46 | JUNE 18 • 2020 

Looking Back

From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History

accessible at www.djnfoundation.org

The Boys of Summer — 
in Israel
T

he beginning of this 
summer is not like 
those of the past. Due 
to the coronavirus pandemic, 
the usual public events and 
leisure activities that have 
long defined the 
summer season 
will be much dif-
ferent. For one 
example, take 
our American 
pastime, base-
ball.
Baseball 
has long been 
an integral part of Detroit’
s 
history. Indeed, the Detroit 
Tigers’
 opening day is usually 
the unofficial beginning of 
summer, but this year, no one 
knows when Major League 
Baseball will begin. So, for 
readers starved for baseball 
stories, I found some inter-
esting stories for you in the 
William Davidson Digital 
Archive of Jewish Detroit 
History about Little League 
baseball in Israel. 
As I looked through the 
Archive to research this topic, 
I quickly discovered that the 
Detroit Jewish community 
has had ties to Israeli baseball 
since its beginning. 
Baseball is an all-American 
sport, and one might not think 
that it has much of a presence 
in the Middle East. However, 
the first Israeli Little League 
was established in 1987, and 
the sport of baseball has 
grown in Israel ever since. 
Currently, the Israeli Little 

League has about 50 teams 
and 700 kids, and one full-
sized baseball field in Petach 
Tikvah. Expats and their fam-
ilies make up 80% of the play-
ers, but native-born Israelis 
are increasingly enthusiastic 
about the game. 
Randy Kahn of Houston 
made his second visit to Israel 
in 1985. His first visit was 
in 1976, when he lived on 
a kibbutz for four months. 
During his second visit, Kahn 
was playing baseball with his 
nephews when many neigh-
borhood kids joined in. After 
seeing such a positive local 
response to baseball, he decid-
ed to start a baseball league 
in Israel, leaving behind his 
comfortable sales position in 
Houston. Kahn’
s idea came to 
fruition with the help of the 
Israeli Association of Baseball, 
which he founded in 1986. 
The third season of orga-
nized baseball for youth in 
Israel was just beginning in 
1989 when Detroiters decided 
to help. There was a sponsored 
drive in Metro Detroit for 
which the Jewish community 
collected as much baseball 
equipment as possible to send 
to Israel for the Little League 
season. Detroiters Irwin 
Cohen, Dave Dombey, Bob 
Sternberg and Phil Applebaum 
organized the drive as mem-
bers of the Detroit Committee 
of the Israeli Association of 
Baseball. The committee was 
founded to support the growth 
of Israeli baseball leagues.

Dave Dombey, a photog-
rapher from Southfield, was 
present at the first organized 
youth baseball game in 
Israel. His photograph of 
that game was included in 
the July 24, 1987 issue of 
the Jewish News. Dombey 
became co-chair of the 
American Friends of the 
Israeli Association of 
Baseball and, subsequent-
ly, was heavily involved 
in the world of Israeli 
baseball. 
The Jewish community 
of Detroit has long been 
invested in the Israeli base-
ball league. Through the 
sport, Detroit Jews have 
another deep-rooted 
connection to Israel. 

Yael Eichhorn, the guest 

writer for this week’
s 

“Looking Back” page, is a 

student at Michigan State 

University and the 2020 

Detroit Jewish News 

Foundation Summer 

Intern.

-

Yael Eichhorn
Detroit Jewish 
News Foundation 
Intern

h the
have
d 
. 

st 

a 

te 

Intern.

