(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
 Hensley Meulens elected into Triple-A Hall of Fame!
Nederlands
...Dutch Hall of Famers Hensley Meulens and Bert Blyleven...
...during the 2013 World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
 DUBLIN, Ohio (USA) -
Former Major Leaguer Hensley Meulens, Manager of the Netherlands Kingdom Team and Hitting Coach of the San Francisco Giants, has been elected into the International League Hall of Fame (Triple-A), which was announced on Tuesday (January 26).
Also elected was Charlie Montoyo, a former International League Manager of the Year.
The two were elected by a combined vote from IL Hall of Fame-members, longtime executive, broadcasters and members of the media.
Meulens en Montoyo will be presented with the 'The Curtain Call' statue during a ceremony, for which a date has yet to be scheduled.
Meulens and Montoyo become the seventh and eighth member of the Hall of Fame, who are born outside the USA.
Meulens was born on Curaçao, while Montoyo comes from Puerto Rico.
With his election, Meulens becomes the second Dutch citizen to be elected into a professional Hall of Fame.
In 2011, pitcher Bert Blyleven, who was born in Zeist (Netherlands), was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Like Meulens, Blyleven also has been active as a coach for the Netherlands squad.
During the 2013 World Baseball Classic, Blyleven was the Pitching Coach in the staff of Meulens, who also played for the Orange squad, including the Olympic Games of 2000 in Sydney (Australia).
...Hall of Famer Hensley Meulens...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Meulens played in (part of) five seasons in the International League for the Columbus Clippers (1988-1990; 1992-1993), which then was the Triple-A team of the New York Yankees.
In 1990, he was named Most Valuable Player of the league and in 1992, he led the International League in homeruns, runs batted in and runs scored.
In that year, Columbus won the title in the International League.
Meulens also played in the league for Ottawa Lynx (Montreal Expos) in 1997.
Starting in 2005, he was active in the league for four years as the Hitting Coach of Indianapolis Indians (Pittsburgh Pirates).
He then became the Hitting Coach of the San Francisco Giants, with whom he won three World Series since 2010.
In 1989, Hensley 'Bam Bam' Meulens became the first player from Curaçao to play in the Major League when he made his debut with the New York Yankees.
He played for the Yankees in 1990-1993.
Hereafter, Meulens also played in the Major League for Montreal Expos (1997) and Arizona Diamondbacks (1998).
Meulens, who played professionally for 17 seasons, also played in Japan, Korea and Mexico.
Montoyo was successful as Manager of the Durham Bulls, whom he led to seven division titles in eight years.
The Bulls won the champion-final in 2009 and 2013.
Motoyo was named Manager of the Year twice and became the 3B Coach of the Tampa Bay Rays in 2015.
The International League Hall of Fame was established in 1947.
Members were elected through 1964.
Thereafter, the newest members were elected in 2008 when the Hall was revived after more than forty years.
In a 3-year period, 50 new members were added, selected by a special committee, to make up for the long period without elections being conducted.
Since 2011, a new class is inducted annually.
Since 1947, 118 individuals were chosen into the International League Hall of Fame.
(January 26)
Related Articles:
 Bert Blyleven inducted into Hall of Fame. (July 24, 2011)
Bert Blyleven elected into Baseball Hall of Fame! (January 5, 2011)
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