(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen)
 Amsterdam Pirates renames home site after Loek Loevendie
Nederlands
 AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
It was a very special and sunny afternoon at Sportpark 'Ookmeer' in Amsterdam on Saturday (May 18) where L&D Amsterdam Pirates played its second game of a 3-game series against Hoofddorp Pioniers.
Today, Amsterdam Pirates celebrated its 60th anniversary with a special and unique pre-game ceremony, which involved both the main baseball- and softball-team of the club, as well as their opponents and the umpires.
Also, many former baseball- and softball-players of Amsterdam Pirates attended today's festivities.
...Loek Loevendie in front of the marquee with his name...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Before the on-field ceremony started, there was another ceremony at the side of the clubhouse.
There, the new name of the baseball- and softball-complex of Amsterdam Pirates was unveiled.
From today, the site is called Loek Loevendie Ballpark, named after its founder and longtime youth-coach Loek Loevendie, who recently turned 87.
An emotional Loevendie saw how the name was unveiled, then was congratulated by the players and coaches of the baseball-team, as well as a softball youth-team and many others.
The attention then changed to the main baseball-field.
There, all players and coaches of the baseball- and softball-teams of Amsterdam Pirates, as well as their opponents Hoofddorp Pioniers and UVV were introduced.
They lined up across the infield for the next ceremony, which was the unveiling of the new designs of the three retired baseball-numbers as well as the announcement of a fourth.
Charles Urbanus, who stopped as Head Coach after last season, was surprised to hear his name being called when it was announced that his number 14 was the fourth to be retired.
Urbanus never played for Amsterdam Pirates, but for the past 25 years he has been involved in coaching at different levels at the club, including youth-teams.
For his many contributions in the development of players within the club, it was decided to retire his number.
With that, he joined Peter van Erk (35), Ronald Stoovelaar (5) and Rikkert Faneyte (19), whose numbers were retired in 1989, 1994 and 2001.
Next, Ronald Stoovelaar and Judith van Erk, who were the first players to represent Amsterdam Pirates in the Netherlands Baseball Team and Netherlands Softball Team, took part in the ceremonial first pitch-ceremony.
Stoovelaar caught a baseball thrown by Charles Urbanus, while Van Erk threw a softball to former teammate Evelien Bode, who in 2004 was the second youth-player of Pirates to reach the Netherlands Team.
Also during the ceremony, Amsterdam-pitcher Rob Cordemans received the ball that he had thrown to complete his 2,000th career strikeout on April 18.
The pre-game ceremony ended with the honoring of Home Plate Umpire Edwin Louisa, who today officiated in his 200th regular season-game in the Dutch big league.
The following well-visited game was initially a pitching-duel between Kevin Heijstek (Amsterdam Pirates) and Lars Huijer (Hoofddorp Pioniers).
The basehits were sparse and so were the runs.
In the fourth inning, Pioniers opened the score, then Pirates came alongside in the fifth.
In a tumultuous eighth inning, Amsterdam Pirates scored three runs.
Off of reliever Paul Kirkpatrick, Pirates got two baserunners on two costly errors.
That led to a double call by the umpires, a protest, a bench-clearing and two ejections.
After a runner of Pirates reached third base and was ruled safe, while an out-call also was made, Pioniers filed a protest.
Almost at the same moment, some tumult started near first base and the benches emptied.
That led to the ejection of a player from both teams.
Amsterdam Pirates won the game with a 4-1 score.
The softballteam of Pirates was also succesful, winning its double-header, 4-0 and 4-2.
(May 18)
(more later)
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