Eric Holtz
Israel National Baseball Team
Manager
Born: (1965-12-05) December 5, 1965
White Plains, New York
Bats: Right
Throws: Right

Eric Holtz (born December 5, 1965) is an American former manager of the Israel national baseball team.[1] He was the assistant coach of gold-medal-winning Team USA in baseball at the 2013 Maccabiah Games, and the Team USA head coach for the gold-medal-winning Under-18 baseball team at the 2017 Maccabiah Games. He was the head coach of the 1st and Only Olympic Baseball team to represent Israel.

Biography

Holtz was born in New York, New York, and raised in the Bronx, New York.[2][1] He is Jewish, and had his bar mitzvah at the Western Wall.[1] His father fought in World War II.[3]

Holtz founded and is the owner of Game On 13, a baseball and softball strength and sports conditioning and skills development training facility in Elmsford in Westchester County in New York State.[4][5][6]

His wife is Traci Holtz, and they have three children.[7]

Playing career

He attended Dean College, where Holtz played baseball for two years.[8] He played third base and pitcher for the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox of the Israel Baseball League as a player-coach in 2007, during which time he roomed with player Nate Fish.[2][1][9][4][10][11][12] He won the Commissioner’s Award for Distinguished Service.[13]

Coaching career

He was an assistant baseball coach at Manhattanville College from 2004 to 2007, and then the hitting coach at Westchester Community College from 2008 to 2015.[1][9]

Holtz was the assistant coach of gold-medal-winning Team USA in baseball at the 2013 Maccabiah Games.[1][9] He was then the Team USA head coach for the gold-medal-winning Under-18 baseball team at the 2017 Maccabiah Games.[1]

Team Israel

He was named the baseball head coach of the Israel national baseball team in 2017.[1][14] The Israel Association of Baseball named Holtz as the manager for the 2020 Olympic Qualifiers.[1][14]

The team played in the 2019 European Baseball Championship - B-Pool in early July 2019 in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, winning all five of its games and advancing to the playoffs against Team Lithuania in the 2019 Playoff Series at the end of July 2019 for the last qualifying spot for the 2019 European Baseball Championship.[1]

In September 2019, he managed Team Israel to a fourth-place finish at the 2019 European Baseball Championship in Germany. Among the teams Team Israel defeated was Team Germany. Holtz noted: "Going to Germany, a country that we wouldn’t have been allowed in 80 years ago, and not only to go there but perform there and defeat them on their own land, yeah, it was a little bit more (meaningful) once the game was over."[3] He also managed the team at the Africa/Europe 2020 Olympic Qualification tournament in Italy in September 2019, which Israel won to qualify to play baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.[15][16]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Meet the Senior National Team Coach: Eric Holtz," IAB - Israel Association of Baseball.
  2. 1 2 "Eric Holtz Career Stats Leagues Statistics & History," Baseball-Reference.com.
  3. 1 2 "Rosenthal: A stunning, tear-filled conclusion for Team Israel, with inspiration and history – The Athletic". Theathletic.com. September 23, 2019. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
  4. 1 2 "Maccabi USA Baseball with Eric Holtz," Maccabi USA, April 17, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Who We Are," Game on 13.
  6. ↑ Mark Ferris (May 29, 2019). "Israel's Olympic Baseball Team Swings for a Win With Hudson Valley Talent" Hudson Valley Magazine.
  7. ↑ "Jordan Holtz," Bucknell Bison.
  8. ↑ "Eric Holtz, Owner," Game On 13.
  9. 1 2 3 "Eric Holtz," Northeast Pride.
  10. ↑ Jeremy Fine (May 2, 2012). "Interview: Catching Up with Inaugural Israel Baseball League Champion Eric Holtz," The Great Rabbino: Jewish Sports Everything.
  11. ↑ Aaron Pribble (2011). Pitching in the Promised Land: A Story of the First and Only Season in the Israel Baseball League, University of Nebraska Press.
  12. ↑ Eddie Cockrell (June 17, 2008). "Holy Land Hardball," Variety.
  13. ↑ "Beit Shemesh are the champions; Beit Shemesh wins inaugural IBL Championship, shutting out Modi'in 3-0", ynet, August 20, 2007.
  14. 1 2 "Four U.S. baseball players immigrating to Israel to join Olympics bid; Team Israel will begin its bid to reach the Olympic Games by playing in the European Championships in July," Haaretz, April 7, 2019.
  15. ↑ "Moving on up". Jewish Baseball News. September 13, 2019. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
  16. ↑ "Hidden figures - Behind Team Israel's win - J-Spot - Jerusalem Post". Jpost.com. September 8, 2019. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
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