(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
IN MEMORIAM
...Marcel de Bruijn...
(1945 - 2022) |
 Former big league-pitcher and Feyenoord-icon Marcel de Bruijn passed away
Nederlands
 ROTTERDAM (Neth.) -
Former lefthanded pitcher Marcel de Bruijn, who played and coached for Feyenoord for almost forty years, passed away on Friday (March 11) at age 76.
Due to his long association with Feyenoord, with whom he played in eight Dutch big league-seasons, De Bruijn became a club-icon.
When his soccer-activities are included, De Bruijn was linked to the club for more than sixty years.
Marcel de Bruijn was born on July 14, 1945 in Dordrecht.
When he was ten years old, he went on to play baseball for Rotterdam-based Feyenoord, which at that moment of course also was known for its successful (professional) soccer-team in the highest soccer-league.
Right from the beginning, Marcel showed he had talent.
He developed into a trusted and well-respected pitcher and above all, a very effective lefthander.
Marcel's wife Peggy played softball at Feyenoord.
Their daughter Mae and son Robert also played for the club.
Mae played softball for Feyenoord (1981-1997), then Sparta/Feyenoord (1998-2000), before joining Euro Stars in 2001.
With this last team Mae played in the big league in 2004 and 2008.
After her playing career, Mae was the Team Manager of the women's softball-team of Euro Stars for four seasons (2005-2008).
She then was the Team Manager of one of the Netherlands Junior Softball Teams in 2012 and 2013.
Since 1995, Mae also was active in different positions for the World Port Tournament Baseball in Rotterdam.
Robert also played baseball for Sparta/Feyenoord and currently plays at a lower level for Euro Stars.
It was somewhere around 1964, 1965 (maybe even earlier), De Bruijn made his debut in the main-squad of Feyenoord in what became a successful period.
De Bruijn became one of the pitching-aces and led by longtime Head Coach Wim Onderstal, Feyenoord was one of the leading teams in the First Division.
In September 1968, Feyenoord faced Giants Diemen in a Promotion Series.
Due to rain, the first game of that series was halted in the eighth inning by veteran Home Plate Umpire Co Hetem with a scoreless tie.
A week later, the teams met again in Rotterdam and Marcel de Bruijn played a leading role.
The sixth inning led to a crucial moment in the game.
At that moment, Feyenoord trailed 2-0 and Giants-pitcher Piet Ferwerda wanted to throw some additional warm-up pitches.
However, veteran Home Plate Umpire Lou Meijer instructed Ferwerda to throw.
Ferwerda argues, threw a warm-up pitch and got a warning.
His brother Mink Ferwerda (who was the first baseman) took over the pitching.
It led to the turn-around in the game.
Ton Steenbruggen and Ton van Uitert reached base, then Huub Kohl drilled the ball over the fence for a homerun to put Feyenoord ahead, 3-2.
In the next inning, with Jan van Gent as runner, Irving Simmons added a 2-run homerun to lift the lead to 5-2.
De Bruijn went the distance, gave up no more runs and Feyenoord promoted to the highest league.
And so, Feyenoord made its debut in the highest league in 1969.
Now playing in the big league, Marcel de Bruijn underscored his talent as a lefthanded pitcher.
One of his big games in the 1969 season came against Sparta, which in those years was the most successful baseball-team in Rotterdam.
De Bruijn showed his effectiveness on the mound and Feyenoord won 4-2.
Other players in the Feyenoord-team that season, as well as in other of these early seasons, include Harrie Blijden, Piet Burg, Wim Corpeleijn, Herbert Ramlal, Fred Rietdijk, Irving Simmons, Ton Steenbruggen, Aad Verheul, Ton Verheul and Wil de Waard.
Another longtime player for Feyenoord was Huub Kohl, who was De Bruijn's catcher in many games during his career.
Kohl passed away in 2019.
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...Marcel de Bruijn shows his throwing arm... |
With Feyenoord, De Bruijn played in eight big league-seasons (1969-1975, 1980).
In these seasons, the team finished in fourth place twice.
In 1972 and 1973, when there were two pools in the big league, Feyenoord finished in second place behind Sparta, which would win the championship-title.
After having finished in fifth place in 1974, the team relegated in 1975.
During these seasons, Feyenoord recorded several impressive victories against more stronger teams.
In 1970, Feyenoord handed league-leader Haarlem Nicols its first loss of the season.
Nicols had won its first fourteen games, but then lost 9-6 to Feyenoord in what was a suspenseful game.
Playing in the historic Pim Mulier Stadium (the home of the Haarlem Baseball Week), Haarlem Nicols was left empty-handed on July 4 in its first meeting against Feyenoord, for whom Marcel de Bruijn threw a solid game.
Feyenoord took an early 3-0 lead, thanks to Ricky Placidus.
After he had scored the first run in the first inning, Placidus added a 2-run homerun in the second at bat.
However, Nicols came back and took a 4-3 lead when Jan Dick Leurs and Fokke Jelsma both hit a 2-run homerun.
Shortly thereafter, Harrie Blijden scored the tying run, but Nicols re-took the lead via a sacrifice fly by Boudewijn Maat in the fifth inning.
But then, Feyenoord struck again and this time, the team hold onto the lead for the remainder of the game.
First, Ricky Placidus hit his second 2-run homerun, then Feyenoord took some more distance when Henk Kruik also hit a 2-run homerun off of Jan Dick Leurs, who thereafter was relieved by veteran Herman Beidschat.
Feyenoord had taken a decisive lead and added an insurance run on an error.
Despite some crucial sitiuations, Head Coach Wim Onderstal stayed with De Bruijn on the mound and he never betrayed that trust.
With a 9-5 lead, another suspenseful situation arose in the bottom of the ninth.
First, Nicols added a run when Kees Kuijer homered.
Thereafter, the home-team got runners on second and third base with two outs.
Powerful Dassy Rasmijn was the next hitter for Nicols and again, Onderstal left De Bruijn in the game.
Moments later, Home Plate Umpire Henk Ronnenbergh called Rasmijn out on strikes and Feyenoord ended the winning streak of Nicols.
In 1971, Feyenoord again recorded some fine results.
And there was another historic feat in this season.
In soccer, the games between Ajax (Amsterdam) and Feyenoord (Rotterdam) are labeled 'classics' for many years.
This year, for the first time in history in the highest league, the baseball-teams of these clubs faced each other.
It was Feyenoord that left the field victorious, winning 8-1 and 9-6.
Besides Harrie Blijden, Piet Burg, Huub Kohl and Ton Steenbruggen, other teammates of De Bruijn in this season were André Boddendijk, Joop van Herp, Arie Hulsebos, Paul Koster, Henk Kruik, Frank Luyando, Paul van den Oever, Ton Pols and Aad Verheul.
Like De Bruijn, Blijden, Burg, Kohl and Steenbruggen, teammates Koster, Kruik, Van den Oever and Verheul also played many seasons for the Rotterdam-club.
In 1971, Marcel de Bruijn had a fine season and he belonged to the preliminary selection for the Netherlands National Team for the Haarlem Baseball Week.
However, in June of that year, the Technical Committee of the Dutch Federation named the final roster for the event, before the arrival of the team's new American Head Coach Hal Smeltzly.
De Bruijn was one of the three final players that were dropped from the roster, the others being Berry Eijgendaal (ADO) and Ed van den Berg (Sparta).
On the other hand, pitcher Rob Hoffmann (HCAW) was added to the roster after a long absence.
De Bruijn never played for the Netherlands Team.
...Marcel de Bruijn prepares...
...for the 1978 season... |
In 1972, Feyenoord again won twice against Ajax.
This season, powerhitter Hudson John was the first baseman for Feyenoord after having played for Sparta in five seasons, then one for Storks.
John was joined in the infield by Eric Schouten (second base), Aad Verheul (short stop), Ton Steenbruggen (third base) and Huub Kohl (catcher).
Although De Bruijn was an effective and trustful pitcher, he sometimes led himself being influenced by umpiring decisions.
In the first game against Ajax on May 21, Feyenoord was leading 6-2.
Due to a disputable umpiring decision, De Bruijn's pitching was somewhat affected and Ajax came back to 6-5.
Paul Koster then took over to secure the win.
The next day, Koster threw a complete game, 4-0 shutout at the home-site of Feyenoord at the wellknown Sportpatk 'Varkenoord', which is located behind the soccer-stadium of the club.
In that game, Feyenoord opened the score in the sixth inning on a basesloaded walk.
In the seventh inning, Ajax Head Coach Reggie Smith inserted veteran player Ruben Leysner as new pitcher.
Leysner, who passed away on January 16, was unable to turn the game around and gave up three more runs.
Another game in which De Bruijn's pitching was somewhat was affected came two weeks later in Amsterdam against OVVO.
And the lefthander admitted it himself afterwards.
Feyenoord trailed early 3-0, but came alongside.
In the third inning, De Bruijn hit a grounder, which ended in an error by second baseman (!) Paul Smit (who later became more known as a catcher).
Hereafter, Frank Luyando hit what appeared to be a homerun.
However, the umpire stated that the ball didn't went over the fence, but under it and ruled it a ground-rule double, which enabled De Bruijn to score.
Moments later, with two outs, a young Charles Urbanus faced powerhitter Hudson John, who belted a 2-run homerun homerun.
In the fourth inning, OVVO broke the 3-3 tie when Urbanus scored on an error.
De Bruijn was the pitcher for Feyenoord in this game, but was less effective.
Looking back, he was quoted in the Het Vrije Volk-newspaper saying:
,,It just didn't work.
I don't know what is was, but I just couldn't get the right rhythm.
The decisions of Home Plate Umpire De Wolf made my hyper nervous''.
But Marcel de Bruijn remained a very reliable pitcher.
Besides that, he was also a solid hitter with homerun-power.
And he could move runners in scoring position.
Like he did on August 26 of the 1972 season against Sparta in a game that was a pitching-duel between Paul Koster (Feyenoord) and Ade Fijth (Sparta).
In the top of the ninth inning, at Sparta's home-site on Sportpark 'Nieuw Vreelust', Feyenoord trailed 2-1.
With Aad Verheul as runner on first base, De Bruijn (as pinch-hitter) moved him to second base via a sacrifice bunt.
Verheul then scored the tying run when a hit by Paul Koster ended in an error.
Hereafter, Koster scored the go-ahead run on a pinch-hit single by Joop van Herp.
Feyenoord won 3-2 in what was an important game regarding the pool-alignments for the next season.
From 1972 on, the big league had an A- and B-Pool, which were compiled based on the final standings of the previous season.
The teams in first, third, fifth and seventh place would play in Pool A, the others in Pool B.
The winners of those Pools then would meet in a best-of-five Championship Series.
In the 1973 and 1974 seasons, Feyenoord didn't encounter much problems and prolonged its stay in the big league.
Joining the team in 1973 were Fred Beckers (ex-Sparta), Jan Collins (ex-Euro Stars) and Jimmy Bell.
In 1974, still with Wim Onderstal as Head Coach, Henk van 't Klooster was a newcomer in the Feyenoord-team.
However, the team had to do awhile without Ton Steenbruggen and Aad Verheul, who both were recovering from injuries.
Also, Hudson John had left the team.
With that, Marcel de Bruijn not only was the pitching-ace of Feyenoord, he also became the regular first baseman when he didn't pitch, taking over that position from John, which he shared with Frank Luyando.
...The team of Feyenoord in 1973....
...Marcel de Bruijn is standing in the middle with # 30 (fifth from right)...
...Others in the back row are Paul Koster (3rd from left), Huub Kohl (4th from left),...
...Fred Beckers (4th from right), Harrie Blijden (3rd from right) and...
...Coach Wim Onderstal (2nd from right); Sitting are Hudson John, Jan Collins,...
...Paul van den Oever, Jimmy Bell, Ton Steenbruggen, Aad Verheul and Ricky Placidus... |
The 1975 season ended with some troubles for Feyenoord, although the team again recorded some fine results.
On Opening Day (April 26), Feyenoord won 3-1 against reigning champion Sparta with De Bruijn being the dominating pitcher.
The lone run he gave up was scored late in the game by Jan Venema on a basehit by Gerard Blacquiere, which was only the third (and last) basehit De Bruijn gave up in this game.
The next month, De Bruijn threw a 6-0, 3-hit shutout against the powerful team of Haarlem Nicols and homered himself off of Jan Dick Leurs.
In June of 1975, Feyenoord won twice against Sparta.
Again, De Bruijn threw an outstanding game, recorded his fifth win and appeared to be a candidate for the Netherlands Team for the upcoming European Championship.
However, De Bruijn again was left off the Orange-roster.
Besides De Bruijn, Ronald Janse developed into a talented pitcher this season, while Jan Lodder also became a regular pitcher.
The team was coached in 1975 by Huub Kohl, who also played himself as catcher and was assisted by Jan Kramer.
However, the team relegated from the big league and a lot of players left after the season.
Except for Marcel de Bruijn and Paul Koster, who remainded loyal.
De Bruijn rejected an offer to play for Sparta.
At that moment, Feyenoord even asked to play in the Second Division instead of the First Division.
But eventually, it was decided to play in the First Division after all.
However, after the season, there were some rumors within the Sports Club Feyenoord to abandon the baseball-section, as the team didn't play in the highest league and many players had left.
De Bruijn, who always has remained loyal to Feyenoord in good times and in bad times, was a strong advocate to keep the baseball-section intact and a majority of the club-members agreed with him.
In these years (and following years), De Bruijn and Koster also coached youth-teams and conducted practice-sessions for young players of the club.
And so, Feyenoord played in the First Division in 1976, led by American coach Jeff Westphalen, who had succeeded Huub Kohl.
Several players from the second team and juniors were added to the main-squad to fill in the vacant spots, including Kees Herwig, Peter Lodder, Tom Prooij and René Ras (who later became a big league-umpire).
In this season, De Bruijn reached a milestone, as he played in his 400th game for Feyenoord, which finished in sixth place.
After having finished in second place in 1977, Wim Onderstal returned as Head Coach in 1978.
In that season, Feyenoord again ended up in second place of the First Division behind fellow Rotterdam-team Neptunus, which promoted to the big league.
In 1979, it was Feyenoord that won the title in the First Division and promoted to the highest league, taking the spot of Sparta, which relegated.
And so, in 1980, Feyenoord made its comeback in the big league, but the team finished in tenth and last place to regelate again.
At the end of that season, the team won a regional tournament, winning 9-8 in twelve innings against Sparta after having eliminated Neptunus (11-5, winning pitcher De Bruijn) in the Semi-Final.
But that was the lone success for Feyenoord and again many players left.
Coach Wim Onderstal went to Neptunus, which also took over Feyenoord-players Henk van 't Klooster, Henk Kruik and American Kevin McDonald.
Ton Steenbruggen and Willem Bekker opted to go to Zwijndrecht and Harm Wilms returned to PSV.
Besides that, Paul van den Oever's name was mentioned at Euro Stars, while Eric Schouten had retired, Paul Koster was thinking of stopping and De Bruijn also was not sure what to do.
And so, again there were discussions of dissolving the baseball-section.
Once more, De Bruijn played an important role to continue with the baseball-section.
And so, in 1981, Van den Oever, Schouten, Koster and De Bruijn all returned in uniform, while Huub Kohl returned as Head Coach.
American Alex Masel was added, and Rick Corbeau and Paul Roodenburg became regular players, while Geoffry Kohl and Dave Kohl developed into talented players.
It was also the period in which the players wore shirts that were similar to the characteristic red-white lining shirts the professional soccer-players of Feyenoord wore.
Although the team regularly ended up in the top of the First Division and participated in a Promotion/Relegation Pool, Feyenoord never returned to the big league.
But, as mentioned, whatever happened, Marcel de Bruijn stayed loyal to Feyenoord and continued playing for the team through 1989 at age 44.
...Marcel de Bruijn was an effective lefthanded pitcher...
...On the photo, he pitches for Feyenoord in 1972...
(Photo published in Het Vrije Volk; Unknown photographer) |
In 1988, Feyenoord (coached again by Onderstal) once more was faced with an exit of a lot of players.
This time, Sigmund Francisca (Blue Birds), Adonis Kemp, Nelson Solognier Haime Wiersma (all Sparta), American Parris Mitchell (Twins Oosterhout), René Nieveld and Elton Wilson (both ADO) all left.
In the 1989 season, Ton Steenbruggen is the coach of Feyenoord, which then plays in the so-called Overgangsklasse.
At age 43, Marcel de Bruijn is added to the team to be one of its regular pitchers again.
In the previous few seasons, he had played in the second team of the club, but of course, he wanted to help his club and his team again, so he returned to the mound.
Also returning in the main-team again are older players like Henk van 't Klooster and Aad Lodder.
They are joined by newcomers Ruurd van Drongelen, Martijn Kant and Gianni Meriën.
Only thereafter, De Bruijn played a few seasons (still as a pitcher) at a lower level for Zwijndrecht.
After he had retired as a player, Marcel de Bruijn remainder active for Feyenoord as one of the coaches.
He even remained active when Feyenoord merged with 'rival' Sparta after the 1997 season.
In the 1998 season, De Bruijn was the Assistant Coach of Rob Hendriks of the Sparta/Feyenoord-team in the big league.
Amongst the players in that team were Maikel Benner, Tony Benningshof, Erwin van den Berg, Melfried Comenencia, Marlon Fluonia, Michael Martha, Marco Meuwese, Jerry van den Oever, Berti Richardson, Sherton Saturnino, Orlando Stewart, Maurice Verdaasdonk and Leo Voogd.
Marcel de Bruijn also has been a member of a team with veteran-players of The Hawks.
With that team, he traveled a few times to Cuba to play some games there.
In his eight big league-seasons (1969-1975, 1980), Marcel de Bruijn regularly underscored that he was a reliable and effective pitcher, who could easily throw in multiple games.
In his first season (1969), De Bruijn led the big league in Games Pitched (16), Most Innings Pitched (108 2/3) and Most Wins (9, with Jan Dick Leurs of Haarlem Nicols).
In the 1972 season, the lefthander had the Most Games Started (15, with Marco Nagelkerken of Ajax) and again threw the Most Innings (125 2/3).
And in 1975, he had the Most Games Started (14), as well as Most Complete Games (13).
With is bat, he collected more than 100 basehits.
Unfortunately, not all statistics of these years are available, but De Bruijn hit at least 14 homeruns.
Besides being very active for the baseball-section of Feyenoord, Marcel also remained involved in the soccer-section of the Rotterdam-club.
With several of his baseball-teammates, he played soccer in the winter.
Later, until some years ago, Marcel handled the clubhouse-activities of the amateur-section of Feyenoord at Sportpark 'Varkenoord'.
He also was a member of the supervisory board of the amateur-section.
In most recent years, Marcel also played golf regularly.
Marcel de Bruijn, always playing with uniform 30, was a well-respected player (and pitcher) for many years.
He was respected by his teammates, coaches, opponents and umpires.
Througn the years, De Bruijn always remained loyal to Feyenoord and was a driven player.
In whatever league the team played in, De Bruijn always was there to play, to coach and to help.
Always showing his interest and love for his club.
A club love which is rare nowadays.
The webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News offers his condolences to Marcel's wife Peggy, daughter Mae, son Robert, grandchildren, other family and friends and wishes them a lot of strength with this huge loss.
(March 17)
(all photos published with permission of the De Bruijn-family)
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