As its opening day approaches, the Israel Baseball League continues to stock its administrative lineup with "MVB's": most valuable businesspeople.

One of the most experienced will be Marvin Goldklang, whose company, the Florham Park-based Goldklang Group, either owns or serves as consultant to six minor league teams.

Larry Baras, founder of the Israel league and a season ticket holder for one of those six teams, the Brockton (Mass.) Rox, asked Goldklang to sit on the executive board.

(The IBL will actually be getting two Goldklangs for the price of one: Marvin's son, Jeff, managing director of the Goldklang Group and a resident of Warren, also serves on the board.)

The inaugural season of the six-team league will begin June 24, with a 45-game schedule.

"After attending a number of ballgames, Larry came away with a sense that the type of atmosphere that we…work to create [here] might be attractive to Israelis," the older Goldklang told NJ Jewish News.

"We're more or less focused on trying to provide support for the business aspect of the operation," said the long-time Livingston resident. "My role is to be a resource, to be used by anyone involved in the league, whether it be Larry looking for ideas in terms of sales or promotional strategies, or Dan Duquette, director of player development, in terms of ways to attract pro baseball talent."

Israelis are nuts for soccer and basketball, two sports in which athletes are constantly on the move. Will fans have the temperament for a slower-moving game?

"There's a relaxed rhythm to the game and we…have reason to think that it may well become attractive to Israelis looking for a break from the pressures of their everyday lives."

At the minor league level, where team officials don't always have control over the product on the field, Goldklang said, he believes it's not whether you win or lose, but how the fans enjoy the game.

"It's more about…spending time with families and friends, being entertained. You focus on developing an experience around the ballgame so a fan can leave having enjoyed him- or herself, almost without regard to [the outcome]."

Like many others, Goldklang as a boy dreamed of one day donning the pinstripes of his beloved Yankees. Like the majority, he gradually realized he didn't have what it takes to make it as a player. Although his pitching career ended in college, he never lost hope that he would find a way to stay involved in the game he loved.

That dream was fulfilled when he and the late Barry Halper, a resident of Short Hills and the nation's largest collector of baseball memorabilia, became limited partners with the Yankees in 1980. Goldklang proffered an oft-told sentiment that there's nothing more limiting than being a limited partner of team owner George Steinbrenner.

"We're more or less passive investors, although from time to time we attend owners' meetings where our advice is solicited," Goldklang said. "But in terms of actual authority, there really is none."

At the time, he was practicing law in Manhattan. One of his clients owned the Utica Blue Sox and wanted Goldklang's help in finding a lender to purchase concession equipment.

"I told [him] he would probably be paying more for my time than the amount he was looking to borrow," said Goldklang.

He wrote a check himself in return for a portion of the team. There was one condition: "I told him if I make the investment, he needed to start me in one game."

The owner agreed, no doubt reluctantly, but several months of business in Guam kept Goldklang, then 40, from making his "professional" debut.

Although he lost the entire investment the next year, he said, "I was hooked."

Since then he has acquired proprietary ownership in the Charleston, SC, RiverDogs, a Yankees affiliate; Fort Myers, Fla., Miracles (Minnesota Twins); Hudson Valley, NY, Renegades (Tampa Bay Devil Rays); and St. Paul, Minn., Saints, an independent (unaffiliated) team.

The Group also serves as management consultants for two other independent teams, the Brockton Rox and the Sioux Falls, SD, Canaries.

"Right now, I think it's probably fair to say that…we probably own or manage more than any other group in the country," Goldklang said.

The baseball venture takes up the majority of his time, although he conceded that it probably doesn't need to. "I'm continually looking for excuses to spend more time because it really has turned into a labor of love."

Goldklang said he hopes to create that experience for a new audience in Israel.

"It's a challenge, there's no question about it," he said. "I think we're doing our best to combine our love for Israel and baseball with the challenge of translating that into an economically viable undertaking."

In the meantime, he preaches patience. "As with the case of many new leagues, we'll need to wait until we see the reality in Israel to make an informed judgment on the long-term future. But I think it's also fair to say that every one of us involved in the effort is optimistic."