The 30th edition of Baseball Week Haarlem (June 26-July 5) will be played with five teams. In addition to the Netherlands, Cuba, defending champion Japan, Germany and Taiwan are coming to Haarlem.
The intention was to complete the field of participants with a strong American team, but it did not succeed despite all efforts.
“We were almost complete with the strong college team at San Diego State University with a number of players who could report to an MLB organization after the summer. When point was made, local authorities issued travel bans. Playing baseball in a foreign country is considered a study tour, and under the circumstances that is not allowed. Force majeure, in other words. There are now some contacts with Mexico, but it appears that no country wants to make real commitments yet,” sighed Guus van Dee, chairman of the organizing committee.
Curaçao
“As a committee, we have said we will now stop the scavenger hunt. Audience-pleasing Curaçao unfortunately does not appear to be an option because, let me put it this way, the island is rather divided organizationally with multiple sports federations. We don’t want to compromise on quality but if a strong team should present itself unexpectedly, we will let them in.”
The organizers of the biennial event are continuing preparations for the event despite the corona virus and know that there will soon be a point of “go or no go. For example, if marquee and grandstand builders want to get to work, there must be certainty that the week will be played, or there will be a financial debacle. Participants must also purchase airline tickets at some point.
Since 2000, Haarlem has played with six teams by default. During the 2010 and 2016 editions, due to circumstances, there were five and in 2014 only four. “With five teams, we can also run a nice program,” Van Dee said. “They all play each other twice and the No. 1 and No. 2 then play the final on Sunday.”
Source: Haarlems Dagblad
Text: Theo Plasschaert