Israel was true Cinderella at Classic
This is a crazy baseball season and it hasn’t even started yet. What makes it so nuts is that the meaningful diamond doings haven’t begun but, on the other hand, they have. Which makes it even more bizarre.
This is a crazy baseball season and it hasn’t even started yet.
What makes it so nuts is that the meaningful diamond doings haven’t begun but, on the other hand, they have. Which makes it even a more bizarre late Winter than ever.
While the Major Leaguers haven’t even launched their campaigns yet, a.World Series of sorts has for weeks been underway; and I kid you not about this.
It’s called The World Baseball Classic (WBC) and — unlike our traditional World Series — this tournament is really worldly. In fact it is the World Cup of Baseball.
For proof positive, consider that very soon in South Korea, 16 teams will play in the quadrennial tourney from which a winner will emerge.
Again, unlike our Fall Classic, more than 40 teams qualified for this World Cup of Baseball and each has battled to reach the finals. But here’s the kicker; the outfit ranked 41st — dead last — has been the biggest spoiler of all.
And that is Team Israel, the very last team to qualify for this world horsehide World Series.
Talk about upsets, earlier this month the team representing The Jewish State beat third-ranked South Korea, 2-1 in extra innings. It then topped fourth-ranked Taiwan, 15-7 and ninth-ranked Netherlands, 4-2.
That hoisted Team Israel to first place in Pool A with a 3-0 record and into the second round where it faced heavily-favored Cuba last Sunday. Team Israel beat both the odds and the Cubans, 4-1.
Sooner or later this Cinderella story had to end; and it sure did.
Consecutive losses last Tuesday and Wednesday to the Netherlands and Japan bounced Team Israel out of the tournament.
That, however, did nothing to dim the enthusiasm created by this truly rare squad. By the time it had won its fourth straight game, Team Israel caps and uniforms had become “must-buy” items.
Hey, win or lose — and they did in the end lose — such an incredible underdog had won the hearts of fans across continents because of its unique aspect.What makes this entire Israeli baseball story even more astonishing is that virtually all players on Team Israel are American Jews, but that’s okay.
By WBC rules a player may compete for a country if he’s eligible for citizenship under its laws.
Since Israel gives automatic citizenship to Jews, their non-Jewish children, grand-children and non-Jewish spouses of their children and grandchildren, it’s all Kosher. And nobody put it better than MLB.com veteran reporter Jonathan Mayo
“It’s amazing that so many of these guys who had no Jewish identity growing up, never celebrated Jewish holidays have embraced being known as a Jewish baseball player.
“They understand that the Jewish community in the United States loves them unconditionally.”
Team Israel’s catcher Nick Rickles, a 27-year-old who has spent time with the Washington Nationals organization, admitted that playing for Team Israel is like nothing he’s ever experienced before as a baseball pro.
“From my first day with Team Israel,” Rickles remembered, “it was like we’d played together for six months. Everybody was on the same page. I’ve been feeling something special that I never felt on a baseball team before.”
In Israel, where my younger son, Simon, his wife and three kids live, the Jewish team’s success is a big story as well it should be.
Yet the supreme irony is that baseball is rarely played in The Holy Land. In fact the country has a mere three baseball-specific fields and only about a thousand active players.
“Many Israelis aren’t aware they have a national baseball team,” commented the Jerusalem Post. “They don’t understand it’s competing against the world’s best ball players in the sport’s most prestigious global event.”
The loss to powerful Japan was expected because there’s just so much the bottom-seeded team could accomplish. And, let’s face it, Team Israel accomplished plenty.
“We’re disappointed because we lost and won’t be moving on,” concluded Israel manager Jerry Weinstein. “But we lost to two excellent teams while creating a great deal of interest.”
What remains to be seen is whether this Cinderella story leads to yet another improbable event and that would be baseball taking hold in Israel where soccer and basketball capture most sporting interest.
“We hope that our experience helps grow the game in Israel,” Weinstein added. “At least by playing in the World Baseball Classic and doing well, we enlighten people’s awareness.”
In that sense, for sure, Team Israel did not strike out!