SEOUL, South Korea — When Sam Fuld, a journeyman outfielder, hit a line-drive single to open an exhibition game between Team Israel and a squad representing the South Korean Army the other day, one of his teammates on the bench, third baseman Cody Decker, yelled, “Nobody, and I mean nobody, no-hits the Jews!”
The exhortation was part bravado, part sarcasm, part siren call. Team Israel is one of the lowest-ranked of the 16 teams in the World Baseball Classic that began here in Seoul on Monday. Unlike the United States or the defending champion Dominican Republic, the Israeli squad has only a few players with major league experience.