Chasing baseball gold: Israeli team has big dreams for Tokyo

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Danny Valencia ducked out of the scorching Arizona sun, reached into a cooler to grab an ice-cold drink and took a seat on the bench. The former Major League Baseball player savored the sweat dripping off his face onto the dugout floor, knowing he had found a second calling in the game of baseball.

Leading Team Israel to Olympic gold in Tokyo this summer.

“I wanted to play some meaningful baseball games,” Valencia said. “Before you knew it, I’m on a plane to Israel.”

The 36-year-old Valencia, who played nine years in the majors, is one of many Jewish-American players handpicked by Team Israel President Peter Kurz, who has labored for more than a decade to piece together a competitive baseball roster on the international stage. The roster consists of former big leaguers like four-time All-Star second baseman Ian Kinsler, catcher Ryan Lavarnway and pitcher Josh Zeid, along with several players who were in the minors or played college baseball.

They'll be part of the first team sport for Israel at the Olympics since the soccer team qualified in 1976 in Montreal. Israel qualified for Tokyo's six-team field in 2019 and spent the past week training in Arizona at the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies' spring training facilities to prepare for its games in Japan.

Kurz lives in Tel Aviv but made the trip to Arizona to see the roster he assembled. He got a big kick out of watching Kinsler and Valencia take ground balls while providing leadership for the team.

But he was also distracted, constantly checking WhatsApp on his phone to make sure his wife and three grown children were OK amid the escalating violence in the region.

“It hasn’t been easy,” Kurz said. “You see messages like ‘We’re going to the bomb shelter.’ My wife heard a lot of booms...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Chasing-baseball-gold-Israeli-team-has-big-16177965.php