HAARLEM – Cees Herkemij, who had a long, impressive and successful career as a baseball coach, played an important role in the field of youth training and also served as a director, passed away on Sunday, Dec. 29, at the age of 90. Although he struggled with health problems over the last few years, his passing was unexpected. In his long coaching career of almost 40 years, Cees Herkemij led several teams at the club level in the Hoodfdklasse and also coached with both the Dutch Baseball Team and the Dutch Youth Team.
During his coaching period in the 1970s through the early 1990s, Herkemij was regularly described as the coach with the best baseball knowledge. For his many contributions to the development of (youth) baseball, Cees Herkemij was named Member of Merit of the KNBSB in March 1996. In 2000, he won the Leen Volkerijk Award, which is presented annually by the KNBSB to a person who has made distinguished contributions to the development of the sport of baseball.
The memorial and cremation ceremony for Cees Herkemij will take place on Monday, January 6 from 1:00 p.m. in the auditorium of Crematorium Haarlem, located at Vergierdeweg 271 in Haarlem. Afterwards, there will be an opportunity to express condolences to the family in the reception room of the crematorium.
It is possible to post online condolences through Ename Funeral Home‘s website.
Cornelis Johannes (Cees) Herkemij was born on June 29, 1934 in Vlissingen, but he grew up in Haarlem. There he became interested in baseball in the early 1940s by watching Schoten games. Initially he played athletics in the summer and soccer in the winter, but at the age of 14 (in 1948) he started playing baseball at HFC Haarlem. Cees was a pitcher in the beginning, but became a catcher a few years later. And he was a very solid hitter.
In the early 1950s, the Herkemij family moved to IJmuiden, where there was no baseball club at that time, so Cees went to play soccer at Stormvogels. But in 1956, he returned to baseball when he joined Terrasvogels, which then played at Sportpark Schoonenberg in nearby Velsen. Because he had by then developed a great interest in the techniques and tactics of baseball, Terrasvogels gave Cees the chance and opportunity to take a coaching course. And that formed the basis for a long and successful career in coaching.
Starting in 1957, Cees Herkemij was the playing coach of Terrasvogels and remained so for ten seasons. During that period, he led the team to the Second Division and then to the First Division, the second highest division. At the same time, Cees developed a passion for training and coaching youth teams. While he himself played in and coached the Terrasvogels main team, Cees also provided training for the association’s junior team. In the early 1960s, the club moved to Sportpark De Elta in Santpoort-Zuid, which remained the home of the baseball and softball department for almost sixty years.
In 1967, Cees Herkemij also became coach of the Haarlem rayonal teams. In the same year, he became one of the four coaches who were appointed as an assistant to then Dutch Team National Coach Charles Urbanus (sr.). Besides Herkemij, the others were Wim Geestman (sr.), Fokke Jelsma and Dolf de Zwart. Cees was the last survivor of this little group. Urbanus died in 1980, Geestman in 1991, Jelsma in 2012 and De Zwart in 2019.
Herkemij assisted during training sessions of the National Youth Teams and was also active with the Dutch B-Team. In 1973, Cees Herkemij led the Dutch BRL Team (13-16 years old) to the European title in Wiesbaden (then West Germany). For this achievement, as well as for his many contributions to the development of youth baseball, Cees was elected Coach of the Year.
In the mid-sixties, Cees was one of the initiators of the establishment of a youth training camp in Eindhoven. These training camps were very successful and were run by Herkemij, who was the driving force and was assisted by several coaches and players. The camps, which were organized by the Dutch Baseball Association, ended around 1974 after twelve years for financial reasons.
In 1975, Cees was one of the members of a Union structure group with the goal of recruiting more youth players. This group introduced peanut ball nationwide.
In January 1977, the Dutch Baseball School first opened its doors for young talented pitchers and catchers. Cees led this school as Manager and was also an instructor, along with Boudewijn Maat, Jan Dick Leurs (who were then Manager and Pitching Coach of the Young National Team) and Cees Santifort. They would form the staff for many years.
In 1970-1974, Cees led the Dutch Association of Baseball Coaches (NVBC) as its president. In that function, he was closely involved in setting up the well-known coach-clinics in the early 1970s, which were usually organized in Voorburg with the participation of active Major League players and -umpires and American college coaches. These first traveled to Wiesbaden, where they conducted clinics for U.S. military personnel stationed in Europe. Over the years, Cees Herkemij himself attended several of these clinics in Wiesbaden, often in the company of Charles Urbanus (Sr.). In later years Cees, like other Dutch coaches, also attended a number of coaches’ conventions in the USA.
In 1972, Cees was invited to participate in the Spring Training of major league club Boston Red Sox in Florida. After returning, he compiled booklets with instructions and tips for fellow coaches. A few years later he wrote a book on coaching.In 1974 it was Cees who recommended talented Dutch pitcher Win Remmerswaal to the Red Sox. Remmerswaal was invited to Instructional League, signed a professional contract and in 1979 he became the first Dutch-born and raised player in the Major League.
In 1974, Cees Herkemij also returned to club coaching, as he led the successful team of Rotterdam’s Sparta, then the reigning national champion. In his first season, he coached the team to another title. Cees left Sparta after the 1975 season. In 1977-1980, he was the Head Coach of the big league team of the Bussum-based HCAW.
In February 1978, Herkemij received the Federal Distinguished Service Award.
In 1981-1983, Cees Herkemij was the Assistant Coach of the Dutch Baseball Team, with American Jim Stoeckel as Manager. In 1981, they led the Orange team to the European title in Haarlem. In 1982, Stoeckel and Herkemij were successful again, as the Dutch Team finished in sixth place at the World Championships in South Korea, the highest ranking ever at that time. Marco Stoovelaar, the author of this In Memoriam, made a documentary of this World Championship and it was Cees who voiced the commentary.
Cees returned to club coaching again in 1984. From that year, he was the Head Coach of big league teams UVV (1984-1985), Giants Diemen (1987-1987) and HCAW (1990-1992). In 1989, Cees was the technical director of Haarlem Nicols.
In December 1992, Cees joined the board of the Royal Dutch Baseball and Softball Association (KNBSB) and became responsible for baseball technical affairs. He was officially elected in March 1993, but Cees quit this position in May 1995.
In 1999, Cees Herkemij was also involved with the Dutch Baseball Team again, as he then was the Business Manager of the national team during the World Port Tournament in Rotterdam (Netherlands) and the Intercontinental Cup in Sydney (Australia) when the team was led by Manager Jan Dick Leurs. In the following year, Cees held the same position during the Haarlem Baseball Week in Haarlem (Netherlands) when American Pat Murphy was the Manager. Murphy is the current Manager of the Major League team of Milwaukee Brewers.
A few years ago, Cees was also closely involved with Baseball Academy Rabbits Kennemerland. Since the establishment of this Academy in 2008, his son Peter was one of the coaches there for many years. Since 2017, Peter is the Manager of the Dutch Under-12 Team.
Cees and Peter were also very active during the Haarlem Baseball Week. In 1974, 1976 and 1978, Cees was one of the Public Address Announcers of the international tournament. In 1978, 1980 and 1988 he was part of the Awards Committee and in 2002 Cees was the Tournament Director of the Baseball Week when he also served on the Organizing Committee. Since September 2023, Peter has been one of the members of the Organizing Committee as Tournament Director and made his debut in that position during the Baseball Week organized in July 2024. In doing so, Peter made his comeback. In 1980 for the first time, he was among the group of young people who, among other things, handled the copy work of the tournament’s daily bulletin (Reading Feed). Peter was later in charge of this famous Folding and Selling crew for many years.
Cees’ daughter Yvonne was also an employee of the tournament. In 1982 and 1984 she was part of the Press Committee and was also active in the permanence.
Maartje, the mother of Yvonne and Peter, was an official scorer for many years. In the 1960s, she was one of the scorers for Baseball Week. From the early 1970s she took care of the tournament statistics, was the liaison officer for the official scorers and served on the Awards Committee. Maartje (Nierop Groot) died in July 2017 at the age of 82.
During Baseball Week 2024, Peter’s wife Saskia made her debut as Public Address Announcer. Their daughter (and thus Cees’ granddaughter) Kiki was active in the hospitality crew during the event.
In addition to being named Coach of the Year in 1973 and receiving the Federal Award in 1978, Cees Herkemij also won the KNBSB’s Slugger for promotional activities, which was awarded in March 1974. For his many contributions, Cees was awarded the Silver Medal of Honor of the KNBSB in March 1986. In March 1996, he was named a Member of Merit of the KNBSB. And in 2000, Cees won the Leen Volkerijk Award, presented annually by the KNBSB to a person who has made distinguished contributions to the development of the sport of baseball.
Over the years, especially during his coaching period, Cees was regularly called a perfectionist, but also a very fanatical and passionate coach. Indeed, he was always well prepared in everything he did, and as a coach he had a special way of approaching umpires. And Cees was certainly passionate, especially in the area of youth baseball development and training. Cees, often adorned with a smile, was always interested in others and the people, players and coaches with whom he worked. Cees will be missed by many of us.
The Board of the Haarlem Baseball Week offers its condolences to Cees’ partner Wil, daughter Yvonne, son Peter, son-in-law Scot, daughter-in-law Saskia, grandchildren, other family and friends and wishes them much strength with this great loss.
Text/Photo: Marco Stoovelaar