Ken Holtzman Bolts From Israel Baseball League

The Israel Baseball League, while "generally a success, was plagued by substandard playing fields, payment delays, shortages of some equipment and a lack of impact among native Israelis," according to Joel Greenberg of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. League officials describe the problems as the "inevitable growing pains of a startup season and say they will work to remedy them next year."  Former A's and Cubs P Ken Holtzman, "one of the attractions" of the league when he arrived in June to manage one of the six teams, has left the league, "unhappy with the way" it was run.  While he declined to comment about his experience with the league, in a July 20 interview with Israeli Web portal Walla, he "lambasted the league and its management for what he described as a series of shortcomings." Holtzman said the playing fields "would reach the level of high schools in our country," the teams were "chosen at random and in a strange manner," and none of the players "can even reach semipro baseball" in the U.S.  He added, "There is no chance that baseball will succeed in Israel." But league officials said that while some of Holzman's complaints "were valid, others were unjustified and reflected more on his state of mind than the reality on the field."  Holtzman's Petah Tikva Pioneers finished in last place with a 9-32 record. IBL Commissioner Dan Kurtzer said, "He had been unhappy almost from the beginning" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 9/17).