Israeli Baseball
From SoSH
Currently, the Israel Association of Baseball has teams in the over-18 age bracket who play a schedule of about 20 games. The organization is that of a club sport and is not professional by any means. However, a professional league, known as the Israel Baseball League, is currently in the process of being organized, with opening day slated for June 24, 2007.
It's the brainchild of Boston businessman Larry Baras, and has former Red Sox GM Dan Duquette as Director of Player Development, while former U.S. Ambassador to Israel and Egypt Dan Kurtzer is league Commissioner. On the strength of having a professional league, Israel is applying to be in the World Baseball Classic in 2009. At present, no MLB players have ever been born in Israel
Teams in Israel Baseball League
- The Netanya Tigers
- Tel Aviv Lightning
- Bet Shemesh Blue Sox
- Modi'in Miracle
- Haifa/Nahariya Stingrays
- Petach Tikvah Pioneers
The standard is expected to be around the level of class A baseball in the States.
Teams in Israel Association of Baseball
- Mike's Place (Jerusalem)
- A's (Tel Aviv)
- Team 21
- Raanana PTC
