The 1956 Claxton Shield was the seventeenth annual Claxton Shield

Claxton Shield

The Claxton Shield was the name of the premier baseball competition in Australia held between state-based teams, as well as the name of the trophy awarded to the champion team...

, it was held in Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

, South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

. The participants were South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia. The series was won by Victoria in due to a controversial decision in the final game. They claimed their fifth Shield title. The 1956 Olympic Baseball team

Baseball at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Baseball was again a demonstration sport at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. Though it was nominally the "foreign" demonstration sport of that Olympiad, Australia had a long history of baseball dating back to at least 1889...

 was selected from the tournament.

Controversy

The final game of the Shield erupted in controversy when South Australia played Victoria. Victoria stood with a 3-0 record, Western Australia with a 2-1 as well as South Australia. If South Australia won against Victoria in the final game, the winner would be determined on runs for and against.

The game was tied 4-4 at the end and went to extra innings

Extra innings

Extra innings is the extension of a baseball or softball game in order to break a tie.Ordinarily, a baseball game consists of nine innings , each of which is divided into halves: the visiting team bats first, after which the home team takes its turn at bat...

, with South Australia making the break through, going ahead 5-4 going into the bottom of 12. The South Australian team realised that a 1 run win would not be enough to win the series and needed to score more runs, therefore they had to allow Victoria to score so they could chance a bigger win in the 13th inning. With a Victorian runner on third base the pitcher

Pitcher

In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...

 attempted a pickoff

Pickoff

In baseball, a pickoff is an act by a pitcher or a catcher, throwing a live ball to a fielder so that the fielder can tag out a baserunner who is either leading off or about to begin stealing the next base....

, deliberately throwing the ball away. The umpire called a dead ball

Dead ball

Dead ball is a phenomenon in many sports in which the ball is deemed temporarily not playable, and no movement may be made with it or the players from their respective positions of significance...

 and sent the runner back to third. The next pitch, the South Australian pitcher deliberately balk

Balk

In baseball, a pitcher can commit a number of illegal motions or actions that constitute a balk. In games played under the Official Baseball Rules, a balk results in a dead ball or delayed dead ball. In certain other circumstances, a balk may be wholly or partially disregarded...

ed, which would have allowed the run to score, but the home plate umpire

Umpire (baseball)

In baseball, the umpire is the person charged with officiating the game, including beginning and ending the game, enforcing the rules of the game and the grounds, making judgment calls on plays, and handling the disciplinary actions. The term is often shortened to the colloquial form ump...

called the game over and gave the game to Victoria 9-0 on the technicality South Australia brought the game into disrepute.

Appeals by the South Australian team to the Australian Baseball Corporation were denied, so the championship was awarded to Victoria.