The Beit Shemesh Blue Sox () were an

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

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

Bet Shemesh Beit Shemesh () is a city located approximately west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District. A center of Haredi Judaism and Modern Orthodoxy, Beit Shemesh has a population of 170,683 as of 2024. The city is named after and located near the ...

. 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 five-team professional baseball league in Israel. The first game was played on June 24, 2007. The league was discontinue ...

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

Petah Tikva Petah Tikva (, ), also spelt Petah Tiqwa and known informally 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 the Old Y ...

, 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 (North American English, US) or clean sheet (Commonwealth English, UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketba ...

, 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 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

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 ...

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) Am ...

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

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right handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply le ...

pitcher Jason Benson.

Stadium

Located at Kibbutz Gezer, 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 ready 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) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

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 (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language unti ...

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 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 or runs batted in (RBI) 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 th ...

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

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

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 upon completion of his turn at bat, ...

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

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 Nort ...

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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

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teams, was a close second for the league title in batting, with a .459

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

. 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, 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 founder Jujiro Matsuda ...

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 (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 particular competition, or ...

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) 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