Today I would give $100,000 for a Jewish player who even had the prospect of becoming a real star.

No this is not the president of Israel Baseball making this statement this was the Hall of Fame owner of the New York Giants John McGraw who published this request in July of 1923 in the New York Evening World.  He also placed an advertisement the leading Jewish journal "The American Israelite".  Even Time magazine picked up the story.  Today John would have to pay much more for a Jewish player, but then again he wouldn't have to put an add in the paper to get one.
Here is the article thanks to Steve's Highlights

Today I would give $100,000 for a Jewish player who even had the prospect of becoming a real star. It is not generally know, but I have had scouts looking for this man for the past five years. I have scoured the country without success, but I still have hope. I have tried out a number of candidates. In fact, I am working with a youngster now.

 

From the tone of a few inquiries it appears that there is a belief in some minds that baseball managers are prejudiced against Jewish players. To those who know the facts such a thought is laughable. I have several reasons for wanting one, the main being that I have never yet seen a Jewish player who was not unusually ambitious. Jewish players are never mediocre. As soon as they realize that they can never reach the top they usually withdraw form the game and go into some other profession, where they felt there is a better chance of the goal.

 

Another reason is that fifty percent [?] of the patrons of baseball, especially in New York, are Jewish, and for years they have been hoping for one of their faith to be a member of the Giants. That is but natural. The failure to develop one, though, has never dampened their enthusiasm for the game, not in the least.

 

Jewish people always have been great lovers of sport, as far back as the days described by Gen. [Lew] Wallace of Ben Hur. They have developed gladiators, boxers, wrestlers, football players and golfers. It is odd, at that, to see so comparatively few in big league baseball.

 

Can you imagine what an influence it would have on our game if we had two Jewish ballplayers rivaling each other as Benny Leonard ["the Ghetto Wizard," World Lightweight boxing champion, 1917-1925] and Lew Tendler [whom he battled in two great fights] rival each other in boxing?

 

Always there has been a sort of racial rivalry among the Irish, the French, the Indians, the Germans, the Cubans, the Poles and others for superiority in baseball. The Reds, for instance, boast a team of all nationalities. With the Jews taking an active part in such athletic rivalry baseball would be, indeed, the great melting pot of sport.

 

The greatest catcher, next to Bresnahan, that I have known during my active years as a manager was Johnny Kling. Johnny is a Jew, but so great was he as a catcher for the Cubs that many never thought to inquire as to his religion or faith. Another comer is Sammy Bohne of the Reds, Sammy [Ike] Samuels of the St. Louis club, as was Ed Stein. Right at the moment Bohne is the only Jew I can recall in either major league.

 

The only reason I can give for the scarcity of Jewish players is the great care the parents exercise over their boys for business or professional careers. Many of them develop unusual athletic ability at college and undoubtedly would become star ball players. The parents, though, influence them not to let anything interfere with their mental training for the future.

That Jews naturally love the idea of combat is indicated by the number of them who take up boxing. It is that very spirit, that man to man rivalry, that has made me seek a good Jewish player for my club. The $100,000 offer still holds good.

It might be inferred that I seek commercial popularity for my club by these efforts. Naturally, any club wants commercial popularity, but in baseball the only road to popularity is to win. A losing team does not draw, regardless of what players are on it. If I can get a star player to help me win, whether he be Jew or Christian, the popularity will take care of itself.

 

Two months after this article appeared, McGraw purchased Mose Solomon from the Hutchinson [Kansas] Wheat Shockers, where Solomon was hitting .421 with 49 home runs. The New York press dubbed Solomon "the Rabbi of Swat" and "the Jewish Babe Ruth." In eight at bats for the Giants late in the 1923 season, Solomon had three hits. But Solomon was a liability in the field and never appeared in another major-league game. His career batting average of .375 and slugging percentage of .500 remain as testament to his two-game flirtation with big-league fame.

After the Holidays

It is an hour after sundown and according to the Jewish calender it is officially the 23rd of Tishrei, the most dreaded day of the year.  Since August 1 any action item on any agenda in Israel has been legitimately tabled until "After the Hagim".  This includes minor items on the government's agenda such as bombing nuclear reactors, calling for new elections and deciding on a national budget, as well as major items such as finishing the planning for the field  in Raanana, training more coaches and exposing more Israeli children to the great game of baseball.  The 23'rd of Tishrei is officially the first day "after the Hagim" and so disappears the legitimate reason which masks what is normally termed as inaction and procrastination.  No more excuses accepted (at least until Pesach).

One baseball game did not determine the fate of Israel Baseball.  Win or lose the qualifiers the fate of Israel baseball would still be determined by the actions and hard work of those who volunteer for Israel baseball.  On our dedicated coaches who bring the love of the game to Israeli children, to our coaches who visit schools introducing baseball to the classrooms and to our many friends in the diaspora who provide us with the means to train more coaches, improve and expand our facilities and improve the quality of play in Israel.  I'm not sure if our job would have been easier or more difficult had we qualified for the WBC, but I do know for certain that our support base has expanded and their desire to help us has been fuelled.  We have been overwhelmed by thousands of words of encourage not only by hundreds of our friends but even from sources such as the New York Times, Haaretz, and some of my favorite articles by Yossi Goldstein and Elli Wohlgerlertner.   

While the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, that is always the most difficult step.  But with so many friends joining you in the journey, everything is that much easier. 

So happy after the Hagim to all, and here is our short list of our immediate tasks at hands.

• Complete the planning and cost analyses of the Raanana Field
• Introduce baseball in schools and recruit new players
• Import 50 baseball kits (balls, bases, bats and gloves) to distribute to schools for gym teachers to use in classes
• Organize our youth leagues
• Improve facilities in Modiin, Jerusalem, Gallilee and other areas in need
• Expand our program to the south of the country
• Expand our Premiere League
• Train and recruit our national team players for 2013 (Maccabia - July 2013, European Qualifier, European Little League and Pony League championships)

אחרי החגים שמח
Happy After the Holidays

The Aftermath

Over the last year and a half this entry has been written many times.  I had visualized what I needed to say after the great victory, the historic advance to the World Baseball Classic. Just as many players visualize the ball hitting the bat and soaring over the fence.    Just as every Israeli in the stands in Jupiter on Sunday visualized Joc Pedersons shot to right field falling for a single and winning the game.  Even in the last two days, during the euphoria hanging around after the last victory imaginations ran wild.  As I teach my 8 year olds, however, one cannot always win.  The game is played on the field and you need to focus on the effort, worry about the things you can control and not on factors out of your control.  For the most part that is what we did.  We focused on our coaching staff.  We wanted people who were not just professionals but would lend legitimacy to the team.  We wanted to project both to potential players and donors alike that this team is viable.  We wanted someone who would identify with our goals of utilizing this opportunity to promote Israel Baseball both in Israel and abroad.  We succeeded with our recruiting of Brad Ausmus as manager and Shawn Green and Gabe Kapler to our coaching staff.  I cannot visualize anyone doing a better job than Brad did, both in preparing for this tournament and in his game management all in keeping with the goals and objectives we have established.

But baseball as life is humbling.  Even when you make your best effort its not always enough.  In sport as in life sometimes the competition wins.  On Sunday Spain executed better than we did. If you concentrate on the process the results more often than not will come.  After all it was only a baseball game.  As I tell my 8 year olds some you win and some you lose, what is important is how you play.  If you play well you will win games.  I cannot blame this game on lack of effort of the players.  If anything there was too much effort.  (If Joc's ball was hit a little less harder then this post would be considerably different).  Our biggest fear was to assemble a "Jewish" all star team which had no affiliation or connection to Israel.  This did not happen.  We had 28 proud Jewish players.  To a man they all came to me and 'apologized' for not wining.  28 players and 5 coaches all came to me and Peter and thanked us for this opportunity to play for team Israel.  Peter had mentioned several times that he didn't want to change this team if we made it to the tournament.  They were really a great bunch of kids all menches. 

In the end we lost a baseball game.  But some baseball games are not just baseball games. I can feel a little what its like for an owner to just miss the playoffs.  He loses a lot of money and opportunity.  Israel Baseball hasn't lost any money, but we have lost future opportunity.  Objectively we are still much better off than we were before the tournament. More people are aware of Israel Baseball not only in the US but Israel as well.  We have made many more friends all of which have contacted either myself or Peter telling us that, while we may need to regroup, the mission must continue.  Support to build the Raanana field is still strong and MLB is still committed to helping us design and plan the field.  Had we won, we would have had many, many challenges to transform the publicity to success on the field.  Maybe its more important to build baseball in Israel the hard way, one kid, one coach, one field at a time.   If anything we have done by this tournament is proven that there is no greater bridge between the North American Jewish community and Israel than baseball.  I know I have a pension for exaggeration, but  had we won pride in Israel would have swollen to levels just below the victory in 67 and Entebbi.  In this world where people are tired of hearing about the Middle East conflict and the Jewish Identity of the North American community is weakening, baseball has now proven that it can play an important role in turning this trend.  

Gmar Hatima Tova

The impact of this team on the Jewish community here is even beyond my fertile imagination.  This is not a just team of Jewish All Stars, this is a team of the Jewish people and each and every one of them is proud to be representing Israel.  Not only do they come to me and thank me for this opportunity, their parents come to me and tell me that their kids have not had this much fun playing baseball since little league.  On their teams they are Jewish, but are reserved about it.  On this team they can celebrate it together with their peers both from Israel and from the US.  We are all one family.  I was sitting behind our on deck circle with Elliot Maddox (former Met/Yankee/Oriole who did clinics in Israel with the IBL in 2007)  telling him of our plans for the Raanana field.  As usual I was passionate and probably a bit loud.  Our player who was on deck comes to me and tells me "Haim - focus on the game".  To which Elliot replied unflinchingly -  "He's focused on his job,  you got to focus on yours."   I enjoy watching our Israeli players having fun with the Israeli players who have yet to make Aliya, and to have our players address Shawn Green as Greenie.  The warmth we receive from the entire Jewish community is overwhelming.  The game scores are linked to almost every Jewish newspaper's web site  Last night Yaron was stopped by a cop.  He showed him his Israeli license and the cop said - "Your from the Israeli team,  go ahead". 

It is 4 days and 2 victories since my last post, 8 hours until the first pitch of Israel Baseball's definitive hour. Two exciting baseball games. Two huge steps for Israel Baseball. My barometer for our success is the Israeli Hebrew Press. They with few exceptions have ignored Israel's participation in the WBC and certainly do not 'get' what this is all about. (Eli Wohlgelander in jpost did 'get' it). After the victory over South Africa we made it to the bottom of the sports page headlines. The victory over Spain has moved us to the bottom of the front page headlines. We have had interviews with Galei Zahal and Mabat so we are getting there. (I make no future projections in this blog).

It is important for me to write these words now, before our final game without knowing the outcome.  I am proud of Team Israel.  I am proud of everyone.  I am proud of our manager Brad Ausmus who I believe is the best active manager in baseball today.  He has conducted himself with total integrity and with the two goals of 1) winning the tournament and 2) Developing baseball in Israel.  I am proud of his coaching staff, his players and the players who came and did not make the team.  I am proud of our support staff, and I am proud of our 8 year old minor team in Modiin who have to throw down bases every Friday in the middle of a traffic island to play baseball.   All of us our team Israel.  We have much to do and a long way to go, to bring the traditions of Greenberg, Koufax and Green to the land of Abraham Isaac and Jacob.  But it is happening, not only in Jupiter but in Jerusalem as well.

In my 8 years as president of the IAB there have been many ups and downs.  Starting with the rise and fall of the IBL to our successful European Qualifying tournament last summer.  Most of these activities I was very active in the organization and execution of the events, often trying to put out fires and never able to take the time to "soak in the moment" until the event has past. 

 

On the eve of the most important event in the history of the IAB I find myself a complete spectator.  I am not complaining.  Much work, thought  and planning has been done in the last year and a half to allow me to walk around as 'President' without having to do anything.  Most of the credit belongs to Peter who is still working very hard here as the point man for the Israeli Federation.  Much of the credit goes to our staff we have assembled to put this thing off, primary Adam Gladstone and his 3 interns who have all technical aspects running as clockwork.

 

In fact everything we have been planning for the last year and a half to date, has been executed as planned.  We were able to bring over 15 Israelis for a training camp in the best facilities any Israeli team has ever played on.  We assembled a coaching staff which the envy of all the 16 teams in the qualifiers.  And as Peter put it we have put together the greatest Jewish team ever assembled. 

 

More importantly we have created the chemistry we had hoped for between the native Israeli players and the Israeli players who have yet to make Alyah.  Everyone from the ex major leaguers to Adam Greenberg who is one of the big stories of this tournament to every single, double and AAA player on the roster are 100% identified with Israel and what it means to play on this team.  Before their baseball practice yesterday they had singing practice -  Singing Hatikva.  I have heard better renditions, but none more moving to my soul than the one in that clubhouse.  

 

South Africa is throwing their ace at us tonight who I believe plays A ball.  Anything can happen but I have no doubt that Team Israel will be 100% focused for this mission.

 

Play Ball