Eenhoorn, from the glories of baseball to the triumph in football » Baseball.it

I have always been a great admirer of Robert Eenhoorn as a player and manager. With the executive Robert, I got along less well. I knew that since 2014 he had quit baseball and accepted the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the AZ Alkmaar football team. So when I learned of AZ’s victory in the Youth League of football, I sent a congratulatory message. “Thank you Ricardo” strictly written with a C “It was a very special moment for our organization”.

Born in 1968, Eenhoorn reminds me of a bad figure. At the 1988 World Cup I was one of the PA announcers at the European stadium in Parma. Our station had been placed in the parterre, where the scouts also worked. One of these was Greg Zunino, a formidable hitter for Fortitudo Bologna a few years earlier. I asked him who he had come to see and he told me about the Holland shortstop. Eenhoorn was 20 years old and definitely didn’t look like a shortstop the way I imagined him playing the role. I told Zunino, who gave me one of those looks that I’ve come to recognize from the days when Arrigo Sacchi coached Parma. That of someone who would like to tell you “but what do you understand”, but then he doesn’t tell you because he is educated after all.

Zunino was obviously right. Eenhoorn moved to Davidson College, then was drafted by the Yankees, with whom he made his major league debut on April 27, 1994. MLB attended (Yankees and Angels) but not regularly. From 1994 to 1997 he played 37 matches. However, he played 758 games in 9 seasons (1990-1998) in the Minor League, 460 in Triple A.

In 1999 Eenhoorn accepted the position of manager/player of Neptunus Rotterdam. In 2000 he played in the Sydney Olympics and said that was enough. On Baseball.it I reported this sentence of his: “After we beat Cuba, I thought that as a player I could not have done more”.

“My last match” recalls Eenhoorn “was against Italy. He had an excellent pitcher, Simontacchi ”. At the time of retirement, Rob was just 32 years old and many other plans. He founded the Unicorn Academy (Eenhoorn in Dutch means unicorn) in Rotterdam and accepted the position of coach of the national team. At the European Championship in Bonn he risked elimination in the quarterfinals with Croatia, then won that edition and the following 3.

After the Beijing Olympics, Eenhoorn accepted the position of Technical Director of the Dutch Federation (KNBSB). After winning the 2011 World Cup, he received the title of Knight of Queen Beatrix. Then in 2014 came the call from AZ Alkmaar.

“It was April” he told me on the phone “and initially I said no. It was the year of the European Championship.”

And he didn’t want to leave Italy with the European champions. This I say. Remember that in those years we didn’t get along very well… AZ didn’t give up.

“In May they told me they were willing to wait for me if I wanted to finish the baseball season. So I told the KNBSB that I would resign at the end of the season.”

I know you have been a very good footballer, but a football club that offers you a management job will have surprised you.

“Partially yes. Feyenoord, for whom I had played, had already probed me earlier, but I certainly didn’t expect it.”

As a first move, however, you have secured a consultant taken from the world of baseball: Billy Beane.

“I used to go to MLB Spring Training. In 2014, I had breakfast with Billy and told him that a soccer club had contacted me. He told me to take it into consideration if I accepted. I took him seriously and went to see him with our president. He agreed to act as our consultant, then he also bought a minority stake ”.

Michael Lewis’ book Moneyball, dedicated precisely to the management of Billy Beane’s Oakland A’s, bears the subtitle “the art of winning in an unfair game”. If there’s one game that’s not fair, it’s football…

“You’re right” he laughs “there would be legislation called Financial Fair Play, which is just a good idea…”.

Certainly, it is not difficult to get around it. Let’s say that there are championships, such as the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga, Ligue 1 where there is much more money than the Dutch Eredivisie. But you won the Youth League and are in the semi-finals of the Conference League.

“We count on a staff of very smart people”.

A staff of 150 professionals, confirms Eenhoorn. But there will be more.

“With us, discussions start with facts. Then the experts draw conclusions. We place great emphasis on player development and use innovative, data-driven scouting methods. If we try to compete with money, we are bound to lose. However we invest, especially in young talents. And we try to compete, even though we are perfectly aware of who we are”.

Talents like the Hungarian Milos Kerkez. You took him from Milan’s Primavera and now he plays for his national team.

“We are very happy with him. And we know it won’t be easy to keep him. He has several offers ”.

He never made it to the first team at Milan.

“It’s easier for a young player to emerge in a team like AZ.”

We said, the best ones then leave.

“Yes, and we start over with other talents. It can seem frustrating, especially in terms of getting results. It used to happen to me before with baseball. You start with a kid, then show talent, then sign as a pro. When you’ve raised someone who’s successful, it’s still satisfying. And an athlete has a limited sporting life, when he has the opportunity to improve, he has to take it ”.

Listen, do you miss baseball?

“I kinda miss it. I always follow MLB, but haven’t seen much of Dutch baseball lately. I saw Italy beat the Netherlands though. Mike Piazza did a great job.”

Eenhoorn adds: “Every now and then I go to the stadium and I realize that I have lost so much, I am no longer as informed as I was before 2014. However, I never miss an opportunity to ask how things are going and how everyone is.”

E la Unicorn Academy?

“It’s still there, but I can’t follow it. There are other coaches who do excellent work. I go to visit them from time to time, but my work with AZ absorbs me completely”.

I close with a pessimistic consideration. In my opinion, baseball in Europe has lost the opportunity to explode.

“Let’s just say it’s tough. There are sports that attract much more interest and therefore resources. I think the only chance for European baseball is to join forces. If all the main countries worked together, finding the side of the WBSC and the big professional leagues, there would be the possibility to do something. But if that doesn’t happen, I think we’ll have to resign ourselves to seeing a group of good players emerge from time to time. Plus, I think it’s difficult.”