In a story for the ages, Israel’s Olympic Baseball team will be going for gold and glory at the Tokyo Olympic thanks to the support of Jewish National Fund-USA.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFTeam Israel in Arizona, May 2021.(photo credit: JOEL ZOLONDEK)Batter up! The crack of the bat, the feel of the sun, the play at first, the vendors yelling up and down the aisles. Going to a baseball game is a timeless, treasured summertime experience. And as ball parks reopen in many cities, the thrill and excitement of America’s favorite pastime is set to return bigger and better than ever.
Excitement is building, not just in America, but in a small country 7,000 miles away from Yankee Stadium. Baseball in Israel? Absolutely. Talking with Louis Rosenberg, the Executive Director of Jewish National Fund-USA (JNF-USA) in Los Angeles and the professional overseeing Project Baseball from his L.A. office, you realize that baseball and Israel go very well together. And now, Rosenberg has his eyes on Team Israel, Tokyo and the Olympics, and is increasingly successful in raising the funds needed to support the Israeli Olympic baseball team. Team Israel is the first Israeli national team to qualify for an Olympic team sport since 1976. The goal of Project Baseball is to develop the next generation of Israeli athletes; building baseball fields in Beit Shemesh and Ra'anana; renovating the Tel Aviv-Sportek field and adding lights; building a softball complex in Binyamina and starting construction of other fields. Team Israel holds up Jewish National Fund-USA banners at the JNF-USA Project Baseball field under construction in Beit Shemesh. (Israel Baseball)
In overseeing Project Baseball, Rosenberg is blending his two life-long passions. He spent two decades of his professional life in the sports world, working for the NBA Clippers and the World Cup, among other organizations. He focused on sales and marketing, both major and minor league promotions, yet he realized he wanted to take his career in a new direction. His childhood included secular schools, not Jewish camp or youth group, but as a teenager, his grandmother suggested he go to Israel instead of Europe, as he first considered.
“It’s always a good idea to take grandma’s advice,” said Rosenberg, and he subsequently spent eight months on kibbutz Beit Hashita, near Afula. That established a life-long connection to the land of Israel. Nine years ago, he became the Associate Director of the JNF-USA office in Los Angeles, fully resonating with the JNF-USA mission to be “Your Voice in Israel.” Three years later, he became Executive Director, and then one day, he got a call from JNF-USA’s CEO Russell F. Robinson who had one question: “Can you raise money for a baseball team in Israel?” The answer was, of course, an immediate yes.
Though the Israeli team competed in the 2013 World Baseball Classic (WBC), it wasn’t until the 2017 competition that the team caught the world’s attention. Going from “the equivalent of the Jamaican bobsled” team to ranking 3rd in the world, the team exceeded expectations, generating a 2018 documentary, Heading Home: The Tale of Team Israel, which followed the team throughout the 2017 season.
For the WBC, team players didn’t have to be Israeli citizens to compete. But for the Olympics, the entire roster must include Israeli citizens, so the American ball players made aliyah (immigration to Israel) and now have dual citizenship.
There was not a lot of awareness of baseball in Israel at first. But little by little, American olim (new immigrants) brought their love of the game to their new home, and hence easing their transition. Some of these olim eventually formed The Israel Association of Baseball (IAB) in 1987, in partnership with JNF-USA. Throughout Israel, kids can play Little League and softball. In fact, for the first time, there is an Israeli national women’s softball team. Leagues sprang up across Israel, but the fields and equipment weren’t anything near the quality the ex-pat Americans were used to. So, JNF-USA worked with the IAB to create the “Baseball for All” program, building better ball fields and establishing leagues all over the country. Currently, there are five leagues, comprised of 80 teams in 16 different Israeli cities. The national team’s field, with facilities provided by JNF-USA, is based in Beit Shemesh, and has completed the first phase of construction.
Team Israel recently attended training camp in Arizona at the Diamondbacks stadium. The players arrived there to begin their workouts in early May, and that happened to be the 2nd day of the recent attacks in Gaza. It was a difficult time for the players, worrying about their friends, families and teammates back home, while trying to focus on training for the Olympics. The team will reunite in July to embark on a tour of the Northeast United States. The first game of the tour kicks off on July 11, with the first of nine scheduled exhibition games. Game one is taking place in Brooklyn, playing against New York’s Bravest, the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) baseball team. The day after that, they’ll travel upstate to Rockland County to play a game in Pomona, NY. On July 14 and 15, the team will be in Hartford, CT, and then travel to Harrisburg, PA, for a game against the Ripken All Stars. New dates have just been added to the schedule: July 17 in Lancaster PA and July 19 in Aberdeen, MD. Team Israel will wrap up the tour in Central Islip, NY, with a game against New York’s Finest, NYPD’s baseball team.
Rosenberg’s vision doesn’t end with the Tokyo Olympics. For him and for JNF-USA, there is more at stake than Tokyo. When people think of Olympics and Israel, Rosenberg said, they only think of Munich, 1972, when eleven Israeli athletes were massacred, and he says it is time for that to change.
The 2021 Israeli baseball team has a 50% chance of winning a medal in Tokyo, and they have a real shot at taking home the Gold. There, on the largest sporting stage in the world, he says, we could be hearing Hatikvah, Israel’s national anthem. With the Israeli baseball team competing in Tokyo, it’s a powerful opportunity to stand up in the face of growing anti-Semitism. The uncertainty surrounding public funding for baseball in Israel has made it even more important for private funding to fill a gap, which is why JNF-USA’s Project Baseball campaign is so crucial.
When you watch the summer Olympics this year, look out for the blue and white flag accompanying over 80 athletes. In addition to outstanding swimmers and gymnasts, for the first time you’ll see 24 Israelis with well-oiled mitts, solid wood bats, and the dreams and skills to send them over the fence for a Gold run around the bases, coming home at last.
For more information or to support Team Israel, visit jnf.org/projectbaseball or email Louis Rosenberg at lrosenberg@jnf.org.
