Canada*
Taiwan*
South Africa*
Panama*
Colombia
Brazil
Israel
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Czech Republic
Philippines
France
Germany
Spain
Great Britain
Thailand
Canada*
Taiwan*
South Africa*
Panama*
Colombia
Brazil
Israel
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Czech Republic
Philippines
France
Germany
Spain
Great Britain
Thailand
It's good to be back in the friendly confines of this baseball forum. I found out this news while abroad; our guesses weren't too far off. I called Israel's inclusion a long shot, in hindsight I didn't take into account the pool of Jewish American players that would be available to represent them. I also chose Indonesia over Thailand due to the former's market size and youth league presence. Nonetheless, it should be a an interesting qualifier.
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^Israel had a pretty good league in 2007, but it was poorly administrated and did not return for second season. If you were not familiar with the IBL, you may find the following article interesting: Field of failed dreams | Jerusalem Post
Here is a documentary trailer about the creation of the IBL named Holy Land Hardball:
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By Daniel Ben-Tal
In early June, Israel was invited to play in the qualifying round of the 2013 World Baseball Classic for the first time.
The tournament is expanding from 16 to 28 teams, with countries like Brazil and the United Kingdom also joining the qualifying stage for the first time, and the Israel Baseball Association hopes that participation in such a prestigious competition will have a snowballing effect on the sport in Israel.
Unlike the Olympic baseball tournament, the Classic is run by rules under which any player with Jewish heritage can play for Israel, and not just those with Israeli citizenship. With more than a dozen Jewish players currently playing Major League baseball, this has raised the prospect of fielding an unprecedentedly strong Israeli team.
Earlier this week, a reporter from the Israeli website Walla! asked the Texas Rangers' second baseman Ian Kinsler whether he wouldn't mind playing for the Israeli national baseball team in the World Baseball Classic.
"Wow, I would be happy to play for Team Israel," was the reply.
"There is no determining factor, I would just do it. If the United States did not ask me to play on their team, I would like to join another team, if asked. The truth is that if a proposal comes from team USA to play for them, I will have a very difficult decision to make. Yuk [Boston's Kevin Youkilis], Braun [Milwaukee's Ryan Braun] and I could make a fantastic team. I am sure that I'll talk it over with Yuk - we always laugh about things like this."
"Don't forget that aside from you guys, there are others like Jason Marquis from Washington, Craig Breslow of Oakland, Sam Fuld of Tampa Bay, Danny Valencia of Minnesota and a few others who are not bad at all," said the reporter.
"You're right, I forgot about Valencia," Kinsler replied. "He just sent me an announcement, after my son was born two weeks ago, that from now on he is not the only one-quarter Jew in the world of baseball."
According to Jewish Baseball News, Kinsler's father is Jewish and his mother is Catholic.
Another eligible player would be the Rangers' pitcher Scott Feldman.
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Could Cuba Host Games in the 2013 World Baseball Classic?
Quote:
The application process has begun for governments, sports federations, or other groups to submit bids to host games in the 2013 World Baseball Classic, the quadrennial tourney created by MLB and sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF). It is baseball’s fledgling version of soccer’s World Cup, where MLB players are allowed to represent their native lands.
The 2009 WBC generated huge TV ratings for both ESPN and ESPN Deportes, and with expansion of the field of participating countries from 16 to 28, the expectation is that interest and revenues will be even higher, and adding to the interest of the event is speculation that Cuba may make a bid to host some of the games in Havana.
That prospect would raise thorny political questions and generate instant controversy that would play out against the backdrop of the United States' decades-old travel and trade restrictions against Cuba and could test recent changes to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control regulations related to Cuba, initiated by the Obama administration.
This would Martinez's second time managing the team since the Winnipeg Pan-Am games in 1999 where the team placed fourth. He later declined to manage the team two years later in the 2001 Baseball World Cup in Taiwan.
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2013 World Baseball Classic
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