Amsterdam Pirates is a Dutch

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

and

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

organization based in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. It was founded as an expansion of the football club

SV Rap Sportvereeniging Rap is a Dutch football (soccer) club based in Amstelveen, Netherlands. It competes in the Vijfde Klasse, the eight tier of football in the Netherlands, and the sixth tier of Dutch amateur football. The club was founded in 19 ...

on 17 February 1959 by Loek Loevendie. In the first years it was known as the RAP Pirates, but after a few years the club changed its name according to American tradition (first city name, then franchise name) and became the Amsterdam Pirates. The Pirates play at the Pirates Playground on Sportpark Ookmeer in

Osdorp Osdorp () is neighbourhood of Amsterdam, Netherlands. A larger area was, from 1981 until 2010, a ''stadsdeel'' (borough) of Amsterdam and in 2010 was merged into the new borough of Amsterdam Nieuw-West. Neighborhood The core neighborhood of Osdor ...

, in the west of Amsterdam. This stadium was one of the hosts of the 2007 European Softball Championship. The club celebrated a Dutch Championship in 1987 and 1990. The next few years it was at the lower end of the League, which is dominated by

Neptunus Neptunus is a baseball and softball club in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Following its 2014 championship season, the club signed a sponsorship contract for the 2015, 2016 and 2017 seasons with Curaçao and competes under the name Curaçao Neptun ...

from

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

. In earlier years there was another team in Amsterdam, called Amstel Tijgers (Tigers) and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club AFC Ajax also played baseball, and has been champions a number of times. The club is the second largest baseball club of the Netherlands (after

Almere Almere () is a Planned community, planned List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Flevoland, Netherlands, located about 20 km ...

). For sponsorship reasons, the baseball team plays under the name L&D Amsterdam.

Roster

New hopes and championship

In 2007 it reached the playoffs of the Dutch

Honkbal Hoofdklasse The Honkbal Hoofdklasse (Dutch for ''Major League Baseball'') is the highest level of professional baseball in the Netherlands. It is an eight-team league that plays a 42-game schedule and is overseen by the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball ...

for the first time in 15 years. It almost reached the

Holland Series The Holland Series has been the annual championship series of the highest level of professional baseball in the Netherlands since 1987, concluding the postseason of Honkbal Hoofdklasse. It is played between the two winners of the playoffs. The Ho ...

, coming back in a best of five series, after being 2–0 down, in the end they lost. 2008 did saw their third championship (and their 2nd holland series championship). They reached the playoffs by being 3rd in the regular season, then beating Neptunus in the first round and defending champions Kinheim in the

2008 Holland Series The 2008 Holland Series involved the defending champions Corendon Kinheim being defeated by the Amsterdam Pirates Amsterdam Pirates is a Dutch baseball and softball organization based in Amsterdam. It was founded as an expansion of the football ...

. The Holland Series was a clean sweep, with the final game ending 12–0. In 2011 they were champions again, beating Hoofddorp Pioneers. In 2019 Amsterdam Pirates won its fifth championship, beating

with 4–3 in the Holland Series after a 3-0 backlog.

References

External links

Official PageKNBSB
Dutch baseball and softball association {{Honkbal Hoofdklasse Sports clubs in Amsterdam Baseball teams in the Netherlands Softball teams in the Netherlands