(Story & Photo by Marco Stoovelaar)
 HCAW to play milestone 1750th game on Saturday
Nederlands
 BUSSUM (Neth.) -
On Saturday (May 7), the baseball-team of HCAW will reach another milestone in its already impressive history while playing at the highest level.
The Bussum-squad then will play its 1,750th game in the Dutch big league to become the first club in history to reach that total.
Last year, HCAW already became the first team to reach the 1,700 games mark.
A year ago, on Sunday, April 19, HCAW hosted Curaçao Neptunus in a home game, which was its 1,700th in history in the Dutch big league.
While that of course was a historic accomplishment, it wasn't really celebrated.
With its 1,750th game approaching, the club thought that this also was a nice round figure to do something extra.
HCAW not only reaches this new milestone, it comes 50 years after the team promoted to the highest division.
This year, it is also twenty years ago that HCAW won its first Dutch championship-title.
...Rob Hoffmann...
(© M.Stoovelaar) |
On September 11, 1966, HCAW won 12-1 against Storks from The Hague, needing only seven innings in the one-game Play-Off between the two First Division-champions.
With that, the team, led by Head Coach Gerard de Haan, promoted to the highest division.
In that decisive game, legendary Rob Hoffmann went the distance for HCAW.
He struckout ten batters and gave up only two hits.
HCAW struck with six runs in the first inning and Piet Back, Jim Bell, Ade Fijth,
Roel Kloeten, Fred Remmers and Jan Schriek accounted for the run-production.
In the sixties, Rob Hoffmann was one of the best Dutch pitchers, but always kept on playing for HCAW, in good times and bad times.
He pitched for the Netherlands National Team when HCAW played in the Second Division.
Hoffmann never wanted to change clubs.
One of the famous quotes of the modest Hoffmann was: ,,I want to try to reach the big league with HCAW''.
And he succeeded in that.
230 days (or 7½ months) later, Hoffmann took the mound on Saturday, April 29, 1967 when HCAW made its big league-debut.
The team played at home on its former site in Bussum and faced ABC from Amsterdam.
Hoffmann again had a good outing and struckout 13 batters.
HCAW took an 1-0 lead in the fourth inning, but then ABC struck with four runs in the fifth at bat and won 5-1.
Rob Hoffmann, who is a member of the Netherlands Baseball & Softball Hall of Fame, passed away in 2010.
In 2004, the club had honored their club-icon with Rob Hoffmann Day.
He played for the big league-team through 1972.
Before Saturday's game, Hoffmann's widow will throw the ceremonial first pitch.
Besides Hoffmann, several other players of HCAW went on to be selected for the Netherlands National Baseball Team through the years, including Roy Berrevoets, Jeffrey Cranston, Nick Fridsma, Ade Fijth, Sven van der Graaf, Frans Groot, Roland de Groot, Wim Hageman, Sidney Hickinson, Ronald Jaarsma, Lars Koehorst, Jurjan Koenen, Patrick de Lange, Alfred de Leeuw, Jurriaan Lobbezoo, Ralph Milliard, Glenn Romney, René Rijst, Bart Seidel, Arnold Smith, Eric de Vries and Danny Wout.
Berrevoets is the current Head Coach of the baseball-team and became one of the club's icons himself.
Other players who became a club-icons are Van der Graaf, De Groot and Koenen, but also Clive Mendes, who went on to play professionally briefly, while Ralph Milliard reached the Major League.
HCAW always has had good relationships with its sponsors, which included Mr. Cocker that sponsored the team and the club for thirty years.
There will be several activities on Saturday to celebrate the game, which is nicknamed The SUPER BallGame 2016.
In the morning, there will be a hitting clinic, but there also will be a beeball clinic in the afternoon.
Before the start of the game against league-leader L&D Amsterdam Pirates, there will be a ceremony, which is scheduled to start around 1:45 PM.
That will include the introduction of former players, as well as the throwing of the ceremonial first pitch.
(May 6)
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