(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen)
 Umpires Henny Jansen & Olav Steijger retire
Nederlands
 ALMERE-STAD (Neth.) -
Veteran baseball-umpires Henny Jansen and Olav Steijger both have now officially retired from officiating games.
Jansen already had announced during the regular season that he would stop, but Steijger's retirement was known only to a few, as he announced it after his last game during the Holland Series.
On Saturday (November 3), their retirement was announced officially during the annual season-ending meeting of game-officials, which was held in Almere.
During the meeting, it was also announced that veteran softball-umpires Arie Nokkert and Jos Welboren have retired.
Also during the meeting, two awards and two decorations were handed out.
Henny Jansen and Olav Steijger both officiated their last game during this years Championship Final between Curaçao Neptunus and L&D Amsterdam Pirates.
Both were assigned to Game 2 of the best-of-seven Holland Series in Amsterdam on Saturday, September 29.
Steijger then was at second base, while Jansen was the 3B Umpire.
Amsterdam then shutout Neptunus 7-0 to take a 2-0 lead in the Holland Series.
A week later, on Sunday, October 7, Steijger was at second base again in Amsterdam during Game 6 in which Neptunus won 3-0 to capture its sixth consecitive Championship-title.
Henny Jansen was the senior umpire in the Dutch big league this season after veteran Fred van Groningen Schinkel had retired during the 2017 season, which was his (record) 46th in the Dutch big league.
Jansen was active as umpire since the early eighties and started his career in the then Rayon Het Oosten.
He became an umpire on the national level in 1988 and made his debut in the Dutch big league during the 1989 season.
Since then, he officiated at the highest level each season, but became a regular umpire in the big league in 2000.
With that, 2018 was his 30th in the highest division and was assigned to more than 300 games.
Besides being an umpire, Jansen also was the Chairman of the Board of Rayon Het Oosten in 1988-1991.
In that same regional district, he had been a member of the commissions that handles protest as well as umpiring affairs.
In his career, Jansen also officiated in international games at some events, including the Apeldoorn Baseball Series.
Olav Steijger became an umpire in 1991 and first was active in Rayon Het Zuiden.
He promoted to the national level in 1993, then made his debut in the Dutch big league in 1997.
This year, Steijger umpired in his 22nd season in the highest league, having officiated in more than 600 regular season-games.
Steijger made his international debut in 1997.
He retired as an international umpire in 2016.
Steijger participated in international tournaments almost annually and became one of the few umpires to officiate in each age-category from the Juveniles to the Seniors.
Amongst his tournaments are two European Juveniles Championships (1997, 1999), one European Cadets Championship (2002), two European Juniors Championships (2003, 2007), one European Under-21 Championship (2012), one European Seniors Championships (2004), six Haarlem Baseball Weeks (2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2016) and three World Port Tournaments (2011, 2013, 2015) and several European CupWorld Junior Championships in 2006 (Cuba) and 2008 (Canada).
During the World Baseball Championship of 2009 in Europe, Steijger was one of the umpires in the Second Round (Netherlands) and Final Round (Italy).
With the retirement of Henny Jansen and Olav Steijger, the Dutch big league lose two of their most experienced umpires.
The senior umpire next year will be Henri van Heijningen, who then will be active in his 29th season at the highest level.
Next on the list are Roy van de Wateringen and Winfried Berkvens, who respectively will begin their 18th and 17th big league-season in 2019.
(November 3)
Related Articles:
 Linda Steijger, Daniël Bouman win Awards; Decorations Nokkert, Welboren. (November 3)
Umpires Arie Nokkert and Jos Welboren retire. (November 3)
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