feature
Photo by Elli Wohlgelernter
Various jerseys from Alon Leichman’s baseball career on display
at his family’s home on Kibbutz Gezer in Israel.

kibbutz to fl y him over.

Not that he wasn’t used to working; like all
kibbutz members, he was already contributing by
third grade. But now he had to put in extra hours,
picking olives or milking cows, to make the extra
money. “I liked milking cows,” he recalled. “Sometimes,
it’s hard work, but I got more of a kick out of it than
hitting an olive tree” to shake loose the olives.

Leichman remembers well that tournament in
Holland, the fi rst time he wore the Israeli uniform
representing his country abroad.

“It was really cool,” he recalled. “A sense of pride.

That’s the fi rst time I think I felt like: ‘You’re not
just Alon, you’re not just representing the kibbutz
anymore; you’re representing a whole country.’
“I knew back then that Israel was not on the
best terms with the world. So it was something
that I was aware of: that part of our job of playing
baseball is also making sure that these guys get
to know Israelis other than what they hear on the
news and show them that, you know, we’re good
people.” The 5’-8” right-hander kept playing, kept improv-
ing and kept representing Israel at tournaments. He
played in the one-season Israel Baseball League in
2007 as the second-youngest player, served in the
Israeli army from 2007 to 2010, and then headed
to the states to play college ball at two schools,
Cypress College and the University of California,
San Diego.

In his fi rst appearance at Cypress, his elbow blew
out, and he needed what’s known as “Tommy John
surgery” to repair a torn ulnar ligament inside the
elbow. Then he got hurt again and had a second
Tommy John surgery. But when he got hurt a third
time, and the doctor said he needed to go under the
knife yet again, Leichman knew that his hopes for a
professional playing career were over.

But not before proving to himself that he had
what it takes.

“I know I was good in Israel. I knew that. But I
had no idea how I would fare coming to the States.

I thought I could fare [well] there, but I really never
knew because I had never faced those types of
18 DECEMBER 29, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
hitters. And then, in my fi rst game, I did really well
for two and a third innings, four strikeouts. No one
got on. It was 1-2-3, 1-2-3, and then I got the fi rst
guy out in the ninth. And on a one-two fastball,
my elbow popped. So it was like, ‘OK, I can do
this here.’”
‘Throw more strikes’
His love for the game never left him, and Leichman
grew into an insightful and intuitive coach. His
expertise and aptitude were self-evident.

“Alon will be a big-league coach one day,” said
pitcher and teammate Alex Katz three years ago.

“It’s hard to get a coaching job in affi liate ball with-
out professional experience, let alone non-affi liated
experience. But he’s just one of the most intelligent
baseball minds I’ve been around. And he’s young.”
Leichman said his strength is “helping guys get
better. Communicating with them. Being able to
relate to them. Getting on their level. Simplifying
it for them. And being creative and fi nding ways to
throw more strikes.”
Despite the surgeries, Leichman could still pitch,
if he did it sparingly. He joined Israel’s World
Baseball Classic teams of 2012, 2016 and 2017 as a
player or coach; pitched for the European Baseball
Championship team in 2019; threw in the Olympic
qualifying tournaments in 2019; and hurled one
perfect inning against Team USA at the Olympics
in 2021 in Tokyo. Along the way, he also earned a
black belt in jujitsu.

But coaching was his future, and after being
given a chance in 2017 to instruct in the Seattle
Mariners farm system, Leichman kept moving up,
from Single A to Double AA to Triple AAA, before
being grabbed by the Reds to join their major
league staff this season.

His father is overwhelmed. “It’s unbelievable,”
said David Leichman. “I’m still shaking and crying
to myself about how wonderful this has been.”
Alon is no less shell-shocked, having agreed to
sign a contract with the Reds on the same day that
the New York Mets asked to interview him about a
potential job.

“It’s not really sinking in yet, to be honest,” he
said while in Israel recently to visit his family on
Gezer. “But it’s defi nitely a dream come true, some-
thing I’ve been dreaming about since I’m a little
kid. Obviously, I wanted to be there as a player, but
once I got hurt and realized that playing was not
an option anymore, I started pursuing coaching.

I wanted to do it at the highest level. The dream
remained; it just took a diff erent route. But it’s still
as exciting.”
Leichman is still undecided on whether to join
Team Israel’s coaching staff in Florida for the WBC
in March before heading back to Arizona to rejoin
the Reds for spring training. But this product of
the wheat fi elds of Gezer won’t ever forget where
he’s from: His uniform numeral, 29, is a con-
stant reminder. It’s his laundry-tag number at the
kibbutz. JE
David Leichman, left, stands behind the backstop at the baseball
fi eld he helped build at Kibbutz Gezer in Israel, where his son
Alon, right, learned the game that has brought him to the major
leagues.