New Jersey Jewish News
New Jersey Feature
Israel baseball league adds two new players
The Israel Baseball League recently announced the signing of two more players, bringing the number of athletes under contract to four. The signings were announced by IBL commissioner Daniel Kurtzer, former U.S. ambassador to both Egypt and Israel.
Willie Bumphus, a 21-year-old infielder from San Diego who previously played for Fullerton in the Golden Baseball League (Independent), and Leon Feingold, 33, from New York City, who pitched in the Cleveland Indians organization, participated in the August tryouts at the Duquette Baseball Academy in Hinsdale, Mass. They were selected from the pool of more than 50 who auditioned for the league.
Bumphus and Feingold join Australian pitcher Adam Crabb and infielder/outfielder Dan Rootenberg, a New Yorker with Israeli citizenship, as the first players in the IBL.
From competitive eating to the diamond
Feingold has an especially colorful background. At six foot, six inches and 240 pounds, he has been ranked as high as No. 12 by the International Federation of Competitive Eating and has been known to devour 152 hot dogs in 12 minutes. This alone would seem to put him well ahead of Babe Ruth in pregame preparation.
“I’m not sure baseball has had a crossover star from eating competitions,” said Dan Duquette, former general manager for the Boston Red Sox, Montreal Expos, and Milwaukee Brewers. “But I do know that Leon hit 93 [miles per hour] on the radar gun when he was pitching, and he was very impressive when we saw him at the tryout camp.”
The IBL begins play next June, with six teams playing 48-game schedules; home cities and playing fields will be designated in the coming weeks.
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