Against All Odds: A Baseball Team That Taught the World About Belief

You don’t have to love baseball to love this story. As Bob Costas wrote: Where Traditions Meet “is the against-all-odds account of a team” — and a man — who refused to accept that a dream was impossible.

Every great underdog story starts the same way: nobody believes. Israel had a few hundred baseball players, a handful of fields, and a national program most of the sporting world had never heard of. Ranked 41st in the world, the team was given 200-to-1 odds at the 2017 World Baseball Classic. And then they started winning — toppling baseball powers one after another until the whole world was watching.

Where Traditions Meet is the first-hand account of how it happened, told by Peter Kurz, the man who spent a quarter of a century believing when almost no one else did. His book doesn’t skip the failures — the collapsed pro league, the heartbreaking qualifier losses — because those setbacks are what make the breakthrough matter. This is a story about vision, stubborn perseverance, and the refusal to quit.

The payoff

The reward was a run few sports stories can match: a Cinderella stretch at the World Baseball Classic, and then the ultimate prize — becoming one of only six nations on earth to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. Longtime Yankees broadcaster Suzyn Waldman calls it “a warm and heartfelt account” of how one man made a dream come true. Whether or not you know a curveball from a changeup, it’s the kind of story that reminds you what belief and resilience can do.

About the Author

Peter Kurz has been a driving force in Israeli baseball for more than 25 years. American-born and an immigrant to Israel, he served as President, General Manager, and CEO of the Israel Association of Baseball. He was General Manager of Team Israel throughout its historic World Baseball Classic and Olympic runs. A recipient of Israel’s prestigious Bonei Zion Prize, he lives in Israel with his family. Where Traditions Meet is his first-hand account of that improbable journey.

Get the Book

Where Traditions Meet: The Personal Inside Story of the Israel Baseball Quest for Olympic Gold is available now in print and eBook, at a limited time discount of 50%. Order your copy today — and follow a dream from the sandlots to the Olympic stage.

Buy on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Where-Traditions-Meet-Personal-Baseball/dp/9655977943 

Learn more: http://wheretraditionsmeet.com/