About The Israel Baseball League... And My Comments

Arrow (Aaron Rosdal), on the right and Seth Binder getting ready to bat. Arrow has incredible speed and a good glove, Seth is a great athlete. (From a post by Ari Alexenberg, player\assistant coach of the Petach Tikvah Pioneers.) Ari posted more pictures of the league. Seth is in one. There is music to watch it by.

Seth will be home this Sunday, September 16th.

Much has been written about the IBL since the season ended in August. Most of it has not been positive. These includes articles by Elli Wohlgelernter that criticized the leagues organization, the housing accommodation's, lack of air conditioning, the food for players, lack of ice and a weight room, field conditions, a serious injury to one player due to lack of batting cages and safety protections (Seth's teammate), the umpiring, paychecks, lack of marketing to Israeli's and one coach who left before the end of the season. (Also, Seth team... my opinion, he just did not want to be there... the team did much better when he left.)

There have also been some positive things written. One article by Jeremy Wimpfheimer tells the story about taking his son to his first baseball game. He writes, "As an immigrant to Israel, I might have thought that my new homeland would have deprived me of the chance to participate in this special connection between father and son. Yet, thanks to the newly formed Israel Baseball League, I was afforded this remarkable opportunity on my “home turf” and one which arguably was no less magical than had it been shared by 50,000 screaming fans in Yankee Stadium." That magical moment came as he wrote, "I was holding a souvenir far more valuable than any Barry Bonds record-breaking homerun ball could ever be. Today, as in thousands of bedrooms all across the American heartland, my son’s shelf is adorned with a baseball from his first game."

Another who wrote positively about the Israel Baseball League was Ari Alexenberg, the player/coach from Seth's team. In this post he writes, "This summer I lived a multi-layered dream. I played professional baseball in Israel, I signed autographs for smiling children and excited adults, I helped to introduce a sport I love to a country I love, and I made friends with ball players from around the world who share my passion for baseball." After discussing many of the problems listed above he concludes his post, written after returning to the United States with the following. "I miss the sound of 'Hatikvah' being played everyday while the Israeli flags waved on the outfield fences. Maybe it was a perfect summer."

My opinion:. As a parent of one of the players, I heard of most of the problems that were reported in the articles as they happened. I have to believe that the people who put together the Israel Baseball League did so to introduce baseball to the state of Israel and had only honorable intentions from the beginning. I do not believe that they intended for any of the problems to happen. With that said, I hope that they have learned from this past season and make changes that will improve the Israel Baseball League and make the experience for the coming years for the players, coaches and fans even more enjoyable.

As for Seth, I believe that he has given an opportunity to do what he loves, play baseball. This time in Israel. As the name of his team says, he was a pioneer, playing in the inaugural season of baseball in Israel. This gave him the opportunity to experience more than most do in a life time. Following the baseball season, my brother in law David, joined Seth and they visited different parts of Israel, Petra Jordan, parts of Egypt including Cairo and the pyramids. After this, Seth met up with one of his teammates in Tel Aviv and they left to tour parts of Greece, Italy, Switzerland and France. As Seth just graduated Oberlin College, this past May, I can only say what a great graduation present Seth has given himself. Or as Ari above said, maybe it was a perfect summer.

I look forward to discussing this when Seth gets home.