Haarlem Baseball Week
Baseball tournament in the Netherlands (founded in 1961)
The Haarlem Baseball Week (Dutch: Honkbalweek Haarlem, before 2016 known as Haarlemse Honkbalweek) is an international invitation baseball tournament at the Pim Mulier Stadium in Haarlem, Netherlands. It was first held in 1961 and has been held every other year in even-numbered years since 1972, except for 2020.
01History
The tournament has faced financial and other troubles but remains ongoing. In 2001, the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Federation proposed not sending the Netherlands national team to the event due to a disagreement with organizers over sharing profits from the event, but eventually the parties reached a new agreement. In December 2016, months after the 28th edition of the event, event organizers announced the tournament would end, due to financial problems. A workgroup was formed to find sponsors in order to realise a relaunch, which succeeded after several companies and the municipality of Haarlem guaranteed an amount that would cover the costs of at least three more events. The 2020 edition of the tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the tournament resumed in 2022. A similar biannual baseball tournament in nearby Rotterdam, the World Port Tournament, was last held in 2019.
Teams from the United States have won the most tournaments, though most of them were semi-professional and amateur teams, not the U.S. national team. The Sullivans, an amateur team from Grand Rapids, Michigan run by a local furniture store owner and baseball scout, won six titles, the most of any team. In Haarlem, the Sullivans regularly featured pitcher Carl Angelo, who first pitched in the tournament in 1963 and became the oldest player to play in the tournament in 1996, at the age of 64. The Sullivans team was renamed for part of the 1990s due to a sponsorship from Michigan-based Little Caesars restaurants. Two American college teams, the Arizona Wildcats and Miami Hurricanes, have also won the tournament. Among national teams, the U.S., the Netherlands, Cuba, and Japan have all won five tournaments.
Since the tournament occurs in the summer, the U.S. has sent its collegiate national team to the event. Many college players who played in the tournament have later played in Major League Baseball, including Dave Winfield, Paul Skenes, Kris Bryant, and Trea Turner.
02Results
Sources:
03Medal table
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States (USA) | 14 | 8 | 12 | 34 |
| 2 | Netherlands (NED) | 5 | 9 | 10 | 24 |
| 3 | Cuba (CUB) | 5 | 6 | 2 | 13 |
| 4 | Japan (JPN) | 5 | 3 | 2 | 10 |
| 5 | Italy (ITA) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 6 | Canada (CAN) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | Netherlands Antilles (AHO) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 8 | Great Britain (GBR) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | South Korea (KOR) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | Chinese Taipei (TPE) | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 11 | Australia (AUS) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Germany (GER) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 13 | Curaçao (CUW) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Puerto Rico (PUR) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 15 | France (FRA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
04Tournament awards
- Most valuable player, named after Jacques Reuvers
- Best hitter
- Best pitcher
- Home run king
- Most popular player, named after Carl Angelo
Previously awarded:
- Best defensive player
- Press award, given to a team manager
Sources
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Haarlem Baseball Week”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Honkbalweek Haarlem logo.svg by Unknown author, Fair use
- Haarlemse Honkbalweek 2006.jpg by User ino paap on Flickr, CC BY 2.0
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