We apologize humbly to sports editor Jeremy Last

Jeremy Last
Jerusalem Post Sports editor
June 1, 2007 - August 6, 2008?

Jeremy Last has emailed again, this time complain that we haven't given him his due as sports editor of the Jerusalem Post. The man who wrote on his public blog that Post executives were "disgusting, appallingly run cheapskates who threatened him with Sopranos-like tactics (before hastily deleting the entry after our post yesterday) was originally upset becuse we speculated that he and other Jerusalem Post "reporters" relied on the work of Our Man Elli in Israel that has appeared on this site and our voluminous Baseball in Israel archive site for their infrequent and late reports on the international scandal of the Israel Baseball League in their bailywick.

Now however, Jeremy is upset, rightfully so, that we identified him as a Jerusalem Post "sports columnist" (though he did come to our attention for columns he's written) and not "Sports Editor... since June 1, 2007."

For that, offer our sincere and humble apologies.

We didn't realize that Jeremy is the one to blame for the Post's missing out on Israel's biggest sport story since Munich! It's Jeremy, not some anonymous editor who decided, as Jeremy wrote to us, to ignore the IBL story because "we haven't had the resources to do so and it is a nightmare getting hold of anyone involved in the IBL anyway."

Haven't had the resources? Does your paper not have a business reporter? A crime reporter?

Reassign the hacky sack correspondent!

Jeremy's excuse that his sports department didn't cover the IBL story because it was "a nightmare getting hold of anyone" would be a fireable offense in our journalistic world.

And to admit that he did not do the most basic elementary legwork in the 21st century-- a simple Google search-- should be a fireable offense on any mainstream newspaper.

Again: Sorry, Jeremy Last, Sports Editor of The Jerusalem Post since June 1, 2007.

And because you dont want us to use your publicly-posted photos available to anyone doing an, ahem, Google search, we'll use the next closest thing, since most every photo we've found has you with a drink in your hand.

Here are Jeremy's latest comments on our companion site:

"Its amazing how you do your best to make other people look silly without accepting your own mistakes.

"Perhaps its simply a time for a little humility.

"First, please stop calling me 'Jerusalem Post columnist'. I am the Sports Editor of the newspaper, and have been since June 1, 2007.

"Secondly, just accept that I and no one at the newspaper had read your web site before we wrote the stories that you claim had been copied from your web site.

"i know its hard for you to believe, but it is, in fact, the truth.

"Secondly, I never gave you permission to use my photos from facebook or my blog, so please remove them.

"cheers,

"jeremy"

Columnist Jeremy Last says Jerusalem Post ignored IBL because it's "a nightmare getting hold of anyone"; called his bosses "disgusting cheapskates"

The Last shall be first! At least in the Tabloid Baby baseball complaint department!

Jerusalem Post sports columnist Jeremy Last couldn’t find a lot of time to write about the monumental wide-raging, ever-expanding international sports scandal outside his office window, but he’s sure taking a lot of time to defend himself on this little site.

A couple of weeks ago, Jeremy wrote a comment on our Baseball in Israel archive site to deny that he or his paper have taken advantage of our voluminous archives and reportage from Our Man Elli in Israel:

“stop printing lies about the jerusalem post… the post sports writers and editors did their own leg work and had never seen this web site when they investigated the league back in june before your man elli called up to complain…”

Now, after we posted an item about his complaint on June 25th, Jeremy’s back, this time to admit that his paper had posted an unvetted Associated Press report on its website: “the web site uploaded the ap story about the shortened season without asking me and when i saw it it was taken down because it clearly contradicted our story…”

The punctuation-impaired columnist goes even further in defending himself and his paper against accusations we haven’t even known about until he brought them up:

“hi

"it was indeed a great sombrero, thanks. and nice of you to include apic of adriana, my fiance, on the web site.

"so, to confirm, the post never printed any AP story without confirming the details until the last one about the exhibition games.

"the web site uploaded the ap story about the shortened season without asking me and when i saw it it was taken down because it clearly contradicted our story from the end of may which exclusively confirmed that the ibl will definitely not be hapening.

"this story - Israel Baseball League strikes out after one year: was where we definitively proved there will not be league this year.

"the tabloid baby story simply of april did not quote anyone, just had 'sources' saying it.

“we had haim katz.

“in terms of 'leg work' if you read that story above you will see that alex spoke to all the relevant people himself rather than taking any information from this web site.

“we also published a number of features criticizing the ibl during the season last summer.

“the same day that alex's article was published i titled my weekly column 'The inevitable failures of the IBL'

“tabloid baby then claimed i had taken my information from its web site when in fact i had never even heard of the web site until the week after when ellie (editor's note: It's "Elli," doucheberry) rang the paper complaining.

"i admit the post has not been following the ibl problems since the end of last season as closely as this blog, but we havent had the resources to do so and it is a nightmare getting hold of anyone involved in the ibl anyway.

"thanks

"jeremy"

Oddly, for one who defends the Jerusalem Post, Jeremy warbled quite a different tune three years ago. Posting an item entitled, “Time to EXPOSE the JERUSALEM POST”, on his blog, Jeremy’s Life in Israel Continues, on May 1, 2005, the writer accused his employers of the same malfeasance the IBL is accused of!

“I've waited this long but it has now become a joke. I've decided i am going to have to publicly expose the Jerusalem Post for the disgusting, appallingly run cheapskates that they are:

“It has been 5 months since i wrote a story for the paper and i still havent been paid. their excuses and the way i have been treated is not only appalling, it is embarrasing for a newspaper of its (supposed) stature.

“When i finally recieved a cheque from them in march (I wrote the story in October) and my dad paid it into my natwest account it was returned unpaid as it was not signed and I have been charged for their mismanagement and mistreatment of employees…”

Details follow here.

Jerusalem Post's Jeremy Last to Tabloid Baby: "Stop lying and libeling us to the world! We never stole your stories!"

Perhaps jealous that freelancer Elli Wohlgelernter was called in to write the definitive Israel Baseball League story at the paper at which he’s employed, perhaps worried about his job, or perhaps even actually, rightfully outraged, Jeremy Last, sports columnist for the Jerusalem Post, writes the comments section of our Baseball in Israel to call us liars and deny that his paper, which is often “last” in covering the international baseball scandal it its own backyard, has taken advantage of our voluminous reportage or the work of Our Man Elli In Israel in its wrap-up, opinion pieces and press release rewrites that are picked up around the world.

We’ve laid out our evidence and complaints here and elsewhere.

Here’s what Jeremy Last has to say:

“If you read these comments can you please take notice, and stop printing lies about the jerusalem post.

 you have this idea that the post sports section took ‘advantage of our documented coverage and expounding upon it without attribution.’ 

This is a LIE. the post sports writers and editors did their own leg work and had never seen this web site when they investigated the league back in june before your man elli called up to complain.

 Why do you lot think everyone knows about your blog. stop libeling the post and telling people around the world that the sports section stole things from your website when it is completely untrue.”

"Stop printing lies?" Hmmm... could that be considered libelous?

Comments?

Exclusive! Our Man Elli writes definitive piece on Israel Baseball for The Jerusalem Post, but we have the passage that the editors left out!

"...An ugly and angry battle was waged via comments posted on the Tabloid Baby site. That blog became the unlikely forum for information and debate surrounding the dream of professional baseball in Israel, with more than 250 posts about baseball in Israel, and more than 1,400 mostly anonymous comments posted by players and fans..."

--deleted section from Elli Wohlgelernter's
Jerusalem Post article

Elli Wohlgelernter, The Dean of Israel Baseball League reporting-- heck, he's the whole g-ddamn university!-- has broken just about every major development in the story, from its opening day to the scandals that followed its final out through the financial questions, defections, deflections and deceptions all the way to its latest, almost comically bizarre manifestation, headed by a second controversial Boston businessman who's already broken promises in the creation of his new Dominican Republic of The Middle East Baseball League.

And occasionally, Elli breaks the news in internationally respected mainstream publications, as he does this morning with a major feature in The Jerusalem Post.

Field of Failed Dreams brings the IBL saga up to date from the final out of the 2007 season and seeing all the facts in one place should give pause to any critics of Elli's great reportage:

"It's not that playing baseball in Israel is so important, when there are real bombs bursting in air and real rockets' red glare; it's just that the idea was so novel, the vision so grand, the imagination so captured and emotions so impassioned that few believed it could ever happen. And then, amazingly, it did. And then, sadly, it died.

"The dream actually started to unravel just minutes after the maiden season ended last August 19: After the Beit Shemesh Blue Sox won the Israel Baseball League championship game, Commissioner Dan Kurtzer and the league brass presented them with the championship trophy. Missing from the ceremony was the league founder, Larry Baras. He had slipped out in the middle of the game..."

We've discovered that editors at the internationally-circulated newspaper, however, did remove several graphs from Elli's submission, most likely because we have criticized the Post, and other "mainstream" outlets for taking advantage of our documented coverage and expounding upon it without attribution:

"The IBL players themselves were divided over whose side to take. An ugly and angry battle was waged via comments posted on the Tabloid Baby site. That blog became the unlikely forum for information and debate surrounding the dream of professional baseball in Israel, with more than 250 posts about baseball in Israel, and more than 1,400 mostly anonymous comments posted by players and fans.

"Being anonymous, of course, meant nothing was out of bounds for the commentators, and charges and countercharges were hurled in both directions. Some called the upstart IPBL 'carpetbaggers, parasites and ambulance-chasers feeding off the carcass of the IBL'; on the other side were players demanding to know when they would finally get paid by the IBL, and questioning what happened to all the money that was raised. Others were asking why Baras had registered at least six limited liability corporations for the league in Delaware."

And this:

"On April 14, Tabloid Baby reported that there would be no baseball in Israel in 2008."

Why? Not enough space?

WHAT'S GOING ON HERE? JERUSALEM POST ON VERGE OF RETRACTING ISRAEL BASEBALL LEAGUE STORY! AGAIN, THEY SEEM TO COPY OUR REPORTING WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION!

The Jerusalem Post, which sparked a worldwide sports frenzy this morning when it copied an Associated Press press release claiming that the Israel Baseball League was promising a second, truncated mini-season beginning July 27th, is now backtracking after doing some reporting to back up its story.

We were the first to question the story.

And Our Man Elli was the first to get confirmation that the nation's sports governing body had not given the league certification to allow it to do business in Israel.

Now, once again, The Jerusalem Post appears to follow our lead:




IBL still not granted permission to return

BY ALEX BRITELL

Sources at the Israel Association of Baseball said Thursday that no permission has been granted for a second season of the Israel Baseball League, despite the emergence of reports that the IBL has been resurrected by a new management team.

In a story carried by the Associated Press on Thursday it was announced that the IBL "would begin play on July 27, about a month behind its original schedule and in abbreviated form."

The AP report stated that the abridged season would run for three weeks rather than last year's inaugural 10-week season and would feature four teams in place of last year's six.

Former Netanya Tigers player Dan Rootenberg was reported to be the new president of the IBL, apparently replacing Martin Berger.

However, the IAB, which is authorized by the Ministry of Science, Culture and Sports to grant licenses for professional baseball in Israel, said there has been no change in the situation reported in The Jerusalem Post last month.

On May 29 IAB president Haim Katz told the Post "There will be no league in 2008," adding, "2008 is not happening, 2009 we're working on."

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.

Thursday's news coincided with the premiere of a documentary, "Holy Land Hardball," chronicling the IBL's first year, in the US.

Read the full story here.

Then go back and read ours.

More to come.

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...

STOP THE PRESSES! Jerusalem Post responds to our protest; removes references to "exclusivity" from Israel baseball story; No, they didn't credit us

In a perhaps unprecedented move, the Jerusalem Post has removed all mentions of exclusivity from its online story about the cancellation of the Israel Baseball League and Israel professional Baseball League's 2008 seasons, after Our Man Elli in Israel pointed out to the Post editor David Horovitz that TabloidBaby.com had reported the news on April 14th, and that the Post's reportage in the story and accompanying column were taken from TabloidBaby.com's comprehensive coverage.

The Post's lead graph originally read:

"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."

It now reads:

"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."

As you'll recall, we reacted in outrage on Thursday and Friday, after the Post deigned to finally cover the story that had been shifting in leaps and bounds in its own backyard for close to a year, making no mention of Elli Wohlgelernter's legwork, reporting and exclusive after exclusive in the saga that brings in baseball, business, billionaires, securities fraud, U.S. ambassadors, misappropriation of funds, beaned players, Nixonian cover-ups and whispering campaigns, name-calling, threats, competitive eating, cream cheese-filled bagels and killer toys all under one roof.

"Hey, the people at the Post are stand-up guys, especially David Horovitz," says Elli. "I phoned him to relay my concerns. He listened to what I had to say and he responded like that demonstrated what a professional and ethical journalist he is."

Although the Jerusalem Post did not add a line acknowledging Tabloid Baby's singlehanded coverage of the Israel baseball debacle over the past ten months, we didn't expect it. At least they didn't stonewall us like the Chicago Tribune did after That Putz Greenberg plagiarized us.

A tip of the Tabloid Baby hat to the Jerusalem Post!

Jerusalem Post's editor-blogger: "No Israel baseball book, but I may pen follow-up story for the Post"

Jerusalem Post writer and editor Sam Ser says he’s not planning a book about the rise and fall of the Israel Baseball League, nor was he greasing the skids for an IBL PR swing yesterday when he posted a glowing, ten-month-old Post story about the IBL’s Opening Day (the Jerusalem Post’s last substantial story on the IBL shonda) on his website.

But Sam Ser says he is planning to write an update on the IBL’s saga— the details of which have been painstakingly laid out here, thanks to the intrepid and fearless reporting of Our Man Elli in Israel.

Sam Ser responds this morning to our story yesterday about the appearance on his website of the long, heartwarming story that appeared in the Jerusalam Post magazine back in June of last year. Its sudden resurfacing amid a surge of outdated and misleading Israel baseball postings across the Internet that have given the impression that the league is alive and well-- along with the Post’s lack of attention on its major hometown story-- led us to ask if Sam was planning a book.

That answer is "no." It turns out Sam Ser is a friend of Our Man Elli (who’s carried the water for every well-paid “mainstream” sports reporter in the business when it came to covering the rise and fall of the Israel Baseball League, painting an evolving and sobering picture of the shattered dreams and unpaid bills left behind by the carpetbagging American businessmen who made a “quick hit” before stealing home and leaving Israel without professional baseball this year or possibly years to come).

Elli got in touch with Sam, who’s packing for a US lecture tour. Sam emails Our Man Elli to say he’s not planning a book, there were no ulterior motives in posting that and other stories on what's essentially an archival site for his extensive writings on many Israel-related subjects (he'd uploaded dozens of stories yesterday).

And he says that we, in our sarcasm, were off base. We will not argue the call.

Why are so many bloggers & sports reporters suddenly writing about the Israel Baseball League as if it's brand new or just getting into full swing?

Something wacky’s going on with the sportsbloggers and news mavens of Israel. Close to a year after the debut of the Israel Baseball League, and more than eight months after the first harbingers of its imminent collapse, every major news organization in the world has basically ignored or given short shrift to a scandalous sports story of international proportions that has unspooled under their noses— yet suddenly, amateur and professional bloggers alike are writing lyrically about the failed Israel Baseball League as if it’s just thrown out its first pitch or is launching into a new phase of nostalgic wonderfulness.

What gives?

The latest is shows up on the Sam Ser blogsite, an archive of feature stories written by a guy who introduces himself as “a news editor and features writer for The Jerusalem Post, where I have worked since 2000.

“My articles have explored issues of Israeli security and strategy, from the effectiveness of targeted killings against Hamas to the Iranian threat and the Second Lebanon War; cultural exposes on the Israeli mafia; the growth of Israel’s economy; anti-Semitism and interfaith relations; environmental policy vis-à-vis water, alternative energy and greenhouse gas emissions; editorials on current events, and much more."

Today, Sam reprints his piece called “Take Me Out to Ballgame,” which, if you read the small print, was originally published (in the Jerusalem Post magazine) on June 28, 2007:

“They came in carpools from Ra’anana. They came in
 convertibles from Beersheba. They took public buses 
from Jerusalem and got off on the highway at rush 
hour, walking a mile in a heat wave without a word of
 complaint.

"How long had they been waiting for this?

"Standing patiently in a single line at the gate, but
 hopping up and down with excitement, they turned to
the people around them and beamed in unison. Everyone
 knew how momentous this was. Once inside, they rushed
 to stands that offered memorabilia of teams which had 
never played a single game - and practically cleaned
 them out.

"Some jogged off to a clear patch of grass, a safe 
distance away from the crowd, and started playing
 catch. As if they were preparing to take the field
 themselves, they pounded their fists into leather 
mitts that had last seen action in another time. In
another country. In another life.

"Officially, they came to see the Petah Tikva Pioneers
 ‘host’ the Modi’in Miracle in the first game of the 
first season of the first professional baseball league
in Israel. Declaredly, they had come to support and 
celebrate the arrival of the sport they never forgot
 to the country they always loved.

"But really, deep down, they had all come for one
 simple pleasure: To feel like a kid again.

"The Israel Baseball League, the creation of American
 Jewish businessmen and Jews connected to Major League
 Baseball, is different... from 
the American original... The games go seven innings instead of
 nine, with ties decided by a home run derby instead of
 extra innings. There are no multimillion dollar prima
donnas here - the players will make $2,000 for a
 45-game season, plus modest expenses - and most of the
120 players are North American Jews. Only a dozen are 
Israeli (immigrants or children of immigrants,
 actually), while several have come from the Dominican
 Republic, and a few hail from other countries.

"One thing pleasantly lacking from Sunday’s ceremonies
 was any sense of pretense, from the players and the 
fans alike…"

And so it goes. Read the entire Jerusalem Post story and a layer of the IBL comes to life. But then click here and read Our Man Elli in Israel’s exposé of that first season that was first published here exactly two months later.

And then go to our Baseball in Israel archive site and dig into the epilogue, in which the people running the league hightailed it out of town leaving behind a million and half dollars of debts, and a lot of angry vendors and players and ordinary Israelis, left holding the bag while hiding behind a wall of silence that no mainstream journalist-- especially not the hometown kahunas at the Jerusalem Post-- has bothered to scale.

Reprinted ten months after the fact, Sam Ser’s lengthy post is a nice book proposal. But with its somewhat prescient apologies for Larry Baras and his organization, we wonder exactly why it’s appeared now, amid rumors of the baseball clinics or exhibition games that Baras and his cronies are planning as an offering to the Israeli people, like John Gotti’s Fourth of July fireworks displays or Thanksgiving turkeys thrown from the back of Nicky Barnes’ truck in Harlem.

Nice writing, Sam Ser. But why didn't you follow up? Now, if you’re really an editor, assign someone at the hometown paper to cover the biggest international sports story of 2008. There’s your book. Our book.

(Sam Ser's site says he'll be speaking May 4th at the Temple Shir Shalom and May 5th at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan; May 7th at the Ezra Bessaroth synagogue in Seattle and May 9th in Phoenix.)