Israeli Baseball: Oy, boy! Here we go again!

This just in-- something to knock Gaza off the front page:

ISRAEL ASSOCIATION OF BASEBALL ANNOUNCES
NEW PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL INITIATIVE

Tel Aviv, January 20, 2009 – The Israel Association of Baseball (IAB) has announced that it has entered into exclusive negotiations with a group of prominent North American sportsmen who are planning the development of a new professional baseball league in Israel.

The group, which will operate under an American company formed for the purpose of developing the professional baseball initiative, is headed by Marv Goldklang, a part owner of the New York Yankees and principal owner of four minor league professional baseball teams in the United States, Jeff Rosen, owner of the Maccabi Haifa Heat Professional Basketball Club of the Israeli Premier League and Chairman of Triangle Financial Services, and other prominent individuals involved in Major League Baseball and other sports endeavors.

The initial agreement, in the form of an exclusive option covering not less than one, nor more than two years, would permit the group to conduct due diligence regarding both marketing and facility objectives to determine the long-term economic viability of a professional baseball league. As part of the arrangement, the group also would provide financial and other support for the Israeli and international amateur baseball programs operated by the IAB.

The IAB operates under the authority of the Israel Ministry of Science, Culture Sport, which supports this new initiative to establish a viable professional baseball league in the country.

“The IAB is very excited about working with Marv Goldklang and his partners,” said Haim Katz, IAB Chairman. “Marv has over 25 years of experience with Major League-affiliated professional baseball leagues, and with independent professional leagues as well. We feel the concepts that he promotes in sports, including unique entertainment features designed to appeal even to non-baseball fans, can revolutionize not only baseball in Israel, but other sports as well. Jeff Rosen, a prominent American businessman, is committed to promoting sports in Israel and has a proven record of success by taking the Maccabi Heat basketball team in just one year from the doldrums of the lower league to prime time recognition in the Israel premier basketball league.”

Professional baseball was attempted during the summer of 2007 by an organization known as the Israel Baseball League (IBL), with six teams sharing three fields and completing a 46 game schedule. The IBL was not a financial success, and was unable continue its baseball operations.

“The IAB has learned many lessons from its experience with the IBL and our decision to move forward with this new group was not taken lightly,” said Katz. “We feel this group is composed of high caliber, professional, experienced and very reputable individuals. They are not spending other people’s money but investing their own at this point and performing all the necessary groundwork required to protect their potential investment and develop a viable structure for professional baseball in Israel. We have no doubt that there is no better group to carry out this task and we look forward to building baseball in Israel with them.”

The North American group hopes to establish a fully staffed professional baseball league in the next one or two years, depending on the results of its efforts during the initial agreement which, as noted, would include development of strategies designed to create additional and improved baseball facilities appropriate for the game at the professional level.

Baseball has long been called America’s “National Pastime,” and is now played in more than 110 nations, according to the International Baseball Federation. It has been an Olympic sport and will hold the second World Baseball Classic this year, with 16 nations competing.

About the IAB
The IAB is a non-profit organization (amutah) duly registered as such with the Israeli Authorities, with the purpose of promoting baseball in Israel. It is recognized as the governing body of baseball in Israel by all the official Israeli sports bodies, including the Ministry of Science, Culture and Sport; the Israel Sports Gambling Commission; the Israeli Olympic Committee; Otzma; and by International Baseball Association (IBAF) and the Confederation of European of Baseball (CEB).

EXCLUSIVE: RIVAL ISRAEL BASEBALL LEAGUE MOVES FORWARD: ANNOUNCES WEBSITE; UNVEILS LOGO; CALLS ITSELF "PREMIER LEAGUE IN ISRAEL"!

What was first reported exclusively on Tabloid Baby is now official: a second professional baseball league in Israel has been formally launched.

Our Man Elli got his hands on this release from the backers of the proposed Israel Professional Baseball League, announcing six teams for a season in the summer of 2008, going up directly against the Israel Baseball League, which announced its second season just last week:


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TRIANGLE FINANCIAL SERVICES LAUNCHES
NEW ISRAEL PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUE
INFORMATIONAL WEBSITE

AVENTURA, FL., December 4, 2007- Triangle Financial Services, a sports and entertainment investment firm, announced today the launch of the Israel Professional Baseball League (IPBL) informational website ( http://www.trianglefs.com/ipbl.html). The IPBL is the second professional baseball league in the Middle East and will be the premier professional baseball league in the land of Israel. The IPBL will be a six-team league that will begin play in the summer of 2008. The IPBL is a separate league from the Israel Baseball League.

ABOUT TRIANGLE FINANCIAL SERVICES Triangle Financial Services, a sports and entertainment investment firm, has a diverse portfolio of international sports enterprises. The recent acquisition of the Maccabi Haifa professional basketball team in Israel along with the sponsorship of the Dragonflies, a semi-professional baseball team in Hong Kong, China, represents Triangle's continued effort to invest in emerging international sports ventures. For more information on Triangle Financial Services, please visit www.trianglefs.com.

The league's webpage seeks players, contributors and personnel.

The IPBL was first announced last month, the week that the IBL's commissioner and advisory board went running for the hills because of financial problems and questions surrounding league founder Larry Baras-- also reported exclusively here.

Regarding this recent development, Our Man Elli had this comment: "Let the bean-ball war begin!"

(Heading up the new league are Jeffrey Rosen, a major IBL investor and owner of the Maccabi Haifa basketball team; Andrew Wilson, a facilitator on the ground for the IBL who now works for Rosen; Alan Gardner, a New York City attorney who played centerfield for the Beit Shemesh Blue Sox; and Michael Rollhaus, a businessman from Queens and major IBL investor.)

EXCLUSIVE! ISRAELI BASEBALL LEAGUE REBELLION! PLAYERS ANNOUNCE FORMATION OF NEW LEAGUE FOR 2008!

"...Financing is being obtained and will be in place
well in advance to insure that payrolls and other
expenses incurred are paid. To the extent that
there is a manner in which the league can be
bonded in Israel, it will be, in good faith, to show
everyone that we truly mean business..."


"The NEW Israel Professional Baseball League
will establish a first class reputation with
its players, managers, coaches, staff, vendors
and fans in Israel and around the world..."

An alternative baseball league is being proposed to replace Larry Baras' Israel Baseball League for 2008, as outlined in the following letter under the letter head of Triangle Financial Services LLC of Aventura, Florida and signed by IBL players Andrew Wilson and Alan Gardner, Bet Shemesh Blue Sox general manager and IBL investor Michael Rollhaus and investor Jeffrey Rosen, has been sent to Israel Baseball League players:

November 18, 2007

Dear Players:

As you know, there has been much turmoil following the inaugural season of professional baseball in Israel. This letter is intended to let everyone know loud and clear that baseball will continue in Israel, albeit under an infusion of new blood at the top. The new group has the funding and understanding of all the problems and concerns that occurred last year. The group is currently structuring the new organization and will be making a formal announcement ASAP.

The New Leadership is excited about taking on the business of promoting baseball in Israel in a serious manner. It is 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. Financing is being obtained and will be in place well in advance to insure that payrolls and other expenses incurred are paid. To the extent that there is a manner in which the league can be bonded in Israel, it will be, in good faith, to show everyone that we truly mean business. The NEW Israel Professional Baseball League will establish a first class reputation with its players, managers, coaches, staff, vendors and fans in Israel and around the world.

Please email us at ipbl@trianglefs.com to establish your interest in returning as a player, coach or in some other capacity with the league, noting in what capacity or capacities you would like to return.

The original leadership must be recognized for its vision in seeing a place for baseball in the desert land that is Israel. Unfortunately, as many of you already have experienced, there were many missteps, mistakes and misfortunes that have made it impossible for the original management to meaningfully continue to lead the way for baseball to take root and thrive in Israel.

Thursday’s announced resignations of Daniel Kurtzer and many other key advisors to the league, follow a 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. Hence, a new day has dawned on professional baseball in Israel and we look forward to welcoming you aboard.

Please be in touch and stay tuned. We look forward to having as many of you on board as possible as we take baseball to a new level in the land of milk and honey.

Play ball,

Jeffrey Rosen
Andrew Wilson
Alan Gardner
Michael Rollhaus

The Jerusalem Post finally reports that there will be no professional baseball in Israel this summer--- WE REPORTED THE NEWS ON APRIL 14th!

Readers of this site are better informed about the state of professional basebal in Israel than readers of the hometown Jerusalem Post. Thanks to the tenacious reportage of Our Man Elli in Israel, we reported definitively on April 14th that there would be no professional baseball in Israel in 2008 from either the disgraced Israel Baseball League or the fantasy Israel Professional League. And we've been following up ever since. The Post didn't get around to reporting our scoop until today. And no, they didn't give us any credit. And no, neither Baras of the IBL nor Rosen of the IPBL have done that baseball mitzah we'd offered.

Here's the late, unsourced Post story:

May 29, 2008
IBL: Israel Baseball League strikes out after one year

By ALEX BRITTEL

The much-hyped Israel Baseball League, which was slated to begin its second season June 22, has been cancelled for 2008 and its future is in jeopardy, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

"There will be no league in 2008," Haim Katz, president of the Israel Association of Baseball, told the Post on Thursday. According to Katz, the league's problems stemmed largely from a number of Israeli creditors who, he said, had not been paid by the IBL.

"2008 is not happening, 2009 we're working on. Right now it's [nearly] the first of June, and there's no preparation. But there are many parties interested in reviving professional baseball [in Israel]."

The six-team IBL was founded by Boston-based businessman Larry Baras, and started play in the summer of 2007, featuring Jewish and foreign players selected by personnel director Dan Duquette, the former general manager of the Boston Red Sox. Baras could not be reached for comment.

Its 10-week debut season in the summer of 2007 brought much fanfare but few fans, the great portion of whom were American olim or groups of Anglo youngsters in Israel for the summer.

It was marred by financial and organizational problems - from missed player payments to games cancelled early because of inadequate lighting.

Former New York Yankees pitcher Ken Holzman quit managing the Petah Tikvah Pioneers with one week left in the season, unhappy with the league.

Ten members of the team's advisory board, including former US Ambassador to Israel turned IBL commissioner Daniel C. Kurtzer and Yankees President Randy Levine, resigned in November, citing disappointment with the league's business operations. The IAB is authorized by the Ministry of Science, Culture and Sports to grant licenses for professional baseball in Israel, in addition to coordinating amateur and international play.

Another startup, the Israel Professional Baseball League, headed by Maccabi Haifa basketball team owner Jeffrey Rosen, a former investor in the IBL, was expected to begin play this year. But, like the IBL, the IPBL is now also looking to 2009.

Martin Berger, president and COO of the IBL, said despite the IAB comments, he still had hope for a second season this year.

"[The IAB] created an issue, we hope we have resolved that issue," Berger said. "We don't think we've breached any agreements, and we're moving forward in cooperation with the IAB."

"We are working hard to secure enough funding to make sure that any debts that we had from the first season are paid off, and that we have enough financial backing to move ahead. We really intend on having a second season, we're trying to be financially and fiscally responsible."

Tel Aviv Lightning manager Ami Baran said he had also heard of hopes for an abridged schedule, but that a decision had not yet been made.

The league's Web site gives no indication of a postponed or shortened season, and publicizes January tryouts in Miami, along with "future tryouts" in the Dominican Republic and Los Angeles.

One of the board members who resigned, Professor Andrew Zimbalist, said as far as he knew, "the league is dead."

"The main difficulty last year was that there wasn't sufficient work on the ground to prepare the terrain and to familiarize people with what was going to happen," said Zimbalist, a pioneer in the field of baseball economics.

"There needs to be a lot more marketing - to introduce a new sport into a country, you need to promote it, and it wasn't adequately promoted. Once it got started, the communication system between the league and the potential fan base was not in place.

"I think that there is a lot of momentum and lot of interest that was established, and there is no reason why there can't be a successful league here in the long run. It has to be managed better and prepared better."

While the country has a burgeoning youth program, and the Israeli national team will compete for entry to the 2009 World Baseball Classic, the market for professional baseball was not developed - nor, it seems, was it cultivated, said Marvin Goldklang, an owner of several minor league baseball franchises, and a minority stakeholder in the Yankees.

"One of the things that was missing last year was a serious due diligence effort, focusing on both market and facility related issues, to assess the economic viability of professional baseball in Israel," said Goldklang.

"I do believe there is a future, provided it is structured and marketed in a manner more likely to connect with the broader Israeli population, than was the case last summer."

We'll have complete reaction to the Post story in a bit. Stay tuned...

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…

"Would you be interested in sponsoring our professional basketball team?" Israel Professional Baseball League refuses sponsor; no ball in 2008

They’re not saying it’s over, and they may want us to think it ain’t over til it’s over, but because of what they’re not saying— and the way they’re not saying it-- it’s very clear that the Israel Professional Baseball League’s hopes for the summer of 2008 are definitely over.

Tabloid Baby has learned exclusively that despite recent player tryouts, sponsorship advertising and a wall of silence and stubborn obsfucation that rivals that of the Israel Baseball League from which it sprang, the corporate entity behind the IPBL is refusing offers of sponsorship and sending potential investors to the amateur Israel Association of Baseball-- and a basketball team!

The evidence comes from the publicists for our pals at Frozen Pictures, who are launching a worldwide publicity campaign for their film The Seventh Python.

“First of all, the reason I approached the IPBL is because they’re advertising for sponsors on their website,” says Sam Peters (right) of Good Story Productions, which does publicity for Frozen (Full Disclosure: Sam has also contributed to this site). “The production of the film and the great scandal of the IBL have progressed simultaneously and because of our web connections with TB, we thought it would be great fun to have Python sponsor an IPBL team.

"Think about it: The Petach Tikva Pythons, Bet Shemesh Bonzos, Ra’anana Rutles, Netanya Neils, Tel Aviv Ducks, Modi’in Idiots— I mean, imagine the team with a Duck logo-- or even Quacksie hats! Any one of those would get us ink around the globe.

“But when I wrote to the IPBL, I couldn’t get a straight answer. They refused to tell me whether or not they’ll play this summer. Then they tried to send me to their basketball team—until they finally referred me to the Israel Association of Baseball, who’ve offered us advertising on the Israel National Team.

Tabloid Baby has obtained the emails exclusively, charting Peters' correspondence with Andrew Wilson, the former IBL communications manager who’s now marketing representative for the IPBL.

After the initial exchange of emails in which Wilson was unclear about whether the IPBL would be in business this summer, Sam wrote:

“Chief among our priorities is having our sponsorship promoted on Israel ballfields this summer (we are promoting a film that will have a summer release). We understand that the Israel Baseball League is on a hiatus, so we had to pass there, but if your league will be playing this summer, we can move forward…”

Andrew Wilson replied:

“Hi Sam,

“Would you be interested in sponsoring our professional basketball team, Maccabi Haifa Heat? We are currently in the semi-finals of the playoffs and are packing Romema arena in Haifa. We are on our way to being promoted to the Premier League, the highest level of competition in Israel. The playoffs will be going on for another month (into June) in Israel.

“We have signage/banner opportunities, PA announcements, website banner advertisements. Haifa is the third largest city in Israel and our fans are supporting the team every home game. This would be an excellent way to promote the summer release of your movie…”

Sam replied:

“Andrew,

“All the opportunities you list would work out very well for our project, but the basketball milieu will not suit the summer, "take me out to the ballgame" image we seek. Need we sponsor an individual baseball team or can our film be a league sponsor-- with signage and banners through the season?

“Or should I take it from your reply that there will not be a baseball season? If that is the case, do you know if there is a semi-pro league in Jerusalem or among major cities?”

Andrew Wilson replied:

“Hi Sam,

“I do know some of some amateur baseball leagues in Israel that might be able promote your movie. I have copied Haim Katz and Peter Kurz both whom are in charge of the Israel Association of Baseball (IAB).

“Please be in touch with them regarding a possible baseball sponsorship opportunity.

“Best Regards,
Andrew Wilson
Marketing Representative
Triangle Financial Services, LLC”

Haim Katz of the IAB (Israel baseball’s governing body) responded within the hour, offering sponsorship opportunities with the Israel’s national team and junior teams.

The bottom line: The IPBL is finished—and in a very disappointing, disingenuous manner.

Back in November 2007, as financial questions, federal lawsuits and a bunker defense that saw its founder throw up the mattresses not only against the world but the ones who toiled so hard in his name toppled the nascent Israel Baseball League, the announcement that a group of IBL investors and players was forming a rival Israel Professional Baseball League seemed a breath of fresh air.

But in the months since, the nabobs connected with the league, from Miami millionaire Magnetix maven Jeff Rosen to player-attorney Alan Gardner, have been suprisingly secretive and arrogant about the state of their operation and their plans, despite tryouts that charged hopefuls $25 a head and a promise on its website that it would be “contacting players regarding their status by no later than the end of April” to let all potential players know whether they’d be called into action.

Rosen’s rude responses to Our Man Elli in Israel’s simple questions don’t reflect well on the IPBL’s future or intentions from its homebase far away in Miami.

In this case, their silence speaks volumes.

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...

Inside Baseball: Former editor's criticism of Israeli coverage triggers angry reply from Our Man Elli

A former Jerusalem Post sports editor’s criticism of the paper’s late but wide-reaching story on the Israel Baseball League and its offshoot rival’s failure to bring professional baseball to Israel in 2008 has led to an angry response from Our Man Elli in Israel, and opened a can of worms that dates back to his original exposé, first published on this website on August 28th, 2007.

Jay L. Abramoff , a former sports editor for the Post and Haaretz who is now a League Coordinator for American Football in Israel, has written a column in response to the Post article and accompanying opinion column, claiming the paper has little right to criticize the IBL because it did not assign a paid reporter to cover the league. He also disputes the contention that the league was a failure and insists that the IBL management has no reason to reveal its finances.

The piece was emailed to Tabloid Baby after it was sent to many other editors and journalists, as was a harsh rebuttal by Our Man Elli (who also received the unsolicited email).

Why? There’s a history to this dispute. It’s a sidebar that makes the IBL saga even richer. So read on, settle in, and enter a feud that gets very personal, yet gets to the heart of the story of professional baseball in Israel. Because both sides agree that in this case, the mainstream journalistic watchdogs dropped the ball:

All talk and no tachlis

By Jay L. Abramoff

This past week, The Jerusalem Post reported on the likelihood that the Israel Baseball League will not be back in 2008, and the current Sports Editor at the Post, Jeremy Last, in a separate piece, commented that it "was no big surprise considering the embarrassment of difficulties it faced" in its first season, the summer of 2007. Last concludes by recommending that the IBL model itself after the Israel Football League, the country's first tackle football league, which had also had its first season this past year.

Well, first and foremost, for anyone who actually went to the games, especially the hundreds if not thousands of children, Anglo or otherwise, the IBL was a huge success. Just ask them. Ask them how they went running after foul balls and home runs, and how they begged the players for their autographs. As far as I am concerned, this is the only indicator of whether the IBL management succeeded or not. While I myself enjoyed about 25 games, and will miss the IBL if it does not play this summer, I feel worse for these children.

Then again, The Jerusalem Post and Haaretz English Edition chose to publish game reports and other stories written by unpaid (and possibly unreimbursed) interns or the IBL itself, and then paid professional journalists, Wohlgelernter and Last, to write "color" and opinion pieces. Last summer, I was working for Haaretz, and on most nights I prepared the sports page, which meant that I worked closely with the IBL-- whose staff was itself mostly unpaid-- because while Haaretz wanted to cover the IBL on a next-morning basis, it did not pay anybody to provide those reports and/or photos. I actually was asked whether I would report on the 2007 championship game and make sure that the IBL sent in a photo the same night so it could be used in the next day's newspaper, but the newspaper was unwilling to pay me for the work. I have nothing against articles on politics, art, business, etc., but for sports, the local newspapers seem to think that the IBL and the local amateur scene can in essence cover themselves, and then reserve the right to publish harsh commentary.

Compared to the impressive international (mostly US) media coverage – a significant and overlooked achievement for the IBL - which, admittedly, focused on the novelty of an Israeli professional baseball league, and, as far as I can tell, did not follow up with reports of the alleged mismanagement, the local English newspapers focused and continue to focus their resources not on how the IBL provided and can provide a great "summer in the sun" for the Israeli fans and international players alike, but on the mistakes the IBL supposedly made - but which in any case were irrelevant to the true gauge of success of the league's first season.

I have my own list of things the IBL should do and its mistakes from my point of view, and I have mentioned these in conversations with IBL management, friends, softball teammates, and fellow fans.

Mr. Last, along with others, seem to think that the IBL promised a combination between Major League Baseball and the Israel soccer Premier League. Well, that is not what was promised and not what should have been expected.

The IBL, with support from MLB, was and is a semi-professional, developmental minor baseball league, of which there are many others around the world, and on top of that, a private "start-up" business, which does not have to release its financial results to the public. While I have not confirmed this, I am pretty sure that the Australian and Italian semi-pro baseball leagues, for example, do not average thousands of fans per game, which is what I am sure the IBL would like and what the critics expected for some unknown reason, but is simply unrealistic.

Finally and most embarrassing for Mr. Last, the IBL cannot use the amateur Israel Football League as a model for itself; the Israel Association of Baseball's senior league is the IFL-equivalent.

As I wrote for Haaretz last year - in a piece that I was not commissioned (meaning, paid) to write but did so in order to fill up the Anglo File Sports page the first week of the IBL season - the possibility of going out to the baseball (or softball) field to support a local team has existed here for a long time. And, while I appreciated the semi-professional level of play in the IBL, I also make it a point to bring a cooler of beer out to my softball games, stay afterwards to watch youth games and simply enjoy the atmosphere at the field on Kibbutz Gezer.

Elli Wohlgelernter responds in an email to Abramoff, Tabloid Baby, the editors of Haaretz and the sports department of The Jerusalem Post:

1) The Jerusalem Post did not first report last Friday "on the likelihood that the Israel Baseball League will not be back in 2008."

I reported it definitively on April 14; the Post took credit for an alleged "exclusive," which was then removed from the web site after it was pointed out to editor-in-chief David Horovitz that it was hardly an exclusive.

2) Ironic that Last should report about the league's failure in the story of last Friday-- "considering the embarrassment of difficulties it faced"-- when the Post to date has not reported any details of the difficulties themselves.

3) The column by Last contained not a single original thought or sentence that hasn't already been written many, many times.

4) "As far as I am concerned, this is the only indicator of whether the IBL management succeeded or not." That's as far as you're concerned, but it wouldn't be as far as the player who was almost killed because of league negligence, nor as concerns those who were not paid, including the players themselves, the league staff, vendors, umpires, the fields, and a television station that broadcast the games.

5) "…and then paid professional journalists, Wohlgelernter and Last, to write ‘color’ and opinion pieces."
a) My first name is Elli, I don’t go by simply a last name.
b) I never wrote a color or opinion piece, ever, on the Israel Baseball League

6) "…and, as far as I can tell, did not follow up with reports of the alleged mismanagement." The Jewish newspapers that ran my story after the season WERE following up with reports of mismanagement. And not “alleged,” I might add.

7) "The IBL, with support from MLB, was and is a semi-professional, developmental minor baseball league.” Incorrect. The IBL was a professional league, the same as any other Single-A league in the U.S. and other such leagues in the world

8) "… a private ‘start-up’ business, which does not have to release its financial results to the public…” Perhaps, but that will be determined when the current lawsuit by Blacher is heard in court. But certainly after huge debts have not been paid across the board, and after huge amounts of money was collected from investors, it is the business of journalists to ask why, and how much, not to whitewash the potential criminal behavior of Larry Baras. that is an embarrassment.

Why is Elli so outraged over Abramoff? As we said, there’s history here. Stay tuned here to see where Jay Abramoff figures into Our Man Elli's groundbreaking, historic coverage of the IBL.. and why he has Our Man so angry. The Israel baseball soap opera will continue...

Will there be Two Tribes of Israel Baseball in 2008? Our Man Elli provides some expert analysis

First Israel's baseball dream was a reality. Then it was in shambles. Now there may be too much baseball ahead in 2008! In wake of this morning's announcement that the Israel Professional Baseball League is moving forward to replace the Israel Baseball League in the hearts of Israelis (and a polite "no comment yet" from IPBL honchos), we asked Our Man Elli in Israel to sort it out for us.

Tabloid Baby: So Elli, is there room for two leagues in Israel?

Our Man Elli: You're asking me? So far, we still don't know if there's room for one league in Israel. The IBL's first season wasn't marketed to Israelis, so no Israelis showed up. No professional league can survive here unless it is run professionally. But in answer to your specific question: No. I don't think there's room in Israel for two professional baseball leagues.

Do you know what cities the Israel Professional Baseball League plans to represent?

Look, this isn't the States. It's not even Anaheim. The names of the cities on the front of the Israeli uniforms are really immaterial, because the teams don't play in those cities anyway. The IBL picked cities because of their sizes and sizeable Anglo populations. I don't like to assume, but it's probable that the IPBLwill choose similar names for the same reasons. Though there are certainly some nicely-named cities with Anglo populations that could be included-- like Rehovot and Tzfat.

Tzfat.

No. "Tzfat."

Where will the IBL play?

At the moment, there are only the two fields used last summer that are even playable. Those are Gezer and Baptist Village. I mean, it's possible they could convert some soccer fields in the next six months. But it's getting late.

The IPBL announced its season today. Are they really looking to merge with the IBL?

No. Not now they're not. There's no love lost between the two league organizers. but a lot could happen between now and June.

The Hatfields and the Mc-Oys.

Funny. (not laughing) Right now, the people behind the two leagues won't be working together. But, should there be changes within either league's heirachy, anything can happen.

Do two leagues mean there'll be a bidding war or players?

No. The least problem of all the problems any league faces is where to get players. There's no shortage of baseball talent out there. There are outstanding players from around the world, who'd be ecstatic to play in Israel. As we saw last summer. There are players who'd be ecstatic to play in Israel even if they didnt get paid! As we saw last summer.

What about commissioners?

Again, no problem. Neither will get a high-calibre name like Dan Kurtzer to run their league, because there aren't too many former US ambassadors waiting to run a baseball league. But there are certainly competent people in Israel who can be a commissioner of baseball here.

How about Ell--

Don't start.

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?

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.

ISRAEL BASEBALL LEAGUE COMMISSIONER QUITS! BOARD MEMBERS FOLLOW! FINANCIAL, BUSINESS QUESTIONS CITED! OUR MAN ELLI VINDICATED!

"...the resigning members 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."

After months of controversy that erupted after a sound, journalistic report by Our Man Elli in Israel (the great journalist Elli Wohlgelernter) that was first published here, and days after Tabloid Baby revealed the details of a federal lawsuit that accused Israel Baseball League founder Larry Baras of fraud in using funds from a failing food company to start up the league, the IBL commissioner Daniel Kurtzer, the former US Ambassador to Israel, has sensationally resigned from the league, and board members-- including New York Yankee-connected PR maven Marty Appel-- also are running from the stink as fast as they can.

Appel himself put out the news release that leaves the future of the Israel Baseball League in serious doubt:

Daniel C. Kurtzer Resigns As Commissioner
of Israel Baseball League;
A Number of Advisory Board Members Also Depart

New York, November 15, 2007: Daniel C. Kurtzer, who served as Commissioner of the Israel Baseball League during its first season, has submitted his resignation to the league's founder, Larry Baras.

In addition, a number of members of the Advisory Board have also resigned, including Martin Abramowitz, Marty Appel, Jeff Goldklang, Marvin Goldklang, Dr. Stuart Hershon, Randy Levine, Gary Rosen, Bob Ruxin, and Andrew Zimbalist, along with others. In addition to serving as advisors, Mr. Rosen handled league marketing, Mr. Abramowitz produced the league's baseball cards, Mr. Ruxin managed ticketing/merchandising and Mr. Appel handled public relations.

In their individual resignation statements, the resigning members noted the historic accomplishment of bringing baseball to the Middle East, completing a full schedule of games, and developing several players who went on to sign pro contracts in the US. The individuals also commended Mr. Baras for having the vision to bring professional baseball to the Israeli people.

However, the resigning members 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.

All the members felt that the concept of professional baseball in Israel was a noble cause and a workable concept.

(The statements above are not direct quotations and are not attributable to any individual member named in this release. They are meant to provide a summary of the common theme found in the individual statements of resignation. Several advisors did not submit letters of resignation but requested that their names be removed from the Advisory Board).

Kurtzer had previously served as U.S. Ambassador to Egypt and then to Israel.

Contact: Marty Appel Public Relations ( Appelpr@aol.com)

Baseball in Israel: You don't have to be Jewish...

So will there be professional baseball in Israel next summer? With backers of the Israel Baseball League claiming that he postseason scandal is much ado about nothing (while its embattled founder, Boston bagel-stuffing baron Larry Baras remaining mysteriously mum), a renegade cell of players, employees and investors breaking off to start up the Israel Professional Baseball League (nice dig), Our Man Elli on the case (and potentially the country's new baseball commissioner), and the international battle being waged in the comments section of this unlikely playing field of Tabloidbaby.com (which is always days ahead of the "mainstream" media who won't give us or Elli Wohlgelernter credit for carrying their water), the prospect seems likely, if not in 2008, then certainly the following summer.

And you don't have to be Jewish to love the idea of baseball in Israel. Fabian Armenta, who blogs as Javelin13 on a site called A Goy in Israel, is a southern Californian who pitched for the Netanya Tigers. He lived through the season. He's owed money. He's being charged bank fees. He got screwed over. He can't wait to go through it again, as he posts today:

In the last couple of weeks many things have come to light for many people regarding the Israel Baseball League, its future, and many things that have gone on/are still going on regarding the finances of the league. All this has been talked about on various sites but mostly on one site called tabloid baby. Many things have been said, most of them appear to be true. Its hard to say what is and what isn't because many of the posters have done so anonymously.

One thing I do know for sure is that money is still owed to players, including myself. My last paycheck bounced two times already and I have been charged $170 in bank fees due to the multiple times my paycheck bounced. It is now three months after the last game of the inaugural season and I still haven't been paid my last paycheck.

Another thing that is for certain now is that there is an attempt to start a new league to compete with the IBL. All of this has been reported already in the site I mentioned before. The new league is going to be called the Israel Professional Baseball League. It is being started by people involved with the IBL in its first season and someone already involved in professional basketball in Israel.

I hope all of this gets worked out soon though. I just want to get back to playing ball in Israel. I fell in love with Israel this summer and can't wait to return. People seem to think that you need to be Jewish to love Israel, but that is not true. I was there two months and I fell in love with it. My mother wishes to come out to Israel if I do indeed return. She has long wanted to see the city of Jerusalem. I just want to get back there get to play lots of baseball, have some shwarma, some chicken with hummus in a pita, and see the ladies of Israel. Another thing that I am surprised that I do miss is the kids in the crowd saying "Give me ball... give me ball please."

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.

The full AP story on the Israel Baseball League's announcement that it plans to stage a four-team, three-week, 20-game "season" this summer

"'The goal of having a
three-week season this summer
is to keep the momentum going'..."

"League officials said they were already
in the process of paying the bills..."

"An official at Channel 5 TV,
which broadcast the games last year,
said the station still had not been paid
its sizable debt owed by the league
and has not been contacted
by the new management..."

"The league said its long-term goal is
to sell its teams to individual owners..."

"The league... has added... Gary Woolf,
a Boston businessman who formerly
headed the sports management agency
founded by his late father, superagent Bob Woolf..."

"Baras, the league founder, is not expected
to be involved in day to day operations..."

Israel baseball league
says it will return
after tumultuous
first season

By JOSEF FEDERMAN (Associated Press Writer)

JERUSALEM - Israel's professional baseball league on Thursday announced that it is coming back for a second season after a tumultuous inaugural campaign that left it on the brink of collapse.

The Israel Baseball League said it would begin play on July 27, about a month behind its original schedule and in abbreviated form. The league will consist of four teams, down from six last year, and the length of the season is being cut in half to 20 games.

Still, simply returning to the ball field is an accomplishment for the fledgling league, which suffered from low attendance, financial difficulties and a mass defection of executive board members last year.

"While it is important to acknowledge, correct and learn from the mistakes that happened in year one, at the same time, we cannot lose sight of the incredible accomplishments that were attained in a short period of time," said Dan Rootenberg, a former player who is the league's new president.

"The goal of having a three-week season this summer is to keep the momentum going, build on the fan base that was created last summer ... and bring back the high level of talent," he said. "We hope that all of this will lay the groundwork for a 45-game-season in 2009 and beyond."

In a statement, the league said it has received financial backing from a group of Boston businessman to pay off its remaining debts, including some unpaid player salaries, and provide funds for future play.

The league was founded by Larry Baras, a Boston bagel maker with a love for baseball and Israel.

His dream was to introduce the great American pastime to the Holy Land, attract youngsters to the sport and eventually develop a stable of high-level local players. He gathered a high-powered lineup of U.S. businessmen, baseball executives and Jewish former major leaguers to help.

The biggest challenge to the league was generating fan interest. With its slow pace and complicated rules, baseball is little more than a curiosity to most Israelis, who prefer soccer and basketball.

After its Opening Day game attracted several thousand fans, attendance quickly dropped. Most fans were American expatriates, and despite a family-friendly atmosphere modeled on U.S. minor league baseball, turnout at some games was only a few dozen people.

The league ran up a six-figure deficit, a manager quit during the season, players nearly went on strike when they weren't paid on time and a TV deal collapsed due to financial difficulties. After the season, a string of board members, including the commissioner, resigned amid questions about league finances. The troubles fueled persistent rumors that the league would fold.

But the league also enjoyed many successes on the field. The quality of play was high, thanks to the large number of U.S. and Latin American players with college and minor-league experience. There was a loyal fan base, and 14 athletes went on to sign professional contracts, several with affiliates of big league clubs.

Almost all of the 120 players were foreigners who lived in dormitory-style accommodations. About a dozen players were Israeli.

Dan Duquette, the former Red Sox general manager who is the league's director of player development, said the 2008 rosters would include many players from last year and others picked up from tryout camps held in the U.S. during the off season.

He said the league plans to work "on a grass roots level, which if properly cultivated should help us become a viable international professional league."

Duquette has said he hoped to help Israel field a team for the 2009 World Baseball Classic. In an e-mail interview, he said the classic remains a goal, though Israel may not be ready for next year's tournament.

While the league has lost many key executives, it also has added some new faces. They include Gary Woolf, a Boston businessman who formerly headed the sports management agency founded by his late father, superagent Bob Woolf.

Woolf, who now runs a consulting firm, said he hoped to help the league grow by attracting sponsors, seeking media partners, and strengthening ties with U.S. Major League Baseball and local Israeli officials.

"We have to figure out how to go beyond the initial seed, how to bring attention from around the world to this league," he said.

League officials said they were already in the process of paying the bills.

An official at Channel 5 TV, which broadcast the games last year, said the station still had not been paid its sizable debt owed by the league and has not been contacted by the new management. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he expects negotiations to begin soon, said he hoped to settle the debt and be involved with Israeli baseball again.

The league said its long-term goal is to sell its teams to individual owners. Baras, the league founder, is not expected to be involved in day to day operations.