The baseball division was established in 1921. During that period, Daan Roodenburgh was one of the driving forces behind this new branch of the club. The later secretary, and above all the architect of Ajax’s stadium de Meer, where the club played from 1934 to 1996, enthused his fellow members for the summer sport.
Success
The baseball division grew rapidly, and success soon followed. As early as 1924, Ajax’s baseball team became national champions. Four years later, a second national title was added. Ajax also played the best baseball in the Netherlands in 1942 and 1948. In that latter championship year, the football division had won eight league titles and ‘only’ two cups.
During and especially after the Second World War, baseball became increasingly popular in the Netherlands. Matches of 'Ajax Baseball' also attracted growing crowds. The Ajacieden regularly played their games in front of five thousand spectators. The Amsterdam city derbies, in particular, drew large audiences.
Johan Cruijff, the young catcher
Alongside Ajax members who excelled primarily on the baseball field, outstanding footballers also honed their skills in baseball. The team photo featuring a young catcher, Johan Cruijff, is the most famous. But Ajax icons such as Rinus Michels, Sjaak Swart and Bobby Haarms were also adept with ball and bat. First-team players Henk Blomvliet and Loek den Edel, as well as future board member and honorary member Leo van Wijk, were also well-known baseball-playing Ajacieden. The team, which included Cruijff and Van Wijk, became champions of Amsterdam.
Piet Ouderland deserves special mention. The Ajax first-team player of the 1950s and early 1960s was also an outstanding baseball and basketball player. He became a national champion in all three sports, though only in football with Ajax. Ouderland played 263 matches for Ajax’s first team. He remains the only sportsman to have been an international in two sports: football and basketball.
Within the Ajax Heritage collection, numerous references to the club’s baseball past can still be found. At the De Toekomst training complex, the memory of that past is also kept alive. The stained-glass artwork on the wall clearly depicts a catcher and a batter from the Ajax team. This piece is a highlight of the heritage collection; it was carefully transferred to De Toekomst in 1996 after the move from de Meer.
In 1972, Ajax decided to dissolve the baseball division, much to the disappointment of, among others, baseball board member André Kraan. The honorary member devoted an emotional ‘Farewell’ to it in Ajax Club News. ‘We all retain the most pleasant memories of the baseball years,’ wrote clubman Kraan about the sport of bat and ball. ‘Ball and bat have been put away. (…) As consolation, the memories remain, a great consolation, for they are many and beautiful.’ After more than fifty years of Ajax baseball, the club would henceforth focus solely on football.
Ajax and adidas honour this illustrious and remarkable baseball history on the club’s 126th anniversary with an exclusive baseball line.
