Thanks to WBC tournament rules that allow countries to field players who are eligible for citizenship — even if they are not actual citizens — Israel can tap into the formidable pool of Jewish-American baseball talent that includes about 15 major leaguers. Israel grants automatic citizenship to anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent.
Among the potential players who could wear the Israeli uniform are Ike Davis, Jason Marquis, Sam Fuld, Danny Valencia and Scott Feldman. Ryan Lavarnway, a top catching prospect in the Boston Red Sox system, is also a candidate.
Speaking in an outdoor cafe overlooking the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, the 43-year-old Ausmus said he has been in touch with all Jewish big league players, either directly or through their agents. He would not say whether anyone has formally committed, but said all were “honored” to be able to represent Israel, regardless of whether they eventually do. He said no one has turned him down.
Ausmus’ team will face its first challenge this November in a preliminary round in Florida against Spain, France and South Africa.
Israel is among 16 countries invited to play in the qualifying round, with the top four teams advancing to the WBC. The March 2013 tournament will be the third World Baseball Classic. Japan won the first two competitions, in 2006 and 2009.
Israel would not be the only country to tap into foreign talent. Italy, South Africa, and the Netherlands all managed to field U.S. major leaguers in the 2006 and 2009 tournaments through similar citizenship rules. Italy’s roster, for example, has included Mike Piazza and Nick Punto, and Andruw Jones, born in the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao, represented the Netherlands. . . .
“I know that baseball is in its infancy in Israel. To me that is a kind of way to bridge the gap between American Jews and Israelis. There are a lot of American Jews who attach a great deal of importance to their heritage. This is a way to bring those groups closer together,” he said. “As unimportant as baseball is in the grand scheme of things in the world and even in Israel, it may be a way to make a difference between two countries.”
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1. The District Attorney Posted: May 21, 2012 at 10:25 PM (#4137438)If only Ghana could have thought of a move like that. (smile)
does she not have "google search" for Ausmus?
:)
That's at least one fundamental this team may have problems executing.
PS. I am sure there are better jokes, but thats all I got.
Oh crap, I just Godwined it.
I would absolutely flip my #### if team yid took down the Dominicans or something similarly improbable.
Like the Dominicans being laid low by the Dutch. Or the Canadians beating the Americans (and then getting eliminated by Mexico a few days later). The magic of the WBC!
I'd imagnie Israel has some actual ballplayers of its own, right?
People think this was that big of a deal? It was one team of mostly major leaguers beating another team of major leaguers.
it wasn't nearly as shocking as Canada losing to ####### Italy
Well yes, but that's not a very fond memory.
Bob Tufts might have to come in for a four-out save!
Ike Davis might have to convert to pitcher soon.
Most of the other pitchers are relievers (Breslow, Grabow, Schwimer) or terrible (Poreda).
SP - Adam Loewen (hadn't pitched in the majors at that point, 2006 was his rookie year. Had 164 innings in his career plus his comeback as a hitter)
C - Pete LaForest (44 MLB games to that point in his career, 68 total by the end)
1B - Justin Morneau
2B - Stubby Clapp (23 career MLB games...which were all 5 years before the WBC)
3B - Corey Koskie
SS - Pete Orr (quasi-significant career as a backup)
LF - Jason Bay
CF - Adam Stern, the hero of the game, and fittingly enough he's Jewish isn't it? (54 career games)
RF - Aaron Guiel (bench player for a couple years)
DH - Matt Stairs
This is more to refresh my memory than dispute the fact that it was more remarkable than Italy beating Canada. They are all major leaguers in that they've played in the majors. But I'd say that starting 10 had 4 Major League Regulars, 2 Career Bench Players, and 4 AAA players who had got tastes of MLB at some point.
I doubt that game was a big deal outside of Canada, but for me it was the most exciting baseball game I've seen in 20 years and one of the reasons I will always love the WBC. Jeff Francis absolutely melting down against Mexico (and Esteban Loaiza getting the win, just another reason to hate him) was not fun, but it was fun while it lasted.
2009 was bad too. I recall Canada holding back their "ace" Scott Richmond for the next game as they figured Italy should be easy to beat. On the plus side, as a result of that awful, awful day Canada was forced into a qualifying pool with UK, Germany, and the Czechs this fall in Bavaria that I get to see!
EDIT: I had forgotten that the US-Canada game in 2009 was close as well, 6-5. And Brett Lawrie had a pinch running appearance.
ZiPS says 4.73 ERA for Feldman over the rest of the year, and 5.32 for Marquis, so yeah, probably. Either way, they might have to talk Koufax out of retirement if they want to make a run at this thing.
Heart of the lineup right there.
Who fact checks this stuff? Nobody, I know, but it's embarrassing how wrong journalists can be so frequently.
Curacao is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and so Jones was and is a Dutch citizen from birth. It's not even close to plastic Italians from New Jersey, more like somebody from Guam choosing to play for the US.
Me: "No, I checked, Ben Zobrist isn't Jewish."
Dad: "Ooooh, ouch, that one hurts."
Of course.
And I'm sure such a thread would stay on the straight and narrow baseball path and not take any kind of nasty turn.
A dedicated acolyte goes where the spirit leads, man. The world will be as it will be.
Out of curiosity, can Puerto Ricans play for the US in the Olympics? Could Australians play for the United Kingdom? I think in international soccer its easy for players to pick the country in the Commonwealth they will play for. Giggs could have played for England, I believe.
I think the rules vary by country (depending on how it defines citizenship) and by sport. There is no single rule governing these things.
Only in name. The UK posters here can give more detail, but the FAs of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all refused to take part in it for fear it will affect their status in FIFA. The European qualification for the Olympics was the UEFA U-21 tournament, in which Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England (the only one of the Home Nations to advance beyond qualification) all competed separately in qualification.
In the World Cup of Golf, England, Wales and Scotland all compete separately, Northern Ireland joins forces with the lads to the south and compete under the Republic of Ireland flag.
Giggs was eligible to play for England because he'd lived there starting at age 6, after his father moved the family so he could play rugby for Swinton. He has a grandfather from Sierra Leone, so he probably could've played for them too.
Regarding the UK and soccer -- the team playing in the Olympics is the Great Britain (not United Kingdom) team, and was formed over the strong protests of the Football Associations of the four Home Nations. This is the first appearance of the GB team since 1972. The previous team was (says Wikipedia) just the England amateur team with a few players from the rest of the UK occasionally added.
Edit: Coke.
If I recall correctly, FIFA's official stance was that his games with Puerto Rico were at an unrecognized tournament with understrength teams, and hence didn't really count.
Edit to add: RSSSF has a list of players who have played for two national teams, but most of them are guys like Willibald Schmaus, who played for Austria from 1935-37 and Germany from 1938-42. Not a lot of options when your country is Anschlussed.
Yes and no. Puerto Ricans are US citizens, Australians are not British citizens. You have Australians with British citizenship (Craig Johnston played for England due to an English parent, famously comparing playing for Australia in soccer to surfing for England), but that's only through descent or naturalisation. I don't know if any born and bred Puerto Ricans have chosen to play for the US in a sport other than Armas in soccer, but you could see it happening in another sport where the benefit of playing for the US outweighs patriotism.
Giggs has never been eligible to play for England. You cannot qualify for a Home Nation based on residency, and Giggs was born in Wales to two Welsh parents and three Welsh grand parents, with the other being from Sierra Leone (yep, Giggs is black, by US standards anyway).
He played for England Schools because he went to school in England; Kun Aguero's kid could conceivably play for England Schools if he stays in the country long enough, even though he'd be Argentine.
By the way, my opinion on WBC eligibility is that the rules are dumb. You can't deny Italian citizens from playing for Italy, but after the first WBC, which was thrown together in a couple of months, players who are eligible for citizenship should actually have to take that citizenship. All these Major League Italian-Americans make more than enough money to pay somebody to trace their ancestors back to Italy and go through the paperwork needed to become an Italian citizen.
How cool -- I'm Jewish! You may now all send me bar mitzvah presents. Or money. However that works.
No. wait. I guess that means I'm actually just Israeli (as are a bunch of cousins who actually live over there whom I'm never met). What do I get?
From what I remember from my history classes on England, Great Britain refers to the combined countries of Wales, England, and Scotland, while United Kingdom are all three countries, plus Ireland.
Ah right, that makes sense (though in this case just Northern Ireland would be excluded as Ireland proper I don't think is part of the United Kingdom or Great Britain).
As far as I know the British Baseball Federation doesn't have any clubs in Scotland or Wales, so it may as well be the English Baseball Federation. (Apologies to any Celtic baseballers out there).
The WBC is not unique. Italy's men's national hockey team comprised of Italian-Americans and in 2004 Greece had an Olympic baseball team of Greek-Americans.
Three years of manditory military service! Mazel tov!
Four out of six - I'm overqualified! Do they need a scorekeeper?
I figured it was something like that.
So ... never mind.
It usually comes down to the island, in the case of "Great Britain." That means the big damned island that is home to England, Scotland and Wales more often than not.
Here's a handy Venn diagram to help you out!
Okay, this is like 50% of the US and 90% of Canada, as well as wide swaths of the Caribbean. They could be AMAZING.
"Lastly, to be pedantic, this is actually an Euler diagram, not a Venn diagram."
Well, if you do go through with that Jewish conversion and are between the ages of 18-26 you can get a free trip to Israel. It's pretty cool, a buddy of mine did it.
I think we established in the gaming thread that gef is approximately 278 in mongoose years.
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