(Story & Photos by Marco Stoovelaar)
IN MEMORIAM
...Piet Tromp...
(1937 - 2019)
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
 Former Haarlem Baseball Week President Piet Tromp passed away
Nederlands
 HAARLEM (Neth.) -
Piet Tromp, who was the President of the bi-annual international Haarlem Baseball Week in the early eighties, passed away on Friday, May 24 at the age of 81.
The memorial service will be held on Friday, May 31 at 2:30 PM in Crematorium Westerveld at the Duin- en Kruidbergerweg 2-6 in Driehuis.
It is requested to be at the site at 2:15 PM.
Afterwards, the life of Piet Tromp is celebrated at Café De Wildeman at the Hoofdstraat 142 in Santpoort-Noord.
Petrus Theodorus (Piet) Tromp was born on June 12, 1937 in Haarlem.
Piet Tromp has loved sports activities his entire life.
He enjoyed baseball and softball, but also loved tennis and other sports.
Piet Tromp also developed a talent for organizing.
He was active within the Haarlem-based club Kinheim, where his son Mark played baseball and his daughter Maud played softball.
In 1977, Tromp joined the Organizing Committee of the Haarlem Baseball Week as its Treasurer for the 1978 tournament.
That event was the tenth and last to be presided over by Gerard Voogd, who had led the Committee since the first tournament was organized in 1961.
Besides Voogd as President and Tromp as Treasurer, the other members of the 1978 Committee were Freek van Muiswinkel (Secretary), Rita Schrijber (Tournament-Secretary), Gonny Wedemeijer (Tournament-Secretary), Theo Vleeshhouwer (Tournament Affairs), Hans de Bie (Media Affairs), Frank Voskuilen (Media Affairs), Piet van Deenen (Stadium Affairs), Karel de Graaf (Team Accomodations), Henk de Bruin (Member) and Freek Bos (Member).
Several years later, Freek van Muiswinkel became known as an actor to a TV-audience for this role as Duty Officer Thijs Jochems in the first five seasons (51 episodes) of the RTL4-crime series 'Baantjer', which ran from 1995 through 2006.
Van Muiswinkel, who passed away in 1999, was the father of wellknown Dutch entertainer Erik van Muiswinkel.
After the 1978 Baseball Week, Tromp succeeded Voogd as President, who stayed on as Advisor, and started preparations for the 1980 edition.
However, Tromp and his staff already would head another event in 1979.
As the fans loved the Baseball Week, it was decided to organize a mini-version of the event in the 1979, the so-called Honkbal Zesdaagse, a 6-day baseball-tournament.
The event was very successul and for Tromp and his staff, this was a great 'rehearsal' for the 1980 Haarlem Baseball Week.
Tromp also led the Organizing Committee for the Haarlem Baseball Week in 1982 and 1984.
Most of the persons who were part of the Organizing Committee in 1978 when Tromp joined were members of the staff when he presided over the Committee.
Shortly after Piet Tromp had become President of the Haarlem Baseball Week, he discussed the status of the event in an interview with Joop Köhler and Johan Carbo in the April 1980-edition of baseball- and softball-magazine Inside.
Back then, the role of the tournament was discussed, how the National Team of the Netherlands would fit in and how the cooperation with the Dutch Association (KNBSB) would be.
Tromp said that after the 1980 Basebal Week, he would have a meeting with then KNBSB-President Guus van der Heijden to look ahead to the future of the event.
And whether the role of the KNBSB would be more than only provide the Netherlands Team.
In the seventies, several participating teams would be stronger than the Netherlands, including such teams as Cuba, Japan or the Sullivans (USA).
In the interview, Tromp said: ,,We will discuss whether the field of participants has to be compiled to attract fans or has to be compiled to be competitive with the Netherlands Team, as in previous years there had been a big difference in quality of some participating teams as opposed to the Orange Team''.
...Piet Tromp with three other Haarlem Baseball Week Presidents in 2010...
...At left are Piet Sikma and Frits Mulder, at right is Wim Oosterhof...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Tromp continued: ,,In 1978, we had the World Championship in Italy with an unique field of participants, including Cuba, Japan and South Korea.
The fans would love to see those countries again, but they also want to see the Netherlands Team.
But how can you be of service to the Netherlands Team with these opponents?
The Netherlands Team always will be part of the Baseball Week, that's where the fans are coming for.
Otherwise, you can close the gates.
Besides that, the Haarlem Baseball Week also has a special function for our baseball and the development of the sport''.
As the Organizing Committee had a lot of experience with hosting the international tournament, most members also were involved in the organization of the first-ever World Championship Baseball in the Netherlands in 1986.
Tromp also presided over the Committee during this huge event, which has four playing sites.
Games were played in Haarlem, Rotterdam, Utrecht and Eindhoven, while Amsterdam was the location where all teams and officials stayed in one hotel, which also hosted the press center.
While the World Championship was successfully in a sportive way, it was not successful financially.
A few months after the World Championship, Tromp stepped down as President of the Organizing Committee, which had started preparations for the 1988 Haarlem Baseball Week.
He was succeeded by Wim Oosterhof.
In an interview with Grand Slam-editor Marco Stoovelaar in 2014 for the daily Baseball Week-magazine, Piet Tromp looked back and compared the 'Weeks' of then with the current 'Weeks'.
,,Within our Committee, we've always worked together very pleasantly'', Tromp said.
,,Back in those days, it was somewhat easier for us.
Behorehand, we had one certainty, as two-thirds of our income came from the paying spectators, we sold 1800 tournament-tickets.
That was the basis of your budget.
Nowadays, it is more commercial, but that is also necessary.
You need VIP-boxes, you need sponsors, they are very important, you cannot do without them, it would be impossible to organize an event such as the Haarlem Baseball Week.''
...Piet Tromp as a spectator at...
...the 2012 Baseball Week...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Piet Tromp also told how the Organizing Committee worked in 'his days'.
,,In the last few months before a tournament, we came together weekly'', Tromp said.
,,When the last game was played, the next day, we started with the preparations for the next tournament.
It was an ongoing procedure.''
In the tournaments headed by Piet Tromp, strong University-teams from the USA participated, including Mississippi State, Miami, UCLA, Washington State University and the University of Iowa, but also the National Teams of Taiwan and Canada participated for the first time.
Piet Tromp in the 2014 interview: ,,Each year in January, I attended the Coach Convention in the USA to look for participating teams and talk with candidates.
We were very successful and had good contacts with coaches like Ron Fraser.
The teams loved to come to Haarlem.
Asian countries are ideal to work with.
Some other were somewhat difficult or their coming was not sure.
When that happened, we could always make a phone call to our good friend Bob Sullivan, who would then compile a team and come to the tournament.
Bob saved us twice.''
Looking back to the 1986 World Championship and his stepping down, Piet Tromp said:
,,In 1982, I traveled with Guus van der Heijden to the World Championship in South Korea to try to get the event to the Netherlands.
We succeeded in doing so.
Organizing the World Championship is in no way comparible with the Haarlem Baseball Week.
It's very different.
We had four playing sites, so we had to work with four different local organizing committees.
We had to be present at all meetings, I never had worked to hard in my life.''
Afterwards, Tromp stepped down.
,,It was a good moment to step down, it had been enough and yes, to be honest, there also were some tensions with the federation because of the Championship'', Tromp said.
However, Piet Tromp always remained very close to the Baseball Week, which remained a very successful event.
Through the years, Tromp was an almost daily visitor of the games during each edition, including the one organized last year.
Always seated in the stands behind first base, Tromp followed the action and talked with his many baseball-friends.
Back in 2014, Tromp said: ,,I would not like to miss it.
It is an important part of my life and I still enjoy it very much.
Each day, you meet someone you know who show appreciation.
Players also come to me.
That always gives me much pleasure''.
Piet Tromp was a driven 'tournament boss'.
As Baseball Week President, he frequently sat down with fellow-Committee members Gerard Voogd and Piet van Deenen in front of the tournament-office.
Enjoying a good drink, the three watched as the spectators entered the stadium and went to their seats, who they always greeted or spoke to.
Tromp had an eye for details and wanted to make each new Baseball Week better than the previous one and he always had good and close contact with the many volunteers who made long days working during the event.
Tromp played a major role in making the transition of the tournament from the seventies to the eighties and made is ready for the future.
His smiling face and pleasant presence will surely be missed my many.
The webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News offers his condolences to Piet's son Mark and daughter Maud and other family and wishes them a lot of strength with this loss.
(May 26)
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