Marcel Joost

Marcel Joost

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 190 lb.

• Born December 12, 1960 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland Netherlands

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Biographical information

Marcel Joost is a former Dutch baseball player who set several records in the Hoofdklasse and was arguably the top performer in the Netherlands during the 20th Century.

He spent 1978 with the Amsterdam Pirates in the Eerste Klasse. He debuted in Hoofdklasse Honkbal in 1979 with the Haarlem Nicols, hitting .343 in his first season - though later in his career, his season averages would hover around .400. He fell to a career-low .248 with a .369 slugging percentage for Haarlem Nicols in 1980. During the 1980 Haarlemse Honkbalweek, the teenager was awarded with the Carl Angelo Award for being the tournament's most popular player and also won the Haarlemse Honkbalweek Homerun King Award. In addition to participating in the Haarmelse Honkbal Week that year, Joost also played in the 1980 Amateur World Series.

Joost improved to .347 with a .546 slugging percentage in 1981. He hit .432 and slugged .736 in 1982, with 43 runs and 50 RBI in 36 games. He led the league in RBI, hits (64) and average, helping Haarlem Nicols win the title and claiming his first MVP Award. That year, he participated in his second Amateur World Series, with his team finishing in sixth place with a 3-6 record.

He played in the 1983 Intercontinental Cup as well as the 1983 European Championship, in which his country won the Silver Medal. In the regular season, he hit .387 and slugged .724 as Nicols won another title; he had 41 runs and 53 RBI in 36 games, leading the Hoofdklasse in RBI. He also hit 7 triples; through 1999, that was tied for the highest total in a Hoofdklasse campaign (even with Robert Eenhoorn, Johnny Balentina and Elton Wilson).

Marcel batted .392 and slugged .725 to propel the Haarlem club to a third straight title in 1984. He smacked 13 home runs, drove in 48 and scored 36 in 36 innings. He played in the 1984 Haarlem Baseball Week and 1984 Amateur World Series.

Joost hit .390 and slugged .680 with 42 runs in 36 games for Haarlem Nicols in '85, the fourth year in a row they captured the title. He played in the 1985 Intercontinental Cup and won MVP honors in the 1985 European Championship to help give the Netherlands the Gold Medal. In 1986, Marcel batted .402 with 49 runs in 43 games. He led the league with 17 stolen bases. He played for the Dutch in the 1986 Amateur World Series.

Marcel fell to .359 in '87 and smacked fourteen home runs. He played in the 1987 World Port Tournament and 1987 European Championship (in which the Netherlands won Gold). He picked it up in 1988, helping Haarlem Nicols to a title, hitting .434 and slugging .710. He was the worst Dutch batter in the 1988 Baseball World Cup, hitting only .154/.233/.282 while playing right field for them. One bright spot was that he reached 100 career games played for the Dutch national squad. He remained with the team for the 1988 Olympics.

Joost did not play in 1989. He returned in 1990 and hit .331/?/.515 with 40 runs in 43 games. He batted .326 and slugged .467 in '91 then hit .375 and slugged .580 with 32 RBI in 28 games in 1992. From 1989-1992, he did not play for the national team.

In 1993, he moved to the Corendon Kinheim, beginning play for them. He hit .292 only, while slugging .504 with 9 home runs in 36 games. He was just 2 for 16 in the 1993 Holland Series. He played in the 1993 World Port Tournament. He was MVP of the 1993 European Championship as the Netherlands won Gold; he hit .406/.524/.813 with 4 doubles, 3 homers, 8 walks, 6 steals in 6 tries, 14 runs and 8 RBI in 9 games. He was among the event leaders in average (5th, between Frank van Droogenbroeck and Javier Diez), slugging (1st, .116 ahead of #2 Johan Hasselström), OBP (4th, between van Droogenbroeck and Diez), home runs (1st by one), runs (1st, 2 ahead of Roberto De Francheschi and Antonio Salazar), steals (tied for 3rd with Jamel Boutagra, Mervin Beauperthuy and Igor Makhambetov), doubles (tied for first with Rickard Reimer, Hasselström, Olof Lindfors and Jeffrey Cranston), total bases (26, 2nd, one behind Cranston), walks (tied for 5th) and hits (13, tied for 5th with De Francheschi) in the dominant performance.

Joost hit .416 and slugged .675 with 37 runs in 39 games in 1994. He was 7 for 13 with 11 total bases in the playoffs, but fell to .190 in the 1994 Holland Series (which Kinheim did win). He led the league in both average and hits (64) in the regular season. He played in the 1994 Haarlem Baseball Week and won the Carl Angelo Award. He also batted .357/.400/.679 with 6 RBI in seven games during that year's Baseball World Cup. He also had two assists in right field and led the Orange in slugging; only Byron Ward had a better OPS for the country.

The Amsterdam native hit .327/?/.487 for Rotterdam in '95 and hit .263 in the 1995 Holland Series, which Kinheim lost. He was 7 for 23 in the 1995 World Port Tournament. He batted .367/.459/.600 with 11 runs and 14 RBI in eight games in the 1995 European Championship as the Netherlands won. He was 5th in the event in RBI behind Arnaud Fau, Edsel Martis, Luigi Carrozza and David Meurant. In that event, he played his 132nd game for the Dutch national team, breaking Charles Urbanus Jr.'s record. He then hit .263/.263/.529 in the 1995 Intercontinental Cup with one assist in right; he tied Martis for the Dutch lead in home runs (2) and RBI (4) in the five-game event.

The right-handed batter had a line of .398/?/.672 for Kinheim in 1996 with 32 runs and 30 RBI in 30 games, going deep 7 times. He was just 3 for 18 in the 1996 Holland Series but produced five runs in five games in a losing cause. He hit .364/.440/.500 in the 1996 Haarlem Baseball Week. In the 1996 Olympics, he was one of the brightest lights for the Netherlands, hitting .440/.481/.760 with 5 runs and 5 RBI in 7 games, though he did make two errors in right. He led the team in runs and in RBI and was second in average and OBP (both to Eric de Bruin) and slugging (.009 behind Martis).

At age 36, Joost hit .328 and slugged .484 for Kinheim with 31 runs in 36 games, then he hit .322 and slugged .552 in 1998. He batted .371 and slugged .549 with 48 RBI in 43 games in '99.

Through 1999, Marcel had hit .363 and slugged .591 in 20 years in the Hoofdklasse with 688 runs and 691 RBI in 734 games, along with 187 doubles and 137 home runs. He was the all-time Hoofdklasse leader in games played, runs, RBI, hits (1,043) and home runs. The negative was that he had hit only .176 in four Holland Series.

With Kinheim in 2000, Joost joined Marcel Kruyt in becoming the second and third four-decade players in league annals, following Han Urbanus. He had 29 RBI, tying Raymond Hofer and Percy Isenia for fifth in the league, and he was 8th in slugging (.463, a few points ahead of former major leaguer Rikkert Faneyte, a fellow outfield legend from the Netherlands past his prime).

In 2001, Joost was named the All-Star DH of that year's European Championship after hitting .421/.500/.474, second on the Netherlands in average. He had 6 RBI in six games to tie Jurjan Koenen for second on the team behind Remy Maduro. Hitting sixth and playing DH in the Gold Medal game, he was 1 for 4 in a win over Russia. He also was the Hoofdklasse Honkbal MVP.

Following his career, he had his number, 14, retired by Corendon Kinheim. As well, he was inducted into the Dutch Baseball Hall of Fame. His hit and games played records were broken by Dirk van 't Klooster in 2014.

In total, he played in six European Championships, six World Baseball Championships, seven Haarlemse Honkbalweeks, two Intercontinental Cups, four World Port Tournaments, the Golden Cup Tournament and two Chung Hua Tournaments, totaling 163 international matches.

Joost also played soccer for many years. His sister Monique Joost played softball in the Netherlands.

After his playing days, he coached for Kinheim in 2003 and then again starting in 2006. He was hitting coach and first base coach for the Dutch national team in the 2006 Haarlem Baseball Week and 2006 Intercontinental Cup.