| Submit your comments on this article |
| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Vacation idea: Israel getting professional baseball league |
| 2007-02-28 |
| RON Blomberg is going to Israel. This is good news for Israeli baseball fans. For the Palestinians, it could be a learning experience. And for those like me who don't know who he is: Blomberg, who played first base and outfield for the Yankees back in the '70s, made history in 1973 as baseball's first designated hitter. This summer, he is scheduled to manage the Beit Shemesh Blue Sox of the brand-new Israel Baseball League. Managers of other clubs include ex-big leaguers Art Shamsky and Ken Holtzman. The league's commissioner is Dan Kurtzer, the former U.S. ambassador to Tel Aviv. Trustees include Yankee President Randy Levine and the daughter of Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig. Jewish ballplayers will be encouraged to come out for the teams. (Just in case, the league is also holding tryouts in the Dominican Republic.) Few, if any, Israelis will play the first year: Baseball's never been an Israeli sport. This new league is founded on the "If you build it, they will come" principle. Which, when you think of it, was pretty much how Israel itself got founded. In 1948, when Israel became independent, the population was 650,000, the biggest industry was orange growing and most people needed government-issued food-ration cards to get by. Today there are more than 6 million Israelis, and the standard of living is similar to the Mediterranean countries of the European Union. Now, Israel is on an economic tear. Last summer's war against Hezbollah in Lebanon slowed things down for a couple of months, but 2006 still saw 5.1 percent economic growth. New figures out this week show growth at an astonishing 8 percent clip in 2006's final quarter. It looks like Israel will be able to afford the next round of war after all. I still wouldn't invest in the Israeli stock exchange, though -- they treat it like a blood sport. Last spring, Warren Buffet bought Iscar, an Israeli blades and machine-tool company, for $4 billion. About the same time, Donald Trump announced plans to erect a 70-story skyscraper outside Tel Aviv. I guess The Donald doesn't expect a local 9/11, then... or even that Iran will be allowed to shoot off rockets. These were not sentimental gestures. Neither Buffet nor Trump is Jewish - they're simply investors looking for a profit. Like Ron Blomberg, they look at Israel and see opportunity. Unlike the Palestinian Territories where, having destroyed their present with a resultant free-falling economy, are now destroying their future as Hamas and Fatah go after one another's universities, a point the writer expands on a bit too long. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #10 Anonymoose, you'll forgive me but I've no idea what you're talking about. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-02-28 22:23 |
| #9 Is Sandy Koufax involved in any way? They'll be using the designated hitter. Does anyone remember the origin of the Steve Stone rule? |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2007-02-28 22:19 |
| #8 we aim to |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-02-28 20:57 |
| #7 "Rosenthal to Levin to Liebshutz" doesn't have the same ring as "Tinker to Evers to Chance". It wouldn't anyway, GORT, 'cause it'll be in Hebrew. "Rosental l'Leveen l'Leebshutz" is as close as that would could ever come. Let's not even think about "Play ball!"; I don't remember enough Hebrew to guess at that one. Cyber Sarge, there's a Wikipedia article with links, but I couldn't open the IBL page either from there or directly. With a June start of play, they may be otherwise occupied at the moment. But it seems they're holding another round of try-outs in Los Angeles on April 15 in Los Angeles -- perhaps they'll have t-shirts and such for sale there. The rest of you are just as silly as I hoped when I posted this. :-D |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-02-28 20:05 |
| #6 I wonder if Israel will start to get a nostalgia for Jewish America of the 1920s through the 1960s. Jews in the United States were for the most part enjoying both their Yiddish culture and their American freedom and prosperity. They were behind much of the US entertainment industry, less in control than just by being profusely creative. They were also at the forefront of positive social change in the US, and were influential throughout society. But with the founding of Israel, much of the cultural progress and creativity was set aside, and the Israelis just lived under a different set of rules, as if progress was just for the benefit of gentiles. There is much about life in Israel today that hearkens back to the "bad old days". So much so that Jews who were raised to appreciate social progress must feel someone uncomfortable in its absence. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-02-28 19:56 |
| #5 Somebody please tell me where I can get some team gear? I would just love walking around SF with a Blue Sox Jersey. I bet I would get better response than when I wear my Club Gitmo shirt. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2007-02-28 18:39 |
| #4 don't look for any Saturday double-headers |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-02-28 18:18 |
| #3 So is the classis Abbot and Costello routine gonna be re-written: " Jews on First?" Sorry, somebody had to do it...... |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2007-02-28 17:59 |
| #2 The real House of David team. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-02-28 17:29 |
| #1 I dunno if it will catch on. "Rosenthal to Levin to Liebshutz" doesn't have the same ring as "Tinker to Evers to Chance". |
| Posted by: GORT 2007-02-28 17:28 |