© Jane Verhoeven
There will also be Italy at the thirtieth edition of Haarlem Week. It was the President of Federbaseball Andrea Marcon last Friday who confirmed the participation of the Azzurri in the traditional international tournament officially born in 1961. Five years earlier in Rome, the Dutch, making their debut in a European championship, had achieved their first continental title. In 1958 they had hosted Europeans in Amsterdam, but Haarlem was already the capital of Dutch baseball with as many as 5 city clubs. Haarlem launched this great American-style tournament for the first time in ’61, with the manager of the National Team Ron Fraser at the forefront who decided to invite US military teams from Germany (Wiesbaden Flyers, Mannheim Knights), France (Chateauroux Sabers) and from England (Alconbury Spartans, London All Stars). And it was the Spartans who won the first Haarlem Week. The sporting and advertising success gave a strong push to the construction of the Pim Mulier stadium which hosted the second edition of 1963, also in Haarlem.
The first national team champion in Haarlem was that of Cuba in 1972 and 1974, followed by Japan in 1978. The first time of the Azzurri at the Week of Haarlem dates back to 1972, the other participations are in 1998, 2000, 2004 and 2018. The first the absolute title won by the hosts came only in 2004, when the Netherlands overtook Cuba in the final. So far 15 titles have been won by various American teams, 5 from Cuba, 4 from Japan and the Netherlands and 1 from Canada. The current champion is Japan, which won the 2018 edition and is ready to defend the scepter next July. For the president of the tournament, Guus van Dee, and the director Leon Ravestein (rookie), the line-up of participating teams is a dream with Italy, Cuba, USA, China Taipei, Japan and the Netherlands. The tournament takes place over a week every two years, but preparation is a lifelong commitment. And the Covid19 pandemic has above all caused a lot of work at the local level.
The preliminary agreement between Haarlem Week and FIBS had been reached during the pre-Olympic softball tournament in 2019 in Utrecht, where the blue had won the ticket for Tokyo 2020. In front of the international press in the Paperclip complex, the two presidents Andrea Marcon and Guus van Dee had communicated their intention to see each other again in the Pim Mulier stadium the following year, but it all jumped because both the Olympics and Haarlem Week were postponed. Today the two presidents are delighted to meet again after 2 years of pandemic crisis.
The Azzurri with ex-major Mike Piazza as manager and the orange led by ex-triple A Evert-Jan ‘t Hoen meet again in Haarlem after a missed final at the Turin European Championship in 2021. Piazza already knows the stadium from Haarlem since he was assistant to manager Marco Mazzieri and studied the Dutch national team. Young Dutch fans recognized him and ran to the press box, where the friendly Hall of Famer gave the boys numerous autographs.
It was the new Director of the tournament, 49-year-old Leon Ravestein, owner of Chericoni Lighting BV, 10 kilometers from the Haarlem stadium, who told Baseball.it about himself and Haarlem Week: “I am an authentic Haarlemmer, born and raised in the city. When I was 10 I started playing baseball in the Onze Gezellen company (our friends, ed). I was also a softball coach and referee up to the level of the Holland Series. President Guus van Dee requested me in 2017 to replace Roderick Balk as the director of Honkbal Week Haarlem. In the 2018 edition I was already working as an internal director, while Bart Volkerijk took care of the external functions. Since 2020 I am the only director and manage all external contacts. I have always talked to 10 potential teams to form a group made up of 2 European countries, 2 Asian and 2 American countries. Now we have reached the satisfactory point of the ideal line-up with 6 dream teams. I understood from the foreign federations that Haarlem Week has also been respected abroad as a historical monument for half a century. This gave me energy for this marathon of extremely variable circumstances during the Covid19 years! “
“Now the pandemic is under control,” continues Ravestein. “The tournament looks safe, but with the new war in Europe we realize that baseball, our dear past time, is also under attack. We pray for the return of peace between two member countries of our WBSC Europe. Still recovering from the financial crisis after the coronavirus, I want to express our closeness to the people of Ukraine during this black page. Let’s look for the light at the end of the tunnel as soon as possible. We are confident in the realization of our positive event starting on July 8th. Baseball needs to look forward to the future of the next generation. Towards young people who have a new way of experiencing the race, pre and post-race too. Alongside the quality of the best baseball on 7 rounds with possible tie-break, we are also improving our social approach with the introduction of live streaming for each game. Our week of 10 or 11 days will be reduced to 8 days, but keeping the number of 20 games and rest of one day desired by each team. The Ibis Styles is ready to host them and it is the same as in 2018, for the fans we have a campsite available next to the stadium. A welcome to everyone! “
