Tallest Baseball Player: Do You Know About Loek Van Mil?

Have you ever wondered who could be the tallest Baseball player? You know, height is considered a very crucial parameter in basketball. But come on! No rule says tall players cannot be excellent Baseball players.

Ludovicus Jacobus Maria “Loek” van Mil commonly referred to as “Loek Van Mil,” is considered to be the tallest baseball player. With an astounding height of 7 feet and 1 inch, he was supposed to be the tallest baseball player in the entire professional baseball history.

A Brief History about the Tallest Baseball Player

Loek van Mil was Dutch by birth. You would be surprised to know Baseball is not the only sport he learned to play. As a young kid, he was trained for “Judo” from the age of four till the age of seven. Judo is a modernized version of Japanese martial art for people who are unaware of this sport. Judo is even played as an Olympic sport.

But after a while, Mil’s mother offered him to join any team sports, and he chose Baseball. Mil was a tall kid from the very beginning. At just the age of twelve, he was six feet and 1 inch. Although tallness is a trait of the Dutch people, he was surprisingly growing fast. By the age of fifteen, he was already seven feet.

Mil started his career in Baseball as a catcher, but his height became an issue for the position, after which he was shifted to the “First base” position by the coach he was training under at that time. But when Mil reached the age of seventeen, his coach observed that he had a mighty throwing arm and would make for an excellent pitcher.

Career Graph of Loek Van Mil

Mil began his career as a professional baseball player at 21. He started his journey with the outstanding team ” Minnesota Twins” by signing a contract for a period of seven years as a “non-drafted free agent.” And thus, he began his career as a professional player in the year 2005.

He wanted to participate in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. But he was not very lucky. Unfortunately, he suffered from a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament, which heavily affected his career. Injury in the right arm of the tallest baseball player was caused while preparing for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He was so severely affected by this that he had to miss even the first seven weeks of the “2009 season” and spend the time in rehabilitation.

In 2010, Mil, the tallest baseball player, was considered PTMNL for the Los Angeles Angels. If you are not aware of this term, let us explain this to you in brief. PTMNL is an acronym that is used for the phrase “player to be named later.” These are actually unnamed players that are traded among various teams in MLB or Major League Baseball.

After a two-year tenure with the Los Angeles Angels, the team traded the tallest baseball player to the Cleveland Indians, who further assigned Mil to the Akron Aeros of the Class AA Eastern League. This event took place in May of the year 2012.

After that, Mil played for various other teams like the “Rakuten Golden Eagles” “Curaçao Neptunus” before again returning to the “Minnesota twins” in 2015. Mil was a pitcher for the “Minnesota Twins AAA affiliate.”

Other Achievements of Loek Van Mil

Apart from those teams, Mil also played for the popular japan’s Professional Baseball before signing up for the Australian League Baseball, popularly known as the ALB. He played for the Adelaide Giants, then known as the Adelaide Bite, for 2015-16 and 2017-18. After that, he signed up with the Brisbane Bandits and played for them 2018-19 before losing his life to a tragic end.

Mil was also a part of the Netherlands National team and played for then in his career as a professional Baseball player. He was even seen on the 2013 and 2017 World Baseball Classic.

Death of the Tallest Baseball Player

The renowned baseball player, who was very popular for his fantastic height, left for the heavenly abode on the 28th of July, 2019. His death was very shocking for the entire baseball fraternity, as he was just 34 years old.

The Royal Dutch Baseball and Softball Association KNBSB made a public announcement on the following day confirming his death due to a fatal accident. A detailed report regarding the cause of his death was not shared with the public since his family requested so. The Association maintained the secrecy to acknowledge the privacy requested by the family.

But as far as the reports of various newspapers are considered, Mil was said to have suffered “head injuries” during a hiking trip. He was admitted to an “Australian hospital” (the name of which has been withheld for privacy issues), where he was in a critical but considerable stable state.

According to the official MLB reports, the tallest baseball player, Loek van Mil, slipped and hit his head on a rock during his hike. This resulted in him becoming unconscious, and he did not regain consciousness until the next twenty-four hours. He was hiking in Canberra, a place in Australia. This fall caused multiple fractures in his body and hemorrhages and bleeding in his brain, making his condition more critical.

The tallest Baseball player was not playing the sport anymore after announcing his retirement earlier in June 2019.

The official statement issued by the Royal Dutch Baseball and Softball Association KNBSB said, “The KNBSB is very grateful to Mil for what he has done in his career for Dutch baseball and wishes the surviving relatives strength to cope with this major loss.”

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