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- Sep 21, 2020
- 8 min read

Team Israel Makes The Olympics: A Year Later

The game of baseball has as its premise a batter starting at home and starting a perilous journey around the bases upon hitting the ball. The one desire of the base runner is to safely make it home again. Viewed in this light, the game becomes a rather apt metaphor for the long and winding road of exile traversed by the Jewish people over the centuries. It is perhaps fitting then that a team representing them should take its place among the baseball teams at the upcoming Tokyo games. But Olympic places are earned, not given and the story of how a team from Israel of all places did is a rather compelling one. So how did we get from one field in Kibbutz Gezer to a lazy, medium depth fly ball to right landing in the glove of Simon Rosenbaum to book one of five open spots in the Tokyo Olympic baseball tournament? (Japan gets in automatically as the host)

Part One: Building Blocks

The origins of the game in Israel are about as murky as those of the game itself; more questions than answers perhaps. What we do know if that the first regulation baseball field in the country was erected at Kibbutz Gezer with the help of American donors in 1983. We know also that the first official game in Israel was played there within months and that the field has seen use at the Maccbiah Games and as a home field for two teams in the Israeli Baseball League which began play in 2007 and folded after its debut-swansong season. The Israel Association of Baseball dates back to 1986 and was founded by American expats looking to grow the game there. Stretching further back, there is a record of a game being played in a Sephardic orphanage as far as 1927 during the British Mandate period.

The first major attempt to popularize the game in the Holy Land however has to have been the aforementioned Israel Baseball League. The league itself lasted but one season but as you can probably deduce from the opening paragraph of this piece this was far from the end of baseball in Israel. The league had its moments. The opener was aired by PBS in America and it did see some online viewership. Former big leaguers Art Shamsky (of the 1969 Miracle Mets) and Ron Blomberg (the first Designated Hitter Rob Blomberg) served as managers. The league even lives on in a book by pitcher Aaron Pribble called Pitching in the Promised Land. It is worth noting also that the lessons from this initial attempt at a pro league will serve the Israelis well when the time comes to try a pro league again.

Part Two: The World Baseball Classic

A few years later, as the World Baseball Classic, baseball's marquee international competition, opened to qualifiers for the first time fans around the world saw countries like Brazil, Spain, Colombia etc. attempt to reach the tournament for the first time. Also among those attempting to qualify was, ..., Israel? The reality was that Israel had applied to join the 2009 tournament but had been rebuffed. However, an invitation had been extended to the IAB to assemble a team to try and reach the 2013 edition. The team, which included former Blue Jay Shawn Green and had elicited the interest of Jewish big leaguers like Kevin Youkilis and Ian Kinsler (more on him after), narrowly lost out to Spain. However, there would be another attempt come time to qualify for the 2017 WBC and that one would ultimately lead to the Promised Land.

A few important things would happen between the near miss of the 2012 WBC qualifier in Jupiter, FL and the successful 2016 WBC qualifier in Brooklyn, NY that would see Israel reach the 2017 WBC. The mid 2010's would see Israel steadily climb the European rankings breaking through to the B tier. Among the young core of players leading the charge forward was a California born pitching sensation named Dean Kremer. He turned heads pitching for Israel in European competition in 2014 and his high school and college exploits would soon attract MLB scouts. In 2015, he would become the first citizen of Israel to be drafted by an MLB team. Fast forward to the time of writing and he is now a big-leaguer with three impressive starts under his belt for the Baltimore Orioles. The now MLB recognized Israel Baseball Academy would launch in 2014 as an apparatus to nurture native Israeli talent with hopes of having an Israeli born major leaguer.

This all in place, it was time to hit Brooklyn for the 2016 WBC qualifier. This time, there was no denying a hungry and motivated Team Israel that ran the table to book a ticket to South Korea for the opening round of the 2017 WBC. The real show however, was yet to begin. Sports punditry had its fun. The team was to be christened (for lack of a better term) the "Jamaican bobsled team" of the competition. Much was made of some of the players' ties to Judaism and that many were career minor leaguers or over the hill former big-leaguers. The team mascot, the Mensch on the Bench, was the subject of both amusement and derision but he would prove an emblematic and unifying prescence on a team that played like one that had nothing to lose.

It began with a showdown against the hosts who had a host of advantages. The KBO is one of the best and most established leagues in the world and the Korean fanbase is known for its enthusiasm which at the enclosed Gocheok Skydome makes for a cauldron-like environment. Nevertheless, the debutants held firm in a close, low scoring game that would be decided by a 10th inning RBI ground out. A 2-1 win over a former WBC finalist and Olympic gold medal winning side was exactly the head turning win required. Israel would go on to beat Taiwan and the Netherlands to secure a spot in the 2nd round in Tokyo. And then, another massive upset! A shock 4-1 victory over Cuba to open round two. Alas, the clock would eventually strike midnight after losing heavily to the same Dutch they had beaten before and bowing out with a loss to two time WBC champs Japan. Nevertheless, the "Jamaican bobsled team of baseball" had put on a show. They had proven they belonged and they had ensured that the blue and white would fly in the next WBC. (deferred from 2021 due to Covid-19) Reliever Josh Zeid would make the team of the tournament and the swell of pride among Israelis and Jewish Americans would prove lasting and lead Israeli baseball to New heights in the ensuing years.

Part Three: The Road To Tokyo

How could the IBA follow up the success of the 2017 WBC? The answer came with the confirmation that baseball would return for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Could Israel qualify? What a pipedream! But not really. The 2017 WBC had given credence to Theodor Herzl's "if you will it, it's no dream" and this new undertaking was to only underscore it further. The first order of business to make this happen would be to gain promotion from pool B in the European Baseball Championships. They did so in dominant fashion, winning out to make the 2019 European Baseball Championship. In this tournament they would reach the semifinal before losing to Italy and ultimately finishing fourth. Not bad for the first time however. Better still, that was good enough to secure a spot in the Africa/Europe Olympic qualifier.

The qualifier was to take place in Italy. The premise was simple. Five teams to face each other once in a round robin format. The top team would automatically reach the Olympic Games. Second place would net a spot in the last chance qualifier in early 2020. (since postponed due to Covid-19) The European Championships would prove to be a warm up for when it truly counted as Israel ran wild beating the host Italy, and their former tormentors Spain and the Netherlands to put themselves in position to qualify for Tokyo with one more win. Final gratification would have to be delayed however with an underwhelming game vs the Czech Republic. There would be no denying the blue and white however. September 22 would begin with Israel playing South Africa from the strange position of heavy favorites. A sparse crowd of 225 at the Nino Cavalli Stadium in Parma was to see no surprises. The Israelis jumped on South African pitching early and an 8th inning Danny Valencia homer (he hit three across the five games) gave Israel an 11-1 lead that would allow for the mercy rule to be invoked if only Shlomo Lipetz (a Tel-aviv born musician and pitcher as well as the elder statesman of the team) could get the final out. Zachary Weiss had already gotten the first two and Joey Wagman had pitched 7 strong innings for what would become his second win of the tournament.

Lipetz holds a special significance for Team Israel. He is a pioneer of sorts in the Israeli game. He learned his baseball in soccer fields fashioned into something or other resembling a ball diamond. He had first throw a baseball for Israel in a Litfle League game in Germany of all places. He had pitched in the short lived Israel Baseball League. He was even part of the 2017 WBC squad and the two qualifiers before Israeli baseball truly hit the public conciousness. And now, here he was. He had seen Israeli baseball in its infancy and was now being asked to usher in its coming of age.

The soft tossing right-hander bore down, and induced a fly ball, medium depth. Right fielder Simon Rosenbaum settled under it, squeezed it, and the celebration began as Rosenbaum stuffed the ball, now a prized bit of memorabilia, into his back pocket. "Next year in Tokyo!" was the call from announcer Craig Durham as the team piled on the mound. They had conquered in the land of the Romans, their tormentors from two thousand years ago. They had also conquered Spain and the Netherlands who had handed Israel their most conspicuous setbacks on the road to this moment. But this moment was not about conquest. It was about a team that dreamed big, and was rewarded handsomely for it.

Part Four: Epilogue

Team Israel would get one more boost after qualifying for Tokyo. Ian Kinsler, who had chosen to play for Team USA in the 2017 WBC and come out a winner, was going to file for Israeli citizenship. The former MLB all-star and World Series champ with the 2018 Red Sox, now retired was joining Team Israel for one last baseball adventure.

Another boost would come amidst the disappointment of having the Olympics postponed. In August of 2020, Ryan Lavarnaway would become the first Israeli citizen to play major league ball after a short lived comeback with the Marlins. He had gotten Israeli citizenship the year before and was the starting catcher that September day in Parma. Fast forward a month, and Dean Kremer, a Team Israel alumnus who had been the first Israeli citizen drafted by an MLB team, made his debut with the Baltimore Orioles. He pitched 6 strong innings to beat the Yankees and has looked sharp in his first weeks as a big leaguer.

What will happen in the now 2021 Olympics? We don't know. But no matter what, baseball in Israel is no longer a fringe sport. The game is growing and is being taken more seriously than ever before by a new generation of Israeli sports fans. The Olympics have significant visibility in Israel and it will really sink in for the locals once they see Hatikvah play as the team prepares to take the field. Who knows? Maybe another pro league will grow out of this whole journey? When the WBC resumes will figures like Alex Bregman and Max Fried want to come for the ride? Maybe, but what we do know is Team Israel will be among the six teams playing ball in Tokyo. Our obligation as fans of the team will be to enjoy this once in a lifetime opportunity.

Sources Cited:

Team Israel Makes The Olympics: A Year Later

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