With today’s low temperatures, it feels like an eternity ago. Last summer, after four years, Haarlem Baseball Week finally took place again. I was at the multi-day tournament for the first time and it turned out to be a memorable evening in many ways….
In summer, it’s usually much quieter at NH Sportredactie. Colleagues are taking well-deserved vacations and clubs are in training camp. Often the most exciting news on these days is an (un)expected transfer to Ajax, AZ, FC Volendam or Telstar.
That’s why, as a young journalist, I had the opportunity to spend a day watching baseball week. The idea was to report on the opening match between the Netherlands and Italy and possibly interview another player afterwards. On time and in a good mood, I took the train to Bloemendaal station and walked the last part to the Pim Mulier stadium.
Martin Smith
Upon arriving at the ballpark, I was able to bypass the long line of visitors and collect my press pass at a separate counter. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a tall, familiar figure heading towards me. The man stood next to me: Mart Smeets, baseball week welcome guest. His son Tjerk is the assistant coach of the Netherlands. I only discovered it later though.
The text continues below the article.
After grabbing a bottle of water from the press room, I wanted to sit in the press box. To my surprise, it was completely filled with scouts and organization people. Luckily the pressman sent the scouts away and suddenly I had a line all to myself. It was the other extreme.
The game against Italy has started and the Dutch have had a false start. Ricardo Paolini made the first run. Fortunately, Sharlon Schoop and Denzel Richardson repaired the damage in the same run. Other than a few minor raises, not much happened in the game. It was 2-1 for the Netherlands.
journalist attic room
I had plenty of time during the game to talk to my neighbor in the stands. He turned out to be an American scout, who wanted to see the American team and had to record all sorts of statistics. It had a very extensive database in which all the statistics were collected.
It was one of the first times for me that I was in a sports stadium as a journalist. I tried to explain to him that I have one journalist in the attic well, a mocking term for journalists who only work in the editorial department. Further than journalist in the attic I didn’t come, but luckily he was able to laugh about it. After the match, he asked me if I wanted to visit the other matches as well. Unfortunately, that no longer happened.
The text continues below the carousel:
Let it be clear, I had a great time in the press gallery. I was also able to stand next to the pitch to take some good photos and see how the crowd was bustling with music, cheerleaders and an enthusiastic announcer.
Then I spoke to Evert-Jan ‘t Hoen, the national coach of the Netherlands. “This event is important for baseball, for the Netherlands and certainly for Haarlem. The stands were full of enthusiastic people again, that’s why we do it. In this conversation, he indicated that Orange wanted to go for the overall victory. I hardly believed it myself. I expected the Americans to be much better.
The text continues below the tweet.
I liked to follow the remaining matches in the Netherlands via the live stream, when it came out in terms of planning. The Dutch baseball team finished fourth after the group stage and reached the semi-final against Japan. In it, the last winner of the event was defeated.
My colleague Frank van der Meijden was allowed to go to the final and secretly I was a bit jealous. Because a day later, the Dutch team easily beat Curaçao in this final. A great end to Baseball Week in my eyes. This experience has certainly left a taste for more and that’s why this one hopes journalist in the attic be allowed to go out more often in 2023. The best thing is to play sports in a stadium. And to top it off, I hope to catch many more matches of this great event in the next edition in 2024.
milton pus
