The first and second editions of the Haarlem Baseball Week in 1961 and 1963, respectively, were successful events. The organization can look back with a good feeling, but also looks right ahead, because a tradition is born and so plans must be made for a third tournament. And there will be. Not after two years, like the previous ones, but this time after three years of waiting. But then again, we have a successful tournament with an even stronger field of participants than in previous years.
As early as August 1965, it was announced that Bill Arce had plans to come to Holland with a strong student team. Arce was national coach of the 1963 Dutch baseball team during the second Baseball Week and knows not only the event, but also Dutch baseball and its enthusiastic audience. And, it is said, the composition of the team will be strong.
In December comes the final commitment that Arce will actually come back to Holland with a team. Arce thus once again underscored his special bond with our country, which had begun three years earlier. In 1964, the baseball ambassador also traveled to the Netherlands with a student group and played a number of games against club teams then. As in 1964, players participating in 1966 Baseball Week will be housed with host families.
After the “Week,” the player group will stay for a few more weeks to conduct clinics and training sessions at various clubs. Arce and his group of players are doing everything they can to not only make baseball more popular here, but also improve its quality.
In March 1966, organizers could announce the field of participants for the third Baseball Week, to be held in mid-August. In addition to the Dutch team, the national team of the Netherlands Antilles, Bill Arce’s student team and a U.S. Air Force team from West Germany are participating. Once again, the event will be organized under the auspices of the Haarlem Sports Week Foundation. A passe-partout for all twelve games costs 20 guilders this time. For a single ticket per game, a spectator must pay three guilders.
The organizing committee of the third Baseball Week is once again headed by Gerard Voogd. Baseball pioneer M.C. (Maarten) Bakker (but better known to many by his initials), renowned umpire Piet van Deenen and union president Jan Hartog make up the game committee. Mr. Hartog has many international contacts and doesn’t listen to the nickname “Jan from Holland” for nothing.
Bill Arce’s team arrives at Schiphol Airport as early as early July. There, the team is received by almost the entire association board, but traditionally also by the Haarlem flower girls. The team listens to the name California After three years of waiting…. Baseball Week history Netherlands Antilles – California Stags. Chuck Iverson hit the second home run and score (1966) 12 READ MORE No. 3 July 17, 2016 Stags and is formed by players from the university to which Arce is affiliated.
During Baseball Week, the Dutch team will be led by American Howard Fetz, who will be assisted by Charles Urbanus (Sr.), the brother of legendary pitcher Han Urbanus. In those years, the Orange was traditionally led annually by a different American coach, who took over from his predecessor each time around September and then spent a year in our country.
Fetz and Urbanus chose 25 players in their 1966 “Week” selection, the largest delegation ever to participate in an international event for the Netherlands. One of the players selected is pitcher Herman Beidschat, who will be participating in his third Baseball Week.
On Saturday, Aug. 6, Third Week will be opened by the match between the Netherlands Antilles and USAFE (U.S. Army team).
In the evening, the Netherlands faces the California Stags. Before the start of the first game there is a short opening ceremony and a record is immediately set, as Mr. O.P.F.M. Cremers then becomes the first Haarlem mayor, who throws the first ball for the second time during an opening. The mayor did the same thing three years earlier.
Initially, there were hopes that a Japanese team could also participate, but that proved unrealizable. The Sullivans were a possible candidate, but preparation to bring that team to Holland proved too short. For a while it looked like the Netherlands Antilles could not participate. An action by the Dutch National Civil Aviation Administration forced the National Games Association, which was to provide the trip, to withdraw. Italy was a possible replacement, but could not assemble a representative team.
After this, the organization had to make one of their most difficult decisions to bring the Antillean team to the Netherlands at their own expense. That involved an amount of 30,000 guilders. The Haarlem city council agreed to cover the financial risks and the “Week” was saved.
But there was more. Shortly before the event began, the U.S. Army team had to withdraw because of troop movements. It was to consist of players who had been stationed in France, Spain and Tunisia, among others, but they now had to go to another location. Eventually, an air force team in England proved capable of falling in. The organization heaved a sigh of relief.
In his opening remarks, Mayor Cremers said, “The first and second Haarlem Baseball Week have already been characterized by a spirit of fine sportsmanship and excellent technical play and it has already been announced: this Baseball Week will be the highlight. The foreign participation is enormously strong, the Dutch no less so. I pay well-deserved tribute to the members of the Haarlem Sports Week Foundation for their perseverance.”
Mayor Cremers gets it right. The third Baseball Week will be a great success with very attractive games and beautiful baseball. California Stags will be the tournament winner, as expected. One of the players who participated in Baseball Week with the Stags then, 50 years ago, is also there this year. Perhaps there are spectators among you who know who we are talking about. But we’ll keep you in suspense for a while longer, because in one of the upcoming Readers Feed editions, we’ll introduce that player of the past to you in a bit more detail.
With thanks to the author Marco Stoovelaar (MS)