Baseball in Israel gets a boost from Jerusalem’s passionate baseball mom

Callie Mitchell, an American-born Evangelical Christian and mother of four, is driving baseball's growth in Jerusalem as the regional director for the Israel Association of Baseball. She has expanded participation from fewer than 30 to 75 players, with over 90 attending a recent open house, and plans to build a dedicated baseball complex.

Callie Mitchell, an American-born Evangelical Christian and mother of four living in Jerusalem, is spearheading the growth of baseball in the city. As the Jerusalem regional director for the Israel Association of Baseball and director of the Jerusalem Lions Baseball nonprofit, she has transformed the local league from fewer than 30 participants in the 2023-2024 season to 75 players, with over 90 attending a recent open house. Mitchell, whose father Jerry Narron is a former MLB catcher and coach who coached Team Israel at the World Baseball Classic, brings deep baseball connections to her role. She has focused on improving communication, fundraising for equipment, and listening to parent feedback. Her vision includes building a baseball complex in Jerusalem with regulation fields, Little League fields, and indoor training facilities, which she hopes will host international tournaments. Mitchell also dreams of players from Israel eventually playing college baseball in the US and being drafted to MLB.