I hear you say: “Who?”

Timothy Broas, the former US Ambassador to the Netherlands has accepted a role as ambassador of the KNBSB (Royal Dutch Baseball and Softball Federation) and of the Curacao Baseball Development Foundation.

Both institutions can benefit from his enormous resource of international contacts. You may think: “How?” Well, as an ambassador Broas has worked with a lot of people, has spoken with many companies and business men. With those contacts a lot can be done.

Those contacts can be used to convince a company to become sponsor of the KNBSB or Curacao Baseball Development Foundation. But to convince them to do so, you have to give something in return. Take a partner of the KNBSB, who attended a trade fair in Cuba. The company advertised with a banner sporting the logo of the KNBSB and a photo of a baseball player. This attracted a lot of potential customers.

Recently a Dutch delegation of companies and business men went to Cuba. This delegation was accompanied by the baseball team of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Eventually the game that was planned never took off due to bad weather, but the sport managed to bridge a gap and because of that many companies managed to strike a deal with Cuba.

Where the KNBSB may need months to get access to a certain organization, a simple phone call by the former US Ambassador can arrange this within minutes.

But not only his actions are very valuable, also his presence with the two institutions is. To companies and organizations the presence of a former ambassador is trustworthy and as a result they can be convinced to become a partner of the KNBSB and of the Curacao Baseball Development Foundation.

The decision to join forces with Timothy Broas was a wise one. It will not impose any harm to Dutch and Curacao baseball for sure.