Bob van Aalen

Bob van Aalen

• Bats Right, Throws Right

• Born May 26, 1965

Biographical Information

Bob van Aalen was a second baseman primarily, playing for Neptunus from 1982-1999. He hit .307 with 693 hits in 617 games in Hoofdklasse, and played 37 games for the Dutch national team. Through 2006, he was Neptunus's all-time leader in hits, AB (2,254) and games.

In the 1990 Baseball World Cup, van Aalen hit .429/.478/.571 as the Dutch national team second baseman. He helped the Dutch to a Silver Medal in both the 1989 European Championship and the 1991 European Championship. He hit .292/.452/.375 with 7 walks and 7 RBI in 8 games as the Netherlands won the Gold in the 1993 European Championship, while he fielded .935 at 2B. He tied Calle Skogqvist, Leslie Segers and Arnaud Fau for 10th in the event in walks but did not make the top 15 in OBP (four Dutch players did do so).

His number 22 was the second number retired by Neptunus, being set aside in 2000. In 2007, the number was placed on the wall of DOOR Neptunus Familiestadion and van Aalen was honored in a ceremony.

Sources: Marco Stoovelaar's Dutch baseball website, Neptunus website, Defunct IBAF site