Seth Returns To U.S.A.

September 16, 2007

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.

Seth's Unofficial Israel Baseball League Stats

People have asked me, how did Seth do in the Israel Baseball League? So, I went through the statistics from the leagues Leaders section. This is what I came up with.

Stat In League On His Team

Average .250 30th 4th
OBP .479 6th 1st
BB 26 tie 3rd 1st
HBP 10 tie 4th 1st
SB 11 tie 16th 2nd

OPB = on base percentage
BB = base on balls
HBP = hit by pitch
SB = stolen bases

Seth played short stop, 3rd base and catcher. He was injured after the first game in practice and was out about one week. He started the first game ever played in the Israel Baseball League at short stop. He started batting in the 9th position, moved up over time to bat second and then eventually to lead off batter. Seth's team was the Petach Tikvah Pioneers. They came in last place.

On University of Michigan Football

Even I root for University of Michigan Football. I have been gone from the state of Michigan and Michigan State University long enough, that I can root for any Big Ten football team. Of course, that excludes Ohio State.

Today Michigan played Notre Dame. Michigan won big 38-0. The loss for Notre Dame comes after the loss to Penn State. This loss has even more significance to those of us here in Oak Park, California. Jimmy Clausen, the freshman quarterback for Notre Dame, played high school football at Oaks Christian, a private high school rival of Oak Park High School, Oak Park California. Oaks Christian's semi pro recruited team (the majority of last year starting football team went to division one colleges, some were relatives of big time college players or professional players) caused Oak Park headaches for years. Jimmy Clausen is an excellent football player and probably will go on to have an excellent college football career and even go on to become a professional, however it has been nice to see the Big Ten give him a nice welcome. It would be even nicer if Michigan State could continue this next week.

On College Football...

Michigan State may loose all their games from this point on, however who would have thought that they would be 2-0 and Michigan and Notre Dame would be 0-2 after the first two weeks of college football.

When was the last time this happened, if ever?

Already a winning season on that aspect. If only Ohio State was 0-2, now that would be like winning the national championship.

Update To The September 1991 Binder Family Newsletter

In 1991, I wrote the following:

As was mentioned above, ISADORE & HELEN Binder moved out of Michigan in May 1991. They sold their condo, most of their furniture and excess baggage and headed to California to visit their children and grandchildren. Their first stop was in Huntington Beach to see their new grandson, Jared Adam Binder. After leaving there they moved north in their new Plymouth Vanagon to see the rest of their children, In Los Angeles and Agoura. Following their stay, they once again headed out on the road with no home and set sails for the Silver State, Nevada, specifically Las Vegas Upon arrival in Los Vegas they started to look for a place to live and started to contact a number of people they knew that lived there. With this new freedom, they were out to start a new life. Within a week, they found residence and began to start setting up a new household. The stores in Las Vegas were glad to see them and their money. With their children and grandchildren only 5 hours away by van, they were on their way. THEN in August, Sunny was having a little chest pain and went to the hospital only to find out he needed to have a bi-pass surgery. Six were done and he was out of the hospital in one week. Recovering now, Helen & Sunny are taking everything in stride.

Flash forward to August 2007.

The senior Binders are on the move again. This time making it one more time heading west to California.

A few months ago they made the decision that is was time to move out of Las Vegas. They put the house up for sale. What seemed like a long time became very short when the house sold and the buyer wanted them out in a month. That started a process where they had to sell, donate, throw out and decide which of their belongings were going to make the trip. They enlisted Michael, Brandon, Arlene, Matthew and myself. Michael and Arlene went twice and I went three times. Matthew went with me the second time and stayed the last week and drove them to California. They moved into their new home in Chatsworth on August 20th.

To welcome them here, the weather has been over the 100 degree mark, just like in Las Vegas. The stores also have been glad to see them, just like their prior move.

They also have visited the doctor. This time just for check up and checking in with a new doctor. My father has also visited the VA for the same reason.

When I left their home this evening, they still have a lot of unpacking, organizing and rearranging to do. The phone and cable are in and they are waiting for internet to be hooked up.
It will take a little longer as we try to get everything in order. Matthew & Arlene has been over a few times. I have stopped over either at lunch, after work, and on the weekend in an attempt to help. It is just going to take more time.

When Seth gets back from traveling, it will be the first time in years that all the Binders will be living in the same state.

It has been awhile....

since I have posted. We have been busy and I hope to get you up to date asap...