel…
Are we going over to offer a distraction?
Do they need a distraction?
Is this another example of America trying to act as a hero?”

A new baseball website has us wondering, as we’ve stopped to do more than once over the past nine months, why the mainstream sports, business and political media have overlooked, and actively ignored— the story of the Israel Baseball League and efforts to bring professional baseball to Israel-- a story that’s of such interest and importance to so many people around the world. With league founder Larry Baras a colorful, controversial and lawsuit-laden bagel baron based in Boston, with a would-be rival league headed by a controversial lawsuit-laden toymaker taking cash from auditioning athletes in Miami, and minor and semipro leagues around the world picking up IBL refugees, there would seem to be enough local angles, mysteries, sports fans and Jewish readers out there for some award-hunting reporter or editor to feel the thrill of the hunt as they follow the money.

For now, Our Man Elli In Israel has the field to himself. But the latest visiting player is "Elliott," AKA “OMmetsfan07,” the blogging Mets fan behind the 213 Miles from Shea site. His new site, The Great International Pastime (Exporting America’s Game), started up a few weeks ago with a post about baseball in Ghana (anybody seen Eladio Rodriguez?) and today lands in Israel.

Despite a year of raucous infighting, accusations and outrageousness that was enough to fill an entire website called Baseball in Israel, this new internationalist site picks up the story of the Israel Baseball League in a much simpler time, before the drama of the past year, when the spin was only starting to pick up speed, and doesn't seem to realize that greed and bad business killed off baseball in Israel in 2008:

"Baseball in Israel was one of the first topics I thought of when I decided to talk about world baseball because I feel that its known in America more than in Israel and I have often questioned the motives for it (but I do love it, don't mistake that). I root for the Modim Miracle only because of their Manager, Art Shamsky, who was a '69 Met, so I am a little biased when it comes to their teams.



"I found this video on YouTube not too long ago (about two weeks ago). The video was added online a little over a year ago, but makes a lot of insightful points subliminally. When you watch it, think about the goals of Baseball in Israel? Are we going over to offer a distraction? Do they need a distraction? Is this another example of America trying to act as a hero? 
I have been thinking about this clip now for over two weeks, and I still have not finalized my opinion about it.
"

These of course are questions first posed by Our Man Elli almost a year ago, so we don’t know whether to be frustrated that the author didn’t do a Google search of “Israel Baseball” or gratified that someone’s at least sniffing out the story. We sent Elliott a link to our site. Once again, we’ll see if the bloggers pick up where the mainstream journos dropped the ball.

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.")

AP finally runs our exclusive Baras lawsuit story

Eight days after Tabloid Baby broke the story, some pisher at the Associated Press has turned in a version-- and doesn't give us or Our Man Elli  any credit.  

Big surprise. 

Schmuck!

For the second time in three days, the AP has picked up a report that appeared exclusively on Tabloid Baby, rewrote it without credit to or mention of the source or backstory, and posted it so it is already being picked up around the world:

BOSTON - The founder of Israel’s financially struggling professional baseball league is being sued by a Florida woman who claims he defrauded her of the $275,000 she had invested in his bagel business, and instead used the money for personal expenses and to support the league.

Natalie Blacher is asking for the return of her investment along with interest and attorney’s fees in the lawsuit against Lawrence Baras, of Brookline, Mass. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Boston in September.

Blacher claims that she bought $275,000 worth of stock in SJR Foods Inc. after she was assured by Baras that the company was financially sound. Baras was the company’s president...

On November 12, we wrote:

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...

Credit was due, no? Hey, maybe we can ask That Putz Greenberg.

Our Man Elli: Israel baseball deadline near

This just in:

* The Israel Professional Baseball League has canceled
its scheduled February 24th tryouts in Florida.

* The IPBL has lined up playing fields and
player accommodations for a 2008 season.

* Governing body, The Israeli Association of Baseball,
has not decided if it will license the IPBL.

* March 1st is the "drop dead date" for a decision
that will allow professional baseball in Israel in 2008.

* The IAB's president says, “Tabloid Baby will not
determine when the process will be finished!”

We learned that and more when we debriefed Our Man Elli in Israel this afternoon:

Tabloid Baby: So. Bring us up to date.

Our Man Elli: No hello?

Hello. So, what's new with the Israel baseball? Will Robin’s boy Itai get to sit in the bleachers this summer?

I saw your item on the blog from the woman from Tel Aviv. It’s a nice site. The Internet brings the world together, doesn’t it?

What about all those IBL postings that showed up on various sites this past week—

And then the IBL puts out its first press release since the first week of January. Bizarre.

So who’s spinning it?

Everybody’s spinning. The spinning never ends. You know that better than anyone else.

What’s that supposed to mean?

It means I thought you wanted a status report.

Right. What’s new with baseball in Israel?

Nothing.

Nothing?

It’s on hold. We’re on hold. That's the official position. One source told me, and I quote, "We've heard that Jeff Rosen's group remains interested in proceeding for 2008 and is hoping the IAB”—that’s the Israel Association of Baseball—“relents in not requiring that 2007 obligations be settled as part of a licensing arrangement. I don't believe any final decisions have been made."

The IAB governs baseball in Israel and they want any new league to pay the debts left behind by the IBL.

Right. Another source said, quoting again, "I heard a rumour”—a rumour, mind you—

A fourth-hand rumour now.

“--a rumor that that IAB will sanction Jeff Rosen’s group."

That’s the Israel Professional Baseball League. The renegades.

I wouldn't say "renegades. "Upstarts," maybe. Anyway, I took the Rosen rumour to the IAB's president (Haim Katz) a couple of days ago, and I asked whether there would be baseball this summer, or whether he is planning on sanctioning the IPBL. And he wouldn’t give me a straight answer.

What did he say?

He hemmed. And then he hawed. I asked him when the IAB will decide if it will sanction the IPBL, and said, quote, "When the time is right, there will be an announcement. If there’s something to do, then we’ll say something. As of today we have not sanctioned anybody yet. There’s a whole process going on, and we’re continuing with this process. Nothing’s ripe enough to go public. We'll come out with a statement as soon as possible. As soon as we have some certainty as to what will be happening with baseball this summer, then we will come out with a statement. At this stage, I can’t come out with a statement as to what will be happening."

Hemming and hawing.

Right. There were a few more variations on that theme. My favorite was: "Tabloid Baby will not determine when the process will be finished."

Nice!

He said that twice. And I’d never even mentioned Tabloid Baby. Which is a great compliment to your site. Tabloid Baby is recognized as the source for news on baseball in Israel.

Everyone thinks you’re Tabloid Baby.

That, unfortunately, is not a compliment.

Anything else with Katz?

I asked him about a rumor that Larry Baras and the IBL were going to sue the IAB if they didn't sanction them to play in the summer of ’08 because of the agreement they signed before last season. Katz said, "I know nothing of any lawsuit if we don’t sanction them."

I also asked about the IBL’s million dollar debt, including $420,000 in Israel, and whether the IAB would push the IPBL to pay off that debt before sanctioning them. No answer. But Katz did say that "The debts of the IBL are the IBL's, not the IAB's."

Bottom line. Any chance of a 2008 season?

It's February 21st. The summer draws near. It is nearly too late. But we will know for sure by the end of next week. March 1st. I do know that the IPBL has been working on the ground in Israel. They’ve found playing fields and housing for the players.

But if they get the sanction to play baseball, they can expect the supporters of the IBL to try and spread dirt about Rosen, as they’ve already done with comments on this site, like about the baby who who died after swallowing tiny magnets that fell out of toys made by a company once owned by Rosen.

Magnetix. We covered that back in November.

That's why this is the site of record.

The IPBL is set to hold tryouts at the end of this week. What do you know about that?

No one tells me anything, at least on the record. But I have found out that the tryouts scheduled for this Sunday have been canceled. One source says, quote, “It was too rushed.” As it now stands, they've pushed back the tryouts to April 6th. And truth be told, of all the details needed to get the league up and running, procuring players is the least problematic of them all. Players are to be found all over, even good ones.

But the IPBL did run into one hitch. Seems a lot of the IBL players from last summer want to return to Israel to play ball, but they don't want to try out.

That sounds fair, no?

Yeah. Frankly, for all what the players went through, there should be an automatic bye for all IBL alumni. Not that all of them were such great players, but when all is said and done, the players are the backbone, and those players deserve that gratuity.

Even the competitive eater Feingold, and "Mr. .097," Holtz.

Yes.

You were off praying at the time when we posted the story about Henry Waxman and the possible Congressional hearings into the IBL.

Give me a break.

What?

First of all, don't knock religion, you goy. I was praying for the truth about how much money Larry Baras took in, how much was paid off and where the difference went. As for the Waxman story, you guys in the home office have a good sense of humor.

We’re in his district.

Well we have something in common, then. We’re both represented by Jews.

We have sources, too.

Next question.

Back to those bloggers suddenly writing about the IBL, all of a sudden giving Baras the benefit of the doubt. What’s up with that?

Look, Larry Baras is a master spinmeister.

A bullshitter?

He's the Wizard of Iz. I gotta tell you, in the two years that I've been covering this story, what has surprised me most is that no matter what’s been said and written about Larry Baras, his ability to charm people and make them believe in him has overridden everything he's done, everything he's been accused of doing, every fact exposed about his operation, and every question about his business ethics and practices. He’s lied to people and there’s still been no accounting of any of the money he raised, and no accounting of where it was spent.

Even players who haven’t been paid parrot the line of, "It was a start-up league, people make mistakes, cut him some slack, I'm sure we'll get paid." The last pitch was thrown August 19th. It’s six months later, and not only the players but many, many others have not been paid. Yet the apologists continue to defend him. That, I find to be incredible.

The so-called “mainstream media” hasn’t exactly done its due diligence.

The media, like everyone else, got suckered in, waxing poetic about the dream of baseball in Israel for months and months before the IBL season began, and then dropping the story. Except That Putz Greenberg, who revisited it when he stole my translated story. But the media pack will be back in the spring, asking questions that have been answered here for the last six months. I already hear the strains of "Something is happening here, but you don't know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?"

That’s because we’re singing it. “Do you, Mr. Chass? Do you, Mr. Greenberg?” Anything else?

One interesting story emerged today. Major League Baseball has announced the field for the 2009 World Baseball Classic. And it's the same 16-team field they had in 2005. In other words, Israel wasn't added on. And that raises the question of whether Larry Baras killed Israel's chances of making it into the WBC.

Wasn’t that one of the goals of the IBL?

That’s what he was talking about two years ago. But when MLB pulled out of the IBL in November, like the rest of The IBL 10, it pretty much put a kabosh on any possibility that Israel would field. How could Bud Selig take a chance of sullying his name, and that of the MLB, by tying in with the IBL?

Elli, before we hang up, we want to take this time to say this about all the work you’ve done.
Yeah?

Quite seriously, we just want to say-- Whoops. We cut off, just like the latest IBL press release.

Schmuck.

--Click--

(See all of Elli Wohlgelernter's groundbreaking reporting on the IBL and baseball in Israel, here, on our Baseball in Israel archive site.)

NY Times: Israel Baseball League $1 million in debt; Baras and league unlikely to return in 2008; Ex-commish leads talks to form new league

It only took six months, but a paid professional sportswriter is doing his job and finally breaking some news in the soap opera saga of the Israel Baseball League. Murray Chass of the New York Times, last heard from back in November when he ran a column on the resignations of the IBL commissioner and advisers-- three days after Our Man Elli in Israel broke the news here (of course he didn't credit Elli or Tabloid Baby)-- brings us up to date on the future of baseball in Israel, along with the revelations that:

* The IBL is a whopping one million dollars in debt;

* Boston bagel baron Larry Baras will most likely not be running baseball in Israel next summer;

* Former US ambassador to Israel Dan Kurtzer, who quit as IBL commissioner the day after we revealed the federal securities fraud lawsuit against Baras, is working to bring all the sides together to clean up the mess the IBL left behind, and form a new, solid league.

Chass writes:

Seeking Common Ground

It’s an old Jewish joke told by Jews among Jews: Put three Jews on a committee, and they’ll have four different opinions.

That’s where baseball in Israel seems to be right now. There’s last summer’s league, there’s a new league that has been announced, there’s an independent businessman who isn’t thrilled with either one and there’s a group of former advisers to the original league who want to resolve the mess and emerge with one strong, viable league.

The mediators include Dan Kurtzer, a former United States ambassador to Israel and commissioner of the Israel Baseball League; Marvin Goldklang, a limited Yankees partner and owner of several minor league teams; and Andrew Zimbalist, a Smith College economics professor.

They hope to get everyone together for a meeting in New York next month.

“Everybody thought the league was a wonderful concept, but serious divisions developed,” Goldklang said. “We have tried to develop an approach under which those who are interested in continuing the league can come together and support a common approach based on a much sounder business plan.”

The Israel Baseball League is about $1 million in debt. Its founder, Larry Baras, the Boston bagel entrepreneur, isn’t likely to be able to operate the league next summer. Jeffrey Rosen, who was Baras’s first investor, has announced the creation of the Israel Professional Baseball League.

That’s exactly what the Goldklang group wants to avoid, starting a new league without settling the chaos left by the original.

Further muddying matters is the relationship between Rosen and Jeffrey Royer, a Canadian investor in the original league and a general partner of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Royer and Rosen are reluctant to meet for their own reasons.

Along with the Goldklang group, Buddy Lewis, whose Nokona Athletics Goods contributed the league’s equipment last summer, wants to see the problems resolved.

“Everybody believes that the notion of baseball in Israel is fantastic and it can be a reality,” Lewis said. “It only means everybody pulling on one rope.”

Watch this space for more, as Our Man Elli follows up and separates the wheat from the Chass.

Remember professional baseball in Israel? Well, fughedabout it for 2009! And maybe 2010!

Remember the Israel Baseball League?

Remember how we spent an entire year covering the fallout from the inspirational, fun, yet disastrous 2007 inaugural season of the Israel Baseball League, and followed every lawsuit, liar, layabout and lunkhead as they schemed, blathered, promised, fought, sued, threatened, begged and bullshat until by the same time 365 days later, we had to throw our hands up and walk away?

We ended our intense coverage on that first anniversary, but not before starting up a special Baseball in Israel companion site-- and not without regret, as we wrote:

"...The story grew on its own... with all its intrigue, deceit, betrayals and bizarre and unintentionally comedic twists. And the characters-- including a bagel baron, a champion competitive eater, a fast food defector, a ballplaying attorney, an overgrown Peter Pan, a mysterious Dominican, a toymaker, a billionaire, a US ambassador, a neglected wife, a controversial web mogul-- only made the saga richer.

"In the past twelve months and more than 300 posts, this site-- a tabloidcentric site of pop culture and media criticism and satire, became the meeting place and sounding board for ballplayers and sports fans around the world-- not mention a place where anonymity allowed key players in the story to float rumours and leads.

"All credit goes to Elli Wohlgelernter..."

We also said we’d report back when there was something worthwhile to report. So Elli Wohlgelernter, the top Jerusalem-based journalist known in these parts as Our Man Elli In Israel-- the man whose reportage, hard work and expertise our comprehensive coverage was built upon-- has this report:

Professional Baseball in Israel rained out for 2009

by ELLI WOHLGELERNTER
Special to TabloidBaby.com

JERUSALEM - Forget about professional baseball in Israel in 2009.

Sources tell me that the current economic meltdown is making it difficult to jumpstart a professional league of any kind in Israel in the foreseeable future.

"The economic climate is not the most conducive for these kinds of ventures,” says a figure close to the Israel Association of Baseball (Israel’s governing body for baseball and the only group authorized to run a pro league here). “But hopefully by 2010 there will be some kind of pro league here.”

The source adds that the IBA “hopes we’ll have something concrete to say this month, but it ain’t over till its over”—which seems to imply there are some serious negotiations being conducted.

Other sources tell me that one thing is for sure - the IAB is not negotiating with David Solomont. The controversial Boston businessman, who installed himself as the de facto head of the Israel Baseball League 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 frontman for disgraced IBL founder and former president Larry Baras continues to try and raise cash for a pro baseball league in Israel.

His “Twitter” page-- his preferred means of announcement-- states:

"Solomont
Getting ready for a hectic week with 3 deals to close! 12:28 PM Nov 28th from web


"working on several transactions -- Electric Vehicle Propulsion Systems is "hot". Of course, baseball is right up there as well:) 11:46 AM Nov 18th from web

"Working on Electric Vehicle Propulsion Systems, Solar Powered iphone Charger/Carrying Case, and Baseball! 8:26 AM Oct 13th"

The problem is that Solomont’s public displays are hindering others from moving forward.

Another insider who doesn’t want his name used:

"Solomont is going around telling people that all he has to do to get a license from the IAB is to pay debts of the IBL, and that the IAB's reluctance to deal with him is simply a matter of money, and not of trustworthiness. That's been complicating anyone else's efforts to get serious traction on an alternative approach."

That complaint is exactly what was written here on the Tabloid Baby site on August 22nd:

As long as the people leading the alleged IBL (Larry Baras, David Solomont Martin Berger and the gang) hang around, it will be tougher to get anyone else interested in taking a new approach. Even if the IAB puts the IBL out of our misery by deciding it will no longer deal with its "executives," any other group stepping forward will have to deal with the baggage.”

Sources also tell me that "Solomont reportedly has been claiming that he has the ability to raise $ 5million. I'm not sure anyone believes him, but the Jewish National Fund apparently has maintained contact with him."

We’ve asked it before and we'll ask it again:

Why is the JNF in bed with the IBL?

And how much money is stuffed inside the mattress of that bed?

Stay tuned…

It’s good to be back on the hunt. Not that I ever left.

EW

-30-

We talk to Our Man Elli about the woeful news that there won't be pro baseball in Israel this summer

Our Man Elli in Israel kept in touch from the road during his recent lecture tour (and ballpark tour) of America and broke a few stories along the way, but he waited til he was back home in Jerusalem to drop the bombshell— his exclusive report yesterday that the Israel Baseball League nor the upstart Israel Professional Baseball League will be rolling out a season in 2008. Time for a talk.

Tabloid Baby: So, that’s it, huh?

Our Man Elli: That’s it. No baseball this year. And I gotta hand it to you. You called it back in January.

A regular Carnac. But we thought the IPBL had the pedal to the metal.

Too little, too late, too bad. Even before their tryouts, they knew. And then they had the tryouts. The quantity of the players was promising. The quality? Not so. The last I’d heard, the IPBL was talking about setting up exhibition games in Israel among teams comprised of players born in different countries like the US, Canada, the Dominican Republic, and possibly, Europe.

And then Larry Baras surfaces, talking bout the joy of kosher hot dogs. What’s up with the “Lah-di-dah” attitude?

The questions for Larry Baras remain the same as they’ve been since last summer: How much money was raised for the IBL? And how much money was spent. That's it. His problems with his bagel company, and whether bagel money was used to help the IBL, will be determined in that lawsuit brought against him by Natalie Blacher. Whether he used IBL money to help his bagel business is another matter.

More than a year ago, Baras told me that he was budgeting $3 million for the inaugural season, and he said he'd be able to raise it "very easily." “Very easily.” Those were his words. We do know that the American Jewish community went hog wild, you should pardon the expression, over the idea of baseball in Israel, and people everywhere were eager to help in any way they could. And they did. How many investors were there? And how much money was raised? If $3 million could be had "very easily," how about $4 million?

We have no idea, because until today there’s been no accounting of any of it.

Hmmm… You’d think maybe Baras might be hiding something.

(LOOKING FOR A LINK? CLICK HERE TO GET TO OUR BASEBALL IN ISRAEL ARCHIVE SITE: THE ENTIRE STORY AND EVERY POST ON BASEBALL IN ISRAEL.)

You know, we have some interesting anonymous commenters on this site. There’s Scooper 0007 from Haifa—

Yes, a tip of the hat to him. He’s obviously close to an insider, because he does deliver good bits and pieces—

There’s Pooper Scooper—

I thought that was the same guy--

Nope.

A fine cub reporter—

And then there are people like this guy “Allen” who posted this morning, accusing you of being angry about the idea of baseball in Israel. What’s up with that?

I love and respect your readers. But that kind of talk is beyond stupid. It’s like the schmucks who deliberately spell my name wrong. If I were a million dollar investor, they’d spell it right. But this? I don’t have to prove my bona fides to anyone. What reason would I have for not wanting baseball in Israel? Shooting the messenger is an old tactic. Accusing me of wanting a job is getting old, too.

Hey, you turned down the commissioner job.

Yeah, right.

Hey, we had the campaign going, but you said you wouldn’t accept it.

Like I need those kind of distractions.

We had the hats—

Anyway, again I have to repeat myself: So far, no one has been able to prove or even claim that anything I ever wrote about the league wasn't true. All they can do is spin why it happened. But the facts are still the facts.

And the facts are?

The facts are that the 2007 season was a poorly run effort led by an organizer who lied to everyone with whom he made a deal. And the fact is that 2008 was a non-starter from the beginning, because of poor planning and organization, and an attempt by one rich man to bully his way into creating a new league. The facts? No more baseball because of poor planning, organization and, sorry, greed.

So what point are they missing?

This story has divided everyone into two camps since the season ended. One side swallowed the Kool-Aid, and they still believe that Larry Baras is an honest businessman who may have been in over his head, but was only trying to do the best he could and wasn’t prepared for all the things that came up. Ask them how much money was raised and where the money went, and they change the subject.

And a lot of the people in that camp were some of the marginal players who were just happy to be playing professional ball. They didn’t even care that he even owed them money.

Baras's charm and awe-shucks persona was able to convince that half of his sincerity— and convince them that I was to blame for all his troubles-- that if only I hadn't written those nasty little stories about what happened in the summer of 2007, he would have been able to raise the money from more investors and paid off the 2007 debt and start up the 2008 season.

Me. I'm to blame.

Of course, that doesn't explain why the commissioner and nine others from the advisory board of the IBL quit.

Touche.

The second camp was more forthright and critical. They didn't shy away from asking the basic questions, including how much money was raised and where it went. And it was that exact question that moved the commissioner and the advisory board members to quit.

If I may borrow a political analogy, it's like the liberals in Israel. No matter how many times you showed them the actions of Arafat, they still believed he had good intentions in him.

Whoa. Mr. International Affairs in La-la Land.

I had another political analogy. With Barack Obama and accusing the working class of being bitter. Are you bitter?

What? Me worry? No way. We’re talking baseball. Not Gaza. This entire experience is the definition of “pastime.” I only wish I had a season to follow this summer.

We posted a story about the South Coast League in the States that went belly up the same way as the IBL. What was the difference?

I’d say honesty. They seemed to be very upfront about their problems and missteps, so when they announced they’d suspended the 2008 season, there was real disappointment—but not anger.

Look, starting up a league is difficult. But nothing can fly without transparency. And there hasn't been any transparency with the IBL.

Now what about the IPBL? These guys are really tight-lipped as well. Why the secrecy? And why do they keep their webpage on some finance company’s website?

It's on the business site of the IPBL’s organizer, Jeff Rosen, and he didn't bother to create a separate Web site for the league. Greed is not part of this equation, because everyone knows it will take years to turn a profit. Arrogance? Maybe arrogance, from someone so rich he thought he could just dial up a new league, someone trying to show up Baras on how it can be done—and somebody who can’t—or won't-- get somebody’s name right. He’s learned that money can buy a lot of things, but not necessarily a baseball league in Israel. He has a lot to learn if he wants to attempt it again next summer.

I know he doesn’t like to answer questions. But it sounds like he got your goat.

It's my name. It's all I've got. Elli. Wohlgelernter. And when I have to correct someone three times, I don’t care who he is, he can go take a flying—

We get it.

Hey, I expect to be respected on that issue. Like I said, If I was a million dollar investor in the IPBL, I guaran-eefin-tee he’d know how my name is spelled.

And how was your trip to the States?

Wonderful. And successful. It was great to drive around America, listening to Sirius radio—

We won’t pay for radio.

I know, but it came with the rental car. It’s great. And I got to explain Israel to the American Jewish community, especially the kids on campus who are woefully ignorant of the situation here. And I got to go to see a lot of baseball games.

So is this story over?

Baseball in Israel? It’s only beginning.

I told you it was a book.

Now I'm starting to believe you. Talk to you later.

--click--