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very worried in the beginn-
ing. Then, finally, they actual-
ly all came out. We had a very
big event in the Arab village
of Tira. Parents of the kib-
butz, Ramat Hakovesh, for
the first time ever, set foot in
Tira."
Kahn says altough the kib-
butz and village are about
one-and-half miles apart, the
villagers "never had any con-
tact before baseball. Baseball
brought these two villages
together."
Israel's first formal baseball
game was played in
Jerusalem in 1987, with
Mayor Kollek tossing out the
first pitch.
Twelve teams played in
Israel's first Little League
season. In 1988, 20 teams
played. This year, 31 teams
and close to 600 players, age -s
8-15, participated.
Kahn says that Americans
watching Israeli baseball first
notice that the 'pitching is
poor, because the Israelis
don't know proper pitching
form, and because ballfields
don't have pitcher's mounds.
Games are called in Hebrew,
but English words such as
"strike," "ball," and "safe,"
are used. Umpiring is
another problem, again due
to Israel's lack of experience
with baseball: although there
are courses for coaches, there
are none for umpires.
In July, baseball again
brought Arabs and Jews
together when Israel was in-
vited to its first international
Little League . event, the
European Championships, at
the Ramstein U.S. Air Force
base in West Germany.
Israel lost all five games in
the tournament, but made
history in its first encounter,
which was against European
champion Saudi Arabia.
Although the Saudi team
consists primarily of
American children of U.S.
Aramco workers, it did in-
clude two Saudis and played
under the Saudi flag. Israel's
team, consisted solely of
Israelis.
Saudi Arabia, which
dominated the tournament,
beat Israel, 51-0. The Saudi
government denies that the
game took place, but Kahn
has a video tape to prove
otherwise. And newspaper ar-
ticles about the game include
tributes to the Israelis' en-
thusiasm and desire.
Although Jordan did not
allow its team to play Israel,
players from both teams were
photographed together and
many traded hats and pins, a
custom in international
athletics.
Kahn was in Southfield in
..Piugdk to meet with Detroit's
Israel-American Baseball
committee. Kahn showed a
video of Israel's brief baseball
history and received a $500
donation from the committee.
"I'm just thrilled with the
committee in Detroit, what
they have done for baseball in
Israel," he says. He hopes the
Chicago group now forming
will do as well.
Israel's ballplayers always
need equipment as well as
qualified coaches and.. um-
pires, Kahn notes. But the
biggest problem is the lack of
playing fields. Land is
available, but money is need
to create baseball diamonds,_
he says.
Games usually are played
on soccer fields, and no Israeli
ever pitched off of a pitcher's
mound until the Ramstein
tournament, there- are no
lighted fields, so games are
played in the daytime and
working parents cannot
attend.
Kahn says he hopes his
30-day, 17-city U.S. tour will
create a fund-raising base in
the U.S. tour will create a
fund-raising base in the U.S
for a stadium to be named
after former Detroit Tiger
Hank Greenberg. Kahn
recently met with Steve
Greenberg, the late Hall of
Famers' son, in Los Angeles.
While Greenberg did not
make a commitment, Kahn is
hopeful. "He was very nice
and very cordial," Kahn says.
The Greenberg stadium
"should be the hope for
baseball 'in Israel," Kahn
says. Planned for a site at
Wingate Institute, the facili-
ty will cost $200,000.. Seating
capacity is undetermined, but
is not Kahn's major concern;
he is more interested in the
-playing surface.
He also hopes to see three
smaller fields in three other
Israeli cities.
Besides strengthening
baseball in Israel, Kahn
hopes to bring together dif-
ferent cultures — "Arab,
Jewish, Russian, Romanian,
Ethiopian, it doesn't matter
to me. I just want them out
there playing baseball, hav-
ing fun and being a part of
something," the ex-Texan
says."
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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
55