After Dutch baseball player “Hannie” Urbanus got home, he lost control over his his fancy new repertory of curves and fireballs, but regained control and won the Dutch championship.

Not long after Johannes Hendrikus Urbanus got back to The Netherlands last spring, a Dutch baseball official said sadly: “I wish Hannie had stayed home.” The star pitcher of the Dutch Honkbal champions, Amsterdam’s Op Volharding Volgt Overwinning (perseverance leads to victory) team, Hannie, 25, had just spent a month…

A Dutch baseball pitcher Johannes “Hannie” Urbanus was invited to spend a month of training with the NY Giants. A report on ‘honkbal’ in the Netherlands made famous by U.S. soldiers.

In The Netherlands, sport fans know Johannes Hendrikus Urbanus as well as Americans know Urbanus’ hero, Bob Feller. Like Feller, 24-year-old Urbanus is a pitcher. He plays on Amsterdam’s Op Volharding Volgt Overwinning (Perseverance Leads to Victory) team. The O.V.V.O. nine, behind Urbanus’ consistent pitching, has won three straight Dutch…