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Here’s something you don’t know: In the Netherlands, professional baseball is called Honkbal Hoofdklasse.
Something else you don’t know? A single player on the Netherland’s World Baseball Classic team, which shocked the honkbal world by somehow taking down a powerhouse, all-star Domincan Republic club in the 11th inning last night.
The Domincan team’s roster earned more than $80 million in MLB last year. The Netherlands included only two guys who’d ever even played in the bigs, with a combined salary of $400K. It was an awesome, epic-level Cinderella story. And it sucks for Miami.
With the WBC’s second round set to roll at Dolphin Stadium on Saturday, local honkbal fans suddenly have a lot less star power to pull them north on 95.
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Gone, in one swing of a Dutch bat last night, are any hopes of seeing David Ortiz, Pedro Martinez and Jose Reyes playing for their homeland. Instead, we get Sidney de Jong and Yurendell de Caster.
At least all the Hoofdklasse fans in the Magic City are having a Heineken this morning.
