(Story & Photos by Marco Stoovelaar)
IN MEMORIAM
...Tiny van der Poel...
(1930 - 2024)
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
 Former longtime Official Scorer and Pirates-announcer Tiny van der Poel passed away
Nederlands
 AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
Tiny van der Poel-van Wiltenburg, who has been an Official Scorer in baseball and softball for 21 full seasons, passed away on Saturday, February 3 at age 93.
Despite her high age and some health-problems in recent years, her passing came unexpectedly.
Besides being a longtime scorer, Tiny van der Poel also had been the Public Address Announcer for many seasons at the home-games of the baseball-team of Amsterdam Pirates, where she also has been a member of the board.
In 1998, she was decorated by the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Association (KNBSB) for her activities in the field of scoring.
The memorial service of Tiny van der Poel will take place on Thursday, February 8 at 10:30 AM at Crematorium Westgaarde at the Ookmeerweg 275 in Amsterdam.
Catharina Hendrikje (Tiny) van der Poel-van Wiltenburg was born on July 24, 1930 in Amsterdam.
Since the early fifties, Tiny has been active in several positions in both baseball and softball, as well as in gymnastics.
In 1958-1960, she was the treasurer of Quick Amsterdam, which is the oldest Dutch baseball- and softball-club, being founded in 1913.
In the same period, Tiny's husband Wim van der Poel was the secretary of Quick.
Wim passed away in September 2019 and also was 93.
A month earlier, Tiny and Wim had been able to celebrate their 66th wedding-anniversary.
In the sixties, the Van der Poel-family transfered to HVA, another baseball- and softball-club in Amsterdam.
At HVA, Wim became one of the youth-coaches, joining Jaap Meeder and Paul Hamstra.
In 1967, HVA merged with Rap, which in 1974 changed its name to Amsterdam Pirates.
At Rap, Laurens and Steven, the sons of Wim and Tiny played baseball for several seasons and also coached youth-teams.
In 1982, Laurens was one of the players who played in the main-squad of the club during the first of Amsterdam Pirates in the Dutch big league.
Both Tiny and Wim were closely involved in youth activities at the club.
Wim as coach, Tiny as scorer.
And they always were active for the club when it organized a tournament.
Since the early seventies, Rap/Pirates had built a name for itself for organizing many, successful (international) tournaments.
In these years and during these events, Tiny and Wim were part of a big group of enthousiastic parents and other club-volunteers who were willing to lend a helping hand when needed.
These parents always were on the former home-site of Pirates at the Jan van Galenstraat and were active for their club.
Whether is was doing coaching, scoring, handling (tournament)-administrations, taking care of the field, be active in the clubhouse or be part of a committee.
This same group of parents always attended the games of their children and drove the players to and from the different playing sites, which frequently involved trips to tournaments in Belgium and what was then West-Germany.
Both Wim and Tiny van der Poel also became administratively involved at Rap/Pirates.
In the seventies, Wim was a member of the youth-committee of Rap/Pirates with Dolf Davidson, Loek Loevendie, Coen Stoovelaar, Kees van Vegten and Wim Joost, who passed away late December.
In the same period, both Tiny and Wim were members of the board, serving as treasurer for some years.
Wim also briefly led the club as chairman in 1975.
That preceeded a board-period in which Henk van Ede (chairman), Leo Boon (secretary) and Maarten van Erk (treasurer) would be board-members for many years.
...Tiny van der Poel poses with other former members...
...of the board of Amsterdam Pirates-board during...
...the club's 50th anniversary in 2009...
...Left to right: Loek Loevendie, Rob Carstens,...
...Jaap van der Zee, Tiny van der Poel, Wim van der Poel,...
...Henk van Ede and Maarten van Erk...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
It also was somewhere halfway the seventies that Tiny became the Public Address Announcer at the home-games of the baseball-team of Pirates, something she would do for more than ten years.
And she was always recognizable, as Tiny had a characteristic voice.
After a few years, she was joined by Coen Stoovelaar, who also became a longtime announcer, while Kees van Vegten filled in somes times behind the microphone.
All three did the announcing during the international tournaments at the Pirates-site.
In the late eighties/early nineties, Joop Dousi joined them and would be the prime announcer for many years.
Joop got company from Richard de Wolff in the late nineties and they were joined by Hans Jansen de Vries several years later.
De Wolff is the current prime announcer at the home-games of Pirates.
In these years, when Tiny and Coen Stoovelaar (who then also was Team Manager of the Pirates-squad in most of these seasons) did the announcing, they were initially seated in a box besides the home-team dug-out at the first base-side.
Later, they moved to a more comfortable scoring/announcing box located behind the stands behind home plate.
Before and after the games, they also took care of the game-officials.
When a game had ended, they provided drinks and something to eat to the umpires, official scorers and other officials in the board-room, where they were mostly joined by boardmembers Henk van Ede, Leo Boon or Maarten van Erk.
As Tiny and Wim enjoyed traveling, they took part in all three USA-trips, organized by Inside Magazine in 1976, 1977 and 1979.
In the USA, they very much liked the Major League-games, as well as the surroundings and landscapes.
Afterwards, both enthusiastically told about their trips and what they have experienced.
Something they did during a movie/photo-evening at the clubhouse of Pirates, which in those years organized many get-togethers for club-members.
In 1974 and 1975, Tiny van der Poel also was active for what was then Rayon Amsterdam, succeeding her husband as member of Cash Audit Committee.
Other members in these two years included Cees Boer, Jr., Hennie Brands, Wim Endel, Wim Kwekkeboom and Willem Niepoth.
Tiny van der Poel became an Official Scorer in early 1977 and during that season, she was one of seven rookie-scorers.
The others were Feiko Drost, Ben Goorts, Wies Meijers, Gert Snel, Marco Stoovelaar and Jan van Toorn.
From this group, Drost, Goorts and Stoovelaar are still active.
Unfortunately, the others have passed away.
In 1977, for the first time, Official Scorers were assigned to games in the women's big league softball.
Except for Snel, the others all belonged to that historic first corps of softball-scorers, besides also scoring in the baseball big league.
Other scorers, who already were active in baseball, in that period included Cees Boer, Jr., Jan de Boer, Kees Bol, Joop van Bolhuis, Gerard Bronner, Anneke de Bruin, Piet de Goede, Joop Hartman, Maartje Herkemij-Nierop Groot, Rob Jacobs and Herman Spilker.
Joining the group in 1978 and also becoming longtime scorers were Herma Hodde, Jan Sluimer, Marion van Groningen Schinkel and Harry Wedemeijer.
In following years, many others became scoring colleagues of Tiny, some of whom also were active for many years, including Nicolien Wolf, Anja Fokke, Wim Kwekkeboom, Vita Aussen, Leo Geesink, Karel Dingelhoff, Joop Nordsiek, Ger van Dongen, Huub Nelissen, Henk Wolffenbuttel, Maaike Houtkamp, Rieke Dirks, Olga Lablans, Margriet Stolp, Brigitta Zaal and Fred van der Kade.
...In 1983, Tiny van der Poel was one of the Official Scorers...
...at the international Amsterdam Baseball Series...
...Standing: Maartje Nierop Groot, Tiny and Herma Hodde...
...Seated: Wim Kwekkeboom and Piet de Goede...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
In the eighties, Tiny conducted several scoring clinics/courses for club-members of Amsterdam Pirates.
Some of them together with Marco Stoovelaar.
They would share their scoring knowledge and how to fill in a scorecard with club-members who wanted to learn how to score and with those who already were scorers of a team and wanted to know more about scoring.
Tiny was an Official Scorer in 21 consecutive seasons in both baseball and softball.
She retired after the 1997 season and in following years, Tiny was a Scoring Observer for some ten more years.
After having becoming an experienced scorer herself, and also during her years as observer, Tiny became a mentor for many new scorers.
As such, she accompanied and shared her knowledge with newcomers, who joined the scorers-corps in 1995 or later, such as Dieks Bannink, Pieter van der Ploeg, Linda Steijger and Leo van den Brun.
Since the early nineties, Tiny also has been one of the lecturers during the annual national scoring courses organized by the KNBSB.
Something he continued to do through 2000.
When Tiny retired after the 1997 season, she was one of a few scorers who had been assigned to 200 or more big league baseball-games.
However, while being a Scoring Observer, she came out of retirement three times.
In 2000, she was an Official Scorer in one baseball- and one softball-game and in 2002, she added one more baseball-game.
As such, Tiny has been active in 23 seasons.
With that, she belongs to an elite group of scorers.
Since 1965, there have been some 130 Official Scorers, but only 21 of them have been active in 20 or more seasons.
They are Feiko Drost, Ben Goorts, Marco Stoovelaar (all 47 seasons), Harry Wedemeijer (36), Huub Nelissen (34), Maaike Houtkamp (32), Brigitta Zaal (31), Dieks Bannink, Jan van Toorn (both 29), Herma Hodde, Joop Nordsiek, Linda Steijger (all 26), Leo van den Brun (25), Olga Lablans (24), Fred van der Kade, Tiny van der Poel (both 23), Piet de Goede, Jan Sluimer (both 22), Cees Boer, Jr., Joop van Bolhuis and Gerard Bronner (all 21).
Of this group, Huub Nelissen and Dieks Bannink retired after last season, while Feiko Drost, Ben Goorts, Marco Stoovelaar, Maaike Houtkamp, Linda Steijger and Leo van den Brun are still active.
In her scoring-career, Tiny also was assigned for several international tournaments, that were organized in the Netherlands between 1980 and 1994.
In 1980, she was one of the Official Scorers during the first edition of the Haarlem Softball Week at the site of HHC, which now is Sparks Haarlem.
Other scorers in that tournament were Feiko Drost, Ben Goorts, Herma Hodde, Jan Sluimer and Harry Wedemeijer.
In 1983, Tiny scored in another Softball Week, this time in the company of Herma Hodde, Jan Sluimer and Marco Stoovelaar.
During the Haarlem Baseball Week in 1982 and 1984, Tiny held a special position, together with Herma Hodde.
The Official Scorers were seated at the top of the press-stands of the Pim Mulier Stadium, besides the Public Address Announcers, which is the same position nowadays.
However, due to the noise of the spectators, changes could not always been communicated properly by the umpires or coaches.
Tiny and Herma then got a special seat, located directly behind the backstop, serving as Scoring Assistants.
They would make notes of the changes and then communicate them by phone to the Official Scorers.
In later years, there would be a phone-communication with the dug-outs.
In recent years, other means of communications are used.
...Tiny and Wim van der Poel at the 100th anniversary celebrations...
...of Quick Amsterdam in March 2013...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
In 1988, 1990 and 1992, Tiny was one of the Official Scorers herself during the Haarlem Baseball Week and then was in the company of Karel Dingelhoff, Anja Fokke, Herma Hodde, Harry Wedemeijer (all twice), Feiko Drost and Wim Kwekkeboom (both once).
Tiny also was assigned as Official Scorer in three World Port Tournaments (1985, 1987, 1991), including the first edition in 1985.
The other scorers in the first WPT were Herma Hodde, Jan Sluimer and Harry Wedemeijer.
A highlight in her scoring-career came in 1986 when she was one of the Official Scorers during the World Championship Baseball, which was then organized for the first time in the Netherlands.
Tiny also was an Official Scorer during an European Championship Softball, European Championship Baseball Juniors, European Cup Baseball and Amsterdam Baseball Series.
In all these seasons and during all these tournaments, Tiny was always accompanied by husband Wim.
Besides having been a longtime Official Scorer in baseball and softball, Tiny van der Poel also has been active for many years as a judge in gymnastics-games and -tournaments.
In 1992 and 1993, Tiny was a member of the board of De Kieviten, which not only is a baseball- and softball alumni-club, but also supports several initiatives of clubs throughout the country.
In those two years, she was the secretary.
The other boardmembers were Johan de Bie (chairman), Wim Oosterhof (vice-chairman), Wim Ascherman (treasurer), Willem Broertjes, Wim Endel and Rob van Tuyl.
Tiny was succeeded by Maartje Nierop Groot in 1994.
In 1997-2006, Wim van der Poel was a member of the financial committee of De Kieviten.
After Tiny had retired as Official Scorer, she and her husband regularly kept on visiting baseball-games.
Mostly at Amsterdam Pirates, of which both were Honorary Members.
During last years Holland Series, she attended one of the games at the Pirates-site.
And she was glued to the television, enjoying the live broadcast of the thrilling seventh game in which Pirates captured the title.
Tiny also frequently attended the annual meetings of De Kieviten.
In the past with Wim, in recent years alone.
Tiny and Wim always showed interest in the well-being of others.
When you spoke with them, they asked how you were doing and how the family was.
Tiny had a clear mind through the end.
Despite some health-problems, a few falls and some hospital-stays, Tiny always kept on smiling and remained optimistic, looking ahead.
As recent as last week, she already looked ahead again to the new baseball-season, stating she surely would attend several games again.
Another thing she was looking forward fondly and with pleasure was the welcoming of a new great-grandchild in some 1½ month.
As that was something Tiny probably enjoyed most, being around her family, her grandchildren and great-children of whom she was very proud.
Tiny van der Poel loved to be around her family or making a phone-call with acquantainces.
She will surely be missed by many.
The webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News offers his condolences to Tiny's sons Laurens and Steven, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, other family and friends and wishes them a lot of strength with this big loss.
(February 5)
|
