Last night, the Dutch government announced new measures to contain the coronavirus. Two measures caught the eye and may influence Dutch baseball. The first measure is that festivals and events will be banned until September 1. For Dutch soccer, this also means that the current season will be canceled. Nothing was said about it because…
Today, the KNBSB (Royal Dutch Baseball and Softball Federation), announced the postponement of the upcoming baseball season. For sure, the season will not start before April 27. But as the Dutch government announced new measures due to the stubbornness of several people not to follow the rules that should prevent a rapid spread of the…
After one year the Euro League Baseball did not return. It did not signal its end right away, but it was an omen what was about to come. Eventually, what many expected to happen after a year of silence, happened. The league ceased to exist. After its inaugural year, the Euro League Baseball did not return….
After blocking the participation of Dutch clubs and players in the Euro League Baseball, the Dutch Baseball Federation (KNBSB) now appears to have learned from the ideas of the alternate European baseball league. In the past two years, the KNBSB and the CEB (European Baseball Confederation) have made the life of the Euro League Baseball…
In November last year, you could read that the future of the WBC was in doubt. But with the attendance figures of the first round released recently, the outlook of this top event in the baseball world may not be as gloomy as reported earlier. In November 2016, Cristian Moreno of ESPN tweeted that the…
About two months ago you could read here that the future of the Euro League Baseball does not look as bad as you might think. Today the league confirmed this in a press release. In the press release, ELB president Wim van den Hurk stated that the league will continue in 2017. Finally the Dutch…
In the recent weeks it became all too clear that the current way to qualify for the European Champions Cup has its flaws. The Dutch competition is set up in such a way that the winner of the regular competition earns a ticket to the ECC. The other ticket goes to the team that reaches…
Baseball is losing ground. Not only in the USA but also in the Netherlands. Less fans that head to the ballparks. Less people that play the game. Thirty years ago, some Hoofdklasse games drew around 800 – 1,000 fans per game easily. Nowadays clubs are happy if there are 100-200 fans in the stands. What needs to be…
When Jan Esselman and the CEB threatened to ban L&D Amsterdam Pirates from the European Champions Cup, Amsterdam Baseball withdrew from the Euro League Baseball. L&D Amsterdam Pirates was the main supplier of players to Amsterdam Baseball. Since Esselman allegedly adapted some CEB rules single-handed, L&D Amsterdam Pirates did not have a choice but to…
A Japanese contact informed me about an upcoming friendly between Japan and team Kingdom of the Netherlands. Goal of this game is the promotion of the game of baseball with the 2020 Olympic Games in mind. My contact at the KNBSB confirmed that a friendly match will be played but that the NPB and the…
