Editing Sport in the Netherlands (section)

===Baseball===
{{See also|Baseball in the Netherlands}}

The [[Koninklijke Nederlandsche Honkbalbond|Royal Dutch Baseball Federation]] was established on 12 March 1912. They merged with the softball federation to form the [[Koninklijke Nederlandse Baseball en Softball Bond|Royal Dutch Baseball and Softball Federation]] in 1971<ref>[http://www.honkbalsite.com/interactief/historie.html {{in lang|nl}} honkbalsite.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080311182223/http://www.honkbalsite.com/interactief/historie.html |date=2008-03-11 }}</ref> In 2008 there were over 24,000 players active at one of the 184 clubs in the country.<ref>[http://www.knbsb.nl/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=44&Itemid=157 {{in lang|nl}} knbsb.nl PDF file]{{dead link|date=April 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

The Netherlands boasts the most successful [[Netherlands national baseball team|national baseball team]] in Europe, winning the [[European Baseball Championship]] 20 times and frequently representing the continent in international competitions such as the [[World Baseball Classic]] and [[Baseball World Cup]]. There is a domestic [[Honkbal Hoofdklasse|professional baseball league]] whose best team, [[Neptunus]] of [[Rotterdam]], regularly contends for the [[European Cup (baseball)|European club championship]], including five consecutive titles from 2000 to 2004.

Baseball is especially popular on the island of [[Curaçao]]. In 2005, the Pabao [[Little League]] Champions of [[Willemstad]] advanced all the way to the championship game in the [[Little League World Series]]. Former [[New York Yankees]] outfielder [[Andruw Jones]], now of the [[Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles]] in [[Japan]]'s [[Pacific League]], is arguably the most successful and popular baseball player to emerge from Curaçao, and in 2006 was a member of the [[Netherlands national baseball team|Netherlands national team]] that participated in the inaugural [[World Baseball Classic]]. [[Jair Jurrjens]], pitcher for the [[Atlanta Braves]], became the first pitcher from Curaçao to pitch in the major leagues. [[John Houseman (baseball)|John Houseman]] became the first Dutch-born player in the Major Leagues when he made his debut for the [[Chicago Colts]] in 1894.<ref>[https://www.espn.com/mlb/worldclassic2006/news/story?id=2291359 sports.espn.go.com]</ref> [[Bert Blyleven]] was an [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star]], a two-time [[World Series|World Series champion]] and was elected to the [[National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum|National Baseball Hall of Fame]] in 2011.

In 2009, the Netherlands twice upset the Dominican Republic in the [[2009 World Baseball Classic]]. The Dominican Republic's entire roster played in [[Major League Baseball]] (MLB), while the Netherlands only had one player on an MLB roster. The Dominican teams' combined salary total in the MLB was about $84 million, while the Netherlands totals for $400,000. The Dominican Republic were highly favoured but in its first game against the Dominican, the Dutch won 3–2. The Dominican Republic won its next game against Panama to set up a rematch against the Netherlands. The Dutch stunned the Dominicans again and won 2–1 in extra innings.<ref>[http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090310&content_id=3961486&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb Dutch pull off second upset to advance | MLB.com: News]. Mlb.mlb.com. Retrieved on 2011-02-18.</ref> At the [[2013 World Baseball Classic]] the Netherlands performed even better. With a mix of experienced veterans and talented youngsters they progressed through the preliminary rounds to the semi-final, where the team lost to the Dominican Republic. The team again reached the semifinals at the [[2017 World Baseball Classic]], but again fell one game shy of the championship, losing this time to [[Puerto Rico national baseball team|Puerto Rico]].