Category Archives: International

World Baseball Classic Update For March 7, 2016

Posted on by
Reply

It’s been a fairly quiet week in WBC news, as we await the official release of the rosters for the next round of qualifiers. Still, there has been some news:

 

Jon Morosi on the Czech Republic’s WBC team and how the country’s hockey heritage has led to a lot of left-handed hitters.

The Japanese National Team swept Taiwan in a 3-game early warm-up for next year’s WBC.

Nicaragua leads Panama 2-1 in a warm-up series.

Alex Rodriguez, who famously has hemmed and hawed between playing for the USA (the land of his birth) and the Dominican (the land where he spent significant parts of his childhood), has said if he takes part in 2017 it’ll be for the Dominican.

Alex Cora will be the General Manager of Team Puerto Rico for the 2017 WBC.

ESPN Deportes will be showing the Mexicali qualifying round this month for any Spanish-speaking fans in the USA.

As expected, Max Kepler will not be playing for Germany in the qualifiers, as he will be staying in camp. It was thought that it was unlikely anyway given how he has an outside chance at making the opening day roster, but this is further confirmation.

…And that’s it for now. More soon, hopefully.

 

World Baseball Classic News for March 1, 2016

Posted on by
Reply

Here’s the latest WBC news as of March 1, 2016:

 

Team Germany will play exhibition games against three different Mexican League teams, as well as a team from the Brewers organization.

“Samurai Japan” has teamed up with the Anime series Mr. Osomatsu to help raise awareness for the team, both in the WBC and in other tournaments (where they generally don’t draw as well).

George Springer, who’s mother is from Puerto Rico, has apparently been recruited by Carlos Correa to play for Team Puerto Rico in the main tournament next year.

News on who will and will not be in the WBC qualifiers:

First off, the Mexican League will be allowing their players to play for Team Mexico.

Jake Sanchez of the Athletics organization will play for Mexico

Jose Quinanta of the White Sox is in for Colombia.

Sadly for Colombia, Julio Teheran will not be pitching for them.

The official rosters apparently come out tomorrow, so that’s something to keep an eye out for.

 

Continuum Classic- Bizarre Baseball Culture: Pokémon in “The Double Trouble Header”

Posted on by
Reply

Today, February 27, is the 20th anniversary of the release of the first Pokémon games in their native Japan. In honor of that feat, here’s the classic Bizarre Baseball Culture look at “The Double Trouble Header”, an episode about baseball fandom and the world of Pocket Monsters.

–

In Bizarre Baseball Culture, I take a look at some of the more unusual places where baseball has reared it’s head in pop culture and fiction.

In a first for Bizarre Baseball Culture, we’re going international to look at one of the more strange appearances of baseball in Japanese culture. To be more exact, we’re looking at an old episode of the Pokémon anime, entitled “The Double Trouble Header”.

…

Okay, are you done laughing/rolling your eyes? Good. Now go below the jump for this installment, which has been weeks in the making:

Continue reading →

World Baseball Classic Update for February 26, 2016

Posted on by
1

Hello, everybody. Here’s some WBC news from the last few weeks, in no particular order:

The Mexican League and the Mexican Baseball Federation continue to squabble, making it unlikely that any Mexican leaguers will partake in the qualifying. However, I’ve also seen some tweets that indicate that this has been solved and that Mexican League players will take part. I’ll let you know when I have it cleared up.

Yovani Gallardo had said that he was going to play for the Mexican team in the qualifiers, but that was before he signed with the Orioles, so that may change. Another iffy Mexican pitcher is Julio Urias, a top prospect for the Dodgers, who has said he will skip the qualifiers if it looks like he has a good chance of making the team.

A preliminary roster for Team Nicaragua (thanks to Max Wildstein) was released. This roster has since changed (you can find how it has in some of the other items) and would be pared down to 28 anyway, but it gives you a good idea of some of the players who will be on the team:

Omar Vizquel will be the manager of Team Venezuela next year. Bobby Abreu and Magglio Ordonez were candidates for the batting coach position, and it appears that Magglio won the job. Other tweets have confirmed that Eduardo Perez will be a bench coach, Roberto Espinoza will be the pitching coach, and Henry Blanco will be a bullpen coach. Also in Venezuelan news: Gregor Blanco wants to play for his country in the 2017 WBC.

The Spanish have announced their coaching staff for the upcoming qualifiers, led by Tigers Latin American director Manny Crespo.

Quebecois closing great Eric Gagne, meanwhile, will helm Team France.

Mike Griffin will manage the Czech team, while Trot Nixon (!) will be hitting coach.

Speaking of the Czechs, it appears that they will have more players with North American experience than last time thanks to players of Czech ancestry, such as John Straka, Brett Tomko, Mike Cervenak, and Alex Sogard. However, apparently Eric Sogard has been denied, unless if he hasn’t. I find it much less likely that he will take part, though. The Czechs will be playing exhibitions in Arizona ahead of the qualifiers.

Donovan Solano, now in the Yankees organization, is still deciding whether he will play for Colombia in the qualifiers or if he will stay in camp. However, he is listed in a list of MLB-affiliated players who are “confirmed” for Colombia:

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Dilson Herrera of the Mets, as said above, will definitely suit up for Team Colombia. Others listed in the above tweet (if it doesn’t show up): William Cuevas, Carlos Mario Diaz, Kevin Escorcia, Tayron Guerrero, Gregory Nappo, Jesus Posso, Mauricio Ramos, Reynaldo Rodriguez, Tito Polo, Harold Ramirez, and Carlos Vidal. Apparently a complete list for Colombia will be out on Saturday.

David Ortiz doesn’t think he’ll play for Team Dominican Republic next spring.

Carlos Ruiz has been authorized to play for Team Panama, which is huge, even if he isn’t as good as he used to be.

Dean Kremer, a pitcher for UNLV who’s parents are from Israel and who lives there during summers when he isn’t playing, hopes to play for Team Israel in the WBC qualifiers.

Elmer Reyes of the Braves organization will play for Nicaragua. Wuillian Vasquez, a Venezuelan-born player who has lived and played in Nicaragua for several years while also playing in Europe, is also eligible.

The German National team will have a exhibition game against the Tijuana Toros on March 9.

Quick run-down of other players who have been confirmed in/out for certain qualifying teams (from various Twitter sources found by @MaxWildstein):

Randall Delgado is out for Panama but Andy Otero is in.

Cheslor Cuthbert is out for Nicaragua, as is Wilton Lopez, who has an injury.

Luis Guillorme is in for Spain.

–

Now, this was a lot of news. Maybe too much. And I probably missed some. And for that reason, I’m glad to say that starting now, WBC Updates will be FAR more frequent, occurring AT LEAST once a week, but at times happening on a daily or every-other-daily basis.

World Baseball Classic Qualifier Preview: Sydney (Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Africa)

Posted on by
Reply

The first qualifier for the World Baseball Classic will feature an eclectic group of three “Commonwealth” nations in addition to the Philippines, and while it’s likely that the host Australians will come out on top, it will be interesting to see how the others do, especially New Zealand, which arguably has the fastest-growing baseball program in the world.

Go below the jump for the more:

Continue reading →

World Baseball Classic Update for February 9, 2016

Posted on by
Reply

As we barrel towards the World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, here’s the latest news:

 

The Run-Up to the Sydney Qualifiers:

First off, the most important news for all of us is how we’ll be able to watch it. And good news! In the USA and Canada, all games will be on the World Baseball Classic website! Go to the link to see how else you can watch it, as select games will be on TV on MLB Network and all games will be on ESPN in the Pacific Rim area, although some games will be tape-delayed.

There have been some changes to rosters since they were first announced. Perhaps the most notable addition has been that infielder Gift Ngoepe has been added to South Africa. Probably the best African baseball player in history, Gift is now on the Pirates’ 40-man roster, which probably delayed it being official.

Various teams have been playing informal warm-up games in the run-up to the qualifiers. You can see pictures and info on some of New Zealand’s play on their Facebook page, for example.

The New Zealanders will be wearing #37 on their uniforms in memory of Lincoln Holdzkom, who died in a car accident last year.

In other WBC news:

Tickets are now on sale for the Panama City portion of the Qualifiers.

Attention Britons and people with fairly close British ancestry: the United Kingdom’s baseball team is holding open tryouts on Sunday, March 6th!

Athletics catching prospect Bruce Maxwell, who was born in Germany, will be part of the German team in their qualifying tournament.

—

There are a few other stories I’ve missed, but I’m hard at work on the WBC Qualifier preview for Sydney, so those other stories will have to wait until next time!

 

 

(Blogathon ’16) Kazuto Yamazaki: NPB Bat-Flip Juggernauts to Watch For

Posted on by
1

This guest-post is part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer are not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

–

Baseball in Asia offers so many obscurities to the fans on the other side of the sea; Relentless, boisterous chants throughout a game. Incomprehensible, yet fascinating amount of pitches in bullpen sessions. Towering eephus pitches. And, of course,  glorious bat flips that make rounds on the Internet every now and then.

Lately, it’s the KBO who usually demonstrate those mind-boggling pieces of fine art. However, while getting its thunder stolen by the neighbor league, the NPB remains a goldmine of awesome bat flips.  In this post, I’ll introduce some bat-flip extraordinaires to keep an eye for the upcoming 2016 season.

Yoshio Itoi

Despite the down year he had in 2015, in which he slashed .262/.366/.413 – pedestrian for his standards with the worst average and on-base percentage in a full season -, Itoi is still considered one of,  if not the most, talented players in the NPB. At thirty-four, he’s stepping into the decline phase of his career. But if he recovers from the knee problems that bothered him for the entire 2015 season, he’s on track to display some more of these magnificent flips in 2016.

Takahiro Arai

Some bat flips are not like the others. And when it comes to bat flip inordinateness, Takahiro Arai is the one excelles. Every single time he knows he got it, bar none, he finishes his swing two-handed, takes a step or two towards to first base, then gently jettisons the bat, as if he’s putting  it on the top of a Jenga tower made of bats.

Alas, he just turned thirty-nine on January 30th, the 17-year NPB veteran’s peak is far behind in the rearview mirror, and the clock for him as a player is about strike midnight. Yet he may have gotten just enough in the tank to reach the 300 career home runs plateau, which he’s just 13 more trips around the diamond away.

Ryota Arai

Unlike his brother, the younger Arai does it in a more traditional way. Unlike his brother, Ryota has smashed just thirty-two long balls in his ten-year career. But on most of them, he’s display the iconic, sky-high bat flips that seem to be in the air as long as the ball.

Norihiro Nakamura

The Bat Flip Emperor, Nakamura clubbed 404 dingers – 382 in twenty-two years in Japan and twenty-two more in his one-year stint in the States, in which he spent more of the season at Triple-A. In his heyday, both his power and flips were prodigious. Sadly, at forty-two, his career is likely to be over. But his legacy lives forever. Watch the video above. It captures some Crème de la crème flips the human race ever seen.

 

Taiga Egoshi

After reading about the four players  I mentioned above, you may be thinking all the spectacular flippers in the NPB are either old or not good enough to secure a full-time role. No worries. We’ve got some young, up-and-coming potential stars with magnificent bat-flip ability.

Taiga Egoshi is the one whom I believe will become the next big thing in the bat flip industry. In 2015, his rookie campaign, the twenty-two year-old unleashed five homers with sumptuous flips, like the one captured in the video, on all of them.

Entering his sophomore year, Egoshi is seen as the frontrunner for the Hanshin Tigers’ starting centerfielder job. If he does win the position, we could count on him to flourish.

 

Yuto Takahama (Click for video)

Takahama is another rookie who made debut in 2015. Though he had just two plate appearances with the ichi-gun (top level) squad. But down on the farm, he flipped the heck outta the bat here and there, every now and then. He doesn’t give a damn if it actually clears the wall or not. Ladies and gentlemen, we might be witnessing the dawn of the career of a legendary bat flipper.

And here are compilations of the rest of bat flippers in the NPB. Enjoy:

–
Kaz is a Tokyo-based baseball fanatic. He contributes to multiple websites in multiple languages. You can follow him on Twitter @Kazuto_Yamazaki.

–

This guest-post has been part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer are not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

(Blogathon ’16) Dan Weigel: Ranking the 15 most entertaining European baseball team names

Posted on by
7

This guest-post is part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer are not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

–

Minor League Baseball teams are notorious for using odd and unusual team names, logos, and mascots, much to the delight of many fans. For fans of the Montgomery Biscuits, Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, or Fresno Tacos names, allow us to take odd names a few steps farther, across the Atlantic to European club baseball, where top minor league names find serious name competition.

Each of the 15 listed teams placed in the top 50 or received an honorable mention in Mister-Baseball’s latest rankings, meaning that they are all good baseball clubs! While they all may be good on the field, some make this list due to similar dominance of naming their team, but others make it for opposite reasons.

15. Beograd 96

Serbia’s capital city has a surprising number of athletic teams, including an American football squad. What they do not have, however, is a baseball team with an easily understandable name.

14. Astros

Despite ranking number 20 in Europe, Astros give us no clues as to where they play their home baseball games.

13. K. Borgerhout Squirrels

Borgerhout is a very good name for a suburb of Antwerp. Couple that with an ultra-threatening mascot like squirrels, and you have a winning team name.

12. Sant Boi

Technically a suburb of Barcelona, this Spanish team feels no need to include a mascot – understandable with a location that sounds as hip as Sant Boi. It remains to be seen if Big Boi is a fan.

bgi boi

11. SSHOR 42

I do not know what this means but this is a good name for a baseball team.

10. Zurich Barracudas

Switzerland loves Barracudas.

9. Montpellier Barracudas

Most French-sounding city pick least French-sounding mascot. Evidently barracudas are cool in France too.

8. Minsk

I’ll never rock a Minsk coat in the wintertime like Killa Cam

Or rock some Minsk boots in the summertime like Will.I.Am

wil i am7. Solingen Alligators

What’s cooler than a barracuda? German alligators. Europe loves cool animals.

6. Espoo Expos

Reaching into the honorable mentions here, but Finland’s top club includes both the classic Expos moniker and a location with tongue-twister alliteration. Well played.

5. Heidenheim Heidekopfe

Speaking of matching mascots and town names, the Philadelphia Phillies may have met their match.

4. SDUSOR – Diamonds

Similar to the Russian team with a similar name above, I do not wish to know the meaning behind this Ukrainian club’s rather unique name. The addition of Diamonds is a nice touch.

3. Baseball Klub Nada SSM Split

Less is definitely not more for this Croatian club. When in doubt, just make the name as long and odd as possible.

2. Reds Sleepwalkers

This club appears to have two nicknames…until you consider Hungary’s communist past. To be fair, it is unclear why “Reds” was chosen, but in any case, coupling it with sleepwalkers results in an odd mixture of politics and comatose baseball players.

1. Wiener Neustadt Diving Ducks

You get middle-school humor and a non-threatening mascot, but my favorite part of this name is the specificity that these are not just ordinary ducks – these are diving ducks! Oh the intimidation!

Dan Weigel writes about pitching at Sporting News and occasionally about pitching and sometimes other things at Beyond the Box Score. His former European club, the London Mets, slots at number 29 on Mister-Baseball’s rankings but unfortunately did not beat out Beograd 96 for the final spot on this list. Follow him on twitter at @danweigel38.

(Blogaton ’16) Chris Kabout: Former Red Sox farmhand gives a hand in battle against cancer

Posted on by
3

This guest-post is part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer are not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

–

For this first Blogathon for charity it seemed a good idea to me to write a piece on Swen Huijers’ Baseball Against Cancer foundation.

Swen signed a contract with the Boston Red Sox organization in 2008. He started to pitch for the GCL Red Sox. He played three seasons for the Boston Rookie team for which he posted a 9-4 record in 37 games. In 2011 Swen was promoted to the Lowell Spinners in the New York-Penn League (A Short Season). In that season with the Spinners, Swen posted two victories and two losses in ten games of which he started two. He finished the season with a 2.43 ERA. Despite the decent season he was released by the Red Sox. Back in the Netherlands, Swen startd to attend the police academy. That was very time consuming. Now he is a police officer, he has to deal with irregular shifts. And when you play in the Hoofdklasse, you have to practice at least twice a week. Together with three competition games per week, it was very difficult to combine. Due to the irregular shifts, his performance deteriorated. Eventually Swen decided to stop halfway the 2015 season, mainly because he could not combine his job with top sport.

Right now Swen doesn’t have time to play baseball at all. He is mainly occupied with organizing baseball clinics out of Baseball Against Cancer. If possible he wants to play baseball at a lower level

In the meantime Swen and a friend decided to participate in a big Dutch cycling event against cancer: Alpe d’HuZes. In this cycling event every participant has to cycle up to mount Alpe d’Huez, one of the biggest mountains during the Tour de France. To participate everyone needs to bring 2,500 Euros at least, which will be donated to the KWF (Koninging (=Queen) Wilhelmina Foundation), the Dutch foundation that fights against cancer. Despite pleas with friends and family they didn’t quite make it to raise the 2,500 Euros. At that point, Swen came up with the idea to raise money with a baseball clinic. 250 children attended the first edition of this clinic. These kids were taught the basics of baseball by several Dutch Hoofdklasse players, World Champions and other baseball players. This event raised the whopping amount of 4,167,25 Euro. Baseball Against Cancer was born.

But why did Swen decide to participate in Alpe dHuZes? His cousin is an ex cancer patient. He started to do voluntary work for the event Alpe d’HuZes. He arranged the yearly transportation. Other family members also traveled to France, to help in this magnificent event. Because Swen was playing baseball for the Red Sox organization at the time that the event took place, he made a vow that he would participate as soon as he had the chance. That chance came in 2012 after he was released by the Red Sox, when he could enlist for the 2013 edition of Alpe d’Huzes.

The second edition of Baseball Against Cancer drew even a lot more children. In the brand new baseball facility of Vaessen Pioniers from Hoofddorp, Swen’s hometown team, 275 children attended the event under the watchful eye of more baseball players. At the end of the day, over 8,000 Euro could be handed over to the KWF.

In 2015, Swen’s event even got bigger and even got the much deserved attention in the Dutch media as he was invited for an interview on Dutch national radio. The players that participated in that event were all Dutch Hoofdklasse (Major League) players like: Bas Nooij, Eric de Vries, Nick & Tom Stuifbergen, Sidney de Jong, Pim Walsma, Kevin Weijgertse, Bayron Cornelisse, Danny Rombley, Vince Rooi, David Bergman, Scott Ronnebergh, Sedley Karel, Damian Melis, Zerzinho Croes, Jasper de Jong and Lars Huijer. But next to these players, also young players that took the clinics in the first edition, now participate as instructors.

As far as Swen concerns, the media intention was nice for the battle against cancer. Not for the recognition. Swen just wants to collect as much money as possible for the battle against cancer.

In the Dutch baseball world there is much demand for events in which children can participate. Swen managed to organize a successful event.

A little step back to his participation in the Alpe d’HuZes event: On my question if he managed to climb the mountain six times, Swen answered that it was never his intention to do that. He drove up the mountain on a mountain bike instead of a racing bike, which makes it much harder. The night before the event he got very ill. On the day itself, he carried a backpack with two bottles of water and two canteens. About halfway up the mountain he drank all of his water supply. In the fifth curve of the climb, he was bothered by cramps in his thighs. He had to stretch for about fifteen minutes before he could finish the climb to the top.

This year the Baseball Against Cancer event will take place for the fourth time. It will take place on May 3 and 4. For the first time in the history of the event there will be a softball edition on May 3. The baseball edition will be on May 4. So far, Swen only had time to organize the softball part. He does this in cooperation with Golden League player (Dutch Hoofdklasse Softball) Ginger de Weert. Next to her the following softball players will participate in the clinic as instructor: Karen Tuk, Kirsten Scheele, Sophie Molee and Rebecca Soumeru.

–

Baseball nut born and raised in Amsterdam. Played for the oldest baseball club in Europe (AHC Quick, founded in 1913). Writer for Universo Beisbol (Cuban baseball magazine), for the website of the KNBSB (Dutch baseball and softball federation) and my own blog www.yankeebiscuitfansdutchblog.mlblogs.com. 

–

This guest-post has been part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer were not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

(Blogathon ’16) Nate Fish: Ezra, the Ballplayer

Posted on by
2

This guest-post is part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer are not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

–

I got this email on November 18th, 2015.

“Hi Nate,
My name is Ezra Schwartz, I’m at yeshiva and heard about the baseball league. I played four years of high school baseball and would love to join the spring league if there is space. If you can send me details of how to register that would be great.
Thank you.”

I am the national director for the Israel Association of Baseball and get emails like this a lot, kids wanting to play, or invites to tournaments, and I breezed over it. I was not in Israel at the time. I was in New York, where I used to live, visiting family and friends for Thanksgiving, and was not in the mood to deal with work. When I did reply the next morning, it was short.

“Great. Will add you to our list and send you a mail when spring training is getting ready to start. We should start Feb 10ish, season will start about a month later.”

But Ezra never got my e-mail.

I was on my parent’s couch looking at Facebook on my phone seeing what my friends were doing later. People were still talking about the Paris attacks that had happened a week earlier. And there were more stabbings back in Israel. I was more interested in my friends than news or people’s opinions on terrorism, but the forth or fifth time it came up on the screen, I saw it, “American Teen Ezra Shwartz Killed in Israel.” Shit, I said loud enough that my dad came in the room to ask what was wrong. I pulled up my e-mails to make sure. It was him.

Ezra was attending a gap year program at a school in Bet Shemesh, near Jerusalem. He was taking food and water to Israeli soldiers in the West Bank with some of his classmates and a teacher. For those of you who have never been to the West Bank, it is not a war zone. You could drive there a thousand times and nothing would happen. We have baseball teams there so I go out to see the fields and meet with coaches. I do not particularly like going. I find it a bit eerie, the check points and fences and security vehicles. There is a tension, but it is not by definition dangerous, no more dangerous than neighborhoods in Chicago or most major American cities, for example. It was a routine trip for the students. On their way back to the school, their car stopped at a red light, and they were ambushed by a Palestinian fighter who fired several shots at the cars lined up at the light. Along with Ezra, one Palestinian man, and an Israeli Jewish man were killed and five others were injured. Ezra was taken to a hospital. By the time I replied to his e-mail, he was dead.

I posted a note on Facebook about Ezra. Hundreds of people shared it, thousands liked it. I started hearing from Ezra’s former coaches and people who wanted to help The press and all the Jewish organizations got on the story. And Ezra quickly turned from a kid to an idea.

Ezra’s family came to Israel last week (Editor’s note: Nate got this to me in on January 8), his parents and four younger siblings. His three brothers threw out ceremonial first-pitches at our Junior League all-star game, and we will hopefully build a field in his honor in Raanana where some of Ezra’s family lives. It’s all good PR. But there is one thing Ezra’s family would like more than good PR, and that is to have their son and brother back. So when I take the field this spring to play one of my final baseball seasons for the Jerusalem Lions, I will try to remember Ezra the kid, not Ezra the idea – Ezra, the ballplayer.

Nate Fish is the director of the Israel Association of Baseball, his Twitter is @KingOfJBaseball.

–

This guest-post was part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer were not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.