Baseball. In Israel. The Championship game.

A guy from Chicago at a championship baseball game!!

I finally broke down and went to a game of the Israel Baseball League. And it was not just any game. It was the Championship game.

The championship game was between the top 2 teams - the Modiin Miracle and the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox. Not only were these the top two teams in the league, but they were also the most popular. The fans in these respective cities really adopted their teams and came to the games in droves to cheer them on. It must have helped because these are the two teams that came out on top, with the Blue Sox in first place the entire season.

It was a very exciting atmosphere. They estimated 4000 in attendance. The place was packed. It was noisy. It was a beautiful evening for baseball. The two teams were well matched, each with ace pitchers taking the mound.

I do not remember the names, and I do not feel like looking them up right now, but Modiin's pitcher was a Dominican fireballer who throws 97 mph.

The teams warmed up before the game to the cheers of their fans.
Here you can see the great Art Chomsky from the 1969 Mets, pre-game, preparing for the game as coach of the Modiin Miracle. I did not get a good picture of Ron Blomberg, former World Series NY Yankee coaching the Blue Sox, here is also one of the IBL Commissioner Dan Kurtzer.






Here is my friend Jeff Mor from the Blue Sox signing autographs before the game. He told me that 4 of the guys on his team have tryouts this summer with the NY Yankees, because of their great play this summer in the IBL.The game was fabulous. The pitchers were both great, the Blue Sox were able to scrape out three runs over 9 innings. Generally games are 7 innings but the Championship game was 9 innings. The pitcher for the Blue Sox threw a complete game shutout wining the game 3-0. There were some great plays in the game, a few nice hits, some diving catches, great pitching, exciting fans, and an electric atmosphere.

2 rows behind me was sitting the great Lenny Solomon, of Shlock Rock fame. He wanted to do the play by play, for himself, so he brought his own recorder, as you can see a Fisher Price model and spent much of the game recording his version of the Play by Play commentary.

Here is a great costume of a fan that was sitting next to me. It is a baseball mask with blue sox hanging from it.

And after the game there was a celebration for the team. The fans dfid not break out into the field. There was an on field ceremony after a lot of cheering. Awards were given out. After the ceremony the teams thanked the fans for their support during the season. Then a number of the players came to the fence and threw over various items for the fans to grab. they threw things ranging from balls to batting gloves to shoes to pants to shirts, etc.


Opening day for the 2008 is scheduled for June 29, 2008. be there.