The Modi'in Miracle () was an Israeli

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

team from

Modi'in Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut ( ''Mōdīʿīn-Makkabbīm-Rēʿūt'') is a city located in central Israel, about southeast of Tel Aviv and west of Jerusalem, and is connected to those two cities via Route 443 (Israel), Highway 443. In the population ...

in the

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

. The Miracle finished the inaugural 2007 season 22-19 (.537) in third place, and after upsetting the # 2 Tel Aviv Lightning in the semi-finals, lost to

Ron Blomberg Ronald Mark Blomberg (born August 23, 1948), nicknamed "Boomer", is an American former professional baseball player and minor league manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a designated hitter, first baseman, and right fielder. He played ...

's Bet Shemesh Blue Sox 3-0 in the championship game. Miracle catcher, and former

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

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 Nort ...

r, Eladio Rodriguez was the league batting champion (.461). and had 16 home runs in 102 at bats. He was co-winner of The Hank Greenberg Award for Most Valuable Player. 6' 6" Maximo Nelson from

San Pedro de Macorís San Pedro de Macorís is a city and municipality (''municipio'') in the Dominican Republic. The capital of its eponymous province in the east region of the country, it is among the ten largest cities of the Dominican Republic. The city has approx ...

, in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

, led the league with 85 strikeouts; he pitched for the Gulf Coast Yankees in 2004 (posting a 6-5 record, with a 2.63 ERA).

History

The name for the Miracle is a reference to the miracle of the

Maccabean revolt The Maccabean Revolt () was a Jewish rebellion led by the Maccabees against the Seleucid Empire and against Hellenistic influence on Jewish life. The main phase of the revolt lasted from 167 to 160 BCE and ended with the Seleucids in control of ...

(which started in the area presently known as Maccabim, just outside

) and victory over

Antiochus IV Epiphanes Antiochus IV Epiphanes ( 215 BC–November/December 164 BC) was king of the Seleucid Empire from 175 BC until his death in 164 BC. Notable events during Antiochus' reign include his near-conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt, his persecution of the Jews of ...

in 167 BCE. Thus the use of a hanukiah in the team's logo, an object commonly associated with the miracle victory of the

Maccabees The Maccabees (), also spelled Machabees (, or , ; or ; , ), were a group of Jews, Jewish rebel warriors who took control of Judea, which at the time was part of the Seleucid Empire. Its leaders, the Hasmoneans, founded the Hasmonean dynasty ...

over the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

s. On February 26, 2007, it was announced that

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

player Art Shamsky of the " Miracle Mets" would be the manager of the Miracle. Team colors also reflect Shamsky's stint with the

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

, and hopes that IBL officials had of creating a rivalry between the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox (similar colors to 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) Am ...

) and the Miracle. In the inaugural draft in 2007, the Modi'in Miracle selected with the first pick Aaron Levin, an infielder from

Cuesta College Cuesta College is a Public college, public community college in San Luis Obispo County, California. History The first community college in the San Luis Obispo area was founded in 1916 as a San Luis Obispo High School division. It lasted until 1 ...

. Pitcher

Sandy Koufax Sanford Koufax (; né Braun; born December 30, 1935), nicknamed "the Left Arm of God", is an American former baseball pitcher who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers from 195 ...

, then 71, was the last player chosen by the Miracle. "His selection is a tribute to the esteem with which he is held by everyone associated with this league," said Art Shamsky, who manages the Miracle. "It's been 41 years between starts for him. If he's rested and ready to take the mound again, we want him on our team

"Koufax Drafted By Israeli Baseball Team"
''

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...

'', 2007-04-27. Retrieved 2007-07-09. Koufax declined the offer to join the team.

Stadium

Located in

Kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

Gezer, Gezer Field was home to the Miracle as well as the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox.

Roster

Footnotes

External links

Official site of the Modi'in Miracle
Baseball teams in Israel Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut {{europe-baseball-team-stub