Team Israel shocked the baseball world when it swept Pool A of the WBC by beating Korea, Chinese Taipei and Netherlands in Seoul, South Korea. This makes Israel the first team to not lose a game in the first round of the WBC after qualifying for the tournament. Next, the team plays the second round in Tokyo.
History has been made by what is clearly the greatest Jewish sports team in history. With the rules of the WBC stating that any player who is eligible to become a citizen of a country, all teams are able to bring on players who may not necessarily live in the country they are representing or have citizenship. “If you look at all the teams from countries like Netherlands, Italy or Israel, they are like an ingathering of exiles,” says Peter Kurz, Israel Association of Baseball President and General Manager of Team Israel at the WBC.
While to some outsiders this rule may be controversial, the logic is sound. Major League Baseball, in its efforts to spread baseball to all parts of the world, created the WBC tournament to encourage the sport in countries where baseball is less popular. In order to create a more even playing field for the competition, the MLB sought to ensure that American players with foreign heritages could play for those countries.
“In our case,” explains Peter, “anyone who has at least one Jewish grandparent is eligible to play on Team Israel. For us, this means that from the sports perspective we could put together a very competitive team, but from the personal perspective, we have done something even more significant: We have lit a Zionist flame in a group of 28 professional baseball players whose hearts are now in Israel.”
“As Americans, to be able to represent Israel, which in turn represents the worldwide group of Jewish people, is something extremely special,” said Team Israel first baseman Nate Freiman at the post-game press conference after the win against Netherlands. “We hope that this jump starts the program in Israel, and that someday there are Israelis playing on this team.”
Ten members of the team flew to Israel in January and met with young baseball players and toured the country to learn about their heritage and history. They instantly became positive ambassadors for Israel, sending out Tweets and social media posts that were great advertisements for the positives that Israel has to offer. On this first day in Tel Aviv, Cody Decker tweeted: “Tel Aviv. We’re home.” When he got to Jerusalem, he tweeted: “As far as views go, this one is on my top 5 list ever…Jerusalem is beautiful”. Sam Fuld summed up his trip saying: “From the Mediterranean to the Dead (Sea), the Western Wall to graffiti wall, Masada to sabbaba, what a trip.” On the last day of the trip, Zeid tweeted: “One of the best weeks ever. Doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from, Israel is an incredible, must see experience.”
“They left their hearts in Israel,” says Kurz. The trip only served to increase their commitment to wearing “Israel” across their chests in this international competition. They wear the team jersey with the greatest pride and remove their baseball hats before the singing of Hatikvah to reveal Israel Baseball kippot with which they show their deep identity with Israel and the Jewish nation.
“This team and this tournament has deepened cooperation between the American Jewish community and Israel via these players who have put their careers on hold, and have left their families to fly halfway around the world to represent Israel on the world stage. They have faced the powerhouses of world baseball and come out victorious and they are helping to build the sport of baseball in Israel.”
The pride at being part of this great endeavor is clearly felt from each member of the team. For many of them, their participation in Team Israel is part of a chronology of Jewish history. “Two generations ago, we were being killed, being picked out just because of our lineage,” said Team Israel catcher Ryan Lavarnway at the post-game press conference after the win against Chinse Taipei. “But two generations later, for us to be able to stand up here and to have the Israeli flag and the Jewish star hanging in the stadium means a lot to a lot of people around the world. We’re here, we’re competing in a sport on the highest level, and we have the right to be here.”
For Kurz, who worked tirelessly to put together a team with the greatest chance of taking Israel as far into the tournament as possible, this is just a first of many steps. “With the involvement of these great Jewish athletes, we are well on the way to making baseball one of the top team sports in Israel and the pride of every Jewish sports fan all over the world.”