David Manning for The New York Times
The former major leaguer Shawn Green, a player-coach with the Israeli team, worked with the team's outfielders.
JUPITER, Fla. — Though Israel's national baseball team has many excellent pitchers, catchers, infielders and outfielders, the roster has a shortage of something that might be considered essential: Israelis.
Only 3 of the squad's 28 players hail from Israel, the rest being Americans with professional baseball experience and Jewish roots, recruited to play for a homeland only a few have visited.
Eligibility requirements are rather elastic for the World Baseball Classic, the 28-nation tournament beginning here Wednesday. Players do not need to be citizens of a participating country; they merely need to be eligible to become one, and for Israel that includes anyone with a Jewish parent or grandparent. A non-Jew married to a Jew could also play.
"If we only could get a nice Jewish girl to marry Albert Pujols, he could be at first base for us," Peter Kurz, the American-born secretary general of the Israel Association of Baseball, said in a bit of reverie.
Baseball is in its infancy in Israel. Perhaps 1,000 people — ages 7 to 60 — play the game, Kurz said. The country has a single baseball field. Most games are played on soccer pitches or empty lots, with the ball often skipping through weeds and redirected by rocks.
But the country does indeed have a homegrown team. Last year it even hosted a round of the European championships and won a few games. Shlomo Lipetz, 33, a thick-bearded right-hander, hurled in both ends of a doubleheader, throwing 214 pitches as Israel split the pair with Britain.
The World Baseball Classic, however, is a far bigger deal. When Israel received an invitation to play in a qualifying round, a decision needed to be made: should it field an inferior team that would take its lumps or look to the United States, where the grass is greener with baseball-playing Jews.
"I asked our guys, 'If people who have never been to our country get to wear Israel across their chests, is this going to bother you?' " Kurz said. "Our guys all supported it. Oh, there were some who said we should be sure to have plenty of Israelis, and I said, 'Listen, we want to win.' "
A higher purpose was invoked. Games in the Classic are going to be broadcast in Israel. How would it look if the team was a flop? For years, the Israel Association of Baseball has been trying to get more people to play the game. It now has a building fund. The association hopes to raise $4 million to construct a baseball complex in the city of Ra'anana.
The coming Classic might then provide a breakthrough. "Many Jews in America point to Sandy Koufax as their Jewish role model," reads a fund-raising brochure. "Now, Team Israel will make history in having the first-ever Jewish Major Leaguers representing Israel, creating new Jewish athlete role models for the Jewish youth worldwide."
Three recently retired major leaguers of Jewish heritage were enlisted: Brad Ausmus (who has a Jewish mother), Shawn Green (who did not play on Yom Kippur) and Gabe Kapler (who has a Star of David tattooed on his left calf).
The three decided that Ausmus, 43, a former All-Star catcher, would manage the team. Green, 39, a power-hitting outfielder who retired after the 2007 season, would be a player-coach, as would Kapler, 37, also an outfielder, just a year out of baseball.
Green, who hit more major league home runs than any Jew since Hank Greenberg, has been attempting to resurrect his dynamic swing. "I left the game of my own volition," he said. "I think if I wanted to, I could still be playing. But we'll just have to see how the timing is."
The World Baseball Classic has been played twice before, in 2006 and 2009. Japan won both tournaments. This time, the heart of the competition will occur in March. Twelve nations have been given places in the final 16, including powerhouses like the United States, Japan, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. Sixteen other countries will vie for four other spots by playing in double-elimination qualifying rounds between Wednesday and Nov. 19 in Florida, Germany, Panama and Taiwan.
By ROBERT PEAR 18 Sep, 2012
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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/sports/baseball/team-israel-scouts-for-talent-and-jewish-ties.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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