(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos provided by Nel Goedhart)
IN MEMORIAM
...Bep van Beijmerwerdt...
(1927 - 2019)... |
  Dutch softball-pioneer and Hall of Famer Bep van Beijmerwerdt passed away
Nederlands
 EL CERRITO, California (USA) -
Dutch softball-pioneer Bep van Beijmerwerdt has passed away on October 25 at the age of 92.
She was the oldest living member of the Netherlands Baseball & Softball Hall of Fame.
Elisabertha Johanna (Bep) van Beijmerwerdt was born on July 4, 1927.
During World War II, most baseball-clubs were able to continue playing in their respective competitions.
But in 1944, it was not possible to organize competitions, as teams were unable to travel to other cities.
However, in that year, there was a local competition in Amsterdam and Haarlem.
With that, several players, when possible and despite the circumstances, were able to play their favorite sport.
In order to also give women some kind of sports opportunity in these difficult years, it was Jules Kammeijer, who introduced a variation of baseball that could be played by women, which he did somewhere in 1943.
Kammeijer was a physical education teacher at Gymnasion in Haarlem.
He put the bases and the pitching plate on shorter distances.
He then decided that pitchers had to throw underhand, as most of them missed the strikezone while throwing overhand.
After the War had ended, to his big surprise, Kammeijer noticed that the sport he had introduced appeared to be the same as was played by by American and Canadian soldiers, who were stationed in the Netherlands.
They called their sport softball.
After having introduced the sport during the War Years, Kammeijer organized games for Haarlem-based schools, including Gymnasion and HBS.
It were students of HBS who founded a hockey-club in 1919.
They used the same letters of their school (HBS) for the club, naming it Houdt Braef Standt (which translates into English as 'keep brave stand').
It was at HBS that Bep van Beijmerwerdt started to play hockey, which became her first sport.
This winterseason (2019-2020), this Bloemendaal-based club celebrates its 100th anniversary.
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...Bep van Beijmerwerdt in 1961... |
While being a passionate hockey-player, the sportive Bep van Beijmerwerdt got acquainted with the sport of softball during the War (which then was the baseball-variation of Kammeijer).
In 1948, Bep van Beijmerwerdt, along with Jules Kammeijer, organized the first official softball-game in the Netherlands, which was played in Haarlem, the city that became the Dutch softball-municipality in following years.
Mrs. Van Beijmerwerdt did a lot of pioneering work in the late forties and through the fifties to promote softball and make the sport more popular.
Also in 1948, she founded a softball-section at Haarlem-based club HCK (Honkbal Club Kinheim).
Nowadays, the softball-section of Kinheim is one of the oldest still existing in the Netherlands.
In following years, more softball-sections at existing baseball-clubs or new softball-clubs were founded in or close to Haarlem, including EDO, Rooswijk (both 1949), SC Haarlem, HHC (both 1950), THB, TYBB (both 1952), EHS (1953), DSS (1954), Bloemendaal (1957), Terrasvogels (1958) and Onze Gezellen (1960).
At HCK (Kinheim), Bep van Beijmerwerdt played since founding the section in March 1948 and was multi-talented, playing at several positions, including pitcher, second base, third base, short stop (her prime position) and in the outfield.
With the team, she won the Championship-title in 1955.
In later years, she also coached several teams at the club.
In its first year of existence (1948), HCK showed it was to be a leading team in softball for several years to come.
In one of its first games, HCK outscored the second team of HCK 29-13 and a week later, it won 28-10 against The Catchers from Amsterdam.
In the first game, Bep van Beijmerwerdt was the starting pitcher with Jannie Scheerhorn being the catcher.
On December 15, 1951, Jules Kammeijer and Bep van Beijmerwerdt founded the Netherlands Women's Softball Association (NDSB), which later changed its name to Netherlands Amateur Softball Association (NASB).
Mr. Kammeijer became the first Chairman, while Mrs. Van Beijmerwerdt was a member of the Board through 1956.
In December 1970, the Softball Association merged with the 1912-founded Royal Netherlands Baseball Association (KNHB) to become the Royal Netherlands Baseball & Softball Assocation (KNBSB).
To improve the quality of softball in the area and with that of course in the entire country, Bep van Beijmerwerdt also took care of the first contacts with American teams, who were based in then West-Germany.
That led to games played against these teams in the fifties by clubteams, but also by the early Netherlands National Teams with Bep van Beijmerwerdt being one of the players herself.
...The softball-team of HCK-5 in 1958...
...Coach Bep van Beijmerwerdt stands at left... |
On July 16, 1955, the Netherlands Team played one of its first games against the Wiesbaden Comets at the site of HCK, which then was located behind the Kennemer Lyceum in Overveen, close to Haarlem.
Wiesbaden Comets probably was the strongest (American) team in Europe and was the reigning champion.
The Netherlands Team was compiled of fifteen players with fourteen of them coming from Haarlem-based clubs.
One player came from Amsterdam, where she played for TIW.
The starting line-up for the Netherlands Team against Wiesbaden was as follows:
Pitcher: T. van Slooten (HCK). Catcher: N. Jansen (SC Haarlem). 1st Base: T. Andrea (HHC). 2nd Base: J. de Jong (HHC). 3rd Base: A. de Vries (HHC). Short Stop: F. van Veen (Schoten). Leftfield: W. Gieske (HCK). Centerfield: E. Hofstra (HHC). Rightfield: Bep van Beijmerwerdt (HCK).
The non-starters were H. Berendonk, M. Berendonk (both HHC), H. Boerendans, L. Dekker (both Schoten), R. van Es (TIW) and W. de Vries (EDO).
After the 1958 season, Bep van Beijmerwerdt moved to the USA, where she has lived since in California.
However, hereafter, she returned to the Netherlands almost annually to visit family and to be with her softball-teams at HCK.
In 1960 and 1961, she was with the team as a Coach when it captured the Dutch Championship-title in two consecutive years.
In those years, regional champion met each other in a season-ending tournament with the winner being the Dutch Champion.
In 1965, a national competition was created with the introduction of the Dutch big league, which was renamed into Golden League in 2015.
In 1961, HCK captured its third and final Championship-title.
At the site of Bloemendaal, three teams participated, being HCK (Haarlem), CILG (Den Bosch) and VODO (The Hague).
HCK opened with an 8-3 win against VODO, then defeated CILG 13-5 to capture the title.
In the game against VODO, HCK initially trailed 1-0 in the top of the first inning.
But in the bottom of the first, HCK rallied for four runs, highlighted by a 3-run double by Yvonne Immer.
VODO narrowed the deficit to 4-3.
HCK added a run in the fifth, then scored three more in the sixth, thanks to a basehit by Joke Fuykschot.
...The softball-team of HCK celebrates the title in 1961...
...Coach Bep van Beijmerwerdt sits at left... |
After CILG also won against VODO, the next game would decide the Championship.
Again, HCK trailed, as CILG scored twice in the top of the first inning.
HCK got one run back in its first at bat on a single by Pien Immer.
A 4-run rally followed in the third inning, thanks to basehits by Els Kievit, Marijke Tieland and Pien Immer.
Five more runs were then added in the fifth inning, highlighted by a double by Nel Goedhart.
In the next at bat, a triple by Nel Goedhart and a double by Yvonne Immer accounted for three more runs to lift the lead to 13-5.
Moments later, HCK and Coach Bep van Beijmerwerdt were able to celebrate their Championship-title.
In later years, from her home in California, Bep van Beijmerwerdt remained a driven follower of both baseball and softball in the Netherlands, as well as in the USA.
And of course, her club Kinheim.
But she also remained very interested in field hockey, as this had been her first love in sports.
Through the years, Bep van Beijmerwerdt kept frequent contacts with some former teammates, friends and relatives in the Netherlands.
For her pioneering work in softball, Bep van Beijmerwerdt was inducted into the Netherlands Baseball & Softball Hall of Fame on May 3, 1984.
She was a member of the second class that was inducted into the Hall, which was founded in 1983.
She also was an Honorary Member of Kinheim.
In 1982, an Award was named after her.
Since then, the Award has been handed out annually to the best youth softball-player in the Netherlands, as nominated by the coaches of the National Teams.
Through 1992, the Bep van Beijmerwerdt Trophy was handed out to the best 15-and-under player, in following years, the trophy went to the best 18-and-under player.
This years winner is Yindi Beekveldt of Terrasvogels, who became the 39th recipient of the prize.
The Award was handed out twice in 2012.
Almost all players who won the Award went on to have a successful career in the Dutch big league, as well as playing for the Netherlands National Juniors Team or later in the Netherlands National Softball Team.
The webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News offers his condolences to the family of Bep van Beijmerwerdt and wishes them a lot of strength with this loss.
(November 24)
| Winners Bep van Beijmerwerdt Trophy |
| Year | Winner | Club | Year | Winner | Club | Year | Winner | Club |
| 1982 | Kathleen van Nunen | Onze Gezellen | 1995 | Sandra Gouverneur | The Herons | 2008 | Britt Vonk | Tex Town Tigers |
| 1983 | Inger van der Graaf | HCAW | 1996 | Kinge Bouma | Terrasvogels | 2009 | Kim Donkers | Euro Stars |
| 1984 | Anouk Mels | Ducks | 1997 | Pamela Timmermans | UVV | 2010 | Mariëlle Vleugels | Terrasvogels |
| 1985 | Masja Mignani | De Meteoor | 1998 | Nina van Huissteden | UVV | 2011 | Dinet Oosting | Olympia Haarlem |
| 1986 | Chantal Geels | Onze Gezellen | 1999 | Linda Hoenderdos | Onze Gezellen | 2012 | Noëmie Brandjes | Alcmaria Victrix |
| 1987 | Petra Beek | HCAW | 2000 | Marlous Fellinger | Run '71 | Kimberly Jones | Alcmaria Victrix |
| 1988 | Christel Willems | Alphians | 2001 | Saskia Kosterink | Run '71 | 2013 | Damishah Charles | Twins |
| 1989 | Annemieke Spoor | Alcmaria Victrix | 2002 | Joyce Roodenburg | Euro Stars | 2014 | Isa Los | Tex Town Tigers |
| 1990 | Janine Blom | Onze Gezellen | 2003 | Noèmi Boekel | Amsterdam Pirates | 2015 | Brenda Beers | Olympia Haarlem |
| 1991 | Maaike Zijlstra | Bloemendaal | 2004 | Areke Spel | Amsterdam Pirates | 2016 | Manoa Weijgertse | Sparks Haarlem |
| 1992 | Chantal van der Put | Jeka | 2005 | Meike Witteveen | Tex Town Tigers | 2017 | Feline Poot | DSS |
| 1993 | Suzanne van der Laan | Twins | 2006 | Chantal Versluis | Sparks Haarlem | 2018 | Onaisha Franka | Sparks Haarlem |
| 1994 | Daisy de Peinder | Twins | 2007 | Nathalie Timmermans | Tex Town Tigers | 2019 | Yindi Beekveldt | Terrasvogels |
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