(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 New name Haarlem Baseball Week; USA, Japan participate in 2016
Nederlands
 HAARLEM (Neth.) -
The Haarlem Baseball Week has changed its name and also presented its new logo.
As of now, the bi-annual international, invitational tournament will be named Baseball Week Haarlem.
This was announced during a meeting for press and sponsors on Thursday (October 29).
In 1961, the first edition of the wellknown event was held and then simply was named Internationall Baseball Tournament Haarlem.
From the second edition on in 1963, the tournament listened to the name Haarlem Baseball Week.
And that name kept in place until the 27th edition, which was held last year.
The 28th tournament will be held next year, starting on Friday, July 15 and closing with the final on Sunday, July 24.
With the new name, the organisation wants to create more exposure outside the Haarlem-region and also generate more raising via sponsors.
Tournament President Frits Mulder also said the organisation wants to return to a field of participants of six teams.
Last year, only four teams participated, which was done for financial reasons.
Next year, the USA and Japan will be represented again, joining the team of the Netherlands.
Last year, the USA and Japan faced each other in the final, which was won by the Americans, 6-3.
The USA will send a national team compiled from players from the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA).
Japan will be represented by an All Star-team compiled from players of their Big 6-college competition.
To fill in the three remaining teams, there are contacts underway with several other countries, including Taiwan, Australia, Italy, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
Recently, when the Netherlands Baseball Team was on Curaçao to prepare itself for the upcoming Premier12, it was announced during a press-meeting that the cooperation between the Netherlands Association and the Curaçao Baseball Federation was strenghtened.
To underscore this relationship, it was then announced that an invitation was extended for the Curaçao Baseball Team to participate in the Dutch international tournaments in Haarlem and Rotterdam for the coming three seasons.
It it not clear whether that means that the Curaçao-squad already will be a possible participant in Haarlem next year.
A new item next year will be the first Baseball Week Haarlem Cup, which will be explained more on a later date.
Also, the VIP-boxes that surround the stadium will return, but some will be transformed into a VIP-café.
There also will be several 'theme-days', which can be filled in by companies.
Earlier this year, the bi-annual tournament held in Rotterdam, the World Port Tournament changed its name.
Since the edition played this past Summer, the event now is named World Port Tournament Baseball.
(October 29)
| 
