Herman Beidschat

Herman Beidschat

• Throws Right

• Born 1940 in Arnhem Netherlands

Biographical Information

Herman Beidschat was one of the greatest pitchers in Dutch baseball history, spending his career with Haarlem Nicols, Schoten Haarlem and other clubs. He also once went to spring training with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Beidschat was named the Hoofdklasse Pitcher of the Year in 1959 while with EHS. He led the 1960 Hoofdklasse with 126 strikeouts, the first year the league tracked the strikeout leader. He was named Pitcher of the Year. He also won Best Pitcher honors at the 1960 European Championship. In '61, the young hurler fanned 171 batters to lead the circuit and threw a no-hitter. His 7 shutouts tied Han Urbanus's all-time record, since unmatched. He was named Pitcher of the Year.

In 1962, Herman led the league with 127 whiffs and tossed another no-hitter; he won his fourth straight Pitcher of the Year award. He led the 1963 season with 156 Ks and was named Pitcher of the Year, tying Urbanus's record of five such awards.. He shared Best Pitcher honors at the 1963 Haarlem Baseball Week. In 1964, he moved to Haarlem Nicols and was named Pitcher of the Year for the 6th time, breaking Urbanus's record; no one has yet caught Beidschat. He won his only Hoofdklasse MVP award that campaign. In the 1964 European Championship, Beidschat teamed with Rob Hoffmann on a perfect game against the Spanish national team en route to a Gold Medal for the Netherlands.

Beidschat led in strikeouts (106) in 1965 and won his 7th Pitcher of the Year award. He was named Best Pitcher at the 1965 European Championship. In '66, the Haarlem Nicols ace led the circuit in strikeouts for the last time, with 102. He shared Pitcher of the Year honors with Rudi Dom.

Beidschat went 6-0 in 1967 to lead the Hoofdklasse in winning percentage in the first year they tracked that. His run of 8 straight Pitcher of the Year awards was stopped, though. In '68, Herman did not lead the league in anything or win Pitcher of the Year. He was named the best Dutch Pitcher in the 1968 Haarlem Baseball Week. In 1969, Herman was again named best Dutch Pitcher in the Haarlem Baseball Week. He was on the Dutch team that won the 1969 European Championship and 1971 European Championship.

Beidschat went 9-0 for Haarlem Nicols in 1970, leading the league in winning percentage. The 30-year-old won his 9th Pitcher of the Year award. In 1971, he took his 10th and last such award after going 8-0; through 2011, only Urbanus (5) and Rob Cordemans (6) had won even five times; Cordemans would win four in the next six years, though, to match Beidschat. He was 8-0 again in 1972.

Beidschat's 139 wins in the Hoofdklasse were second all-time behind Bart Volkerijk until Cordemans passed him in 2011.

He later coached for HCAW and Haarlem Nicols and also for the Dutch ladies' national softball team. In 1985, he was voted into the Dutch Baseball Hall of Fame.

Sources

• Marco Stoovelaar's Dutch baseball site
• Dutch Wikipedia entry
• Honkbalgids 2000 by Marco Stoovelaar