(Story & Photo by Marco Stoovelaar)
IN MEMORIAM 
...Roy van den Dungen Gronovius...
(1942 - 2015)
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 Former National Team-player Roy van Dungen Gronovius passed away
Nederlands
 THE HAGUE (Neth.) -
Former National Team and big league-player Roy van den Dungen Gronovius, one of the best infielders ever, has passed away on Wednesday, September 23, at the age of 73.
The memorial and funeral ceremony will be held on Tuesday, September 29 at 3 PM at Crematorium Eikelenburg, which is located at the Eikelenburglaan 7 in Rijswijk.
Roy van den Dungen Gronovius was born on April 27, 1942 in Batavia on the Indonesian island of Java.
Back then, Batavia was the name for the current capital Jakarta.
In that period, Indonesia was part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands as Dutch East Indies.
There, he learned several sports, including 'kastie', which is a baseball-like game played at schools.
After coming to the Netherlands, Roy picked up several sports, including playing baseball in school-tournaments.
As he lived in The Hague, he joined the club Storks, where he became a very solid player.
At Storks, Van den Dungen Gronovius played for 20 years, including eight seasons in the Dutch big league.
Roy van den Dungen Gronovius was one of the best short stops to play in the Dutch big league.
After having played with Storks in the First Division in the early sixties, the team promoted to the highest division in 1966.
The infielder then made his big league-debut in 1967 and went on to play with Storks at the highest level for the next seven seasons.
The team relegated in 1973, but captured the championship in the First Division in 1974 to return to the big league again in 1975.
He returned for one more full season in the big league in 1979, but then retired.
...Roy van den Dungen Gronovius...
...in 1968 while with Storks...
(© Photo courtesy of ANP) |
Roy van den Dungen Gronovius not only was a solid defensive player, he also was a very capable hitter.
He was not really a powerhitter, he hit only four homeruns in his big league-career, but more a contact-hitter, who moved the runners around.
He frequently reached base and was often used as lead-off hitter.
On the bases, Van den Dungen Gronovius was a runner to keep an eye on.
In 1967, he led the Dutch big league with 23 stolen bases.
1969 was one of his best seasons in the highest division.
With a batting average of .384, he was the second best hitter in the league.
In the same season, he led the Dutch big league with 33 basehits.
Roy van den Dungen Gronovius made his debut in the Netherlands National Team in 1965 when he participated with the squad in the European Championship in Madrid (Spain).
He remained a member of the Orange squad for eight years.
After initially being used as an outfielder, he was the regular short stop in most of his games for the Dutch Team.
With the Netherlands Team, Van den Dungen Gronovius also participated in the European Championship of 1969 in Wiesbaden (then West-Germany) and 1971 in Bologna/Parma (Italy), the World Championship of 1970 in Colombia and in five Haarlem Baseball Weeks.
At the European Championships, he captured the championship-title three times with the Dutch squad.
While playing in the Dutch big league, his family name Van den Dungen Gronovius was the longest-ever for a long time with 21 characters.
In recent years, he was a frequent visitor of the annual reunions of former National Team-players during the Haarlem Baseball Week and World Port Tournament, until he fell ill in 2009.
The webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News offers his condolences to Roy's family and wishes them a lot of strength with this big loss.
(September 28)
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