Greg Halman

Gregory Anthony Halman (August 26, 1987 – November 21, 2011) was a Dutch professional baseball outfielder. He played with the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB) in and . He also played internationally with the Netherlands national team in the 2007 European Baseball Championship and 2009 World Baseball Classic (WBC). He died in Rotterdam in November 2011 after being stabbed at his brother's house. His younger brother, , was arrested in connection with the stabbing but was acquitted on the grounds of temporary insanity.

Career

Netherlands

Halman, like his father and younger brother Jason, played professional baseball in the Netherlands and on the Netherlands national team. Halman debuted when he was 16 years old with the Dutch Honkbal Hoofdklasse team Kinheim in Haarlem in 2003. That season, he led the league with six triples. The next year, Halman was one of the best players in the country, batting .358 with a league-leading 4 home runs, 4 triples, and 41 runs batted in (RBIs). He won the league's MVP Award and was named the most promising young Dutch player. He primarily played first base in 2004. His strong play drew the notice of American baseball scouts.

Halman was named to the Netherlands' provisional roster ahead of the 2006 World Baseball Classic but was not selected for the final team. Halman played six games, starting three, for the Dutch national team in the 2007 European Baseball Championship. He hit .357 with one stolen base. He helped the Netherlands go undefeated and win the European title and qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2009 World Baseball Classic (WBC).

In the WBC, Halman hit .091 with one double and nine strikeouts in 11 at bats in four games. The Dutch team made a surprising run to the second round of the tournament but finished with two wins and four losses.

Minor League Baseball

Halman signed with the Minnesota Twins on November 21, 2003, but his contract was voided on April 1, 2004.

Halman signed with the Seattle Mariners on June 26, 2004. He participated in the 2004 Arizona Instructional League. In , he made his American debut, playing 26 games with the Rookie league Arizona League Mariners. He played all three outfield positions. He recorded a season-high three RBIs on July 9. He went 4 for 5 with a run and first home run in America on July 10. Halman hit .438 against lefties, compared to .219 against right-handed pitchers. He again participated in the Arizona Instructional League in 2005.

In 2006, he hit .259 with 5 home runs and 15 RBI in 28 games for the Low-A Everett AquaSox. He was third on the team with 10 stolen bases. He had a 12-game hitting streak from June 21 to July 4. He had eight multi-hit games, including a season-high three hits on July 19. However, he suffered a season-ending injury, fracturing his right hand and being placed on the disabled list on July 22.

Halman started 2007 with the Single-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, but batted only .182 in 52 games and was demoted to Everett in mid-June. With the AquaSox, he hit .307 with 16 home runs and 16 stolen bases in 62 games. He was named to the Short-Season A and Northwest League All-Star teams and was also named the Short-Season A Player of the Year. With both Wisconsin and Everett, Halman was teammates with fellow Dutch ballplayer Kalian Sams.

Halman was promoted to the High-A High Desert Mavericks to start 2008. After batting .269 with 19 home runs and 53 RBI in 67 games, he was promoted to the Double-A West Tenn Diamond Jaxx on June 17, where he hit another 10 home runs. He ended the season with a combined 29 home runs and 31 stolen bases, which led him to be named the Mariners' Minor League Player of the Year. After the regular season, he returned to the Netherlands to play four games with Kinheim, going 4-for-11 with three doubles and two sacrifice flies. He also played for the Peoria Javelinas in the Arizona Fall League, batting only .217 with three home runs in 21 games.

He returned to Double-A in 2009, but his performance dipped. He hit .210 with 25 home runs and a team-high 183 strikeouts in 121 games. He was named to the Southern League All-Star team. He was hit by 15 pitches, more than three times as many

Halman was promoted to the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers at the start of the 2010 season. He hit .243 and led the team with 33 home runs, 80 RBI, 15 stolen bases, and 169 strikeouts. Halman and the Rainiers won the 2010 Pacific Coast League championship.

Major League Baseball

On September 22, 2010, Halman and three teammates were called up to the Seattle Mariners after Tacoma's title run. He played in his first MLB game on September 23, starting in center field. After making outs in his first nine at bats, he notched his first hit, a double off C.J. Wilson of the Texas Rangers, on September 27. He played in nine of the Mariners' final 11 games, batting .138 with 11 strikeouts and one walk in 30 plate appearances.

Halman started the 2011 season back in Tacoma. On June 3, Halman rejoined the Mariners, replacing struggling outfielder Michael Saunders, who was sent down to Tacoma. He had three hits in his first two games with the Mariners. Halman hit his first MLB home run on June 15 in a 3–1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels. His last MLB hit was his second career home run, off Brett Cecil of the Toronto Blue Jays on July 19. He played his final game with the Mariners on August 3 against the Oakland Athletics, striking out a career-high three times. The next day, he was optioned back to Tacoma, after going hitless in 19 consecutive plate appearances. His second MLB season ended with a .230 batting average. He struck out in one third of his plate appearances. He hit better in Tacoma, batting .299 with a .358 on-base percentage, both career highs in American baseball, with 3 home runs in 40 games. In his final minor league game, Halman hit three singles and scored twice against the Fresno Grizzlies on September 5.

Personal life

Halman spoke Dutch, English, Spanish, and Papiamento. He grew up speaking Dutch and English and learned Spanish in 2005, his first year in the United States. He graduated from high school at in Haarlem in June 2004.

Halman's family had many athletes. In addition to his brother and father playing baseball for the Netherlands, his older sister, Naomi Halman, played on the Dutch national basketball team and in European leagues. His younger sister, Eva Halman, played several seasons in the top Dutch softball league.

Halman began playing baseball with his father when he was three years old. He played on Dutch youth teams with Kalian Sams and Rick van den Hurk.

Death

On November 21, 2011, Halman died of blood loss in Rotterdam from a laceration to his carotid artery. He was 24 years old. His brother, Jason Halman, was arrested for Greg's death. Reportedly, Greg approached Jason about loud music, which resulted in an argument and then a stabbing.

Halman, wearing his Mariners uniform, was buried in in Dreihuis on November 29. Thousands of people, including several former Mariners teammates, attended his funeral and burial. His family chose his burial plot, a small grove near the North Sea, because it reminded them of a baseball diamond. Halman was the first former MLB player known to have died in the Netherlands.

On August 16, 2012, Dutch authorities released Jason Halman from custody, after prosecutors agreed with his attorneys that Jason had been suffering from psychosis at the time of the stabbing, induced in part by his cannabis use. Jason agreed to supervision by a probation officer and to undergo mental health treatment. On August 30, 2012, a Dutch court formally acquitted Jason due to temporary insanity. The court freed him, stating that his psychiatric and psychological assessments found that there was only a small chance of reoccurrence.

The Everett AquaSox retired Halman's number 26 on June 23, 2012.

See also

* List of baseball players who died during their careers

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halman, Greg
1987 births
2007 European Baseball Championship players
2009 World Baseball Classic players
2011 deaths
Arizona League Mariners players
Baseball players from Haarlem
Deaths by stabbing in the Netherlands
Dutch expatriate baseball players in the United States
Dutch people of Aruban descent
Everett AquaSox players
Fratricides
High Desert Mavericks players
Major League Baseball players from the Netherlands
Peoria Javelinas players
Seattle Mariners players
Tacoma Rainiers players
West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx players
Wisconsin Timber Rattlers players
Corendon Kinheim players
European baseball people