Eric Holtz (born December 5, 1965) is an American former manager of the

Israel national baseball team The Israel national baseball team ( he, נבחרת ישראל בבייסבול) represents Israel in international competitions. It is managed by Israeli-American former Major League Baseball World Series champion, World Baseball Classic champion, ...

. "Meet the Senior National Team Coach: Eric Holtz,"
IAB - Israel Association of Baseball. He was the assistant coach of gold-medal-winning Team USA in baseball at the

2013 Maccabiah Games The 19th Maccabiah ( he, המכביה התשע-עשרה) were held during July 18 to 30, 2013. The Games brought together 7,500 competing athletes, making it the third-largest international sporting event in the world after the Olympic Games and ...

, and the Team USA head coach for the gold-medal-winning Under-18 baseball team at the

2017 Maccabiah Games The 2017 Maccabiah Games ( he, משחקי המכביה 2017), also referred to as the 20th Maccabiah Games ( he, המכביה ה-20), were the 20th edition of the Maccabiah Games. They took place from 4 to 17 July 2017, in Israel. The Maccabiah ...

. He was the Head Coach of the 1st and Only Olympic Baseball team to represent Israel.

Biography

Holtz was born in New York, New York, and raised in

the Bronx, New York The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New York ...

."Eric Holtz Career Stats Leagues Statistics & History,"
Baseball-Reference.com. He is Jewish, and had his bar mitzvah at the

Western Wall The Western Wall ( he, הַכּוֹתֶל הַמַּעֲרָבִי, HaKotel HaMa'aravi, the western wall, often shortened to the Kotel or Kosel), known in the West as the Wailing Wall, and in Islam as the Buraq Wall (Arabic: حَائِط � ...

. His father fought in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Holtz founded and is the owner of Game On 13, a baseball and softball strength and sports conditioning and skills development training facility in

Elmsford Elmsford is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. Roughly one mile square, the village is fully contained within the borders of the town of Greenburgh. As of the 2010 census, th ...

Westchester County Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population ...

in New York State. His wife is Traci Holtz, and they have three children.

Playing career

He attended

Dean College Dean College is a private college in Franklin, Massachusetts. It offers bachelor's degrees, associate degrees, and continuing and professional education and certificates. History Dean College was founded by Dr. Oliver Dean as a co-educational ...

, where Holtz played baseball for two years. He played

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

and

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox of 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 ...

as a player-coach in 2007, during which time he roomed with player

Nate Fish Nate Fish (born January 2, 1980) is an American–Israeli writer, artist, baseball player, and coach. He was the first base coach for Team Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic, bullpen coach at 2023 World Baseball Classic, an assistant coa ...

."Eric Holtz,"
Northeast Pride."Maccabi USA Baseball with Eric Holtz,"
Maccabi USA, April 17, 2016. He won the Commissioner’s Award for Distinguished Service.

Coaching career

He was an assistant baseball coach at

Manhattanville College Manhattanville College is a private university in Purchase, New York. Founded in 1841 at 412 Houston Street in lower Manhattan, it was initially known as Academy of the Sacred Heart, then after 1847 as Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart ...

from 2004 to 2007, and then the hitting coach at

Westchester Community College Westchester Community College (WCC) is a public community college in Valhalla, New York, in Westchester County. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. History New York Institute of Applied Arts and Sciences becomes Westc ...

from 2008 to 2015. Holtz was the assistant coach of gold-medal-winning Team USA in baseball at the

. He was then the Team USA head coach for the gold-medal-winning Under-18 baseball team at the

Team Israel

He was named the baseball head

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

of the

in 2017.">"Four U.S. baseball players immigrating to Israel to join Olympics bid; Team Israel will begin its bid to reach the Olympic Games by playing in the European Championships in July,"
''Haaretz'', April 7, 2019. The Israel Association of Baseball named Holtz as the manager for the 2020 Olympic Qualifiers. The team played in the

2019 European Baseball Championship - B-Pool 2019 European Baseball Championship - B-Pool was the second tier of Confederation of European Baseball men competition. It featured 14 teams, competing in two groups of 6 and 8 teams in early July 2019. The two group winners, Team Israel and Team ...

in early July 2019 in

Blagoevgrad Blagoevgrad ( bg, Благоевград ) is а town in Southwestern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Blagoevgrad Municipality and of Blagoevgrad Province. With a population of almost inhabitants, it is the economic and cultural centre ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

, winning all five of its games and advancing to the playoffs against Team Lithuania in the 2019 Playoff Series at the end of July 2019 for the last qualifying spot for the 2019 European Baseball Championship. In September 2019, he managed Team Israel to a fourth-place finish at the 2019 European Baseball Championship in Germany. Among the teams Team Israel defeated was Team Germany. Holtz noted: "Going to Germany, a country that we wouldn’t have been allowed in 80 years ago, and not only to go there but perform there and defeat them on their own land, yeah, it was a little bit more (meaningful) once the game was over." He also managed the team at the Africa/Europe 2020 Olympic Qualification tournament in Italy in September 2019, which Israel won to qualify to play baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holtz, Eric 1965 births Living people Jewish American baseball players Jewish American baseball managers People from White Plains, New York Bet Shemesh Blue Sox players Sportspeople from the Bronx Dean College alumni Manhattanville College faculty 21st-century American Jews