(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen & Marco Stoovelaar)
IN MEMORIAM
...Loek van Mil...
(1984 - 2019)
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
 Netherlands Team/Neptunus-pitcher Loek van Mil passed away unexpectedly
Nederlands
 ROTTERDAM (Neth.) -
The Dutch baseball- and softball-family mourns the loss of pitcher Loek van Mil, who passed away unexpectedly on Sunday (July 28) at the young age of 34.
Van Mil played professionally in the USA, Japan and Australia and was a core member of the pitching-staff of the Netherlands National Baseball Team.
He was on the roster of Dutch big league-club Curaçao Neptunus, but he didn't play for the team this season.
Only recently, the righthander announced his retirement from baseball.
The Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Association issued the following press release this morning (Monday, July 29):
,,On Sunday-evening, the KNBSB learned of the sad news that Loek van Mil has passed away at age 34 following a fateful accident.
Van Mil had a long and successfull baseball-career and played in the Dutch big league for HCAW and Neptunus.
As a professional, the pitcher played in the USA for Minnesota Twins and Los Angeles Angels, amongst others, and in Japan, he played for Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.
For Team Kingdom of the Netherlands, Van Mil played in 48 international games.
Since 2007, he was a member of the national team, participating in big events, such as the World Championship 2007, the World Baseball Classic in 2013 and 2017, the Premier12 in 2015 and he was the closer in the Final of the European Championship that was won on home soil in 2016.
The KNBSB is extremely thankful to Van Mil for what he has done and meant for Dutch baseball and wishes his family and friends a lot of strenghth with this huge loss.''
Later, KNBSB's Technical Director Tjerk Smeets added that the KNBSB, as requested by Van Mil's family, issues no further details concerning the exact conditions regarding the passing of Loek van Mil.
Ludovicus Jacobus Maria van Mil was born on September 15, 1984 in the small city of Oss in the province of North Brabant, which is located in the south of the Netherlands.
It was in Oss that Loek van Mil started playing baseball at age eight for the local club Cardinals.
Initially, Van Mil was a catcher, but as he started to grow, he turned into a pitcher.
Van Mil became a big, talented and hardthrowing pitcher with a length of 7-1 feet (2.16 m).
In later years, his towering height earned him the record of being the tallest pitcher in Minor League Baseball.
...Loek van Mil pitching for the Netherlands during the...
...2017 World Baseball Classic in Seoul (South Korea)...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
This past winter (2018/2019), Loek van Mil played in his fourth season in the professional Australian Baseball League (ABL).
After having pitched for Adelaide Bite in the previous three seasons since 2015/2016, Van Mil this season was on the mound for Brisbane Bandits, the champion of the 2017/2018 season.
During the season, on December 2, he gave up the first homerun hit in Australia by Dwayne Kemp, who played in his first season for Sydney Blue Sox.
Kemp was Van Mil's teammate with Neptunus.
While he was with his team in Canberra for a 4-games series against Canberra Cavalry, Van Mil was hospitalized in critical condition on December 8 with ''serious head injuries he sustained in an accident unrelated to baseball'', the ABL and his club Brisbane Bandits announced on December 10.
In the statement, it was added that ''Loek is a highly respected baseball player across the ABL here in Australia, his home country of The Netherlands and many other parts of the world where he has played baseball.''
In the first game of the series, a 6-4 win, Van Mil pitched the ninth inning and earned his third save of the season.
He then didn't pitch in the second game.
The next day, he was missing and didn't show up for the third game and a search for his whereabouts began.
On December 11, it was revealed that Van Mil sustained his injuries while hiking, hitting his head on a rock, which resulted in a brain haemorrhage.
The Brisbane Times reported that ''Van Mil reportedly had been unconscious for 24 hours before being discovered by a bushwalker on the outskirts of the capital''.
Before his accident, Van Mil pitched in five games for Brisbane and threw six innings.
The righthander was 1-0, earned three saves and had a 4.50 ERA.
Van Mil struckout seven batters, walked one and gave up six hits (including two homeruns) and three (earned) runs.
...Loek van Mil pitching for Neptunus in the 2018 Holland Series...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
While in the hospital in the days following the accident, it was decided that surgery was not needed, as his condition was improving.
Brisbane Bandits reported that ,,Doctors have taken Loek van Mil off the critical list and confirmed the bleeding on the brain has stopped.
They have confirmed no brain surgery will be required.
He is improving on daily basis and they expect an all clear and discharge in 10 days if he continues on this path.
Loek looks a bit worse for wear but is sitting up, talking, smiling and cracking a few jokes.''
After having left the hospital, it was reported early January that Van Mil had returned to his team and had started doing some practices again.
On January 17 of this year, Van Mil made his comeback on the mound for Brisbane.
In the final series of the regular season, he pitched in two games against Geelong-Korea.
Ten days later, on January 27, Van Mil threw 2 2/3 inning for Brisbane in the deciding Game 3 of the Australian Play-Offs against Canberra Cavalry.
Brisbane won 9-5 and Van Mil was the winning pitcher.
With that, the team went to the ABL Championship Series.
In the first game of the best-of-three, Van Mil pitched two scoreless innings in relief.
Two days later, Brisbane also won the second game (9-4) to become the Australian champion for the fourth consecutive season.
With that, Van Mil won his first Australian title.
As he recovered from his injuries and also confirming himself that he was feeling well, it was expected that Van Mil would be available again to pitch for Neptunus when the new Dutch season went underway in early April.
However, after he didn't pitch in exhibition games, it was announced by Neptunus shortly before the start of the season that Van Mil would be given time off to fully recover from what has happened in Australia and that it was up to him to decide when to return to the team.
By then, it was hoped that he might return somewhere towards the end of May in time to pitch for Neptunus during the European Champions Cup-tournament in Italy.
But that didn't happen and Van Mil never returned in uniform.
...Loek van Mil with Beloit Snappers...
...(Single-A, Minnesota Twins) in 2008...
...in the USA...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
In an article published last Saturday (July 27) in the Algemeen Dagblad-newspaper, it was stated that Van Mil didn't pitched yet for Neptunus this season due to family-circumstances.
In the interview, Van Mil said that he had planned to start joining practice sessions of Neptunus recently, but instead announced his retirement from baseball.
,,After returning from Australia, I continued working out at the gym'', Van Mil said in the interview.
,,I wanted to help Neptunus and wanted to play for the Orange Team at the European Championship and the Olympic Qualifier for Tokyo 2020.
But I noticed that my body wasn't fit enough anymore.
I cannot recharge myself anymore.
I've had a long career in baseball and really enjoyed my season in Japan.
I will now focus on a social career.
What I will do, I don't know.
It will not be something in baseball.''
The big and impressive righthander played professionally since 2006 an pitched in Triple-A in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016.
He played in the organizations of the Minnesota Twins (2006-2010), Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2010-2012), Cleveland Indians (2012) and Cincinnati Reds (2013), before choosing for a career in Japan.
In 2014, Van Mil pitched for Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in Nippon Professional Baseball, the Japanese Major League.
Hereafter, he returned to the USA and was re-signed by Minnesota Twins, playing in Triple-A in both 2015 and 2016.
Before starting his professional career, Van Mil made his debut in the highest Dutch league pitching for Mr. Cocker HCAW in 2005 and 2006.
Van Mil also had been eligible to play for L&D Amsterdam Pirates in 2008-2012, but was unable to do so due to his professional career.
Since 2015, Van Mil pitched for Curaçao Neptunus.
He then played for the Rotterdam-based club in the Dutch Summer, then played in the Australian Summer between the Dutch seasons.
...Loek van Mil posing with a fan...
...during the 2007 World Championship...
...in Taiwan...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
In 2017, Van Mil missed part of the season due to a back-injury.
During the 2018 season, he led the Dutch big league in ERA (0.22), lowest opposing batting average (.140) and pitching appearances (25) and shared the lead with six saves.
With Neptunus, he won the Dutch Championship-title in each of his four seasons with the club.
In 2018, Van Mil was named Most Valuable Player of the Holland Series.
Loek van Mil made his debut in the Netherlands National Team in 2007 and has pitched for the Orange-squad almost annually since then.
With Team Kingdom of the Netherlands, he participated in the 2007 World Championship in Taiwan, the Premier12 in 2015 and the successful World Baseball Classic in 2013 and 2017 when the Netherlands reached the Semi-Final in both years.
In 2016, Van Mil successfully closed the Final of the European Championship in Hoofddorp (Netherlands).
The Dutch team faced Spain and led 2-0 after seven innings.
Spain then came alongside in the eighth.
Van Mil took over the pitching in the top of the ninth and retired the side.
The game went into extra innings and after the tie-break runner had advanced on a sacrifice bunt, Van Mil struckout the next two batters.
Moments later, he became the winning pitcher, as the Netherlands scored the winning run on a single by Yurendell De Caster.
Last year, Van Mil pitched for the Netherlands in the inaugural edition of the Super6, which was also held in Hoofddorp and won by the Orange Team.
Van Mil also pitched for the Netherlands during the bi-annual Haarlem Baseball Week and World Port Tournament, the two big international events that are staged annually in the Netherlands.
In 2008, Van Mil was on the roster of the Netherlands Team for the Olympic Games in Beijing.
He traveled with the team to the Chinese capital, but then had to be replaced two days before the start of the event due to an injury.
Loek van Mil was a passionate and driven competitor, always smiling and always available to talk with the media, pose for selfies with fans and children or hand out signatures.
While on the mound, the righthander appeared to be a cool, well-balanced athlete, who became a successful closer.
Besides that, he was a great team-player and enjoyed being on a baseball-field.
Loek van Mil will surely be missed by everyone of the Dutch baseball- and softball-family.
The webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News offers his condolences to the family of Loek and wishes them a lot of strength with this enormous loss.
(July 29)
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