About

Amsterdam Pirates is a Dutch baseball and softball organization based in Amsterdam. It was founded as an expansion of the football club S.V. RAP on 17 February 1959 by Loek Loevendie. In the first years it was known as the RAP Pirates, but after a few years the club changed its name according to American tradition (first city name, then franchise name) and became the Amsterdam Pirates. The Pirates play at the Pirates Playground on Sportpark Ookmeer in Osdorp, in the west of Amsterdam. This stadium was one of the hosts of the 2007 European Softball Championship. The club celebrated a Dutch Championship in 1987 and 1990. The next few years it was at the lower end of the League, which is dominated by Neptunus from Rotterdam. In earlier years there was another team in Amsterdam, called Amstel Tijgers (Tigers) and football club AFC Ajax also played base ball, and has been champions a number of times. The club is the second largest baseball club of the Netherlands (after Almere). For sponsorship reasons, the baseball team plays under the name L&D Amsterdam.