Peter Kurz has two foremost passions in life: Israel and baseball. As a ten-year-old from the Upper West Side in New York City, he traveled to Israel for the first time in 1967, and began his lifelong love of the Jewish state. Two years later, in 1969, the New York Mets won the World Series, defeating the Baltimore Orioles, which solidified his love of baseball.
Despite making aliyah in 1976, Kurz did not abandon his
passion for the American national pastime. Yet Kurz’s penchant for
baseball has often been a lonely experience for him in Israel, a country where
basketball and soccer are substantially more popular. He has
dedicated much of his professional life to changing the perception of baseball
among Israelis. In 1998, he began coaching the sporadic local Israeli Little League
team and worked his way up to secretary-general, president of the Israel
Baseball Association, and now general manager of the national Israeli baseball
team.
* * *
Israeli baseball
was in the world’s spotlight for the first time during the World Baseball
Classic (WBC) in 2017, when Israel shockingly defeated South Korea, the
Netherlands, and the Chinese Taipei in the first round, only to be knocked out
by Japan in the second round. After the WBC, no one looked at Israeli baseball
the same way. “The WBC in 2017 solidified Israel’s position as a baseball power
in the world,” said Kurz. Israel is now ranked 24th in the world,
and its ranking is expected to rise as Israel sends more teams to play in
international tournaments.
Coming off of
Israel’s unexpected success in 2017, Kurz set his sights on formulating a team
for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which was postponed to the summer of 2021 due to
the Coronavirus. The Israeli Olympic team was comprised largely of minor
leaguers and former major league players, such as Ty Kelly, Danny Valencia, Ian
Kinsler, and Ryan Lavarnway. Unexpectedly again, the Israeli national baseball
team was one of six teams in the world to qualify for the Olympics, defeating such
teams as Italy and South Africa in the Olympic qualifying rounds: four
different tournaments over 10 weeks in four different European countries. In
2019, the American players obtained Israeli citizenship as a result of their
Jewish heritage in order to play for Israel in the Olympics. Only four players
on the Israeli team were born in Israel.
With Israel’s strong
performance in the Olympic qualifying rounds, Team Israel was confident
that they would win a medal. But many of Israel’s opponents, as well as
observers of the Olympic competition around the world, did not expect Israel to
go very far. After all, Israel would be facing some of the best teams in the
world: namely, South Korea, United States, Mexico, Dominican Republic, and
Japan.
One of Team Israel’s
players, Mitch Glasser, explained the mindset of these observers. “They
think, oh, Israel is in. What a great thing. What a great honor just to
get there.” But Glasser made it clear that Israel had very different
intentions. He and his teammates responded to these comments by stating, “No!
We are not going to the Olympics just to participate. We are going there to
win.”
How can you not be
moved by the heart and soul of Team Israel, never backing down from a fight and
constantly pushing through despite the unbelievable odds?
* * *
Diehard U.S. fans
of Team Israel had to get up at 6 a.m. on July 29 to watch the team battle
South Korea in game one of the first round. Israel, unfortunately, came up
short, losing to South Korea in extra innings. Game two of the first round was
a total blowout as the United States resoundingly defeated Israel. Then Israel
faced elimination in game three of the elimination round on August 1.
However, Israel was able to stay alive when they trounced Mexico 12-5. With
Israel defeating Mexico, Mexico was eliminated from the competition, and Israel
then faced the Dominican Republic in another elimination game
with a chance to advance to a medal game. Israel had the lead against the
Dominican Republic but suffered a heartbreaking loss in the bottom of the
ninth. Israel ended up coming in fifth place, outside of medal contention. But,
they were so close, only three outs away, which is still very difficult for
many of the players to swallow.
I spoke to Glasser
weeks later, when he returned to playing for the Sioux Falls Canaries of the
American Association baseball league. He is still struggling to overcome the
pain of Team Israel not winning a medal. Still, Glasser is proud of how Team
Israel played: “It proved that we were there, and we could have gotten that
medal.” Peter Kurz, the general manager, although also disappointed, has a
positive outlook on the team and Israeli baseball in general. He emphatically
told me, “Israeli baseball is on the international platform.” He believes that
Israel’s hard-fought performance in the Olympics impressed the opposing
teams, which, according to Kurz, is why the Dominicans came out on the
field after eliminating Israel from the competition to express their admiration
for how Israel played.
* * *
If there is any
consolation in Team Israel not earning a medal in baseball, it is that they not
only played with tenacity but also made a statement about Jewish pride and
brought honor to the Jewish people, which should not at all be taken lightly.
Beth Tfiloh alumnus and CEO of True Sports, Dr. Yoni Rosenblatt, served as
Team Israel’s physical therapist in Tokyo. He stated, “While on the treatment
table, chatter constantly circled around the players’ pride in representing
Israel and what it meant to them to be Israeli and Jewish.” Glasser,
a former student at the Anshe Emet Day School in Chicago, has been playing
baseball professionally for years where he was the sole, token, Jewish
ballplayer. Taking the field with Team Israel, wearing Israel’s uniform as one
of many Jewish players in the most preeminent international sports arena, he
experienced incredible energy. “We were playing for my grandparents, playing
for the people who are not here, playing for the people who could not wear
Israel across their chest proudly for fear of persecution,” he said. It
is because of this mentality, Glasser believes, that the team formed such
a close bond. Ryan Lavarnway, another player on the team, concurred: “Israel
is small in comparison to the world, but it is large in its meaning to everyone
who believes in what Israel is all about.”
Playing baseball
has emerged as yet another vehicle for Israel to showcase the beauty
of the Jewish state and the Jewish people to the world. As Glasser eloquently
stated, “We are able to be a positive ambassador around the world and give a
different impression of what an Israeli is.” At the Olympic qualifying rounds in
Bulgaria, for example, Bulgarians became constructively acquainted with Israelis
for the first time. And Yoni Rosenblatt observed Israel’s players signing
autographs for Japanese fans and sharing their Israel-emblazoned gear with
translators, which “gave Israel a great name in and around the Olympic Village.”
Team Israel’s
Olympic pursuit has not gone unnoticed among non-Jewish baseball fans in the U.S.
either. While playing for the Sioux Falls Canaries in South Dakota, Glasser was
approached by fans, who proclaimed, “Hey Mitch, I am not Jewish. But I just
want you to know that I stand with Israel.”
* * *
While we may be
decades away from filling Israeli stadiums with 30,000 sabras – falafel in one hand and rugelach in another – Israelis are
slowly gaining more interest in baseball. Peter Kurz used every opportunity at
the Olympics to educate the Israeli public. In the stands at Yokohama
stadium in Tokyo, he explained baseball for several hours to members of the
Israeli media unfamiliar with the sport. Normally, Kurz says, Israeli media
give him about 30 seconds. Returning to Israel, Kurz was walking in a mall
wearing his Israel baseball hat and was approached by two Israelis who had watched
Team Israel play and were now interested in trying out for the local
baseball teams. The more opportunities Israelis have to watch baseball, the
greater likelihood that Israelis will grow to love the sport.
Currently, the
Israeli baseball federation, in conjunction with the JNF baseball project, is
building a new field in Beit Shemesh and Raanana. This project will greatly
enhance the local Israeli baseball leagues for children, teenagers and adults
as well as the national team slated to play in the WBC in 2023 and in the 2028
Olympics in Los Angeles, among other tournaments.
Jewish baseball
fans in the U.S. can also play a role in the development of baseball in Israel.
Donations to the JNF baseball project are always welcomed. Moreover, the
Israeli baseball federation has a summer camp baseball program, and kids from
the U.S. are encouraged to participate. Certainly, if there are any Jewish
ballplayers out there who want to make aliyah or
play baseball in Israel during the course of the year, they can come to
Israel and join the junior and senior leagues. And for the talented Jewish
ballplayer, there may be a spot down the road on a future Olympics team.
In the meantime,
the American Jewish players from 2021 Team Israel will continue to work towards
mentoring the young Israeli-born players on the national team (Assaf Lowengart,
Tal Erel, Alon Leichman, Shlomo Lippetz) as well as future Israeli ballplayers.
If there is
any message from Team Israel’s performance in the Tokyo Games, it is this
emphatic statement from Ryan Lavarnway, former catcher for the Boston Red Sox
and the Baltimore Orioles, who now plays for the Columbus Clippers in the
Cleveland Indians organization. He told the WWW,
“Jews can play baseball! We can play with the best and do not let anyone tell
you different.”
He is undoubtedly
correct. I would just add one other line: Play baseball and bring honor to the Jewish
people while hitting home runs and striking out batters.
Brad E. Kauffman is an attorney at Kauffman &
Forman, PA. He is a freelance writer and a pro-Israel activist.
