Category Archives: Newsletter

National team manager Evert-Jan ‘t Hoen has announced the roster of players with whom he will not only aim to defend the title at the Haarlem Baseball Week, but also hopes to regain A-status. The Kingdom Team kicks off the week on Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. with a game against the young Team USA. For this edition, manager ‘t Hoen has selected a […]

The introduction of the Pitch Clock is intended to shorten these breaks, making games more dynamic and appealing to the audience. This not only speeds up the pace of the games but also keeps the spectators engaged and on the edge of their seats. WHAT EXACTLY IS THE PITCH CLOCK? The Pitch […]

Fifth on our list is the team that was the first to be confirmed for this year’s Haarlem Baseball Week: Japan. The Japanese team has been a regular fixture at Baseball Week for many years. Since 1990, “Samurai Japan” has missed only one edition, and the country has won the tournament four times (1978, ’92, ’94, and 2018). CHAMPIONS Although […]

Until COVID-19 threw a wrench in the works two years ago, Chinese Taipei had been a regular participant in Baseball Week since 2000. So it came as no great surprise that the Asian team was the second country to be confirmed for the upcoming edition. What can we expect this summer from the current number five […]

The fact that technological advancements also have a dark side became clear a few years ago when Major League Baseball was deeply embarrassed by the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal. The 2018 champions were alleged to have owed part of their success to cheating. Since then, the league has been […]

The third team in our roundup is Italy. This other European baseball powerhouse is participating in Baseball Week for the seventh time, but has never managed to win the tournament. In fact, the teams they’ve beaten in those previous appearances can be counted on one hand […]

In Part 1 of our three-part series on The Future of Baseball, we looked at new rules designed to make the sport more appealing. In this episode, we turn our attention to an innovation intended to make the sport fairer: the Automated Ball-Strike System—ABS for short, but commonly referred to as “robot umps.” Grumbling […]

After introducing European champions Spain to you last week, it’s now Team USA’s turn. The Americans are coming to Haarlem with a slightly younger squad than last year. Get to know the stars of the tournament ahead of time. Two years ago, we were treated to a rock-solid American squad. Standout players […]

The first team we’d like to introduce is Baseball Week debutant Spain. Although this Southern European team is making its first trip to Haarlem, their fifteen bronze medals at the European Championships mean they can rightly be called the “best of the rest” behind the Netherlands and Italy—a status they’ve held for as long as anyone can remember. In recent years, the team led by head coach […]

The sport that is still sometimes affectionately referred to as America’s National Pastime has been losing ground for years to sports such as American football, basketball, and soccer. In an effort to turn the tide and make the sport faster, more spectacular, and more unpredictable for a younger audience, various rule changes have been tested in recent years. In this first episode […]