Tarrytown Man Takes Team Israel to the Olympics

If you asked most Americans whether Israel and baseball go together in any context, the answer would probably be no. The assumption would be very far off, though. “Israeli baseball started with a bunch of Kibbutzniks 30 or 40 years ago - transplanted Jews from the states,” said Eric Holtz of Valhalla. But the game is now played everywhere, and Israel must have a quaint little program that falls far short of the likes of the USA, Japan and the Dominican Republic. Not so fast again and Holtz can attest to the team’s chops between the lines - even when taking into account the bias he may carry as the Team Israel Coach.

The 24 man roster took part in international competition in 2019, and a 17-4 record earned a birth in Tokyo. “Here we are, one of the six teams competing in the Olympics,” said Holtz.

A trip most of us can’t make, but our area does have a chance to get a nearby look versus several Independent and college all stars teams. “It’s just a tuneup,” said Holtz, who was an assistant coach at Manhattanville College from 2004-07, a hitting coach at WCC from 2008-15 and owns a skills development training facility in Elmsford called Game On 13.

Brooklyn, Hartford and Pomona on the schedule next week, the baseball journey for Holtz goes back a long way, skips an extended beat and eventually traverses the Atlantic. He grew up with baseball in the Bronx, played little league and after high school, a falling out with his college coach didn’t have him lacing up as a player for 18 years. “In 2007, I got drafted to play pro ball in Israel at the age of 41,” he revealed

However, the call was more about his coaching experience, and Holtz doubled as player/coach for Bet Shemesh of the Israel Baseball League. The team won the championship, and the contacts made would lead to an assistant coaching position with Team USA in the 2013 Maccabiah Games. “We won the gold medal and before we left Israel, the guy who ran Maccabiah asked me if I would be the head coach in 2017.”

Winning the gold in the 18 and under category, Holtz was eventually named as the head coach of Team Israel. But pulling up his American life for months at a time must mean that Holtz is unencumbered by a family. Wrong again and he counts himself lucky for having a wife who gets him. “She understands that baseball is my passion,” he said.

The domestic tranquility doesn’t end there either. The 55 year old gets a pass on the three different baseball teams he’s on, and Holtz doesn’t deny that he might just be the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.

Three kids who are all doing well for themselves and a grandchild goes pretty far in that regard too. But the chance to Coach Team Israel has Holtz and his players bursting their uniforms at the seams. “I don’t know if guys have ever felt pride like this - doing this for Judaism and their beliefs in Zionism,” Holtz asserted.

The big picture came squarely into view two years ago. “I got to stand in Germany, play Germany and beat Germany,” he said, “It transcended baseball.”

So does the opportunity to be on a team full of Jews, and the roster has some pretty good credentials. Ian Kinsler, Danny Valencia, Ty Kelly and Zack Weiss have all put in time at the major leagues, and they are joined by a number of Americans from Independent leagues, who gladly got Israeli citizenship to secure their place on the rooster.

Of course, the four Israeli born players had that component covered, and win or lose, this group has already made its mark. They represent the first team sport that Israel has sent to the olympics since 1976. “Everyone we go to war with in Tokyo will be able to tell their grandchildren that they were Olympians,” Holtz beamed.

Just the same, the heights the team might actually hit still doesn’t leave him with any predictions - except one. “We will be ready to compete everyday and will leave it all out on the field,” he concluded.