Guess that leaflet "Famous Jewish Sports Legends" is going to get a little longer.
Posted on 03/12/2017 6:28:23 PM PDT by drewh
Israel’s national baseball team upset Cuba 4-1 in the World Baseball Classic, continuing its unlikely run in the tournament.
After falling behind 1-0 in the second inning Sunday, Israel took control of the game, driving in four consecutive runs and holding the heavily favored Cuban team to just five hits. The game was the first of the second round and gave Israel a 4-0 record in the international tournament.
Israel was the lowest-ranked team to qualify for the showcase tournament, coming in at 41st in the world. But last week in the first round, the team squeaked past third-ranked South Korea 2-1 in extra innings, outscored fourth-ranked Taiwan 15-7 and defeated ninth-ranked the Netherlands 4-2 to finish first in Pool A with a 3-0 record.
This is the first year the Israeli team has qualified for tournament. In 2012, Israel’s inaugural WBC team narrowly missed making the tournament.
Most of the players are American Jews, among them, several current and former Major League Baseball players. World Baseball Classic rules state that players who are eligible for citizenship of a country may play on that country’s team. Jews and their grandchildren, and the grandchildren’s spouses, have the right to become Israeli citizens.
(Excerpt) Read more at forward.com ...
Never heard of that tournament. GOOD LUCK. “World” ??? I think not.
wow, good going.
I’ve not really followed the World Baseball Classic in the past, but noted that countries such as Italy, Israel, South Africa, the Netherlands, have had teams competing.
I never realized that baseball was popular in some of these countries. I’ve always thought of Latin America and the Far East as countries outside North America as being the foreign countries where baseball is a big sport.
It’s a bit loose as to who can represent a country. For example, The Netherlands mainly consists of players from Surinam.
The World Baseball Classic has been around since 2006. It’s been played in 2006, 2009, 2013, and now 2017. It’s evolved into an every four year tournament. As I recall, it was started to try to grow the sport of baseball overseas.
I haven’t followed it much, but, the players seem to be mostly major and minor league players who play in the US professionally, competing for the team representing their home country.
But there have been exceptions. One year, Mike Piazza was on the team from Italy, even though he’s American. But being of Italian descent they allowed him to play for Italy.
And all the Latin American players play for their home countries in this tournament. Ditto the Japanese and Korean major leaguers.
If you'd like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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True. and I remember one year Mike Piazza played for Italy. He’s born and raised American, so just because he’s of Italian descent, why would they allow that? Who knows.........
From the excerpt, emphasis added:
Most of the players are American Jews, among them, several current and former Major League Baseball players. World Baseball Classic rules state that players who are eligible for citizenship of a country may play on that country’s team. Jews and their grandchildren, and the grandchildren’s spouses, have the right to become Israeli citizens.
Great for Israel!
Good luck in tourney!
LOL! Love the mascot.
teddy ballgame!
The purpose of the WBC is to promote baseball generally. It was originated by MLB and the MLB Player’s Association.
Teams like Italy and the Netherlands also have many American players. I believe even some of the Latin players are natural born American citizens with very little connection to countries they represent.
Interesting. This sounds almost like Michigan’s run through the Big 10 b-ball tournament, this year.
http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2017/03/michigan_wisconsin_big_ten_tit.html
It started off with their plane sliding off the runway and crashing as they left for the tournament:
http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2017/03/details_and_descriptions_of_mi.html
I’m not a Michigan fan, but this year, I might just have to be!
If Koufax were playing and in his prime, no one would have a chance against Israel
I wonder if Stan Musial would have played for Poland, LOL!
Good point. You got me there. They need the word Amareur in their name real bad.
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