Henk Keulemans

Henk Keulemans (June 7, 1924 – November 7, 2012) was a Dutch baseball player and manager. He was the first ever manager of the Netherlands national baseball team, leading the team to three European Baseball Championships in the 1950s.^[1][2]

Henk Keulemans
Infielder / Manager
Born: (1924-06-07)7 June 1924
Died: 7 November 2012(2012-11-07) (aged 88) Schagen, Netherlands
Batted: Unknown Threw: Right
Member of the Netherlands
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction	1985
Medals Representing  Netherlands Men's Baseball European Championship 1956 Rome Team (mgr) 1957 Mannheim Team (mgr) 1958 Amsterdam Team (mgr) 1960 Barcelona Team 1962 Amsterdam Team

Keulemans began his playing career with SC Haarlem; in 1943, Keulemans and fellow Haarlem pitcher Roel de Mon joined SC Schoten. He would play with Schoten until 1965, winning the First Division championship on five occasions (1947, 1956, 1957, 1960, and 1961), the last two as the club's player manager.^[1]

Keulemans debuted with the Dutch national team in a friendly against Belgium on August 1, 1948, in Antwerp; he would play 53 international games for the Netherlands. In 1956, he was named the team's first official manager (managerial duties had previously been shared by the players).^[1] Keulemans accepted the appointment on the condition that he would have sole authority to choose the team's players, and that he would be allowed to continue as a player manager.^[3][1]

He led the Netherlands to its first international title at the 1956 European Baseball Championship, repeating in 1957 and 1958.^[1] He also led the Netherlands at the 1956 Global World Series, held in Milwaukee.^[4] Keulemans stepped down as manager of the national team after 1958, though he continued to play on the squad at Haarlem Baseball Week and in an exhibition trip against a semipro team in Michigan in 1961 (under manager Ron Fraser).^[1][5][6]

Keulemans was the first player to be honored with the award for Most Valuable Player in the Dutch league in 1953 (an honor he earned again in 1960), and led the Honkbal Hoofdklasse in runs scored in 1960 (15), 1961 (16) and 1962 (30).^[1] He was inducted into the Netherlands Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985.^[2][7]

Keulemans also played with VV Schoten [nl], the club's association football division.^[8] He died in 2012 at age 88.