Bring On the Honkbal

As Bud Selig and his counterparts in Japan discuss a Global World Series – between the winners of the American MLB World Series and Nippon Professional Baseball – there are some who would be more than eager to open the competition up to even more countries.

“I think it would be a good idea to have the top teams in America and Japan meet and it would be a boost for international baseball. Of course, I would like to see the number of teams increased at some point,” Robert Eenhoorn, a former New York Yankee infielder and the current commissioner of the Dutch baseball league, told Baseball Ink.

“With baseball now out of the Olympics, it needs to think of ways to expand globally, particularly as more countries are becoming very competitive and the game is growing in popularity around the world,” he added.

Though not always thought of as a baseball country, the Netherlands has a long history in the game, known in Dutch as honkbal. A professional league was started in 1922, and a number of players have made their way to playing professionally on the other side of the Ocean.

The Netherlands is now ranked sixth in the world, according to the International Baseball Federation (IBAF), and has long been the top team in Europe – winning the bi-annual European Baseball Championship the last four times. Einhoorn, 41, served as the country’s manager from 2001-2008, when it also qualified for the Olympics in 2004 and 2008.

The Dutch professional baseball league – Honkbal Hoofdklasse – is comprised of eight teams which play a 42-game season.