(Gus Schuettler/Stars and Stripes)

Haarlem, the Netherlands, June 4, 1961: Although baseball is quite popular in the Netherlands, one major problem is the getting equipment to play it as it’s all made in the United States and import taxes are high. Kids — like the ones playing the game here on a field in Haarlem — use old soccer balls as catcher’s mitts and table legs as baseball bats. They call it “honkbal” in Holland and the Dutch have really taken to the old ball game. Haarlem is considered the center of Dutch honkbal — honk meaning base in Dutch — and the first baseball team in the Netherlands was founded in Haarlem on June 6, 1923.

Read the full story about honkbal in Haarlem here.

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