Sidney de Jong, one of the best baseball players to have been born and trained in the Netherlands, died on Wednesday at the age of 46.
A catcher, de Jong is best remembered for an 11th inning pinch-hit double off the Dominican Republic’s Carlos Marmol that sparked a Dutch rally at the 2009 World Baseball Classic. One batter later, a single by Eugene Kingsale scored de Jong to tie the game in the bottom of the 11th. Kingsale later scored on an error when Dominican first baseman Willy Aybar booted a grounder by Yurendell de Caster, giving the Netherlands a sudden, shocking win over one of the world’s biggest baseball powers, one that remains the biggest upset in WBC history and pushed the Netherlands on to the next round.
RIP to Sidney de Jong with his passing today. His lead-off double against the Dominican Republic helped spark the rally that enabled The Netherlands to eliminate the DR 2-1 in the 2009 WBC in what is still by far the greatest upset in World Baseball Classic history https://t.co/uT8tMePPHz pic.twitter.com/bIObDJUZP8
— Jeff Duda (@INTLBaseball24) January 8, 2026
Born April 14, 1979, in Amsterdam, de Jong played in the Honkbal Hoofdklasse, the top league in the Netherlands, with HCAW and the Amsterdam Pirates, batting over .300 in every season for which statistics are available on Baseball Reference. As a member of the Dutch national team, he led the kingdom to the 2011 Baseball World Cup title, serving as the team captain, played in the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games, and won four European Championships.
Since retiring as a player, de Jong had served as a coach in both the Honkbal Hoofdklasse and for the Dutch national team program. He was slated to be on the coaching staff for the Kingdom of the Netherlands at the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
Photo: The Netherlands’ Sidney de Jong, right, is congratulated by coach Eittel Martinus after hitting a solo home run in the first inning of the Baseball World Cup first round game against Puerto Rico in Panama City, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2011. Netherlands won 5-0. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
