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FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 1992
Holy Home Run!
Baseball, Israeli-style
MIKE ROSENBAUM
Special to The Jewish News
S
pring training is well
under way and the an-
nual epidemic of base-
ball fever is spreading
through North America. The
"disease" is, in fact, so strong
that Americans have recent-
ly "infected" Israel, which
now has a fledgling Little
League baseball program.
It was a Texan, Randy
Kahn, who introduced base-
ball to Israel in 1985. Today,
another former resident of the
Lone Star State, Tap Logue,
heads up Israel's baseball for-
tunes as president of the
Israel Association of Baseball
(IAB).
Unlike Kahn, however,
Logue is not Jewish. An
employee of General Dyna-
mics, Logue moved to Israel
in 1980 to work on the F-16
fighter airplane project. So
why is Logue involved with
the IAB? The father of four
says he's interested in helping
children, regardless of their
religion or nationality.
"When I got involved in
baseball in Israel, it's basical-
ly for the kids," says Logue,
who receives no salary from
the IAB. "I'm not Jewish, so
I don't have any motivation
other than I just enjoy seeing
kids play the game. I find
Israeli kids are just like kids
all over the world. They're
just looking for something to
be good at and to have a good
time!'
But Logue makes it clear
that baseball is also a means
to a greater end than merely
having fun. "I really feel the
value of the sport to the kids,"
he says. "It gives the kid the
discipline and the ability to
cope with some of the things
he's going to find in his life.
He learns to lose — not
necessarily to accept it, but
he learns to cope with losing
and work harder to come back
a winner. Every kid needs a
success. He needs to be good
at something. For some kids
it's baseball!'
Israel's baseball program is
sanctioned by the Interna-
tional Little League, which
allows Israel to compete in
the annual Middle Eastern
Regional of the Little League
World Series. The Regional
includes Arab countries, mak-
ing the baseball program
Israel's first sports organiza-
tion to directly compete
against an Arab nation.
Logue's long-range goal is
to develop an Israeli Olympic
.
>,
a,
0
0
.0
0
0
Seymour Brode checks out some of Tap Logue's literature.
baseball team — possibly in
time for the 1996 Summer
Games in Atlanta. Mean-
while, Logue hopes to make
Israel a part of the interna-
tional sports community.
"Just put that old Star of
David right out there in the
front of the world and say,
`Here we are; we're just peo-
ple like the rest of the world
and we just want to play! It's
normalization," Logue says.
Israel's baseball program
has grown steadily. Over 300
participants — including
some girls — played lag year.
Logue predicts that between
400 and 500 will play in 1992.
"There's no shortage of
kids," Logue says. "You just
hang out your shingle and
they come out of the wood-
work?'
But Israel lacks the
resources to sustain that
growth. "It's growing faster
than we can support," Logue
says. "That's our biggest pro-
blem. We have a shortage of
baseball fields, a shortage of
coaches, a shortage of equip-
ment. But we're managing to
keep them all playing."
A lack of playing fields has
plagued Israel from the start
of its baseball program. The
small amount of land that is
available is, usually, very
rocky or sandy, or both, mak-
ing it expensive to convert in-
to a baseball field.
lbday, most baseball games
are, played on soccer fields.
Logue hopes to begin building
baseball fields soon —
possibly as part of the Gan
Sacher athletic facility in
Jerusalem. lb that end, he
spent part of his recent one-
month vacation in the U.S.
trying to raise funds for the
project.
While in Detroit, Logue
contacted a group which has
raised money and donated
equipment to the program
during the past three years.
The Detroit group, part of
the non-profit American
Friends of the Israel Associa-
tion of Baseball, includes
Dave Dombey, Bob Sternberg,
Benno Levi, Phil Applebaum,
Bill Serman, David Unger
and Irwin Cohen. The
Michigan Jewish Sports Hall
of Fame and the Official
Sports Center have also made
donations to Israel baseball.
Baseball equipment isn't
manufactured in Israel, and
Israel's baseball
program is
sanctioned by the
International Little
League, which
allows Israel to
compete in the
annual Middle
Eastern Regional.
import laws make it difficult
to buy equipment from
abroad. That's where North
American groups and in-
dividuals have been most
helpful to the Israel baseball
program so far.
But the Detroit group, after
meeting with Logue, has
decided to set its sights
higher and will begin a fund-
raising drive to build a base-
ball field in Jerusalem. The
estimated cost of the project is
$50,000.
"We're trying to make -a
self-sustaining program in
Israel as far as the playing of
the game is concerned,"
Logue says. "What we're ask-
ing the community in the