(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
 Netherlands opens Baseball Week Haarlem against Curaçao
Nederlands
 HAARLEM (Neth.) -
The National Team of the Netherlands will play its first game of this years Baseball Week Haarlem on Saturday-evening, July 16 against the National Team of Curaçao.
This week, the Organizing Committee unveiled the schedule of the 10-day tournament.
The 28th edition of the bi-annual international, invitational tournament opens on Friday, July 15.
The event will then officially open with the game between Curaçao and Japan.
This year, five teams will participate in the tournament.
On Saturday-afternoon, Australia and Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) will play their first game.
In the evening, the Netherlands Team then will get into action against Curaçao.
A total of seventeen games is scheduled in the 10-day event, which will be held again in the Pim Mulier Stadium in Haarlem.
After the preliminary round (10 games), the play-offs gets underway on Thursday, July 21.
The final will be played on Sunday, July 24.
In February, the Organinzing Committee announced the field of participants, but also that there still were talks underway with a possible sixth participant.
However, there will be five teams in this years event.
...The Netherlands Team-players listen to the National Anthem...
...during the Haarlem Baseball Week 2014...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Japan will come to Haarlem for the 14th time, its 13th consecutive.
The Asian country first participated in 1978.
Hereafter, Japan returned in 1992 and since then, has participated in each tournament.
Japan won the tournament three times, the last in 1994.
This year, Japan will be represented by a team that is compiled of players from the Tokyo Big 6 League, which celebrated its 90th anniversary last year and is generally recognized as the strongest college-league in Japan.
For Taiwan (Chinese Taipei), it will be the 12th time that it participates and its ninth in a row.
The Asians participated in its first three tournaments in 1984, 1988 and 1990.
Its next participation came in 2000 and since then, Taiwan has been present each two years.
Australia will participate in its fourth Baseball Week and first since 1998 when it finished in second place.
Australia first participated in 1978.
Curaçao will be represented by a team for the first time since 1966.
Back then, a squad from the Antillian island took part in the third edition of the international event.
In following years, the National Team of the Netherlands Antilles, which was compiled with players from both Curaçao and Aruba, participated five times between 1968 and 1994.
In 1996, Aruba participated with a team.
In 2008, the Dutch Caribbean Team was one of the participants, which was a team compiled mostly of Antillian players, who played in the Dutch big league.
Last year, a team from Curaçao participated in the World Port Tournament in Rotterdam (Netherlands).
The National Team of the Netherlands has participated in all Baseball Weeks since 1961 and has won it three times, the last in 2010.
Taiwan, Australia and Curaçao have never won the event.
For the first time in the history of the event, a youth tournament (cadets) will be included, the Honkbalweek Haarlem Cup.
The semi-finals and final of that tournament will be played at the Pim Mulier Stadium during the Baseball Week.
32 teams can participate in the youth tournament with the preliminary rounds being played during Whitsunday-weekend at four differents sites in the country.
The four winners of these rounds then will play the semi-finals on July 16 and 17 at the stadium to be followed by the final on July 23.
The history of the Haarlem Baseball Week began in 1961.
In following years, five more tournaments followed.
Since 1972, the event is being held every even year, except for 1986 when the World Championship was organized in the Netherlands.
In October last year, the tournament changed its name from Haarlem Baseball Week to Baseball Week Haarlem to create more exposure outside the Haarlem-region.
Also, a new logo was presented then.
Complete Schedule Baseball Week Haarlem
(March 25)
Related Article:
 New name Haarlem Baseball Week. (October 29, 2015)
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