Honkbal Hoofdklasse
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2022 Honkbal Hoofdklasse season
SportBaseball
Founded1922
No. of teams8
CountryNetherlands
Most recent
champion(s)		 Amsterdam Pirates (7th title)

The Honkbal Hoofdklasse (Dutch for Major League Baseball) is the highest level of professional baseball in the Netherlands. It is an eight-team league that plays a 42-game schedule and is overseen by the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Federation (KNBSB).

Games are played principally on weekends. The season runs from April to September and is followed by the playoffs among the four best teams, which culminates in the Holland Series. Both of the playoff rounds are best-of-five. The league follows a promotion and relegation system with the Eerste klasse so that the composition of both levels changes from year to year. Many of the official team nicknames contain the name of the club's corporate sponsor.

The two best teams participate in the European Cup.

History

The Honkbal Hoofdklasse has been the highest level of competitive baseball in the Netherlands since 1958, when it was elevated over the former Eerste Klasse by the Koninklijke Nederlandse Honkbal Bond, the forerunner of the KNBSB. The Eerste Klasse served as the top baseball competition in the Netherlands from its establishment in 1922 until 1957, excluding 1945 when play was suspended due to World War II. The Hoofdklasse has been organized by the KNBSB since 1971.

Until 1986 the winner of the season was also crowned the national champion, with the exception of 1972 and 1973, when a best-of-five Holland Series was held between the top two teams to determine the champion. Since 1987 the Holland Series has been held annually at the end of the season to determine the national champion. The series is currently held in a best-of-seven format.

In 2021 the Eerste Klasse was reinstated as the second level of Dutch professional baseball and the league to which teams from the Hoofdklasse are relegated at the end of the season. This was also the case from 1958 to 1986 and 2001 to 2009. In the intervening periods, from 1987 to 2000 and 2010 to 2020, the Overgangsklasse operated as the secondary professional baseball league in the Netherlands.

Following the 2021 Season the KNBSB decided to end relegation and promotion and operate the Hoofdklasse with fixed teams. The reform is part of broader efforts to improve the league's quality of play and national visibility. The tournament was also expanded to 9 teams for the 2022 season.[1] The Silicon Storks, who were slated to be relegated, will remain in the Hoofdklasse alongside the RCH Pinguins, who had earned a promotion to the top league.[2]

Results

Hoofdklasse Records[3]
Rank Team Titles First Last
1st Neptunus Rotterdam 19 1981 2018
2nd Haarlem Nicols 12 1965 1989
3rd Blauw-Wit Amsterdam 9 1923 1946
Sparta/Feyenoord 9 1963 1974
5th
Amsterdam Pirates 7 1987 2023
6th OVVO Amsterdam 6 1949 1955
7th SC Haarlem 5 1929 1941
Schoten Haarlem 5 1947 1961
Kinheim Haarlem 5 1978 2012
10th Ajax Amsterdam 4 1924 1948
11th Quick Amsterdam 3 1922 1935
EHS Haarlem 3 1954 1962
Amstel Tijgers 3 1979 1986
HCAW Bussum 3 1996 2022
15th AGHC Amsterdam 2 1926 1927
16th VVGA Amsterdam 1 1933
HHC Haarlem 1 1936
Seagulls Amsterdam 1 1939
EDO Haarlem 1 1958
ADO Den Haag 1 1992
Hoofddorp Pioniers 1 1997

Current clubs

Honkbal Hoofdklasse is located in Netherlands
L&D Pirates
L&D Pirates
Amersfoort
Amersfoort
Neptunus
Neptunus
HCAW
HCAW
DSS
DSS
Twins
Twins
Storks
Storks
Pioniers
Pioniers
RCH
RCH
TeamCityStadiumRefCapacity
DSS/Kinheim Haarlem Pim Mulier Sportpark [4] 2,500
Quick Amersfoort Amersfoort XL Lease Park Dorrestein [5] 400
Curaçao Neptunus Rotterdam Neptunus Familiestadion [6] 2,460
L&D Amsterdam Amsterdam Sportpark Ookmeer [7] 500
Twins Oosterhout Oosterhout Slotbosse toren Park [8] 500
HCAW Bussum Rob Hoffmann Vallei [9] 1,000
Silicon Storks The Hague Sportpark Kijkduin-Schapenatjesduin [10] 1,000
Hoofddorp Pioniers Hoofddorp Sportpark Pioniers [11] 1,000
RCH-Pinguins Heemstede Heemsteedse Sportparken 400

See also

References

  1. ↑ Visser, Seb. "Hoofdklasse vanaf 2022 op slot, Silicon Storks blijft er als negende team in." HonkbalSoftbal.nl 29 October 2021. Accessed 10 December 22021. https://honkbalsoftbal.nl/2021/10/29/hoofdklasse-vanaf-2022-op-slot-silicon-storks-blijft-er-als-negende-team-in/.
  2. ↑ "RCH Pinguins H1 dwingt promotie af." RCH Pinguins. 17 October 2021. Accessed 10 December 2021. https://www.rch-pinguins.nl/?p=11411.
  3. ↑ List of Dutch champions Archived 2014-12-26 at the Wayback Machine (in Dutch)
  4. ↑ "DSS". de Nederlandse honkbalsite. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Quick Amersfoort". de Nederlandse honkbalsite. Retrieved May 26, 2019.
  6. ↑ "Curaçao Neptunus". de Nederlandse honkbalsite. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  7. ↑ "L&D Amsterdam". de Nederlandse honkbalsite. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Twinsbaseball.nl".
  9. ↑ "HCAW". de Nederlandse honkbalsite. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Silicon Storks". de Nederlandse honkbalsite. Retrieved May 26, 2019.
  11. ↑ "Vaessen Pioniers". de Nederlandse honkbalsite. Retrieved March 11, 2015.


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