(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Rob Hendriks & Henk Seppen)
 Three Ruben-brothers form historic outfield-trio for Oosterhout Twins
Nederlands
...Wijnand, Berend and Marnix Ruben made history by...
...playing together in the outfield for Oosterhout Twins...
(© Photo: Rob Hendriks) |
 HAARLEM (Neth.) -
Rob Hendriks, Head Coach off Oosterhout Twins, wrote a piece of history when he penciled in the names of his players on the starting line-up for the away-game on Sunday (May 19) against DSS/Kinheim in Haarlem.
When Twins took the field in the bottom of the first inning, three brothers were playing the outfield-positions.
And it almost surely is the first time that this happens in the Dutch big league!
It happened only once in Major League Baseball, 60 years ago!
Berend Ruben, the most experienced of the three brothers, was in rightfield, Marnix Ruben was in centerfield and Wijnand Ruben was in leftfield.
The latter joined Twins after last season and is playing in his first big league-season since 2015.
Wijnand, Marnix and Berend Ruben played together in the outfield for seven innings.
In the top of the eighth, Berend was replaced by pinch-hitter Luuk Visser, who took over in rightfield.
In today's game, Twins scored twice with two outs in the second inning without recording a basehit.
Four walks, a hit batter and a wild pitch led to the runs.
However, DSS/Kinheim came alongside by scoring a run in the fifth and ninth inning to force extra-innings.
In the top of the tenth, Twins re-took the lead by scoring twice via an error and a basesloaded hit by pitch.
In the bottom of the tenth, two errors led to three unearned runs and a 5-4 win for DSS/Kinheim.
But despite the loss, the Ruben-brothers and Oosterhout Twins wrote a piece of history.
Being 37, Berend is the oldest of the three brothers.
Marnix is the youngest and is fifteen years younger than Berend, who is a Playing Coach of Twins.
Oh, by the way, their father Hans Ruben is the Public Address Announcer at the home-games of Twins.
...The historic line-up sheet...
(© Photo: Rob Hendriks) |
Berend made his debut in the big league in 2013 playing for The Hawks, which then played in the highest league for the first time.
Only two others players from that team also still play in the big league this season, Urving Kemp and Elton Koeiman.
This season, Kemp plays for Amsterdam Pirates, Koeiman is the Head Coach and one of the pitchers of Quick Amersfoort.
Ruben was the second-best hitter off The Hawks with a .308 average, following Kemp, who batted .317.
Berend Ruben continued playing for The Hawks through 2015 (when the team relegated).
Thereafter, he played for UVV (2016-2017) and HCAW (2018-2021) before being a player/coach for Twins since 2022.
Marnix Ruben also joined Twins after the 2021 season.
Wijnand Ruben, who already had made his big league-debut in 2015 playing for The Hawks, joined his brothers after last season.
Through the years, there have been many several sets of brothers, who played together in one team, but almost always, there were two.
The most recent time that three brothers played in the same team was in 2015 and 2016 when Daan, Koen and Tim Halderman played for DSS.
But they never played together in the outfield.
In recent years, there have been two other sets of three brothers who played at the same time in the same season.
In 2020-2023, Dwayne, Tyriq and Urving Kemp played in the highest league, but they never played together for one team.
The brothers Randy, Ricky and Rodney Daal also played in the big league.
However, they never played in the highest league at the same time, only two of them in some seasons.
1983 was the lone season that four brothers played together for the same team in the big league.
In that year, Per, Ruud, Ton and William Blokdijk played for The Herons in what was the lone season of the team in the highest league.
Per was a catcher, Ton a first baseman, Ruud an outfielder and William was an utility player.
Although there are no scorecards from that season, almost surely, they never shared the outfield.
In lower level leagues, there also have been some sets of three of four brothers in the same team.
At the big league-level, the record for most siblings in one team is five, which was realized by the softball-team of Twins Oosterhout.
Helma, Henriette, Jacqueline, Jeanette and Marion van den Heykant played together for some seasons in the eighties.
...In 2013, Felipe Alou and Hensley Meulens throw...
...the ceremonial first pitch before the game of...
...the Netherlands and the Dominican Republic in...
...San Francisco during the World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
How peculiar today's Twins-outfield was is underscored by the following.
In the professional Major League, three brothers playing together in the outfield in the same game happened only once and was accomplished over 60 years ago!
On September 15, 1963, Felipe, Matty and Jesús Alou played the three outfield-positions for San Francisco Giants against Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh.
Initially, only Felipe Alou was in the starting line-up as rightfielder.
In the seventh inning, San Francisco led 8-3, Felipe moved to leftfield, where he took over from legendary Willie McCovey, who was replaced by Jesús Alou, who became the new rightfielder.
In the top of the eighth, San Francisco enlarged its lead to 12-3 and Manager Alvin Dark then made his next move.
This time, Matty Alou was inserted.
He also replaced a legendary player and future Hall of Famer, centerfielder Willie Mays.
Felipe took over in centerfield and Matty became the new leftfielder.
With that, the Alou-brothers played together in the outfield in the eighth and ninth inning.
In 2009, Felipe Alou was the Manager of the Dominican Republic during the World Baseball Classic.
During that event, the Netherlands won twice against the Dominicans to advance to the Second Round.
During the 2013 World Baseball Classic, before the start of the game between the Netherlands and the Dominican Republic in San Francisco (USA), Alou threw the ceremonial first pitch, alongside Netherlands Manager Hensley Meulens.
Alou of course was a legendary former player of San Francisco, while Meulens was the Hitting Coach of the Major League Giants-team at that moment.
(May 19)
|
