(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Fotopersbureau De Boer (Cees de Boer, Poppe de Boer)/Noord-Hollands Archief & Marco Stoovelaar)
IN MEMORIAM
...Cees Herkemij...
(1934 - 2024)
(© Private Photo) |
 Former coaching-icon, stimulator youth-development, administrator and Haarlem Baseball Week-contributor Cees Herkemij passed away
Nederlands
 HAARLEM (Neth.) -
Cees Herkemij, who had a long, impressive and successful career as a baseball-coach, played an important role in the development of youth-baseball and also served as administrator, passed away on Sunday, December 29 at age 90.
Although he had some health problems in the past few years, his passing came unexpectedly.
In his long coaching-career of almost 40 years, Cees Herkemij led several teams on the club-level in the Dutch big league and also coached for both the Netherlands National Baseball Team and National Youth Team.
During his coaching-years in the seventies through early nineties, Herkemij was frequently described as the coach with the best baseball-knowledge.
For his many contributions to the development of (youth) baseball, Cees Herkemij was named Member of Merit of the KNBSB in March 1996.
In 2000, he won the Leen Volkerijk Award, which is handed out annually by the KNBSB to an individual who has made signiticant contributions to the development of baseball.
The memorial service for Cees Herkemij will be held on Monday, January 6 at 1:00 PM in the Aula of Crematorium Haarlem, located at the Vergierdeweg 271 in Haarlem.
After the memorial service, it is possible to offer condolences to the family in the lounge of the crematorium.
It is possible to sent on-line condolences via the website of Ename Uitvaartzorg.
Cornelis Johannes (Cees) Herkemij was born on June 29, 1934 in Vlissingen, but he grew up in Haarlem.
There, Cees became interested in baseball in the early forties, while watching games of Schoten.
Initially, he did track-and-field in the summer and played soccer in the winter, but at age 14 (in 1948), he went on to play baseball for HFC Haarlem.
Cees was originally a pitcher, but became a catcher a few years later.
He also was a very solid hitter.
In the early fifties, the Herkemij-family moved to IJmuiden, which had no baseball-club and so, Cees went on to play soccer for Stormvogels.
But in 1956, he returned to baseball, when he joined Terrasvogels, which then played at Sportpark Schoonenberg in nearby Velsen.
As he had developed a big interest in the techniques and tactics of baseball, Cees was given an opportunity by Terrasvogels to follow a coach-course.
And that was the foundation of a long and successful career in coaching.
From 1957, Cees Herkemij was the playing coach of Terrasvogels and continued to do so for ten seasons.
In this span, he led the team to the Second Division, then the First Division, which was the second highest league.
At the same time, Cees developed a passion in training and coaching youth-teams.
While playing in and coaching the main-squad of Terrasvogels, Cees also conducted the practice-sessions of the club's junior-team.
In the early sixties, the club moved to Sportpark De Elta in Santpoort-Zuid, which would be the home-site for the baseball- and softball-section for almost sixty years.
...Cees Herkemij in 1962 overseeing a practice...
...as playing coach of Terrasvogels...
(© Photo: Noord-Hollands Archief/
Fotopersbureau De Boer (Cees de Boer)) |
In 1967, Cees Herkemij became a coach for the regional teams of Haarlem.
In the same year, he became one of four coaches that were named to assist then-Netherlands Team Head Coach Charles Urbanus (sr.).
Besides Herkemij, the others were Wim Geestman (sr.), Fokke Jelsma and Dolf de Zwart.
Cees was the last surviving coach of this group.
Urbanus passed away in 1980, Geestman in 1991, Jelsma in 2012 and De Zwart in 2019.
Herkemij assisted during practice sessions of the National Youth Teams and was also involved with the Netherlands B-Team.
In 1973, Cees Herkemij leads the Netherlands BRL Team (age 13-16) to the European title in Wiesbaden (then West-Germany).
For this accomplishment, as well as his many contributions to the development of youth baseball, Cees was named Coach of the Year.
Halfway the sixties, Cees had been one of the initiative-takers of the creation of a youth training-camp in Eindhoven in the south of the country.
These camps were very successful and were led by Herkemij, who was the driving force and was assisted by several coaches and players.
The camps, which were organized by the Netherlands Baseball Federation, ended halfway the seventies after twelve years due to financial reasons.
In 1975, Cees was one of the members of a committee of the Federation to attract more youth-players.
This group introduced peanutball (t-ball) on a national level.
In January 1977, the Netherlands Baseball School officially opened its doors in Zwanenburg for talented pitchers and catchers.
Cees heads this school as Manager and also is an instructor, as are Boudewijn Maat, Jan Dick Leurs (who then are Manager and Pitching Coach of the Young Oranje Team) and Cees Santifort.
They would form the staff for many years.
In 1970-1974, Cees headed the Netherlands Association for Baseball Coaches as chairman.
As such, he became closely involved in setting up the wellknown coaching-clinics in the early seventies, which then were mostly organized in Voorburg with the participation of active Major League-players and umpires and American college-coaches.
They first traveled to Wiesbaden, where they conducted cilinics for American military personnel, who were stationed in Europe.
Through the years, Cees Herkemij attended several of these clinics in Wiesbaden, many of them together with Charles Urbanus (sr.).
In later years, Cees, as well as other Dutch coaches, alsto would attend some coach-conventions in the USA.
In 1972, Cees was invited to participate in the Spring Training-camp of Major League-club Boston Red Sox in Florida.
Upon returning, he compiled booklets with instructions for fellow coaches.
Several years later, he wrote a book about coaching.
...Cees Herkemij in 1981 as Assistant Coach of the...
...Netherlands Baseball Team during preparations for the...
...European Championship in Haarlem (Netherlands)...
...Standing at right is Manager Jim Stoeckel; Standing at left...
...are catchers Ronald Stoovelaar and Ron van Zuilichem...
(© Photo: Noord-Hollands Archief/
Fotopersbureau De Boer (Poppe de Boer)) |
In 1974, Cees recommended Dutch talented pitcher Win Remmerswaal to the Red Sox.
Remmerswaal was invited for Instructional League, signed a professional contract and in 1979 became the first Dutch-born and raised player to play in the Major League.
In 1974, Cees Herkemij returned to club-coaching, as he led the successful team of Rotterdam-based Sparta, which was the reigning champion.
In his first season, he led the team to another title.
Cees left Sparta after the 1975 season.
In 1977-1980, he was the Head Coach of the big league-team of Bussum-based HCAW.
In February 1978, Herkemij is decorated by the Dutch Federation.
In 1981-1983, Cees Herkemij was the Assistant Coach of the Netherlands Baseball Team, which then was led by American Manager Jim Stoeckel.
In 1981, they led the Orange-squad to the European title in Haarlem (Netherlands).
In 1982, Stoeckel and Herkemij were successful again, as the Netherlands Team finished in sixth place during the World Championship in South Korea, which was the highest ranking ever up to that moment.
Marco Stoovelaar, the author of this In Memoriam, made a documentary of this Championship and Cees provided the narration.
Cees again returned to club-coaching in 1984.
From that year on, he was the Head Coach of big league-teams UVV (1984-1985), Giants Diemen (1987-1987) and HCAW (1990-1992).
In 1989, Cees was the technical director of Haarlem Nicols.
In 1991, Cees Herkemij got an honorable invitation, as he was named as one of the Assistant Coaches for Team East for the second IBA World All Star Game.
This game, organized by the International Baseball Association, is played in Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California (USA).
In December 1992, Cees joined the board of the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Federation (KNBSB) and becomes responsible for technical affairs baseball.
He is officially elected in March 1993, but Cees stepped down in May 1995.
In 1997, Cees Herkemij became involved again with the Netherlands Baseball Team, as he had become the so-called National Teams Commissioner.
In this position, he oversaw all National Baseball Teams and was the righthand of Peter van 't Klooster, who was the chairman baseball-affairs in the board of the KNBSB in 1997-1999.
In 1997, Cees is with Orange-squad during the World Port Tournament in Rotterdam (Netherlands) and the European Championship in France.
In his new function, Cees also accompanies the team a year year later during the Haarlem Baseball Week in Haarlem (Netherlands) and the World Championship in Italy.
In 1999, Cees also is the Business Manager of the national squad during the World Port Tournament and the Intercontinental Cup in Sydney (Australia).
In these years (1997-1999), the team is led by Manager Jan Dick Leurs.
In the following year, Cees had the same roles during the Haarlem Baseball Week when American Pat Murphy was the Manager.
Murphy currenty is the Manager of the Major League-team of Milwaukee Brewers.
Some years ago, Cees also was closely involved with Baseball Academy Rabbits Kennemerland.
Since this Academy was founded in 2008, son Peter had been a coach for many years.
Since 2017, Peter is the Manager of the Netherlands Under-12 Team.
...Cees Herkemij as Netherlands Baseball Team Commissioner in 1998...
...during the World Championship in Italy with Peter van 't Klooster, who...
...then was chairman baseball-affairs of the Dutch Federation (KNBSB)...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Both Cees and Peter also have been involved with the Haarlem Baseball Week.
In 1974, 1976 and 1978, Cees was one of the Public Address Announcers of the international tournament.
In 1978, 1980 and 1988, he was a member of the Awards Commission and in 2002, Cees was the Tournament Director of the Baseball Week when he also was a member of the Organizing Committee.
Since September 2023, Peter is a member of the Organizing Committee as the Tournament Director and debuted during the Baseball Week that was held in July of 2024.
With that, Peter made a comeback.
In 1980, he debuted as a member of the group youngsters that did the copywork of the daily magazine of the event.
Peter later would head this group for many years.
Cees' daughter Yvonne also was involved in the tournament.
In 1982 and 1984, she was a member of the Press Commission and also was active in the tournament-office.
Maartje, the mother of Yvonne and Peter, was a longtime official scorer.
In the sixties, she was one of the scorers of the Baseball Week.
From the early seventies, she oversaw the tournament-statistics, was the liaison officer for the official scorers and was a member of the Awards Commission.
Maartje (Nierop Groot) passed away in July 2017 at age 82.
During the Baseball Week of 2024, Peter's wife Saskia made her debut as Public Address Announcer.
Their daughter (and thus the granddaughter of Cees) Kiki was active in the hospitality crew during the event.
Besides being named Coach of the Year in 1973 and getting a decoration in 1978, Cees Herkemij also won the Slugger of the KNBSB for promotional activities, which was handed out in March 1974.
For his many contributions, Cees was awarded the Silver Honorary Medallion of the KNBSB in March 1986.
In March 1996, he was named Member of Merit of the KNBSB.
And in 2000, Cees won the Leen Volkerijk Award, which is handed out annually by the KNBSB to an individual who has made signiticant contributions to the development of baseball.
Through the years, especially when he was coaching, Cees was regurlarly called a perfectionist, but also a very fanatical and passionate coach.
He indeed prepared very well for everything he did.
While being a coach, he had a special manner of approaching umpires.
And Cees indeed was very passionate, especially in the development of youth baseball.
Cees, who mostly had a smile on his face, was always interested in others and the people, players and coaches with he worked.
Cees will be missed by many of us.
The webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News offers his condolences to Cees' partner Wil, daughter Yvonne, son Peter, son-in-law Scot, daughter-in-law Saskia, grandchildren, other family and friends and wishes them a lot of strength with this big loss.
(December 31)
A more extended In Memoriam (with more photos) will be added soon.
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