September 04, 2006
Baseball In Israel
A Boston business man is trying to bring professional baseball to Israel:
Baseball's quest to globalize has helped the sport make inroads in several new frontiers. When Jim Lefebvre is preaching the gospel in China, Lee Smith is teaching curveball grips to young pitchers in South Africa and Stubby Clapp and the Canadians are beating the tar out of the United States in the World Baseball Classic, the baseball landscape clearly is changing.
So why not Israel, a nation with a fondness for pizza, bowling, malls, reality TV, McDonald's, Home Depot and Blockbuster Video? Statistics show that Israel has the highest percentage of home computers per capita in the world, the highest ratio of university degrees and the second highest per capita output of new books each year. Shouldn't a society this enlightened embrace the most cerebral sport of all?
That sentiment mirrors Larry Baras' thinking when he hatched the idea last year of bringing pro ball to the Land of Milk and Honey. Baras, 54, owns SJR Food Inc., a Boston-based specialty baking company. While various newspaper profiles have referred to him as a "Boston millionaire" or "Boston baker," those descriptions make Baras wince.
I was at tryouts. Mixture of minor leaguers and people who could make minor leagues.. or have played just college ball level and people who tried out for the history.
Really impressive in all ways. Very exciting. I hope I am selected.
Given NY Times, ESPN.COM stories, many others I have seen online I predict this will be a very high profile foreign league with high visibility for players and an excellent fan audience in Israel and all over the world.