The Beit Shemesh Blue Sox ( he, בית שמש בלו סוקס) were an

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

team from

Bet Shemesh Beit Shemesh ( he, בֵּית שֶׁמֶשׁ ) is a city located approximately west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District, with a population of in . History Tel Beit Shemesh The small archaeological tell northeast of the modern city wa ...

. The Blue Sox was one of the inaugural teams in the

Israel Baseball League The Israel Baseball League (IBL; Hebrew: ליגת הבייסבול הישראלית, ''Ligat ha-Beisbol ha-Israelit'') was a six-team professional baseball league in Israel. The first game was played on June 24, 2007. League structure The six ...

. They had the best regular season record (29-12, .707), and won the inaugural championship August 19, 2007, in

Petah Tikva Petah Tikva ( he, פֶּתַח תִּקְוָה, , ), also known as ''Em HaMoshavot'' (), is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv. It was founded in 1878, mainly by Haredi Judaism, Haredi Jews of ...

, shutting out Art Shamsky’s Modi’in Miracle 3-0 in the championship game. Californian RHP Rafael Bergstrom pitched a complete game

shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

, downing Dominican RHP Maximo Nelson (5-3, 3.55 ERA) who pitched for Modi’in.

History

On February 26, 2007, it was announced that former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

player Ron Blomberg would be the manager of the Blue Sox. Team colors also reflect Blomberg's stint with the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

, and hopes that league officials had of creating a rivalry between Art Shamsky's Modi'in Miracle (similar colors to the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

) and the Blue Sox. The first player selected by the Blue Sox in the inaugural draft was

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

right handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more Fine motor skill, dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or sim ...

pitcher Jason Benson.

Stadium

Located at

Kibbutz Gezer Gezer ( he, גֶּזֶר) is a kibbutz in central Israel. Located in the Shephelah between Modi'in, Ramle and Rehovot, it falls under the jurisdiction of Gezer Regional Council. In it had a population of . History The kibbutz was established in ...

, Gezer Field was home to the Blue Sox as well as the Modi'in Miracle, as neither city has a baseball stadium. However, a new field was under construction in Bet Shemesh and reportedly would have been reason for the second season in 2008, which was never played.

Logo

The Blue Sox logo is a mixture of the logos of the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

and the

, and its letters make out the initials of the city of Bet Shemesh, written in diagonal from right to left (because the

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

reads from right to left), as opposed to the White Sox which goes left to right.

Roster

Team success

The Blue Sox jumped off to a good start in the beginning of the inaugural 2007 season, winning 9 consecutive game before finally losing one to the

Tel Aviv Lightning The Tel Aviv Lightning ( he, תל אביב לייטנינג) was an Israeli baseball team from Tel Aviv in the Israel Baseball League. The Lightning finished the inaugural 2007 season in second place with a 26-14 (.650) record, and lost to the M ...

. The team played well for the rest of the season, taking first place in the regular season, as well as winning the championship game on August 19, 2007, in front of 2,610 fans. The team was the best offensive team in the league, coming in first in the following categories: batting average (.294), runs (286), hits (325), doubles (61), home runs (60),

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

(251), and stolen bases (115). 23-year-old

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

right fielder A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the ...

Jason Rees led the league with 17 home runs and 50 runs batted in in 130

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

Shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

Gregg Raymundo, who hit .292 in 7

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

seasons and played for the Texas Rangers' and

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Airports * Anaa Airport in French Polynesia (IATA airport code AAA) * Logan County Airport (Illinois) (FAA airport code AAA) Arts, entertainment, and me ...

teams, was a close second for the league title in batting, with a .459 batting average. Jason Rees was signed to a minor league contract by the New York Yankees for the 2008 season. One of the leading pitchers was Juan Feliciano of Bet Shemesh, who had pitched for the 2005-06

Hiroshima Carp The is a professional baseball team based in Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan. They compete in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. The team is primarily owned by the Matsuda family, led by , who is a descendant of Mazda ...

in Japan. He was 7-1, with a 1.97 ERA, and in 50.1 innings gave up only 28 hits while striking out 73. Rafael Bergstrom was 7-2, with a 2.44 ERA. The Commissioner's Award for Distinguished Service was awarded to shortstop Eric Holtz of Bet Shemesh, a player-coach who also filled in as player-manage

Three players from the Blue Sox won season awards for outstanding play: Raymundo shared the Hank Greenberg

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

award (along with

Eladio Rodriguez Eladio Y. Rodriguez (born April 4, 1979) is a professional baseball player. Rodriguez formerly went under the aliases of Iván Rodríguez and Carlos Aleman. Career Rodriguez was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Boston Red Sox in 1998. ...

of the Modi'in Miracle), Juan Feliciano was named the best pitcher, and Jason Rees received two awards: Best Outfielder (shared with Josh Doane of the

Netanya Tigers The Netanya Tigers ( he, נתניה טייגרס) was an Israeli baseball team from Netanya in the Israel Baseball League. The Tigers finished the inaugural 2007 season in fourth place, 19-21 (.475), and were defeated by the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox i ...

) and Home Run Champion (17). The Blue Sox had 11 players named to the 2007 All-Star Team: Scott Jarmakowicz (C), Gregg Raymundo (SS), David Kramer (2B), Sean Slaughter (OF), Jason Reese (OF), Johnny Lopez (DH), Rafael Bergstrom (P), Ben Pincus (P), Scott Perlman (P), Juan Feliciano (P), and Jason Benson (P). Manager for the North team was Blue Sox manager Eric Holtz, and the North defeated the South 5-4.

Footnotes

External links

Official site of the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox
{{Baseball in Israel Beit Shemesh Baseball teams in Israel