»Don’t give us a chance« | Jewish general

Eric Holtz wasn’t right at the top of the world of baseball, but the 55-year-old knows his way around. He is the head coach of the Israeli national baseball team, which will represent the Jewish state at the Tokyo Olympics. Holtz was asked whether his team should be taken seriously. “No, you shouldn’t,” was the reply. “I think it would be better if you didn’t do that.”

It is well known that Israel has no notable baseball tradition, but there are at least two reasons why it could win an Olympic medal after all. For one thing, only six teams take part in the tournament; with three medals that is an extremely high probability. On the other hand, there are actually names in Team Israel that have a good reputation in the baseball world.

Ex-profit Ian Kinsler, for example, an ex-professional of the American Major League Baseball (MLB), won the World Series there once, was elected All Star four times and received the Gold Glove Award twice – a big number. Kinsler has been an Israeli citizen for two years. There is also Danny Valencia, who played in the MLB for eight years. Ty Kelly was in this premier league of baseball for three years, and Jeremy Bleich played in MLB for a year after all. But Kinsler is 39 years old, Valencia 36, ​​Bleich 34 and Kelly 32. All of them have their professional careers behind them, because the MLB forbids its professionals to take part in such tournaments. This means, for example, that Dean Kremer, the Israeli-American huge talent at the MLB club Baltimore Orioles, is not allowed to participate.

The American team members became Israeli citizens.

With the support of the Jewish National Fund-USA, the Israel team specifically approached Jewish ex-professionals whether they would like to compete again for the Holy Land and – as stipulated by the rules of the Olympic Games – accept Israeli citizenship in return. This is how Jon Moscot (29) joined the team, who only played one season in the MLB and immediately decided on the Alija. Not only ex-MLB professionals were recruited, but also baseball players from the minor leagues, the lower professional leagues. And in fact there are Sabers in the team, Jews born in Israel who owe their baseball experience either to stays in the USA or to sporadic attempts to establish baseball, sometimes even professional baseball, in Israel. Such attempts had actually been made several times, but they had all failed.

With its many ex-professionals, Israel will not exactly be the youngest team in the Olympic tournament, but there is no lack of experience. This applies to the individual players, but also to the team itself: In 2017 it caused a “miracle” (according to the “Forward”) when it won its first six games at the World Baseball Classic in Tokyo. The run could not be held, but in the end sixth place jumped out. Team Israel actually won against baseball nations like South Korea or Cuba in this tournament, which was admittedly not the most important one. It was then that the idea of ​​qualifying for the Olympics came up, reports Eric Holtz.

PROUDLY At the 2019 European Championships in Bulgaria (B group), Israel won all five games. At the European Championship of the A group in Germany, Israel came fourth; host Germany was also defeated. Holtz: “To go to Germany, a country into which we would not have been allowed into 80 years ago, and not only to go there, but to perform there and defeat them in their own place, yes, that was important.” Ex -Professional Jeremy Bleich, whose grandparents survived the Shoah, also sees this aspect. “Taking part in the Israeli Olympic team has allowed me to be proud of my family and their development and at the same time to play baseball,” Bleich told the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle. In 2020 there was one last qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games in Italy – Israel could finally buy the ticket.

What the colorful troop can expect in Japan is still very uncertain. At least one game of the baseball tournament is to take place in Fukushima, the city in which a nuclear power plant melted down ten years ago. The place is still considered radioactive. In terms of sport, Israel will face South Korea and the USA in the preliminary round. While the USA is struggling with the same problem as Israel, namely that the MLB professionals are not allowed to participate, the South Korean professional league has taken a break for the Olympics so that the stars can come to the tournament. This also applies to the professional league of the host country Japan, which forms the other preliminary round group with Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

The blue and white baseball team is already getting attention in the host country.

“The special thing about this team is that it has built up a team chemistry,” said Zack Raab, an Israeli fan, the “Forward”. This good cohesion is based on the common Judaism. “I don’t know whether another team can achieve that kind of team chemistry.” Frankie Sachs, who is in charge of PR for Team Israel, reports that the team met regularly on Zoom during the tough times of the Corona lockdown. Not only was baseball discussed there, friendships were deepened, family stories were told, and Jewish identity was also strengthened.

MASCOT The pandemic ensures that the mascot, a fan wearing a costume called “Man on the Bench”, is not allowed to travel to Japan: foreign viewers are not allowed to enter Japan.

The blue and white baseball team is already getting attention in the host country. The daily newspaper “Japan Times” compares the team with the Jamaican bobsledders who caused a sensation at the 1988 Winter Olympics and about whom the film Cool Runnings was shot. Like the Jamaicans at the time, the Israelis come from a country that does not know this sport and whose government does not make any money for something like this.

In fact, Israel’s Olympic budget dates back to 2018, when the plans for Olympic baseball were not yet concrete. The presumption of the »Japan Times« that Israel’s Olympic appearance had »what it takes to be a Hollywood film« is, however, likely to be exaggerated. But Eric Holtz, the head coach, is happy. “I would prefer if nobody took us seriously and if nobody gave us a chance,” he says. “Then we’ll see how it goes.”