A Major League that’s only an hour away

There’ll be no post from me on the National League next week as I’m off to take in some professional baseball this weekend. I’ll be watching a Major League game, although not one in the States. Instead, I’m referring to the Dutch Hoofdklasse (the country’s term for “Major League”). The 60 minutes that it will take me to fly from here to there certainly beats a trans-Atlantic trip.

The Netherlands is not the only country in Europe that has professional teams, but its league is widely regarded to be the best in the continent. The eight teams in the Hoofdklasse play most of their games on Saturdays and Sundays from April to September, but some weekday games also take place, typically on a Thursday. Corendon Kinheim, of Haarlem, have enjoyed success in recent years, but going back a little further it is DOOR Neptunus, of Rotterdam, that have been the dominant force.

There are some differences from the US Major Leagues, and one that is worth pointing out to anyone who is interested in taking in a game or two on a trip to the country is that on a Dutch schedule (such as the one here), the home team is listed first, rather than second. A second difference is the existence of a system of promotion and relegation, meaning that the exact make-up of the Hoofdklasse can change from year to year. A third quirk to look out for is that some teams have a sponsor featuring prominently in their name. Perhaps the most amusing example is the Bussum-based team: Mr. Cocker HCAW (Mr. Cocker is a chain of cafés).

The language of Dutch baseball can also be quite amusing. Understandably, some terms, such as “homerun”, are taken directly from the English language, while others have received a proper translation; a double, for instance, is a “tweehonkslagen”. But the amusing terms that I refer to are those that combine English and Dutch. My favourite is the term for on-base average, which is “op honken percentage”. 

I’ll be writing more about baseball in The Netherlands, based on my experience out there, in a future post.

If you wish to catch up on National League news from this coming weekend, then head to the British Baseball Federation website. The National League South has the weekend off (in part because the Croydon Pirates are playing in a tournament in The Netherlands, which is my reason for heading to the country), but games are scheduled for National League North teams.