(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
IN MEMORIAM
...Peter Hondius...
(1957 - 2019)... |
 Former player/coach big league baseball/softball Peter Hondius passed away
Nederlands
 AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
Peter Hondius, who played in the Dutch big league in both baseball and men softball, passed away on Wednesday, November 20, at age 62.
Hondius also coached for many years in both baseball and softball (women and men) and has been a member of the coaching-staff of the Netherlands National Men Softball Team.
The memorial service will be held on Thursday, November 28 at 12:45 PM at Crematorium De Nieuwe Ooster at the Kruislaan 126 in Amsterdam.
It is possible to say farewell on Wednesday, November 27 from 7 through 7:45 PM at the Herdenkingspark (Memorial Park) Westgaarde at the Ookmeerweg 275 in Amsterdam.
Peter Hondius was born on September 19, 1957 and has been active in baseball (and later softball) since an early age.
Peter comes from a big family and most of them have been playing baseball and softball through the years.
His father Paul Hondius and his mother Olga Hondius both played softball.
Both also coached softball-teams in different age-categories for many years at Amsterdam Pirates.
Most sons and daughters (Pauline, Jolanda, Ben, Rob, Otto and Micha) of Paul and Olga played either baseball or softball or both at Amsterdam-based clubs OVVO and Amsterdam Pirates.
Edward, another brother, became a baseball-umpire.
Ben also was a softball-umpire.
Peter mostly played for OVVO.
After having played in youth-teams, it was with this club that he made his debut in the Dutch big league-baseball.
In 1976, at age 18, he played in 10 games for OVVO at the highest level.
Amongst his teammates in that season were Jan Hijzelendoorn, Bob Pels, Jelle Postma, Paul Smit, Arthur Stassen, Charles Urbanus and Don Wedman, who a year later, all went on to play for new club Amstel Tijgers.
Another teammate was Eric van Tijn with whom he also played in a youthteam.
Van Tijn went on to become a wellknown and successful music producer and judge in various talent shows on television.
OVVO relegated in 1977 (Hondius then didn't play for the team), but made a comeback in the big league in 1985.
Peter, who mainly was an outfielder, was still playing in those years and at age 27, he made a comeback in the highest league, playing in 35 games for OVVO in 1985, which was the highest total for the team that season.
Amongst his teammates in that year were Toby Abraham, Danny Bout, Edwin Bout, Viktor Caldera, Alfonso Godet, Aart van Gorkum, Jan van Gorkum, Maurice de Jong, Hensley Sluis, Lloyd Todman, Marco Wels and Arnold Whitfield.
Again OVVO related, but came back in 1988 and Peter Hondius then played in 22 more games when the team again played in the big league.
This was the last season, OVVO played under that name in the big league.
Playing for OVVO in 1988 included Danny Bout, Edwin Bout, Peter Callenbach, Raymond le Cuivre, Tico Fleming, Tom Groot, Pascal Kamerbeek, Edwin Pieneman, Arnold Whitfield and American pitcher Jerry Lowe, who later married Peter's sister Pauline.
In the meantime, Peter also had started playing softball.
He played for OVVO, but then played in the highest men softball league for Thamen in the early nineties.
Later, he also played for TIW-Survivors in the highest league.
...The Netherlands Men's Team during the 2004 World Championship...
...Peter Hondius sits in the front third from left... |
At TIW-Survivors, Peter Hondius was a playing coach of the second team in the late nineties.
In 2000, he was the Head Coach of the main-squad, which then played in the big league.
He led the team through 2004.
In those years, he was assisted by Ton van Koeverden (through 2003) and Caroline Theunissen (2004).
Van Koeverden also had been a teammate of Hondius while the two played for OVVO (baseball) and Thamen (softball).
Like Hondius, Van Koeverden also played baseball for Amsterdam Pirates.
While coaching the men softball-team of TIW-Survivors, Hondius inserted himself into a few games as a player during the 2003 and 2004 seasons.
In 2001, Peter Hondius and Alfonso Godet became members of the coaching-staff of the Netherlands Men Softball Team with Arthur Mari being named Head Coach and Marianna Bokern being the team's Business Manager.
In 2003, the staff was expanded with Ton van Koeverden.
The staff also became responsible for the Netherlands Men Softball Junior Team.
In these years, the Orange Team participated in the two big international tournament being held annually in the Netherlands, the Bill Jeffrey Tournament in Haarlem and the Zeister Slot Tournament in Zeist.
Also, the team participated in the European Championship.
In 2001, in Belgium, the team finished in second place, but in 2003, in the Czech Republic, it captured the European title.
In February 2004, the Netherlands Team participated in the Men's Softball World Championship in New Zealand.
Earlier, the coaching-staff had announced that it would step down after completion of this event, which it did.
Norman Ames then took over as Head Coach.
Amongst the players in the Netherlands Team in these years were Carlos Adamus, Angelo Clemensia, Edmar Cornelia, Kenny Dame, Joost Droog, Michel Groenhart, Anthony Hooi, Steven Ketting, Enio Kwas, Roger Mäkel, Humphrey Martes, Sendly Reina, Tuti Rumai, Julius Veeris, Tim Verbrugge, Erwin Visser, Erik Vrugt and Erik Zomerdijk.
For the World Championship in 2004, Canadian-born pitcher Paul Koert was added to the team.
Most of them kept on playing for many, many years and some of them are still active.
Kwas still is a member of the National Team, while Vrugt was the 1B Coach of the women-team of Sparks Haarlem through this season.
After completion of the 2004 season, Peter Hondius was named Head Coach of the women softball-team of Amsterdam Pirates, which then played in the big league.
Hondius succeeded Hans Jansen de Vries, who switched places, as he went on to become the new Head Coach of the men softball-team of TIW-Survivors to succeed Hondius.
During the 2005 season, Hondius was assisted by Ron van Axel Dongen, who succeeded him halfway.
In following years, Hondius remained active for Amsterdam Pirates, where he continued coaching several baseball youthteams and also coached his son Joeri.
At Amsterdam Pirates, he also became a member of the club's Youth Committee.
Hondius also did coaching-activities for Odiz Frogs in Zaandam.
The webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News offers his condolences to the family of Peter and wishes them a lot of strength with this big loss.
(November 24)
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