“Slump is a Growing Fase”: A Former Dutch Professional Baseball Player who Played in Japan, Korea, and the U.S. gives advice for Career Transition

Baseball is the most popular national sport in Japan, but it is surprisingly overshadowed in the Netherlands. Despite this, there is a Dutch pitcher who fulfilled his dream of becoming a professional baseball player and has played in Major League Baseball in the U.S., Korea, and Japan. His name is Rick van den Hurk.

At the end of his professional baseball career, he was a member of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. He retired in 2022 at the age of 37. Since returning to the Netherlands, he has worked as a consultant for Major League Baseball as well as a speaker, who shares his experiences and gives advice to struggling businesspeople.

I interviewed him to find out how we can overcome work slumps and major career transitions.

Tips for overcoming the ups and downs

In April this year, about 150 fans gathered at an event of a baseball club ‘Oosterhout Twins’ in Oosterhout, a small town in the southern part of the Netherlands. The baseball community in the Netherlands is very small, but their enthusiasm is huge.

Rick van den Hurk was 10-13 years old when he played for the club. He became the first Dutch Major Leaguer and is a hero in the local baseball community. Now he is the guest speaker at the event and shares his secrets with the audience on how to overcome the “ups and downs” in the game and at work.

“You are not always in good shape. When the red light of a bad condition comes on, that's when you have to learn. You must program how to bring it to a green light without getting into a vicious cycle. Specifically, what I did in my games was to take physical action at first. Grab powder and throw it toward the sky or ground a few times. Step two is to look at the focal point. There is always the flag of my club hanging in the stadium, so I look at it and take a deep breath. Then I say to myself. ‘Vendy, right here, right now’......” (van den Hurk, the same applies hereafter)

Not only on sport events, but van den Hurk sometimes speaks at business conferences as well. He started his career earlier and confronted ups and downs earlier than most of the business people. His life story has resonated with many of them.

Professional baseball career began at age 16

Sports was the core value of van den Hurk family, and he enjoyed a variety of sports, including judo, football, swimming, and skating, in addition to baseball from a young age. He ultimately chose baseball, the “minor sport”, because of his father's influence, who is a fanatic baseball fan.

He made his mark with the local Eindhoven team, and soon moved on to the Oosterhout Twins, who played at the national level, and he even visited Japan twice for the national team when he was 11 and 12 years old.

“Japan was totally different world.”, he said. Unlike in the Netherlands, there are baseball field everywhere, and he was surprised to see kids playing catch all the time in Japan. “I never thought that I would join a Japanese professional baseball team in the future, so I left Japan with a suitcase full of Japanese culture (laughs).”

At the age of 16, he was scouted by the U.S. to participate in a baseball training program while attending the local school. After completing the nine-month program, he was signed by the U.S. Minor League Baseball and integrated into the American baseball system. After experiencing baseball at various levels for five years, he played in the Major Leagues for six years.

?“Of course, there were good times and bad times. I was very lonely. I had several surgeries and injuries. I didn’t know what comes next. Is this my last year as a baseball player or am I able to continue? In the end, I could move forward because I had the vision to compete at the highest level as a baseball player.”

From Major League to Asia

In his 11th year in the United States, there was a turning point in his career, when his contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates was about to expire. “The Major League team was trying to sell my contract. That meant I was not an ‘A-plan’ for them. I wanted to be a starting pitcher, and I decided to move to Samsung Lions in Korea, which gave me that opportunity. I was 28 years old.”

He could not understand Korean language and it took him some time to adjust to the cultural differences, but he says that being able to compete at the top level of Korean baseball was a great benefit to his life. In Korea, he encountered with mindfulness, and it had a positive impact on his concentration and emotions, which led to his remarkable performance. The Samsung Lions won the Korean Series.

After spending two years in Korea, van den Hurk joined Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in 2015. The team was at its peak with manager Kimiyasu Kudo at the time, and van den Hurk contributed to the team’s championship in the Japan Series. He looks back on Japanese baseball culture.

“The Japanese emphasize respect, harmony, and hierarchy in their relationships. Most of the time they do not express their opinions to superiors, which may lead to miscommunication. It's clearly a different culture than in the Netherlands, where everything is direct. On the other hand, they focus on fighting collectively as a team, and I think that is the strengths of Japanese teams.”

Retirement and a new identity

The team was in great shape, but van den Hurk began to feel physically old, and in 2019 he suffered a serious damage on his lower back. In 2021, he signed with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows and trained hard, believing in his recovery, but his back was locking up again.

“I felt it was getting harder and harder to pitch at the highest level. In your mind, you think you can get there, but the body is holding you back. In my last season, when the thought of retirement popped up in my mind, the battle in myself has begun. It was very tough.”

After the season, van den Hurk talked with his wife and decided to retire. He talked with several seniors and coaches about what they did and how they got through these stages in their lives.

“When you are suffering, you tend to think that you are the only one going through it, but when you start talking to other people, you find out that many people are going through the same situation. So I think sharing is an important part of it. And it's very important to surround yourself with people who can influence you and be honest with you.”

He didn’t know what he would do next exactly, but he knew he wanted to stay connected to baseball and to use his knowledge and overseas experience. “It's a process of losing an old identity and gaining into a new one.”, he said. “It takes time.”

Reflecting yourself in nature

When it comes to building a new career, van den Hurk recommends reflecting on yourself. While lack of experience can be a stumbling block to taking on new challenges, he stresses that it is important to look back at what you have accomplished and believe in your unique skill set.

According to him, what is important for reflection is to take time for yourself. It is a time to slow down and process what is going on inside of you. He especially recommends “Shinrinyoku (forest bathing)”, a practice he learned about in Japan.

“Go into nature. Go to a park or an Onsen (hot spring). Just be there and observe. It will calm your mind and it helps you hormonally to get back into your body and to yourself.”

Another important point, van den Hurk added, is as follows.

“If you are in a career slump, don't let it identify you as a ‘failure’. In baseball, losing a game doesn't make me a failure. I am still a good pitcher, but I need to learn something from the losing experience and work hard to improve what was exposed in the game. A slump is a very lonely and deep suffering. But it does tell you something. It means that we are in a learning fase. How can you learn if you are always on a roll? You’re never going to learn something. That is a completely different perspective. Slumps help us to keep growing.”

Now that he has returned to the Netherlands, where baseball culture is scarce, he misses the routine of the player life and Japanese baseball culture. It takes a lot of time to switch from a life that has revolved around baseball to a new lifestyle. But for now, he enjoys spending time with his family, supporting the exchange between Europe and U.S. Major League Baseball, and working as a trainer for his son's baseball team on the weekends. And in the future, he has a vision to further expand his activities as a speaker and help more people.

“I am happy that I can touch the lives of people, and they can draw inspiration of my journey”. Van den Hurk’s authentic and sincere advice will continue to go straight to the hearts of the people.

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