(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Jos Peeters & KNBSB)
 Slugger for Jos Peeters (G-Baseball/Softball); Onze Gezellen Club of the Year
Nederlands
 NIEUWEGEIN (Neth.) -
Jos Peeters is this years recipient of the Slugger, one of the highest awards handed out by the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Association (KNBSB).
The Award was handed out on Saturday (December 8) during the Congress of the KNBSB in Nieuwegein.
Also during the Congress on Saturday, Haarlem-based Onze Gezellen was named Club of the Year.
The Nol Houtkamp Award (softball) was handed out to Rieke Dirks and the Leen Volkerijk Award (baseball) to Charles Urbanus.
Former baseball-umpire Fred van Groningen Schinkel and former baseball-coach Robert Eenhoorn were officially inducted into the Netherlands Baseball & Softball Hall of Fame.
With the handing out of today's Awards, all postseason-awards have now been handed out.
In the first weeks of November, all individual awards for the best players in this season's highest Dutch baseball- and softball-leagues were handed out.
 Nol Houtkamp & Leen Volkerijk Awards Hall of Fame Election Baseball Awards Softball Awards
...Jos Peeters with his Award...
(© Photo courtesy of Jos Peeters) |
The Slugger was first handed out in 1952 by the then Royal Netherlands Baseball Federation (KNHB).
In 1951, a trophy was handed to the KNHB by the Surinam Baseball Federation.
Upon acceptance, the KNHB-board stated that it would find a special purpose to hand out the trophy, which had the shape of a batter ('slugger').
During its Board-meeting in 1951, it was decided to make this an annual award, called 'The Slugger', as the highest recognition of the Dutch Association to a person or organization for the most promotional activities for baseball and or softball on a national, regional or international level in the preceeding year or for an ongoing period.
In 1952, the Slugger was first handed out for activities in 1951 and went to the Baseball Umpiring Corps.
Jos Peeters was crowned as winner of the Slugger for his longtime involvement in G-baseball and G-softball at his club Amsterdam North Stars and in North Holland.
This club was created in early 2013 after the merger of De Meteoor and De Volewijckers, two longtime baseball- and softball-clubs located in Amsterdam-North.
Peeters is one of the initiative-takers to introduce G-baseball and G-softball and is a great promoter of these sports.
At Amsterdam North Stars, Peeters leads several G-baseball and G-softball teams, who play regularly throughout the year.
Since 2014, Amsterdam North Stars organizes a G-baseball tournament annually at its home site, which is the former site of De Meteoor.
The teams also participate in other events in the area and throughout the country.
The teams also participated several times in indoor-tournament in the Sporthallen Zuid in Amsterdam.
G-baseball and G-softball is open for people of all ages with a handicap, including physically, mentally and autism spectrum distorder.
Each Wednesday and Friday, the players come together to practice and/or play.
Through the years, this resulted in many enthusiastic players, who play baseball and softball.
And it created a positive way to also include these players into the sports of baseball and softball.
Jos Peeters is the 52nd person or organization to receive the Slugger, since it was first handed out in 1952.
Since then, the Slugger was handed out annually through 2004, except in 1957, 1992, 1996 and 2000-2003.
When a Slugger was not handed out, it was simply because there was no suitable person or organization who deserved to win the Award in that year.
For some reason, the Slugger was not handed out 2005-2013, but that span of nine years ended when the KNBSB decided to hand out the Award again in 2014.
In that year, the Organization Committee of the Women's World Championship in Haarlem won the Slugger.
Since then, the Award has been handed out annually again.
Beneath, you can find the complete list of winners of 'De Slugger' since 1951.
...Martin Evers (right) has received the Club Official of...
...the Year Award from KNBSB-Treasurer Remko de Bie...
(© Photo: KNBSB) |
The new Award for Club Official of the Year went to Martin Evers of baseball- and softball-club Catch from The Hague.
The Award has been introduced to honor the 'Most Valuable Official', someone who leads games for both youth and/or adults at the club-level.
For this Award, clubs could nominate someone.
Based on the nominations, a special 'panel of appointment' of the KNBSB, picks a winner.
In its nomination, Catch wrote about Martin Evers:
,,Martin is a player, scorer and supporter, but most of all an umpire and umpire-coordinator.
He loves to umpire, officiates more than one game almost each weekend and has a record of 12 games in one week.
It has been told that the book with the game-rules is behind his bed and that he reads in it before going to sleep.
He also gives umpiring courses and fills in when there is no one available.
Besides that, he also is the umpire-coordinator within the club since this year.''
Haarlem-based baseball- and softball-club Onze Gezellen was named Club of the Year on Saturday.
The winner of this Award is decided upon by the accountmanagers of the KNBSB.
The Award was handed out to Onze Gezellen for amongst the following reasons:
Onze Gezellen is a family-club with a family-culture in which every member is evenly important and let's everyone, members and attendees, feel at home;
The members of the club work together to do all necessary things within the club, like coordination, team-support, handling the clubhouse and make renovations on the playing site;
The club has nice fields for both sports and as an omni-club, it has its own indoor-facility and a clubhouse, which is open the entire year.
The club's Chairman Paul van Kimmenaede received the Award from KNBSB-Chairman Mark Herbold.
This year, Onze Gezellen celebrated its 60th anniversary.
Through the years, the club has been very active in both baseball and softball.
The main teams of the club in baseball and softball play in the second highest league.
Since a few years, the club organizes the Haarlem Series, a tournament for both baseball and softball during the exhibition season, enabling clubs from the Haarlem-area to prepare for the new season.
Onze Gezellen is also known for having a long tradition in (youth) player development.
Through the years, several players in both sports went on to play in the highest divisions and also were selected for National Teams in different age categories.
Onze Gezellen is the fourth club to win this Award since it was introduced in 2013.
The previous winners were Storks (2013), Houten Dragons (2015) and Blue Birds (2016).
The Award was not handed out in 2014 and 2017.
(December 8)
Related Articles:
Fred van Groningen Schinkel, Robert Eenhoorn inducted into Dutch Hall of Fame. (December 8)
Rieke Dirks, Charles Urbanus win Houtkamp/Volkerijk Awards. (December 8)
Dwayne Kemp MVP, Diegomar Markwell Best Pitcher 2018; More Awards. (November 9)
Dinet Oosting MVP, Stephanie Trzcinski Best Pitcher 2018; More Awards. (November 9)
| Winners of the Slugger |
| 1951 | Umpiring Corps Baseball | | 1970 | Merger Comm. KNHB/NASB | | 1989 | Gerard Vaandrager |
| 1952 | Han Urbanus | | 1971 | Ab ten Wolde | | 1990 | Truus Ruiter |
| 1953 | Albert Balink | | 1972 | J.G. Maas | | 1991 | RTL4 TV (Andy Houtkamp) |
| 1954 | B.C. Lammers | | 1973 | Cees Herkemij | | 1992 | not handed out |
| 1955 | J.C. Maalsté | | 1974 | Rayon Het Oosten | | 1993 | Jacob Brons |
| 1956 | Netherlands Baseball Team | | 1975 | Loek Loevendie | | 1994 | Ton Siedsma |
| 1957 | not handed out | | 1976 | Joop Köhler/Hans van der Sluis | | 1995 | Marco Stoovelaar |
| 1958 | R. Huberts | | 1977 | Hans de Bie | | 1996 | not handed out |
| 1959 | Ir. Frans Otten | | 1978 | Klaas Weijers | | 1997 | Jacques Reuvers |
| 1960 | L. Brunt | | 1979 | Dries de Zwaan | | 1998 | René Blok |
| 1961 | Mr. Maarten Vrij | | 1980 | Theo Vleeshhouwer | | 1999 | Frans van Aalen |
| 1962 | J. Jaspers | | 1981 | Netherlands Baseball Team | | 2000-2003 | not handed out |
| 1963 | Municipality of Haarlem | | 1982 | Freek Bos | | 2004 | Wijnand Agterberg |
| 1964 | Dr. Bill Arce | | 1983 | Nico van der Vlugt | | 2005-2013 | not handed out |
| 1965 | Sports Fund Leo van der Kar | | 1984 | A. van der Stoop | | 2014 | Org.Com. World Championship SB |
| 1966 | Theo Vleeshhouwer | | 1985 | AVRO TV
(Daan Schalm & Fons van Westerloo) | | 2015 | Battle at the Castle
Collegiate Baseball League Europe |
| 1967 | John Heyt | | 1986 | Gambro Twins | | 2016 | SoftbalDino
(Cobus, Dinet Oosting & Hans Vleugels) |
| 1968 | Henk Knol | | 1987 | Rob van Tuyl | | 2017 | Jack Heuts |
| 1969 | Gerard Voogd | | 1988 | Foundation Neth. BB & SB Museum | | 2018 | Jos Peeters |
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