Han Urbanus

Hendrikus Johannes Urbanus (22 June 1927 – 25 February 2021) was a Dutch baseball player who played most of his professional career as a pitcher. He is generally considered one of the best Dutch players of all time, and was inducted into the Netherlands Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983.

Professional career Urbanus debuted in the Honkbal Hoofdklasse with at the age of 19 in 1949, and would play with them for the next 24 years. He led OVVO to the Hoofdklasse championship five times in a row between 1949 and 1953.

In 1952, Urbanus accepted an offer to attend spring training with the New York Giants. The visit was arranged by Albert Balink, a Dutch-American journalist and magazine editor. His performance was decent; in an intra-squad game, the only Giant able to hit Urbanus' pitching out of the infield was Monte Irvin, the future Baseball Hall of Famer. However, he quickly changed his pitching mechanics when it was discovered that, due to a mistranslation in the rules used by Dutch baseball, Urbanus (and all other Dutch pitchers) had been trained to keep his feet on the pitching rubber during his delivery, which stunted his pitch velocity. He also learned how to throw a curveball thanks to the instruction of Giants ace Sal Maglie. Urbanus returned to Giants spring training in 1953 and was reportedly offered a contract but turned it down.

During his Hoofdklasse career, Urbanus threw 9 no-hitters for OVVO, was named best pitcher five times, and was honoured as the league's MVP three times. Despite his success in the league, Urbanus worked outside of baseball as an accountant at Klynveld Kraayenhof & Co. in Rotterdam.

The Netherlands first made their appearance at the European Baseball Championship in 1956, winning the title over Italy. It would be the first of a highly successful period in international competition for the team, winning ten consecutive titles. Urbanus participated in seven of those titles, from 1956 to 1965.

Urbanus's older brother, , played and coached baseball in the Netherlands. Urbanus' sons, (named after his uncle) and Johan, also played in the Hoofdklasse. His grandson, Nick Urbanus, played in the Texas Rangers minor league system from 2011 to 2014, then in the Hoofdklasse through 2018.

Urbanus died on 25 February 2021.