(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Roger Mäkel & Marco Stoovelaar)
IN MEMORIAM
...Frans Mäkel...
(1942 - 2021)
(© Photo: Roger Mäkel) |
 Thamen co-founder and club-icon, former KNBSB-boardmember Frans Mäkel passed away
Nederlands
 UITHOORN (Neth.) -
Frans Mäkel, who has had a long multi-functional career in baseball and softball, passed away on Saturday-afternoon (May 15) at age 79.
Through the years, mister Mäkel has been very active for baseball- and softball-club Thamen in Uithoorn of which he was one of the co-founders and a longtime boardmember.
He became one of the club-icons and was known as 'Mr. Thamen'.
He also has been a member of the Board of the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Association (KNBSB) and in more recent years, he was a boardmember of Amsterdam Pirates.
Frans Mäkel has been active in baseball, women's softball and men's softball.
It is a sad year for the baseball- and softball-community in the Netherlands, as we unfortunately have had to say goodbye to several wellknown and respected personalities, including three Hall of Famers, in recent months:
Pitching-legend, former Netherlands Team-player and Hall of Famer Han Urbanus (February 5, age 93), Amsterdam Pirates co-founder and Hall of Famer Loek Loevendie (February 6, age 88), Trail Blazers-founder and former KNBSB-boardmember Dick Bliek (February 21, age 75), former Netherlands Team-player and former softball-coach Piet de Nieuwe (March 8, age 88), international baseball-umpire Antoine Loock (March 22, age 46),
DSS-icon and softball-promoter Hélène Angermann (March 25, age 63), former official scorer and Amsterdam-administrator Fiet Aussen (April 29, age 92), former ESF-President, KNBSB-boardmember and Euro Stars-chairman André van Overbeek (May 4, age 71) and former KNBSB-boardmember, Hall of Famer and Kinheim-icon Wim Oosterhof (May 4, age 93).
They all have been active in both baseball and softball not only at the club-level or as boardmember, but for the sports in general.
Unfortunately, the passing of Frans Mäkel marks the fourth time in a short period that his club Thamen lost a beloved member.
On February 27, Rob Huibregtsen unexpectedly passed away at age 68.
He was a former player, boardmember, committee-member, coach, groundskeeper and did much more for the club.
On March 15, former player and former technical committee-member Michel Schotman, also passed away unexpectedly at age 57.
And on April 19, the club had to say farewell to Kees Schouten, Sr. (79), who since the late sixties had been a player and coach.
In the late seventies, he assisted then-Head Coach Maurice Cranston at the main baseball-team of the club.
Frans Mäkel was born on February 1, 1942 in Almelo, where his older brothers Henk and Jan also were born.
Although initially growing up in the east of the country, the Mäkel-family became very active in Uithoorn from the early sixties.
Every club has someone who has a special meaning for the organization.
Whether it is a (co)founder or someone who has been associated with the club for many, many years.
Frans Mäkel was surely that someone special for Thamen.
Through the years, Frans has done a lot for this club, which is based in Uithoorn, south of Amsterdam.
Just weeks after having turned 20, he was one of the founders of the club on February 16, 1962, along with Klaas Depping.
The club's playing site is located in the small village of De Kwakel, which is part of the municipality of Uithoorn.
It was named Thamen after an old 16th/17th century dominion and church village, which was located at the site where the club went on playing.
Thamen was an independent municipality in 1818-1820, then became part of Uithoorn.
...A focused Frans Mäkel during the...
...Men's Baseball Senior World Series...
...in 1994 in Phoenix, Arizona (USA)...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
When Thamen was founded in 1962, its first secretary was Ab Scheel, who also has done a lot for the club, including umpiring many games.
In later years, others also became longtime active Thamen-personalities, including Henk van Rekum, Ans Schouten, Paul van Vliet, Lex Weeber and of course, longtime chairman Lex Rimini.
And thereafter, Erik Schootemeijer, Jan van Tiel and Paul Moerman.
Frans Mäkel worked closely with all of them.
Several of these club-personalities were also were active in the then Rayon Amsterdam to promote to sports of baseball and softball, including Van Vliet (publicity), Weeber (treasurer) and Rimini (chairman/publicity), as well as Frans Mäkel himself.
Moerman later became the chairman of the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Association and Frans also went on to serve as boardmember of the KNBSB.
In the early eighties, Frans Mäkel was a committee-member in the Rayon Amsterdam.
In 1981 and 1982, he led the baseball-competitions and also was the coach of the Amsterdam Cadets All Star Team.
In these same two years, as well as in 1983, Frans was a member of the committee for Game and Youth Affairs for baseball and softball in Amsterdam.
That committee was chaired by Nico Smith and also included Jannie Koot (secretary), Wim van der Poel (treasurer), Peter Schuler, Miel van Heuven, Herma Hodde, Piet Ladru and Frans Schreuder.
Another member of this committee in these three years was Fiet Aussen, who passed away on April 29.
Another very active member of Thamen for many years was Erik Boland, who not only played baseball and softball and coached at the club, but also served several years as a boardmember.
Boland and Mäkel became very close friends, knew each others for some fifty years and worked together for many hours at the site of Thamen.
What few people know is that Erik and Frans shared a great love for speed skating.
Through the years, together they traveled to many international Championships.
They also attended several drawings and even were able to participate some of these drawings.
Until two years ago, Boland, a longtime softball-coach himself, was the chairman of Badhoevedorp.
Thamen went on to develop into one of the most successful clubs in the Amsterdam-area.
Within five years after being founded in 1962, the baseball-team, with Frans as one of the players, promoted to the second highest league when the team was coached by Gerrit Nanne.
...The team of Kinheim that participated in...
...the Men's Baseball Senior World Series...
...in Los Angeles (USA) in the dug-out of...
...Los Angeles Dodgers in Dodger Stadium...
...Frans is standing left, standing second...
...from right is Bill Arce...
(© Private Photo) |
Frans Mäkel was active for Thamen right from the beginning.
First as a player, later as a coach, committee-member, boardmember, chairman, organisor and much more.
In 1989, as coach, he guided the junior baseball-team of Thamen to the Dutch Championship-title, something he was very proud of.
Amongst the players in that team were Frans Groot, Paul Moerman (jr.), Edwin Fokke, Matty van Ewijk and Roger Mäkel.
Besides having several active personalities in its board and outside the playing field, Thamen also had several talented players, including the above mentioned players.
Groot, Moerman and Fokke all went on to play in the Dutch big league, as well as in the Netherlands National Baseball Team.
Other former players of Thamen won played for many seasons in both the highest league, as well as in the National Team were Bill Groot and Hans van Renselaar.
Frans Groot, who was a pitcher, also played some seasons in the Minor Leagues in the organization of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
They all played in youth-teams that were coached by Frans Mäkel at the cozy field of Thamen, which is located in a woody area, surrounded by grasslands.
From the clubhouse, one has to cross a small bridge to reach the baseball-field.
On the other side of a row of trees, the softball-field is located.
It was also at this site, that Thamen played a 24-hours baseball-game in 1974.
Together with Erik Boland and others, Frans Mäkel installed a terrace in front of the clubhouse, where spectators and visitors can sit, enjoy a drink and overlooking the small water to watch a baseball-game.
In the late sixties, Frans played two seasons in the Dutch big league himself for HCAW.
While playing for the Bussum-club, amongst his teammates were Maurice Cranston, Jan van Ewijk, Ade Fijth, Rob van der Gaast, Peter de Graeve, Wim Hageman, Julio Hazel, Rob Hoffmann, Leo Nagtegaal, Fred Remmers and Jan Schriek.
The team was led by coaches Aart Kruijs and Max Rietbergen.
In the late eighties, Frans Mäkel went on to play baseball again in the veterans team of Kinheim in Haarlem, something he did for some six years.
In that period, this team participated in the Men's Baseball Senior World Series in the USA.
Frans participated with Kinheim in the World Series when they were organized in the Los Angeles-area, California and in Phoenix and Peoria, Arizona.
Playing for the team were several former Dutch big league-players.
When the team was in Arizona, the teammates of Frans were Frank Breek, Wim Crouwel ,Jersey van Doornspeek, Hans van Driel Krol, Ed Halman, Peter Jager, Fokke Jelsma, Ton de Nijs, Rickey Placidus, Frank van der Putten, Jan Smidt, Dirk-Jan Tuijl, Bram Vermeer, Bart van der Voort and Ruud Zijlstra.
The games of the 1994 Senior World Series were played at the Spring Training-site of Major League-clubs San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners.
In that year, the team was coached by Simon Heemskerk and the author of this story was the scorekeeper.
In an earlier edition, when Kinheim was in Los Angeles, the team was invited for a visit to the immense Dodger Stadium, the home of Major League-club Los Angeles Dodgers.
The stadium-tour was organized by Bill Arce, who had a long connection with the Netherlands and Kinheim.
During that trip, Poppe de Boer, Arie van Driel Krol, Han Prinsen and Jacques Reuvers also were with the team.
When Frans retired from playing baseball, he became more and more involved in softball.
He already played softball himself, but went on to coach the men-team of Thamen for several seasons since the nineties.
After having coached the team, he remained in the staff as its Team Manager.
In those years, the Thamen men softball-team was one of the best teams in the Dutch big league.
In 2000 and 2002, led by Mäkel as Head Coach, Thamen captured the Championship-title.
In 2002, the team dominated in the best-of-seven Holland Series against defending champion Storks.
In Game 5, Thamen shutout Storks 11-0 to capture the title.
In 2004, Thamen won the European Cup Winners Cup.
The team reached the Final and finished in second place in 2001 (European Cup) and 2005 (Cup Winners Cup).
When it won the Silver Medal in 2001, the European Cup-tournament was organized at the home-site of Thamen in Uithoorn.
...The team of Kinheim that participated in the 1994...
...Men's Baseball Senior World Series in Phoenix, Arizona (USA)...
...Frans Mäkel is standing fifth from the right side...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
That marked the third time that the club hosted the event after having done before in 1993 and 1997.
Frans Mäkel was one of the driving forced behind the organzation.
He was very proud that these events were hosted by his club and he did everything to ensure things were done well.
During the events, the author of this story was one of the Official Scorers and Frans made sure daily that we were cared off well, including getting our meals in time and have an area to work.
From the early morning through the late evening, Frans was active during the entire tournament, besides coaching the team of Thamen.
Amongst the players who played for Thamen in these successful years were Carlito Adamus, Luigi Anasagasti, Dave Bell, Edwin Boekhouder, Erik Boland, Curtis Branson, Melvin Brown, Angelo Clemensia, Daniël Ende, Marlon Frolijk, Peter Hondius, Ton van Koeverden, Bob Kruijs, Enio Kwas, Roger Mäkel, Humphrey Martes, Tico Martis, Sherald Obispo, Arnold Peterson, Charley Plaate, Arjan Rector, Edwin Ripken, Tuti Rumai, Eric Schouten, Fred Stakelborough, René Veen, Steven Verbrugge, Tim Verbrugge and Arnold Whitfield.
Frans also inserted himself as a player in a few games during the 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1998 seasons.
Also in these years, Frans also overlooked the playing sites at the Thamen-complex as groundskeeper, did the publicity and handled the game-administration for the softball-section.
In 1995 and 1996, he was the interim-chairman of Thamen.
In these years, the treasurer was Kees Schouten, who passed away last month.
Hereafter, in 1997-2000, Frans led the club in four more years as chairman, then was succeeded by Jan van Tiel.
Whenever something had to be done for the club, Frans stepped up and handled things.
And he always did it with a lot of passion and dedication.
In these same years, Frans Mäkel also was involved in some committees for the Dutch Association.
In 1990 and 1991, he was a member of the Financial Committee, which was chaired by Jan Kort.
Other members included Wim Beukenkamp and Fred de Kramer.
In 1998 and 1999, Frans was a member of the Committee for Boys Softball, which was chaired by Peter van den Aart.
Amongst the members in this Committee also were Bob Krijnen, Olga Lablans, Rinie Scheele and Willem Tuijn.
It was this Committee that introduced a Netherlands Junior Men's Softball Team, which was coached by Erik Boland and Guus van Bon.
...Frans with former teammate Fred Remmers during...
...the festivities surrounding HCAW's 1,750th game in...
...the highest league on May 7, 2016 in Bussum (Neth.)...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Early 2000, Frans Mäkel announced his resignation as chairman of Thamen, as he became a member of the Board for the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Association (KNBSB).
In April of that year, he became responsible for the Top Softball Section, which included all National Teams, as well as the competitions.
He served in this function for four years, then was not re-electable early 2004 during the new elections.
The other KNBSB-boardmembers in those years, include Theo Reitsma (chairman), Frans Sodekamp (vice-chairman), Ruud van Zetten (secretary/treasurer, later recreation sports), Berry Eijgendaal (baseball-affairs), Charles van der Meijs (recreation sports), Frits Teuling (commercial affairs), Lex van Zaane (commercial affairs), Leo Smallegange (secretary) and Theo Voorn (treasurer).
In 2003, Kenneth Smit (vice-chairman, commercial affairs) and Guus van Dee (baseball affairs) became boardmembers.
As boardmember for softball-affairs, Frans Mäkel was responsible for the national committee for game-affairs, working together with Dries de Zwaan and Rinus Paardekooper.
He also was responsible for the committees that handled protests and game-rules.
The members of these committees include Anne de Bruijne, Hans Hornstra, Albert Jung and Pieter van der Ploeg.
In the years that Frans Mäkel handled the softball-affairs for the KNBSB, the Netherlands Men Softball Team captured the European title in 2003.
He also traveled with the National Men's Team to the World Championship in New Zealand in 2004, amongst attending other international events played by either the National Women's of Men's Teams.
After his 4-year term as board-member of the KNBSB ended in March 2004, Frans Mäkel immediately returned to the board of Thamen.
He then was the club's chairman again in 2004-2007.
For his many activities, Frans was named Honorary Member of Thamen in 2005.
Three years earlier, when the 40th anniversary of Thamen was celebrated, Frans received the Honorary Medal of the KNBSB for his many contributions to the club.
Shortly after stepping down as Thamen's chairman, Frans joint the board of Amsterdam Pirates and was the club's treasurer for six years (2007-2012).
In those years, Pirates organized the European Softball Championship at its site in 2007, then hosted several games of the World Championship Baseball in 2009, followed by the European Champions Cup Baseball Qualfier in 2011.
For his administrative contributions to Pirates, he was named Member of Merit after he was succeeded as treasurer in 2012.
Frans Mäkel also has been a member of the Municipal Council in Uithoorn for some years.
...Frans Mäkel with Uithoorn-Mayor Dagmar Oudshoorn...
...after being Knighted in 2017...
(© Photo: Roger Mäkel) |
A highlight came on April 26, 2017, when he received a Royal Decoration and was named Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau for his many activities for Thamen, within the municipality of Uithoorn and for Amsterdam Pirates.
Frans was not the only member of the Mäkel-family who has been active for Thamen.
His wife Ellen handled the game-administration for baseball and softball for some years in the early eighties.
Son Roger played baseball and softball and also continued in coaching.
With the men softball-team of Thamen, Roger played many seasons in the Dutch big league winning the Championship-title and the European Cup.
Roger also was a member of the Netherlands Men's Softball Team for a long time.
Daughter Annemiek also played softball for Thamen.
Frans' older brother Henk was a longtime (strict) baseball-umpire.
His other brother Jan played baseball for Thamen and has been the club's treasurer.
Frans' nephew Fred and niece Sonja (son and daughter of Jan) both played in the Dutch big league for HCAW.
Fred in 1981, 1984-1986 and Sonja in 1986.
Fred, who also played for De Zuidvogels and the Netherlands Juniors Team, also was the Pitching Coach of the Netherlands Cadets Team for some time.
Sadly, Fred unexpectedly passed away at the very young age of 24 in 1988.
When someone first met Frans Mäkel, he might have appeared somewhat gruff.
However, that was surely not the case, as he had a great sense of humor and could laugh exuberantly.
The author of this story experienced that frequently throught the years when we met.
In 1994, I spent many enjoyable hours together with Frans and Ellen during the trip of the Kinheim-veterans to Phoenix.
Walking around shopping malls, having a drink in the hotel-bar or at the swimming pool and of course talking about baseball and softball.
Frans, who worked in the hotel-business, knew what he wanted and did not shy away from a discussion.
In the past years, Frans, always accompanied by Ellen, remained a frequent visitor of home-games of Amsterdam Pirates at Sportpark 'Ookmeer'.
In 2019, the site was named after Loek Loevendie with whom Frans had a long relationship, as both had been very active for their respective clubs and met frequently through the years.
Looking on from the stands, Frans and Ellen enjoyed the sports they both loved, baseball and softball.
When they met acquaintances, there was always time for a talk and a laugh.
In the past months, during his illness, Frans was lovingly cared by Ellen, who had worked in nursing care.
Frans was a colorful, well-respected and loved personality and will surely be missed by many.
The webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News offers his condolences to Frans' wife Ellen, son Roger, daughter Annemiek, grandchildren and other family and friends and wishes them a lot of strength with this big loss.
(May 16)
(private photos are published with permission of the family Mäkel)
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