Vrolijk Kerstfeest

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy and safe holiday season. Thanks for all the friendships and another great year of trades. I thought that I would share with you a great card set I got years ago. Its a Santa Claus Autograph, Game used "Santa Suit" card and a Santa Claus "Rookie Card". Vrolijk Kerstfeest everyone.

Todays Mailday!

Today I received this card in a trade. Its a WBC Game Used Jersey Card of Dutch Pitcher Juan Carlos Sulbaran. Sulbaran is a right handed pitcher in the Cincinnati Reds organization. This year Sulbaran had a record of 4-6 with 83 strikeouts in 79.1 innings pitched for Single A Dayton. I traded a Roger Clemens Game Used Jersey Card for this one!

Henricus "Rick" Vandenhurk, RHP Baltimore Orioles

Henricus "Rick" Vandenhurk of the Baltimore Orioles is from Eindhoven. So far this year Rick has pitched in a combined eight games for the Florida Marlins and the Baltimore Orioles striking out 13 major league batters in 13 innings. At 6'5 and 215 lbs, this right handed pitcher is a very intimidating and dominant pitcher on the mound. Rick is the first Dutch born pitcher to play in the major leagues since Bert Blyleven (Twins, Blue Jays, Rangers, Pirates, Indians and Angels) and Ferenc Jongejan (Cubs) so Rick is already doing a great job caring on the Dutch legacy in the big leagues. It is great to see a Dutchman currently pitching in the big leagues. Hopefully Rick will have a great 2011 and a great career in the big leagues.

Greg Halman,OF, Seattle Mariners

Seattle Mariners Outfielder Gregory Halman from Haarlem, Nederland is currently hitting .243 with 33 home runs, 80 Rbi and 15 stolen bases for Triple A Tacoma. Halman is clearly the top Dutch prospect in all of minor league baseball and with 33 home runs, has to be the top prospect for the Seattle Mariners. Im hoping that in 2011, Seattle will give Greg a chance to make their big league team. Halman has a chance to hit for some serious power in the big leagues and will for sure turn the world attention to Dutch players making contributions to the major leagues. Born in Haarlem, Nederland, Halman has a chance to be the first Dutch born position player in the big leagues in a long time.

Nederland has Talent!

This past World Baseball Classic (WBC) proved one thing...the Dutch know how to play honkbal and we can play with the very best in the world. The Dutch Squad shocked the world when we beat world super giant Team Dominican Republic. It was a great day because it put Holland on the map of baseball. So many people thought..they play baseball in Holland? yes, we do and we have a lot of talent there. There is much more to Holland than cheese, tulips and wooden shoes. We Dutch are an amazingly talented people. Im very happy that during the WBC everyone got a chance to see that Holland has some serious baseball talent that should be taken seriously. As a baseball fan, thats exciting for me, because that means more Dutch in the major leagues! The best part is after the WBC, major league scouts started going to Nederland looking for baseball talent and quickly signed many players to professional contracts (I will be providing future blog entries on these players here on my blog). Ive known for years that Nederland has baseball talent and I am just so happy now that the rest of the world knows!

Dutch Legends

No Dutch Baseball blog can start without mentioning of four Dutch baseball legends, Bert Blyleven, Robert Eenhoorn, Win Remmerswaal and Rikkert Faneyte. These Four major leaguers opened the door for other Dutch players to play in the big leagues. Blyleven should become the first Dutchman elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. There is so much Baseball talent in Nederland and I am excited that we will hopefully see many more Dutch players in the Major Leagues to carry on the tradition of these four Dutch Baseball Greats.

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my new Dutch Baseball blog. Here I will update daily with news and pics of players in the Major Leagues, Minor league and top prospects from Holland. Please check back everyday for updates as I am just starting out with this blog and will work on improving it everyday. Im looking to grow this blog into the most complete and comprehensive source for Dutch Baseball news and updates on our Dutch baseball players past,present and future.
Groetjes,
Elbert