IN MEMORIAM ...Carlos van Heyningen... (1950 - 2026) (© Photo: Private Photo)

Netherlands, Aruban and Sint Maarten baseball-great Carlos van Heyningen passed away
Nederlands

PHILIPSBURG (Sint Maarten / Neth.) - Carlos van Heyningen, who was a powerhitting first baseman in the Dutch baseball big league in the seventies and eighties, has passed away at the age of 75 in his home-town Philipsburg, the capital of Sint Maarten.

With that, the Dutch baseball-world lost another icon in a short period.
On Wednesday, January 7, Netherlands Team-coach and former player Sidney de Jong unexpectedly passed away at the much too young age of 46. And on Thursday, January 8, baseball-legend Hamilton Richardson passed away at age 85.

The memorial-ceremony for Carlos van Heyningen will be held on Monday, January 26.

The Aruban-born, towering Van Heyningen not only was a baseball-great in the Netherlands, but also on Sint Maarten. There, he continued playing after returning from the Netherlands, then turned to coaching. Later, Carlos became an administrator and led the Sint Maarten Baseball and Softball Federation as President for several years.

Carlos van Heyningen, who was nicknamed 'Carlito', was born on April 4, 1950 in Oranjestad on Aruba. In his youth, he started playing baseball, but in 1968, at age 18, Carlos decided to go the Netherlands to continue his study there.

Once settled in the Netherlands, Carlos also was able to play baseball again, as he joined local Utrecht-club Achilles '28, which was founded in March 1968 and played in the lowest regional league. It doesn't take long that the qualities of Carlos are noticed and some two years later, he played for Donar in Hilversum, which then played at the national level in the Second and First Division. In 1975, Donar and De Bosbokken, another club from Hilversum, merge to become BSC Hilversum, which is the current Hilversum Hurricanes.

It was around that time that Van Heyningen transfered to Quick Amersfoort, which promoted to the Dutch Major League in 1975. With Quick, Carlito played in six seasons (1976-1981) in the highest league.

Hereafter, Carlos played three full big league-seasons (1982-1984) for UVV in Utrecht. In April 1985, after the Opening Weekend of the regular season, Carlos returns to the Antilles and settles in Philipsburg on Sint Maarten. There, he continued his basebal-career, but towards the end of the Dutch season, he re-joined UVV and helped them avoid relegation.

In his early years with Quick, Carlos was a two-way player, being a pitcher and first baseman.

In 1976, Carlos van Heyningen was selected as pitcher for the Netherlands Team for the World Championship in Colombia. He was the starting pitcher against Colombia and Japan, but also played as designated hitter and at first base.

In 1977, Carlos participated with the Orange-squad in the European Championship in Haarlem (Netherlands). A year later, he was dropped from the roster for the Haarlem Baseball Week. Carlos returned in the team in 1980 when the National Team was led by Hamilton Richardson, who passed away on January 8. In 1980, Carlos participated in the Haarlem Baseball Week and the World Championship in Japan, which would be his last tournament. In late 1984, at age 34, Carlos was added to the team for a tournament in Taiwan, but eventually, he was unable to be with the team, as he was busy with his relocation to Sint Maarten. Carlos played in 24 international games.

After ending his playing-career on Sint Maarten, Carlos became a coach and began sharing his knowledge with youth-players. Later, he became the Manager of the National Team of Sint Maarten.

In the Haarlem Baseball Week of 1994, Carlos was the Manager of the National Team of the Netherlands Antilles, which primarily was compiled from players from Sint Maarten.

The webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News offers his condolences to Carlos' family and friends and wishes them a lot of strength with this big loss.

(January 15)

(A more extended In Memoriam will be added later)