(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Marco Stoovelaar & Archive)
IN MEMORIAM
...Peter van 't Klooster...
(1944 - 2020)... |
 Former player, coach, administrator Peter van 't Klooster passed away
Nederlands
 HAARLEM (Neth.) -
Peter van 't Klooster, who played baseball in the Dutch big league, as well as the Netherlands Team for several years and also has been an administrator, passed away on Wednesday, August 19 at the age of 76.
Van 't Klooster also was active as a coach, advisor and a committee-member.
Less known fact is that Peter van 't Klooster could have been the first Dutch astronaut.
Due to the current measures regarding the coronavirus-pandemic, the memorial service next week will be closed and private.
Petrus van 't Klooster was born on February 7, 1944 in Amstedam.
It was in the Dutch capital that Van 't Klooster began playing.
At age 14, he got acquainted with baseball at his school and a year later, he started playing at Blauw-Wit.
There, he played for three seasons as a catcher, two of them in the junior-team, one in the main-squad.
After the 1960 season, Van 't Klooster transfers to WV-HEDW, where he initially plays in the second team in 1961.
Legendary coach Wim Geestman Sr. advises him to become a short stop, which then is his main position in the remainder of his career.
During the 1962 season, Van 't Klooster plays a few games in the main-squad of WV-HEDW, which that year relegates from the big league.
He immediately made his presence known in his very first big league-game on Sunday, July 8, 1962.
On that day, WV-HEW plays a double-header against the strong team of Sparta in Rotterdam.
Sparta wins the first game with a 2-1 score, but WV-HEDW wins the second game, 3-1.
Van 't Klooster makes his debut in the second game and with the score at 1-1, he hits a 2-run homerun that not only is his first big league-basehit, but also decides the game.
The homerun is the lone hit given up by Sparta-pitcher Hans Bouwen.
In 1963, Van 't Klooster is a regular.
Before the 1964 season, WV-HEDW merges with the baseball-section of VVA to become HVA.
The team plays its home-games at the Jan van Galen Sportpark, which later became the home of Amsterdam Pirates.
At HVA, Van 't Klooster became a good-fielding short stop and a solid hitter.
In 1964, he played for the team when it won the First Division Championship-title and promoted to the Dutch big league.
In the next two seasons, Van 't Klooster plays in the big league for HVA, which is by Wim Geestman Sr..
Amongst his teammates then were Arnoud Blom, Ruud Geestman, Jan Goossen, Canadian Terry McIntosh, Benno Niemeijer (who passed away last year) and Dick Vonk.
Ruud Geestman was a strong pitcher, but was not always available as he also played in the Netherlands National Military Soccer Team.
Later, after being trouble by an arm-injury, Geestman became a professional soccer player and plays for Blauw Wit, Telstar, Go Ahead Eagles, Heracles.
In the Opening Weekend of the 1965 season, HVA opened against the renowned team of Haarlem Nicols and lost only 1-0.
In a newspaper-article, Van 't Klooster is named a big promise for the future.
Nicols wins the game in the ninth inning on a walk-off single by Ben Tromp off of Benno Niemeijer, who threw a complete game for HVA.
On Tromp's hit, Boudewijn Maat scores the lone run.
A week later, Van 't Klooster's name again is mentioned.
On a very rainy day, HVA plays against ABC and the ball are slippery.
An errant throw of Van 't Klooster hits veteran umpire Piet Schijvenaar on the back of his head.
In his long career, Schijvenaar never had been injured.
But this time, for the second time in two weeks, he had to leave the game.
|
...Peter van 't Klooster in 1968... |
In his career, Peter van 't Klooster always went for perfection and wanted to do things right.
He focused a lot on hitting and hand-eye coordination.
Because of his scientific study, Van 't Klooster also made a study of hitting.
He could talk hours about hitting.
His thoughts proved to be very successful.
Not only for himself, but also for his son Dirk.
When Dirk started to play baseball, his father was his hitting coach and gave him many advices.
That started when Dirk played in the youth and the main-squad of TIW-Survivors in 1992.
The next year, Dirk made his debut in Dutch big league, playing for Amsterdam Pirates.
That was the start of a successful career, as Dirk went on to play 23 seasons in the Dutch big league for Amsterdam Pirates, Quick Amersfoort, RCH, Neptunus, Kinheim and Hoofddorp Pioniers.
Dirk is the all-time recordholder with 1220 basehits.
Through the years, Peter always followed his son and watched his games, wherever he played.
In his own big league-years, Peter van 't Klooster also was a solid hitter himself.
In his second full season in the highest league (1966), he belted five homeruns and added thirteen more in the next three seasons when he played for Amsterdam-based ABC.
June 4-5, 1966 was a successful weekend for the then 22-year old Van 't Klooster when he played with HVA against ABC.
In the first game, which is won by HVA with an 8-7 score, Van 't Klooster and Arnoud Blom homered for HVA, while Ruud Zijlstra and Doby Peters homered for ABC.
Zijlstra is the father of Dave Zijlstra, the current 1B Coach of DSS/Kinheim.
The next day, ABC wins 7-2, but both HVA-runs are scored by Van 't Klooster who hits two homeruns off of Zijlstra.
In August 1966, HVA secures its spot in the big league by winning 11-1 against ABC.
HVA immediately strikes in the first inning by scoring three runs thanks to Peter van 't Klooster, Terry McIntosh and Peter Broeshart.
However, 1966 is a troubled season for HVA.
There is a lack of equipment and sometimes, players have to borrow helmets from its opponent.
It was thanks to Head Coach Wim Geestman, Van 't Klooster and Arnoud Blom that the team could play at all this season.
After the season, Geestman steps down and most players leave.
Van 't Klooster, Blom and Ruud Geestman transfer to ABC.
There were plans that in January 1967, HVA would merge with HVGA, which was the new name of VVGA and the predecessor of Giants Diemen.
That never happened, but in December 1966, HVA merged with Rap, which played its games at the same site in Amsterdam.
In 1974, Rap changed its name into Amsterdam Pirates.
Coincidentally, Peter's son Dirk made his big league-debut playing for Pirates at age 17.
At ABC, amongst Van 't Klooster's teammates were Nol Beenders, Arnoud Blom, Frank Bouman, Hans Buiskool, Rob Elst, Doby Peters, Hans Slaap and (future TV-sports commentator) Hugo Walker with Nol Houtkamp as coach.
Some years ago, Buiskool became a board-member of Hoofddorp Pioniers when Van 't Klooster was the club's chairman.
During the 1967 season, Van 't Klooster has another 2-homerun game against Schoten.
ABC wins 14-3 and Bouman (grand slam) and Walker also homer for the team.
...Peter van 't Klooster with Cees Herkemij, then the Business Manager...
...of the Netherlands Baseball Team, during the 1998...
...World Championship in Italy...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
1968 is the best offensive season for Peter van 't Klooster, but it ends with a disappointment.
Van 't Klooster can secure the batting title in the final weekend of the season.
In a 7-1 win against Schoten, Van 't Klooster begins with two basehits to raise his average.
In his next two at bats, to protect his average, coach Nol Houtkamp order him to put down a sacrifice bunt.
When the winners of the individual awards are announced in September, Van 't Klooster leads the list with a .414 batting average (24-for-58), followed by Hamilton Richardson (Sparta), who bats .410 (34-for-83).
Richardson is named Most Valuable Player for the third time.
When the awards are handed out in Amsterdam in November, the batting title changed at the last moment.
In the weeks following the announcement of the winners, Sparta re-calculated the average of Richardson.
The team determined that Richardson batted 34-for-82, which gave him a .415 average.
24 hours before the awards were handed out, Sparta informed the scoring committee, who checked the stats and concluded that Richardson was the best hitter.
Van 't Klooster was informed of the mistake by telephone.
And so, Richardson won the gold medal and Van 't Klooster the silver.
In those seasons, there were medals for the first and second leader in a category.
Van 't Klooster accepted the apologies like a true sportsman.
,,Of course, I'm disappointed, but making errors is human'', was his reaction.
In July 1969, now with Doby Peters as coach, a highlight for Van 't Klooster comes in a game against OVVO, another successful and leading team in those years.
At the home-site of ABC at Sportpark 'Goed Genoeg' in Amsterdam, OVVO takes a 1-0 lead when José Faneyte homers.
ABC comes alongside in the seventh on a single by Arnoud Blom.
With the score tied, an extra inning is needed and Peter van 't Klooster again shows his power, as he hits a walk-off homerun to give ABC a 2-1 victory.
At the end of this season, Van 't Klooster also shows his administrative qualities.
Together with Blom and Dick Ausma, he is part of a players committee that takes care of everything around the team.
Ausma has succeeded Peters as coach.
The latter returns to playing as a pitcher as the transfer of Herman Beidschat from Haarlem Nicols to ABC is not happening.
After the 1970 season, Van 't Klooster transfer to HCK (Kinheim), which then plays in the First Division.
1971 is a succesful season for the Haarlem-based team, as it promotes to the big league.
In a best-of-three promotion series against Giants Diemen, HCK wins the third game, 7-1 and it is Van 't Klooster who accounts for the first run.
In the first inning, HCK's lead-off hitter Erwin Ascension hit the first pitch of Kees Wijdekop into the field for a basehit.
Moments later, he scores the first run on a basehit by Van 't Klooster.
In the third inning, HCK adds two runs, then Wijdekop homers for Giants in the fifth off of pitcher Jan van Markus.
In the top of the sixth, Giants gets into scoring position, but HCK second baseman Hans van Driel Krol then catches a line drive from Jan van Wieringen and reliever Bert Paalman closes with a strikeout.
In the bottom of the sixth, HCK adds three runs thanks to Matty Möllmann, Hans Paalman, Erwin Ascension and Frank Breek (double).
In the eighth, HCK lift the lead to 7-1 on a homerun by Ascension.
With this game, HCK-coach Nol Houtkamp steps down to focus entirely on women's softball, as he also is the Head Coach of the Netherlands Softball Team.
Peter van 't Klooster plays for HCK in its big league-season 1972, but thereafter, he played at a lower level.
In those years, Van 't Klooster lives in Zoetermeer, where he coaches and plays for Birds.
In 1964, Van 't Klooster made his debut in the Netherlands National Baseball Team.
Shortly before the European Championship in Milan (Italy), pitcher Flip le Cuivre cannot make the trip due to working commitments.
The 20-year old Van 't Klooster, who then plays in the second highest league for HVA, is added to the roster.
After having played one inning defensively against Spain, Van 't Klooster plays his fist full game against Sweden and is 2-for-5.
Hereafter, he also plays against France.
...As member of the KNBSB-board, Peter van 't Klooster hands out...
...a decoration to umpire Bodaan before a game in Bussum in 1999...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
In 1965, Van 't Klooster travels with the Netherlands B-Team to London (England) where two games are played.
The Orange Team wins 5-2 vs.Alconbury Spartans, then wins 3-1 against England.
In this last game, the Netherlands trails 1-0, but then scores twice on a basehit by Peter van der Ster in the eighth inning.
In the ninth, Van 't Klooster reaches on an error, gets the next base on a balk and scores the third run on a single by Jan van Ewijk.
Other players in that team included Ton Terneuzen, Rudi Dom, Martin Gaus and Fokke Jelsma.
In 1966, Van 't Klooster also plays in the B-Team, which then plays some games against American military teams from then West-Germany.
In one of those games, the team win 1-0 vs. Bitburg Barons.
The lone run is scored in the first inning when Ruben Leyssner walks, advances on a wild pitch and scores on an infield-hit by Van 't Klooster.
The pitchers for the Netherlands in that game were Ben de Brouwer, Marco Nagelkerken and Harry van der Vaart.
Also in 1966, Van 't Klooster is selected again for the Netherlands Team, which then participates in the Haarlem Baseball Week.
In October of this year, he travels with the B-Team to Italy for a mini-tournament.
Van 't Klooster also participates with the Netherlands Team in the 1969 Haarlem Baseball Week.
In later years, Peter van 't Klooster turns to coaching.
As mentioned, he coached at Birds in Zoetermeer.
Earlier, while playing for ABC, he also conducted practice sessions at AMVJ.
It is at AMVJ that Peter meets his future wife Annelie with whom he marries in 1969.
Before joining AMVJ, Annelie played softball for HCK in Haarlem.
Through the years, Van 't Klooster supports several coaching staffs at different clubs as a Hitting Instructor.
He returns in uniform in the Dutch big league 1996 when he acts as interim Assistant Coach of Franco Martis at Quick Amersfoort for two games.
Martis fills in as Head Coach for Bill Froberg.
In 2009, Van 't Klooster is the Hitting Instructor of RCH, which then is led by Head Coach Bernie Beckman.
The team relegates from the big league, then Van 't Klooster succeeds Beckman as Head Coach the next season.
In 2010, RCH finishes in second place in the second highest league.
Van 't Klooster retires after the season.
At RCH, Gerard Stenzler was the team's General Manager with whom Van 't Klooster had a close working relationship and friendship.
In following years, Peter van 't Klooster becomes active for Hoofddorp Pioniers, when his son Dirk and grandson Koen both transfered from RCH.
At Pioniers, he becomes the club's chairman in 2015.
In that year, Van 't Klooster represents Pioniers at a meeting in Amsterdam where the European Association of Professional Baseball is founded, an initiative of Wim van den Hurk and Jan Maarten Kops.
In 2016, this Association organizes the Euro League Baseball with the participation of teams from several European countries.
Also in 2016, Van 't Klooster heads the Organizing Committee of the European Baseball Championship, which is organized at the site of Pioniers.
Unfortunately, Van 't Klooster has to step down as chairman of Pioniers early 2018 due to health reasons.
At Pioniers, he regularly acted as a host to welcome the game-officials at the club's site for games, also after he had stepped down as chairman.
In the nineties, Peter van 't Klooster was a member of the Board of the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Association (KNBSB).
Before that, in 1989 and 1990, he was the chairman of the KNBSB-committee that oversaw courses for coaching, etc.
Other members then included Jaco van Ekeris, Jacques Neutkens and Bob Krijnen.
In 1996, Van 't Klooster joined the KNBSB-Board, succeeding Jules de Pierre in the postion for baseball affairs.
The Board was led by Henk den Duijn and the other members were Peter Foppen (secretary), Dries de Zwaan (treasurer/competition affairs softball), Jos Gieskens (softball affairs), Willem Wolters (youth affairs), Jan Esselman (competition affairs baseball), Olga Lablans (technical affairs softball) and Paul Bokern (game-officials).
Later, the size of the board was brought back to a smaller group.
Within the KNBSB Board in 1997-1999, Van 't Klooster is responsible for the National Baseball Teams, national competitions and international contacts.
As such, he travels to several international tournaments with the National Team.
In 1999, the Board is led by Theo Reitsma with Ruud van Zetten being the secretary and Cees van Bemmel being the treasurer.
Also part of the board that year are Dick Mos and Marlies Struyvé.
In October, Reitsma, Van Zetten and Van Bemmel step down after a different view of opinion.
Mos takes over as interim-chairman/secretary, while Van 't Klooster becomes interim-treasurer.
But ten days later, Van 't Klooster also steps down.
Doctor Peter van 't Klooster studied mathematics, physics and astronomy.
Since 1970, he had a long and impressive career in sciences.
As a researcher, he worked at the Van der Waals Laboratory at the Amsterdam University in 1970-1978.
Thereafter (1978-1985), Van 't Klooster was a scientist at the Netherlands Bureau of Standards.
Next (1985-1990), he was the deputy chief for management of research organizations at the Ministry of Education and Science.
From 1990, Peter van 't Klooster was the Director of the wellknown Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW, founded in 1808) for twelve years.
He then served in 2003-2005 as the Director of the Netherlands Ophthalmic Research Institute, which then was a section of the KNAW.
In July 2005, this section merged with another section of the KNAW, the Netherlands Institute for Brain Research, to become the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience.
...Screenshot of Peter van 't Klooster being interviewed...
...during his introduction as astronaut-candidate in...
...1977 as part of a 1983 documentary by AVRO-TV...
...of the spaceflight of Wubbo Ockels...
...Go here to see Part 1 of the documentary...
...Peter's interview starts at 7:28... |
Halfway the seventies, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced it was to create its first astronaut-corps and each member country could participate.
For the Dutch selection, Peter van 't Klooster applied and in August 1977, he was one of the five finalists representing the Netherlands, together with Kees van der Linde, Dick Mesland, Wubbo Ockels and Chris Steenbergen.
A day after they were announced as candidates, Steenbergen was replaced by Chris Oldenhof.
All were candidate for the upcoming selection of the first astronaut-group of ESA, who would then continue to train as Payload Specialist for a future spaceflight of the European Spacelab aboard an American Space Shuttle, which at that time had not yet made its first flight.
In December 1977, the selection procedure for the five ended and in May 1978, Wubbo Ockels was selected for the first ESA-group with Ulf Merbold (Germany) and Claude Nicollier (Switzerland).
In 1980, Ockels and Nicollier were part of the new astronaut-group of NASA.
On April 12, 1981, exactly twenty years after Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to make a spaceflight, the first Space Shuttle-flight (STS-1) was launched with veteran John Young as commander and rookie Bob Crippen as pilot of Space Shuttle Columbia.
In 1983, Ulf Merbold was part of the crew of STS-9 (Columbia) when the Spacelab-laboratory flew for the first time, which also was commanded by Young.
Wubbo Ockels was a back-up astronaut for this flight.
Two years later, in October 1985, Spacelab made its next flight aboard Space Shuttle Challenger (STS-61A).
During that flight, Ockels was a member of a record-setting 8-person crew and in 1992, Claude Nicollier made his first of four spaceflights.
With his flight, Ockels (who passed away in 2014) became the first Netherlands-born and raised astronaut.
The second was André Kuipers, who flew aboard the Russian Soyuz TMA-4 (2004) and Soyuz TMA-03M (2011-2012).
During his last flight, Kuipers made a long duration mission of six months aboard the International Space Station.
The first Dutch-born astronaut was Lodewijk van den Berg, who was born in Sluiskil (Zeeland) and made his lone spaceflight six months before Ockels.
But in late August 1977, it could have been Peter van 't Klooster who was selected instead of Wubbo Ockels to become the first Dutch astronaut.
Peter van 't Klooster was very driven in what he did.
As a player, as coach, as an administrator and in his work.
He could get very excited when something went wrong.
On the field, or off the field.
Whether is was a defensive error of his team, someone who failed to hit or an umpire's decision.
He simply wanted the best for his team, his players and his club.
But whatever the situation and whatever the circumstances, one thing never disappeared, his bright smile.
Even during his illness, the smile was always there.
Peter van 't Klooster was a great personality on and off the field, someone who said what he thought, but also wanted the best for his teams.
He will surely be missed by his many baseball-friends.
The webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News offers his condolences to Peter's wife Annelie, son Dirk, daughter Kim, grandchildren and other family and wishes them a lot of strength with this big loss.
(August 21)
It is possible to post personal memories of Peter van 't Klooster at this condolence-register.
|
