Why is Holland good at baseball?

ssmith88 · 01-26-2013, 08:57 PM

I don't know much about baseball but I was exploring the countries in OOP13 and it said that the Netherlands had a good ranking.

I was surprised because I presumed that Great Britain would have the best rank in Europe.

Why the Dutch?

Mecza · 01-26-2013, 09:24 PM

Quote:

Baseball in the Netherlands started in 1911, having been introduced to the country by English teacher J.C.G Grasé of Amsterdam following a holiday to America. The first professional baseball league (now the Honkbal Hoofdklasse) began in 1922. The national governing body for baseball is the Koninklijke Nederlandse Baseball en Softball Bond.

The Netherlands National Baseball Team is consistently ranked in the top ten of the IBAF World Rankings and has won the European Baseball Championship twenty times. Although baseball is a minority sport within the Netherlands, Dutch overseas territories such as Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles have a strong baseball tradition.

Baseball in the Netherlands - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ssmith88 · 01-27-2013, 05:22 PM

Why didn't I think of looking up Wiki?

cheers

fhomess · 01-29-2013, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ssmith88

Why the Dutch?

Because the Dutch are awesome and good at everything.

LivnLegend · 01-29-2013, 03:55 PM

Bert Blylven!

When I was a kid I had a 1979 Topps card of a guy named Win Remmerswaal. He's an interesting story if you have the time to look him up.

GMLoophole · 01-29-2013, 05:17 PM

The real question you'll be asking yourself soon enough: why are Chile, Lithuania, Nigeria, Turkey, etc. good at baseball?

Dr. P.R. Park III · 01-29-2013, 07:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LivnLegend

Bert Blylven!

When I was a kid I had a 1979 Topps card of a guy named Win Remmerswaal. He's an interesting story if you have the time to look him up.

With a name like that I had to do some research, and came across this great SABR article!

Win Remmerswaal | SABR

D-BacksJosh · 01-29-2013, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. P.R. Park III

With a name like that I had to do some research, and came across this great SABR article!

Win Remmerswaal | SABR

Good read though tragic at the end. Win Remmerswaal was “Definitely a different cat!”

eriqjaffe · 02-01-2013, 12:35 PM

The Netherlands has had a professional baseball league that's been around in one form or another since 1922.

Honkbal Hoofdklasse - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lukas Berger · 02-01-2013, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ssmith88

I don't know much about baseball but I was exploring the countries in OOP13 and it said that the Netherlands had a good ranking.

I was surprised because I presumed that Great Britain would have the best rank in Europe.

Why the Dutch?

Sadly, British baseball isn't very good at all.

The rough ranking of European baseball countries would be something like you see below.

Only teams from the top two tiers have any real chance of winning the European Champion Cup, the top European baseball competition. Although Belgian and French teams (tier 3) have won in the past it hasn't been for a long time.

Tier 1 (only two European nations with professional leagues):
Holland
Italy

Tier 2:
Germany
Spain
Czech Republic

Tier 3:
France
Belgium

Tier 4:
Great Britain

Tier 5:
Croatia
Sweden
Ukraine
Russia

Tier 6 (Unimportant on the European level):
Everyone else

IStillDream · 02-03-2013, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lukasberger

Sadly, British baseball isn't very good at all.

The rough ranking of European baseball countries would be something like you see below.

Only teams from the top two tiers have any real chance of winning the European Champion Cup, the top European baseball competition. Although Belgian and French teams (tier 3) have won in the past it hasn't been for a long time.

Tier 1 (only two European nations with professional leagues):
Holland
Italy

Tier 2:
Germany
Spain
Czech Republic

Tier 3:
France
Belgium

Tier 4:
Great Britain

Tier 5:
Croatia
Sweden
Ukraine
Russia

Tier 6 (Unimportant on the European level):
Everyone else

Just one addendum: while Holland and Italy are the only countries to have leagues per se, the Italian League contains the one and only team from another country: San Marino, the world's oldest and smallest democracy. And they're good too: San Marino Baseball Club won the Italian league in 2008 and 2011, and the European cup in 2006.

San Marino Baseball Club - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

01-26-2013, 08:57 PM	#1
ssmith88 Bat Boy Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 12	Why is Holland good at baseball? I don't know much about baseball but I was exploring the countries in OOP13 and it said that the Netherlands had a good ranking. I was surprised because I presumed that Great Britain would have the best rank in Europe. Why the Dutch?

01-27-2013, 05:22 PM	#3
ssmith88 Bat Boy Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 12	Why didn't I think of looking up Wiki? cheers __________________ Gidday from DownUnder

01-29-2013, 03:55 PM	#5
LivnLegend Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: 100% pure adrenaline! Posts: 5,624	Bert Blylven! When I was a kid I had a 1979 Topps card of a guy named Win Remmerswaal. He's an interesting story if you have the time to look him up. __________________ Excess ain't rebellion. You're drinking what they're selling.

02-01-2013, 12:35 PM	#9
eriqjaffe Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2003 Location: Under The Christmas Fish Posts: 7,485	The Netherlands has had a professional baseball league that's been around in one form or another since 1922. Honkbal Hoofdklasse - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia __________________

01-29-2013, 05:17 PM	#6
GMLoophole All Star Reserve Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 863	The real question you'll be asking yourself soon enough: why are Chile, Lithuania, Nigeria, Turkey, etc. good at baseball?