Pic of the Week

Team Israel coach Pat Doyle passes the "Mensch of the Bench,"
the unofficial mascot of the World Baseball Classic team.

Not much was expected of Israel's entry in the World Baseball Classic, but it stormed through Group A's round robin in Seoul undefeated.

And one appealing aspect, at least here, of this team of American Jews, a collection of over-the-hill major leaguers, prospects and suspects, is its sense of humor and self-deprecation. The "Mensch on the Bench" is an example. So too the t-shirts players have worn depicting a bat-wielding rabbi and the words "Jew Crew."

Of course, a key motivation for the WBC's existence is growing the game globally. It doesn't seem that a collection of Americans with "Israel" on their jerseys is much of a selling point in Israel.