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

Israel national baseball team The Israel National Baseball Team () represents Israel in international competitions. It is managed by Ian Kinsler. At the 2017 WBC, Team Israel came in 6th. In 2022, Israel was ranked 20th in the world. The Israel national baseball team compete ...

. "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 () 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 the FIFA World Cup. The Maccabiah he ...

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

2017 Maccabiah Games The 2017 Maccabiah Games (), also referred to as the 20th Maccabiah Games (), were the 20th edition of the Maccabiah Games. They took place from 4 to 17 July 2017, in Israel. The Maccabiah Games are open to Jewish athletes from around the world ...

. 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 New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on New York Harbor, one of the world's largest natural harb ...

, and raised in

the Bronx, New York The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County to its north; to its south and west, the New York City bo ...

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

bar mitzvah A ''bar mitzvah'' () or ''bat mitzvah'' () is a coming of age ritual in Judaism. According to Halakha, Jewish law, before children reach a certain age, the parents are responsible for their child's actions. Once Jewish children reach that age ...

at the

Western Wall The Western Wall (; ; Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: ''HaKosel HaMa'arovi'') is an ancient retaining wall of the built-up hill known to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount of Jerusalem. Its most famous section, known by the same name ...

. His father fought in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. 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 square mile, the village is fully contained within the borders of the town of Greenburgh. As of the 2010 census, th ...

Westchester County Westchester County is a county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York, bordering the Long Island Sound and the Byram River to its east and the Hudson River on its west. The county is the seventh most populous cou ...

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 certificates. History Dean College was founded by Oliver Dean as a co-educational academy, Dean Academy, in 1865. He gave t ...

, 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 ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

for the

Bet Shemesh Blue Sox The Beit Shemesh Blue Sox () were an Israeli baseball team from Bet Shemesh. The Blue Sox was one of the inaugural teams in the Israel Baseball League. They had the best regular season record (29–12, .707), and won the inaugural championship A ...

of 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 ...

as a player-coach in 2007, during which time he roomed with player Nate Fish."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 University is a private university in Purchase, New York, United States. Founded in 1841 as a school at 412 Houston Street in Lower Manhattan, it was initially known as the "Academy of the Sacred Heart". In 1917, the academy recei ...

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 state opened five coed technical institutes in 194 ...

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 * Coac ...

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 In Israel, there are approximately 1,000 baseball players in 16 cities across the country. Volunteer coaches and donors are instrumental to the growth and development of the sport, as baseball resources are very low. The Israel Association of Base ...

named Holtz as the manager for the 2020 Olympic Qualifiers. The team played in the

2019 European Baseball Championship - B-Pool Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

in early July 2019 in

Blagoevgrad Blagoevgrad ( ) is List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, 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 cultura ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

, 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 The 2019 European Baseball Championship was an international baseball tournament organized by the Confederation of European Baseball. The 2019 Championship was held September 7–15, 2019, in Bonn and Solingen, Germany. The tournament contribu ...

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 Baseball was featured at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in Tokyo, for the first time since the 2008 Summer Olympics. Six national teams competed in the tournament: Israel, Japan (host), Mexico, South Korea, the United States, and the Dominican Republ ...

in Tokyo.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holtz, Eric 1965 births Living people Jewish American baseball players Jewish American baseball managers Sportspeople from White Plains, New York Bet Shemesh Blue Sox players Sportspeople from the Bronx Dean College alumni Manhattanville University faculty 21st-century American Jews 20th-century American sportsmen