Jewish pride and a love for Israel and baseball permeated Woodmont Country Club in Bethesda Feb. 10 as the athletes and coaches who will represent Israel in the 2026 World Baseball Classic were revealed.
“Tonight is more than about baseball. It’s about pride,” declared Josh Verstandig, an advisor for Israel Baseball Americas.
Quite a few big-name professional baseball players will be on the team that is scheduled to compete against 19 other teams in a series similar to the World Cup. Pitcher Dean Kremer from the Orioles, Matt Mervis, a former National who attended Georgetown Preparatory School in North Bethesda, Spencer Horwitz of the Pirates and Harrison Bader of the Giants were named. Matt Bowman, who played for Bethesda Big Train from 2010 to 2011, also made the roster.
The Israel team will play exhibition games with the Florida Marlins on March 3 and New York Mets the following day. Then, the official World Baseball Classic games will take place. The team will face Venezuela, Nicaragua, The Dominican Republic and the Netherlands in Pool D.
Simon Rosenbaum, Team Israel’s general manager, wished he had more left-handed pitchers and that a few players he hoped to sign hadn’t opted out due to either injuries or schedule conflicts.
“I think we just tried to put together the best team,” Rosenbaum said. “The group of very good baseball players in the world is very small. The group of Jews in the world, also very small, and so when you circle them together in a Venn diagram, you don’t want to pull from any smaller group of players. We just wanted to get the best guys we could.”
He added, “I think we are pretty happy how it came together.”
The world baseball classic occurs every three years. Israel was first invited in 2012. All players named to the Israeli team are either Jewish or have close relatives who are.
Ari Ackerman, owner and partner of the Florida Marlins, stressed the importance of having Israel compete on this world stage. Showing “the world that we are not these wimpy unathletic” Jewish players,” is crucial. “As a Jew, you are more likely to be an owner than a player.”
Verstandig acknowledged that “it’s not easy to play for Jewish baseball” and have the word Israel prominently displayed across the uniform, especially with antisemitism on the rise.
His message to the players who are concerned is simple. “We’ll all get through it.”
Ackerman went a little further. “This is a team that has Israel on their chest — loudly, proudly, unapologetically, saying to the world I am a proud Israel. I am a proud Jew. I am going to stand up strongly, and I am going to do what I can to make sure the world knows that.”
Adam Gladstone, Israel Baseball Americas COO and Team Israel director of baseball operations, pointed out that every team has two security guards assigned to them. Israel has four. He added that between the local police and sheriffs and the FBI, “We are in good hands.”
Rosenbaum said his goal is to win the World Baseball Classic in the next 10 years “with a sabra on the field.” For now, the goal is to make it through the first round and establish credibility, he said. “Just make it a little further than we did last time,” he added.
The local Israel Baseball, which is headquartered in Baltimore, leads a program with the goals of supporting Israel baseball, giving young Israelis a space to have fun away from their country’s climate, supporting Jewish pride globally and connecting Israelis and Americans through baseball.
Everyone gathered at Woodmont Country Club munched on hot dogs, hamburgers and popcorn as they reviewed items available during a silent auction that featured signed hats and jerseys and a VIP package that include invitations to an Israeli shabbat baseball party and four tickets to a game in Miami.
Suzanne Pollak is a freelance writer.
