"The Israel Baseball League"

Anyone familiar with professional baseball probably knows that the sport is huge in the United States, Canada, Central America, Venezuala, and Japan, as well as moderately popular in Taiwan, and Australia. There are also professional leagues in Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands.

Starting next month, however, the (MLB-sanctioned) Israel Baseball League will begin play, featuring players drafted from the Dominican Republic, Australia, Venezuela, and the United States. About a dozen of the 120 players will be Israeli, with the league hoping to be made up of at least 25% Israelis by its fifth year. A majority of the players are Jewish.

Players already signed to the new teams are current and former U.S. minor leaguers, professional baseball players from other countries, and starting college players. It is expected that the quality of play will be similar to Class-A Minor League baseball here in the United States.

But that's not all, the league get's even more interesting:

Fourty-one years after he retired, Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax has also been drafted into the new league. Koufax, now 71, was picked by the Modi'in Miracle. "His selection is a tribute to the esteem with which he is held by everyone associated with this league," said Art Shamsky, a former New York Mets player who will manage the Miracle. "It's been 41 years between starts for him. If he's rested and ready to take the mound again, we want him on our team."

In his career with the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, Koufax threw four no-hitters, including one perfect game. Before he begins play with the Miracle, he'll be working on 14,875 days rest.

Now that he's 71 years-old, though, I wonder how fast he can pitch? Kind of reminds me of the Bernie Mac baseball movie, "Mr. 3000"! :)

-Jon
posted by Jon at 1:07 PM  I   I  0 comments