Henk Keulemans
| Henk Keulemans | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Infielder / Manager | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born: 7 June 1924 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died: 7 November 2012 (aged 88) Schagen, Netherlands | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Batted: Unknown Threw: Right | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of the Netherlands | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Baseball Hall of Fame | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Induction | 1985 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Henk Keulemans (June 7, 1924 – November 7, 2012) was a Dutch baseball player and manager. He was the first ever manager of the Netherlands national baseball team, leading the team to three European Baseball Championships in the 1950s.[1][2]
Keulemans began his playing career with SC Haarlem; in 1943, Keulemans and fellow Haarlem pitcher Roel de Mon joined SC Schoten. He would play with Schoten until 1965, winning the First Division championship on five occasions (1947, 1956, 1957, 1960, and 1961), the last two as the club's player manager.[1]
Keulemans debuted with the Dutch national team in a friendly against Belgium on August 1, 1948, in Antwerp; he would play 53 international games for the Netherlands. In 1956, he was named the team's first official manager (managerial duties had been previously been shared by the players).[1] Keulemans accepted the appointment on the condition that he would have sole authority to choose the team's players, and that he would be allowed to continue as a player manager.[3][1]
He led the Netherlands to its first international title at the 1956 European Baseball Championship, repeating in 1957 and 1958.[1] He also led the Netherlands at the 1956 Global World Series, held in Milwaukee.[4] Keulemans stepped down as manager of the national team after 1958, though he continued to play on the squad at Haarlem Baseball Week and in an exhibition trip against a semipro team in Michigan in 1961 (under manager Ron Fraser).[1][5][6]
Keulemans was the first player to be honored with the award for Most Valuable Player in the Dutch league in 1953 (an honor he earned again in 1960), and led the Honkbal Hoofdklasse in runs scored in 1960 (15), 1961 (16) and 1962 (30).[1] He was inducted into the Netherlands Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985.[2][7]
Keulemans also played with VV Schoten, the club's association football division.[8] He died in 2012 at age 88.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g Stoovelaar, Marco (18 November 2012). "Hall of Famer, former player/coach Henk Keulemans passed away". Grand Slam Stats & News. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
- ^ a b "Henk Keulemans - Eregalerij". Honkbalensoftbalmuseum.nl (in Dutch). Nederlands Honkbal en Softbal Museon. Retrieved 26 April 2025.
- ^ "Rustige vergadering van honkballers Henk Keulemans voor keuze van Nederlands team verantwoordelijk Alleen debat over voorstel van Pacifico" (in Dutch). NRC. 27 February 1956. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
- ^ "Second annual Global World Series baseball scorecard". Detroit Public Library. National Baseball Congress. 1956. p. 13. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
- ^ "Holland Has Class, Power". Holland Evening Sentinel. 12 June 1961. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
- ^ "Bargain Baseball Slated for Holland Fans Friday". Holland Evening Sentinel. 15 June 1961. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
- ^ Stoovelaar, Marco (8 December 2018). "Fred van Groningen Schinkel and Robert Eenhoorn inducted into Dutch Hall of Fame". Grand Slam Stats & News. Retrieved 21 January 2025.
- ^ "Hier weer een oudje! Het 1ste elftal van Schoten in 1949". VVSchoten.nl. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
Bibliography
[edit]- Josh Chetwynd (2008). Baseball in Europe: A Country by Country History. p. 346. ISBN 9780786437245.
- Theo Reitsma (2005). Play Ball, Honkbalverhalen uit de dug-out van Nederland (in Dutch). Tirion Sport. ISBN 9789043907538.
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