Charles Urbanus Jr.
From BR Bullpen
Charles Pierre Urbain
- Born April 2, 1955 in Amsterdam Netherlands
Charles Urbanus Jr. was part of the first family of Dutch baseball. He is the son of Han Urbanus, nephew of Charles Urbanus Sr. (as odd as that may seem), brother of Johan Urbanus and father of Nick Urbanus. He played 131 games for the Dutch national team. Urbanus led the league in several offensive and several pitching categories during his stellar career.
Charles won the 1970 Roel de Mon Award and the 1971 Ron Fraser Award. He debuted in the Hoofdklasse in 1971 with OVVO. In 1973, the teenager starred his father's lifelong club, OVVO Amsterdam, leading Hoofdklasse with 136 strikeouts. He was both the Pitcher of the Year and MVP. In 1974, he again paced the circuit in batters whiffed (120).
Urbanus led the league in strikeouts a third time, with 143 in 1975, and was named Pitcher of the Year. He was named the Best Hitter in the 1978 Haarlem Baseball Week. During the 1978 Amateur World Series, Urbanus hit .308/.341/.462 as the Dutch shortstop; he did not pitch during the tournament.
In 1979, Urbanus led the Hoofdklasse in both hits (59) and batting average (.430). He had his last great season as a pitcher in 1980, going 12-2 with a 1.58 ERA and leading the league in both winning percentage and ERA. He won his third Pitcher of the Year title. Due to arm problems, Urbanus moved from the mound to the field, where he had obviously shown his talent already.
Urbanus won his second batting crown in 1981, at .445. During the 1981 European Championship, he batted .522 as the top hitter in the event. In the 1982 Amateur World Series, he had six hits and two home runs in one win over the rival Italian national team. Urbanus dominated Italy in the 1985 European Championship as well; in the finals, he had a 4-hit game and 3-hit game against them.
Urbanus led the 1986 Hoofdklasse with 73 hits and was named MVP, 13 years after he first won the award. He concluded his international career in the 1986 Amateur World Series.
Overall, he had 659 hits (65 homers) in 465 games in the Hoofdklasse with a .379 average. As a pitcher, he was 76-36 with 878 strikeouts. He had played in five Amateur World Series and six European Championships. His 131 games for the Dutch national team were a record until broken by Marcel Joost.
After his playing career ended, Charles became a coach. He was named the Dutch Coach of the Year in 1991 with Neptunus; in 1993, he split the award with Jan-Dick Leurs. From 1989-1991, he was unofficially the pitching coach for the national team. He was also a coach with the Netherlands in the 2000 Olympics. In addition to coaching with Neptunus, he coached for the Amsterdam Pirates (1995-1997).
In 1997, Charles followed his uncle and father into the Dutch Baseball Hall of Fame.
Urbanus had a record of 105-54-4 as a coach through 1997. In 2010, he will return to the head coaching ranks as lead man of the Amsterdam Pirates, replacing former major leaguer Rikkert Faneyte.
Urbanus was a physical education teacher when not playing baseball.
[edit] Sources
- Honkbalgids 2000 by Marco Stoovelaar
- Dutch Wikipedia entry
- Baseball in Europe by Josh Chetwynd
- Defunct IBAF site
- Haarlem Baseball Week
- Marco Stoovelaar's Dutch Baseball Site
