Claxton Shield
Encyclopedia
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. From the summer of 1989–1990 until 2001–02, and again since 2010–11, the tournament was replaced by one of three other competitions: the original Australian Baseball League (ABL), the International Baseball League of Australia
(IBLA), and since the 2010–11 season
the new ABL
. Despite other competitions being held in place of the Claxton Shield, the physical trophy has remained the award for the winning teams. Though city-based teams have competed for the Claxton Shield in some seasons, the name engraved on the shield is that of the winning state; for the 2010–11 ABL season won by the Perth Heat
, "West Australia 2011" was engraved.
The Victoria Aces
were the last team to win the shield under the Claxton Shield format, having won the 2010 tournament by defeating South Australia
two games to nil in the final series. It was the eighteenth time the Aces had won the shield, and the twenty second time it had been won by a Victoria
n team—the most by any state—including three times by the Waverley / Melbourne Reds and once by the Melbourne Monarchs
. The Perth Heat currently hold the shield, having won the 2010–11 season by defeating the Adelaide Bite
two games to one in the championship series.
, an inter-colonial series was held in Melbourne
in 1890 between Victoria and South Australia at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground
. South Australia were the eventual winners of the series, winning two games to one. New South Wales and Victoria started holding an annual series between themselves in 1900, that was only called off for a smallpox
outbreak in 1913, but would not return until 1919 because of World War I
. The first "national" tournament was held in Hobart
in 1910, won by New South Wales defeating Victoria and hosts Tasmania. New South Wales repeated the feat in 1912 in Melbourne when they won again, this time with the addition of South Australia. None were held regularly though, and they did not always involve all baseball–playing states.
was formed by representatives of the state controlling bodies. Because of conflict between the north and south Tasmanian baseball community, they were not among the states on the council, which included New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria. Further national tournaments were not organised though, until the efforts of Norrie Claxton
in 1934. Claxton, who had played for South Australia in both cricket
and baseball, and was a patron of the South Australia Baseball Association
, donated a shield to be awarded to the winners of the annual carnival, with the intention of permanently awarding the shield to the first team to win three tournaments in a row, and was named the Claxton Shield.
The first tournament was held in 1934, with matches played at the Adelaide Oval
and Hindmarsh Oval
in Adelaide
. The hosts South Australia won the tournament, and would go on to win the next two editions as well. At this point, all participating states agreed that it should be a perpetual shield awarded to the winner each year.
In 1936, the Western Australia Baseball League
applied to join the other states in competing for that year's tournament
in Sydney
. However their request came too late, as the arrangements had already been confirmed. A month after the tournament, Western Australia hosted Victoria in Perth
for a three game series as a form of preparation for their entry in the 1937
tournament in Adelaide. In a repeat of circumstances, the Queensland Baseball Association
applied to send a team to the 1937 tournament, but as had been the case with Western Australia their application was too late. Queensland would make their Claxton Shield debut in the 1939
tournament in Melbourne
.
, however the post war years provided many new players to the competition and brought Australian baseball to new heights. The Victoria Aces
began their rise to the dominance of Claxton Shield by achieving their first hat-trick
of titles between 1947 and 1949.
In 1950, the Claxton Shield was restored to a national competition after the Queensland Rams
returned to the competition after a four year absence. It was a decade of close competition with each capital city holding at least one series during the decade. In 1952, Western Australia
won their first title.
The series in 1961 marked an expansion in the competition as all teams played each other twice that year. In 1962, the longstanding tradition of hosting the event in August was broken when host Adelaide
scheduled the series in October, perhaps the first step in a long march to create the sports eventual move in Australia to the summer season. Behind starting pitcher Neil Page
, South Australian
teams dominated the decade, winning six championships. The decade also marked the introduction of the Helm's Award, which is presented to the Claxton Shield's MVP every year.
South Australia's decade may well have been the 1960s, but the 1970s belonged to Western Australia
who captured a title in 1975 and a hattrick from 1977 to 1979 thanks to what was arguably one of the strongest Claxton squads of all time.
The era saw a new dimension of Claxton Shield with corporate involvement and interstate rivalries becoming strong. It also saw the expansion of the competition to six teams, with the admittance of the Northern Territory
between 1981 and 1988. After a 42 year drought, the Queensland Rams
won their first national title in 1982 before capturing two others in 1983 and 1987. The 1980s saw the likes of such names as Tony Adamson, Dave Nilsson
, Graeme Lloyd
, Adrian Meagher and Phil Dale. New South Wales Patriots
won the last championship in 1988 before the introduction of the Australian Baseball League.
the Australian Baseball League was formed to take over from the traditional Claxton Shield, the first game was between Perth Heat
and Adelaide Giants
at Parry Field
in Perth
27 October 1989 with the Giants winning 8–5.
The league ran for 10 seasons before being bought out by Dave Nilsson
and his company Nilcorp due to the declining financial state of the league.
ran the next 3 Claxton Shields each using a different format.
The first format used was the most similar to the former Australian Baseball League, 6 teams divided into 2 divisions, southern and northern division playing home and away games with a total of 17 games, followed by a best of 3 division championship with the winner of each division meeting in the best of 3 championship series to decide the Claxton Shield champion and IBLA champion.
The second format was a 4 team competition played exclusively on the Gold Coast
at Palm Meadows Baseball Stadium
. Teams involved in this championship were 3 composite teams; IBLA Australia, IBLA Internationals, MLB All-Stars and the 4th team was the Taiwanese National team. A cut-throat finals system was used in this championship with a 3rd place play-off.
The third and final format was run jointly with the Australian Baseball Federation
, The championship was held in Melbourne
at the Melbourne Ballpark
and used a more traditional Claxton Shield format, 6 teams over 1 week playing each other once again using a cut-throat finals system.
when the IBLA folded. The decade has brought close to a hundred young Australia
ns playing baseball in Major League Baseball
and Japan
, most of who return home to showcase their talents to local fans.
The 2004 Olympic Games signalled a coming of age for Australian baseball when the Australian national baseball team won silver medal
s. More recently, the 2008
series saw the return of a "home & away" format so that the game can be showcased nationwide.
used, with each of the three participating teams playing each other once over the course of a week. The tournament would be hosted in a single city, though in some cases multiple grounds were used for individual games. The team with the most wins being declared the winner. With the expansion to four teams in 1937
, the addition of a final was made, with the top two teams playing in a championship game. Though there were many variations in the fine details from year to year, particularly when a team was added or removed from the competition, the basic concept of a round-robin followed by a final was continued through to the final Claxton Shield before the start of the Australian Baseball League in 1988
. When the International Baseball League of Australia
collapsed and the Claxton Shield resumed in its own right in 2003, the original format was continued.
The 2008 Claxton Shield saw a new format for the tournament. A home and away season was introduced, splitting the six participating teams into two divisions of three teams each. The teams played within their own divisions, meeting both other teams twice for a three game series: one series at home, one away. The division leaders then met in a best of three final series for the championship.
2009 marked the 75th anniversary of the inaugural Claxton Shield, and so a mix of old and new was used. A showcase round was held in Sydney, where each team met each other team once. After this, each team met each other once again for a three game series on a home and away basis, much the same as the previous season. The finals series was expanded to allow three teams to reach the playoffs. The second and third placed teams met in a best of three series, the winner of which met the first placed team.
The 2010 season eliminated the showcase round, and used a double round-robin format: each team met each other team twice—once at home, once away—each time for a three game series, resulting in each team playing 24 games over ten rounds before the finals series, the most for any Claxton Shield season. The three team playoff structure was kept. This season structure was seen as a template for the relaunch of the Australian Baseball League the following season: the only likely changes being the expansion to six teams meaning no bye
rounds for any teams, and the possible change from a three game series each round to a four game series.
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
competition in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
held between state-based teams, as well as the name of the trophy awarded to the champion team. From the summer of 1989–1990 until 2001–02, and again since 2010–11, the tournament was replaced by one of three other competitions: the original Australian Baseball League (ABL), the International Baseball League of Australia
International Baseball League of Australia
The International Baseball League of Australia was a baseball league which existed from 1999 to 2002.The league was created by David Nilsson after he purchased the rights to the Australian Baseball League in 1999 when it was near financial collapse...
(IBLA), and since the 2010–11 season
2010–11 Australian Baseball League season
- Rosters :During the season each team made use of a 22-man active roster, drawn from 35-man squads announced on 28 October 2010.- Venues :Four of the six teams used their existing venues from the Claxton Shield: the Adelaide Bite, Perth Heat and Sydney Blue Sox all used the same grounds used...
the new ABL
Australian Baseball League
The Australian Baseball League was a baseball league, established in 1987 and disbanded in 1999.-Formation:Before the formation of the Australian Baseball League, the Claxton Shield, established in , was Australia's premier baseball tournament...
. Despite other competitions being held in place of the Claxton Shield, the physical trophy has remained the award for the winning teams. Though city-based teams have competed for the Claxton Shield in some seasons, the name engraved on the shield is that of the winning state; for the 2010–11 ABL season won by the Perth Heat
Perth Heat
The baseball team Perth Heat is a team in the current Australian Baseball League and a foundation member of the now-defunct Australian Baseball League...
, "West Australia 2011" was engraved.
The Victoria Aces
Victoria Aces
The Victoria Aces are an Australian baseball team who compete in the Claxton Shield Baseball Championship. One of the founding teams of the Claxton Shield in 1934, they competed until 1988. Thereafter the Claxton Shield was awarded to the winner of the Australian Baseball League until 2002...
were the last team to win the shield under the Claxton Shield format, having won the 2010 tournament by defeating South Australia
South Australia (Baseball Team)
South Australia compete in the Claxton Shield Baseball Championship in Australia. They were one of the founding teams of the Claxton Shield in 1934 and competed until 1988 where the Claxtion Shield was thereafter awarded to the winner of the Australian Baseball League until 1999 when they were...
two games to nil in the final series. It was the eighteenth time the Aces had won the shield, and the twenty second time it had been won by a Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
n team—the most by any state—including three times by the Waverley / Melbourne Reds and once by the Melbourne Monarchs
Melbourne Monarchs
The Melbourne Monarchs were one of the foundation members of the now defunct Australian Baseball League. The Monarchs had their licence revoked after the 1990–91 championship following a controversial dispute with Australia Baseball League officials....
. The Perth Heat currently hold the shield, having won the 2010–11 season by defeating the Adelaide Bite
Adelaide Bite
The Adelaide Bite are a professional baseball team who plays in the Australian Baseball League and is one of the six founding teams of the league. Their home ballpark is Coopers Stadium at Norwood Oval which is based in the city of Adelaide, South Australia...
two games to one in the championship series.
History
There had been interstate baseball tournaments held prior to the start of the Claxton Shield. Prior to the federation of AustraliaFederation of Australia
The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia formed one nation...
, an inter-colonial series was held in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
in 1890 between Victoria and South Australia at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground
East Melbourne Cricket Ground
The East Melbourne Cricket Ground was a sports venue located at the corner of Wellington Parade and Jolimont Parade, in East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia...
. South Australia were the eventual winners of the series, winning two games to one. New South Wales and Victoria started holding an annual series between themselves in 1900, that was only called off for a smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
outbreak in 1913, but would not return until 1919 because of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. The first "national" tournament was held in Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
in 1910, won by New South Wales defeating Victoria and hosts Tasmania. New South Wales repeated the feat in 1912 in Melbourne when they won again, this time with the addition of South Australia. None were held regularly though, and they did not always involve all baseball–playing states.
Establishment
In 1913 and in the wake of national tournaments having already been played, the Australian Baseball CouncilAustralian Baseball Federation
The Australian Baseball Federation is the national governing body of Baseball in Australia. Baseball is played in all the mainland states and territories, but it struggles for popularity due to the popularity of many other sports, including the comparable sport of cricket, in which Australia has...
was formed by representatives of the state controlling bodies. Because of conflict between the north and south Tasmanian baseball community, they were not among the states on the council, which included New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria. Further national tournaments were not organised though, until the efforts of Norrie Claxton
Norman Claxton
Norman A. "Norrie" Claxton , was a sportsman from South Australia. He represented South Australia in Cricket and North Adelaide in the SANFL and had a keen interest in Baseball, Cycling and Athletics...
in 1934. Claxton, who had played for South Australia in both cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
and baseball, and was a patron of the South Australia Baseball Association
Baseball SA
Baseball SA is the governing body of amateur baseball within South Australia, and headquarters of the South Australian Baseball League. Baseball SA is governed by the Australian Baseball Federation.- Clubs :...
, donated a shield to be awarded to the winners of the annual carnival, with the intention of permanently awarding the shield to the first team to win three tournaments in a row, and was named the Claxton Shield.
The first tournament was held in 1934, with matches played at the Adelaide Oval
Adelaide Oval
The Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia, located in the parklands between the Central Business District and North Adelaide...
and Hindmarsh Oval
Hindmarsh Stadium
Hindmarsh Stadium is a rectangular stadium located in Adelaide, South Australia. It is the home of the Australian A-League team, Adelaide United....
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...
. The hosts South Australia won the tournament, and would go on to win the next two editions as well. At this point, all participating states agreed that it should be a perpetual shield awarded to the winner each year.
In 1936, the Western Australia Baseball League
Baseball WA
Baseball WA is the governing body of baseball within Western Australia. Baseball WA is governed by the Australian Baseball Federation...
applied to join the other states in competing for that year's tournament
1936 Claxton Shield
-Attempted expansion:On 3 June, a letter was received by the Victorian Baseball Association seeking permission for a Western Australian team to compete in the 1936 Claxton Shield...
in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
. However their request came too late, as the arrangements had already been confirmed. A month after the tournament, Western Australia hosted Victoria in Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
for a three game series as a form of preparation for their entry in the 1937
1937 Claxton Shield
-Third place final:-Championship game:----...
tournament in Adelaide. In a repeat of circumstances, the Queensland Baseball Association
Baseball Queensland
Baseball Queensland is the governing body of baseball within Queensland. Baseball Queensland is governed by the Australian Baseball Federation. It is located in Milton, Queensland and run by chief executive officer Col Dick....
applied to send a team to the 1937 tournament, but as had been the case with Western Australia their application was too late. Queensland would make their Claxton Shield debut in the 1939
1939 Claxton Shield
-Third place final:-Championship game:-----All-Australian team:At the conclusion of the tournament, representatives from the Australian Baseball Council selected an All-Australian team. Though the selected team did not actually play together, it was the first time an Australian team had been...
tournament in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
.
Post WWII
The early part of the decade was interrupted by World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, however the post war years provided many new players to the competition and brought Australian baseball to new heights. The Victoria Aces
Victoria Aces
The Victoria Aces are an Australian baseball team who compete in the Claxton Shield Baseball Championship. One of the founding teams of the Claxton Shield in 1934, they competed until 1988. Thereafter the Claxton Shield was awarded to the winner of the Australian Baseball League until 2002...
began their rise to the dominance of Claxton Shield by achieving their first hat-trick
Hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick in sport is the achievement of a positive feat three times during a game, or other achievements based on threes. The term was first used in 1858 in cricket to describe HH Stephenson's feat of taking three wickets in three balls. A collection was held for Stephenson, and he...
of titles between 1947 and 1949.
In 1950, the Claxton Shield was restored to a national competition after the Queensland Rams
Queensland Rams
Queensland Rams compete in the Claxton Shield Baseball Championship in Australia. The Rams were one of the founding teams of the Claxton Shield in 1934 and competed as Queensland until 1988. Between 1988 and 1999, the Claxton Shield was awarded to the winner of the Australian Baseball League...
returned to the competition after a four year absence. It was a decade of close competition with each capital city holding at least one series during the decade. In 1952, Western Australia
Perth Heat
The baseball team Perth Heat is a team in the current Australian Baseball League and a foundation member of the now-defunct Australian Baseball League...
won their first title.
The series in 1961 marked an expansion in the competition as all teams played each other twice that year. In 1962, the longstanding tradition of hosting the event in August was broken when host 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...
scheduled the series in October, perhaps the first step in a long march to create the sports eventual move in Australia to the summer season. Behind starting pitcher Neil Page
Neil Page
Neil Philip Page is a former Australian baseball representative. A left-hand starting pitcher, he regularly played for Australia from 1964 until 1977.-Career:Page was born in Adelaide, the son of Roy Page, a well-known local baseball identity...
, South Australian
South Australia (Baseball Team)
South Australia compete in the Claxton Shield Baseball Championship in Australia. They were one of the founding teams of the Claxton Shield in 1934 and competed until 1988 where the Claxtion Shield was thereafter awarded to the winner of the Australian Baseball League until 1999 when they were...
teams dominated the decade, winning six championships. The decade also marked the introduction of the Helm's Award, which is presented to the Claxton Shield's MVP every year.
South Australia's decade may well have been the 1960s, but the 1970s belonged to Western Australia
Perth Heat
The baseball team Perth Heat is a team in the current Australian Baseball League and a foundation member of the now-defunct Australian Baseball League...
who captured a title in 1975 and a hattrick from 1977 to 1979 thanks to what was arguably one of the strongest Claxton squads of all time.
The era saw a new dimension of Claxton Shield with corporate involvement and interstate rivalries becoming strong. It also saw the expansion of the competition to six teams, with the admittance of the Northern Territory
Baseball NT
Baseball NT is the governing body of baseball within the Northern Territory, Australia. Baseball NT was formed in 1968 under its original name, the Northern Territory Baseball League. Baseball NT is governed nationally by the Australian Baseball Federation...
between 1981 and 1988. After a 42 year drought, the Queensland Rams
Queensland Rams
Queensland Rams compete in the Claxton Shield Baseball Championship in Australia. The Rams were one of the founding teams of the Claxton Shield in 1934 and competed as Queensland until 1988. Between 1988 and 1999, the Claxton Shield was awarded to the winner of the Australian Baseball League...
won their first national title in 1982 before capturing two others in 1983 and 1987. The 1980s saw the likes of such names as Tony Adamson, Dave Nilsson
Dave Nilsson
David Wayne Nilsson is a retired Australian professional baseball player who played as catcher for Major League Baseball's Milwaukee Brewers from to . He was an All-Star in 1999, becoming the only Australian player to appear in an All-Star game...
, Graeme Lloyd
Graeme Lloyd
Graeme John Lloyd is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who had a ten year career from 1993 to 2003.-Playing career:...
, Adrian Meagher and Phil Dale. New South Wales Patriots
New South Wales Patriots
New South Wales Patriots compete in the Claxton Shield baseball championship in Australia.The Patriots were one of the founding teams of the Claxton Shield in 1934 and competed as New South Wales until 1988 when the Claxtion Shield was awarded to the winner of the Australian Baseball League...
won the last championship in 1988 before the introduction of the Australian Baseball League.
Australian Baseball League
After the 1988 Claxton Shield1988 Claxton Shield
The 1988 Claxton Shield was the forty-ninth annual Claxton Shield. The participants were South Australia, New South Wales Patriots, Victoria Aces, Western Australia, Queensland Rams and Northern Territory...
the Australian Baseball League was formed to take over from the traditional Claxton Shield, the first game was between Perth Heat
Perth Heat
The baseball team Perth Heat is a team in the current Australian Baseball League and a foundation member of the now-defunct Australian Baseball League...
and Adelaide Giants
Adelaide Giants
The Adelaide Giants were one of the foundation members of the now defunct Australian Baseball League. They competed in all 10 seasons but however never once made the leagues final playoff series...
at Parry Field
Parry Field
Parry Field in Belmont, Perth, Western Australia was the site of Baseball WA's first purpose-built baseball stadium, named for Kevin Parry, a local businessman and enthusiast whose fortunes failed soon after the opening. The stadium featured television-standard lighting, seating for about 2,200...
in Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
27 October 1989 with the Giants winning 8–5.
The league ran for 10 seasons before being bought out by Dave Nilsson
Dave Nilsson
David Wayne Nilsson is a retired Australian professional baseball player who played as catcher for Major League Baseball's Milwaukee Brewers from to . He was an All-Star in 1999, becoming the only Australian player to appear in an All-Star game...
and his company Nilcorp due to the declining financial state of the league.
International Baseball League of Australia
In late 1999 Australian baseball player David Nilsson purchased the rights to the Australian Baseball League for A$5,000,000, Nilsson with Glenn Partridge had the vision of creating the International Baseball League of AustraliaInternational Baseball League of Australia
The International Baseball League of Australia was a baseball league which existed from 1999 to 2002.The league was created by David Nilsson after he purchased the rights to the Australian Baseball League in 1999 when it was near financial collapse...
ran the next 3 Claxton Shields each using a different format.
The first format used was the most similar to the former Australian Baseball League, 6 teams divided into 2 divisions, southern and northern division playing home and away games with a total of 17 games, followed by a best of 3 division championship with the winner of each division meeting in the best of 3 championship series to decide the Claxton Shield champion and IBLA champion.
The second format was a 4 team competition played exclusively on the Gold Coast
Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...
at Palm Meadows Baseball Stadium
Palm Meadows
Palm Meadows International Baseball Facility is an Australian baseball field located on the Gold Coast, Queensland. It is owned by Hungtat Worldwide Pty Ltd and is leased through Gold Coast city council...
. Teams involved in this championship were 3 composite teams; IBLA Australia, IBLA Internationals, MLB All-Stars and the 4th team was the Taiwanese National team. A cut-throat finals system was used in this championship with a 3rd place play-off.
The third and final format was run jointly with the Australian Baseball Federation
Australian Baseball Federation
The Australian Baseball Federation is the national governing body of Baseball in Australia. Baseball is played in all the mainland states and territories, but it struggles for popularity due to the popularity of many other sports, including the comparable sport of cricket, in which Australia has...
, The championship was held in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
at the Melbourne Ballpark
Melbourne Ballpark
The Melbourne Ballpark is home to baseball and softball in Victoria, Australia. It was built in 1990, with a seating capacity of about 5000, although in recent years seats along the base lines have been removed and replaced with standing room area leaving the only seating in the main grandstand.The...
and used a more traditional Claxton Shield format, 6 teams over 1 week playing each other once again using a cut-throat finals system.
Return to Claxton Shield
The "State vs State" format of Claxton Shield returned in 2002 during the IBLA season. It then truly became the top tier baseball competition in Australia again in 2003Claxton Shield 2003
The Claxton Shield is an annual competition held by the Australian Baseball Federation. The 2003 Shield reverted to its original form for the first time since 1988, due to the folding of the International Baseball League of Australia...
when the IBLA folded. The decade has brought close to a hundred young Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
ns playing baseball in Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, most of who return home to showcase their talents to local fans.
The 2004 Olympic Games signalled a coming of age for Australian baseball when the Australian national baseball team won silver medal
Silver medal
A silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and contests with similar formats....
s. More recently, the 2008
Claxton Shield 2008
The 74th Claxton Shield was held from 28 December 2007 to 10 February 2008. The 2008 Shield was conducted on a Home and Away series made up of 2 Divisions; Eastern Division: Australian Provincial, New South Wales Patriots and the Queensland Rams, Southern Division: Perth Heat, Victoria Aces and...
series saw the return of a "home & away" format so that the game can be showcased nationwide.
Season structure
The Claxton Shield has followed numerous formats over the years. The original format saw a round-robin tournamentRound-robin tournament
A round-robin tournament is a competition "in which each contestant meets all other contestants in turn".-Terminology:...
used, with each of the three participating teams playing each other once over the course of a week. The tournament would be hosted in a single city, though in some cases multiple grounds were used for individual games. The team with the most wins being declared the winner. With the expansion to four teams in 1937
1937 Claxton Shield
-Third place final:-Championship game:----...
, the addition of a final was made, with the top two teams playing in a championship game. Though there were many variations in the fine details from year to year, particularly when a team was added or removed from the competition, the basic concept of a round-robin followed by a final was continued through to the final Claxton Shield before the start of the Australian Baseball League in 1988
1988 Claxton Shield
The 1988 Claxton Shield was the forty-ninth annual Claxton Shield. The participants were South Australia, New South Wales Patriots, Victoria Aces, Western Australia, Queensland Rams and Northern Territory...
. When the International Baseball League of Australia
International Baseball League of Australia
The International Baseball League of Australia was a baseball league which existed from 1999 to 2002.The league was created by David Nilsson after he purchased the rights to the Australian Baseball League in 1999 when it was near financial collapse...
collapsed and the Claxton Shield resumed in its own right in 2003, the original format was continued.
The 2008 Claxton Shield saw a new format for the tournament. A home and away season was introduced, splitting the six participating teams into two divisions of three teams each. The teams played within their own divisions, meeting both other teams twice for a three game series: one series at home, one away. The division leaders then met in a best of three final series for the championship.
2009 marked the 75th anniversary of the inaugural Claxton Shield, and so a mix of old and new was used. A showcase round was held in Sydney, where each team met each other team once. After this, each team met each other once again for a three game series on a home and away basis, much the same as the previous season. The finals series was expanded to allow three teams to reach the playoffs. The second and third placed teams met in a best of three series, the winner of which met the first placed team.
The 2010 season eliminated the showcase round, and used a double round-robin format: each team met each other team twice—once at home, once away—each time for a three game series, resulting in each team playing 24 games over ten rounds before the finals series, the most for any Claxton Shield season. The three team playoff structure was kept. This season structure was seen as a template for the relaunch of the Australian Baseball League the following season: the only likely changes being the expansion to six teams meaning no bye
Bye (sports)
A bye, in sports and other competitive activities, most commonly refers to the practice of allowing a player or team to advance to the next round of a playoff tournament without playing...
rounds for any teams, and the possible change from a three game series each round to a four game series.
See also
- Norrie Claxton
- Baseball Australia Diamond AwardsBaseball Australia Diamond AwardsThe Baseball Australia Diamond Awards — begun in 2006 — are given annually by the Australian Baseball Federation, to honor persons who have excelled in playing, managing, or serving the sport of baseball. The awards ceremony is usually held in or about February, soon after the conclusion of that...
- Baseball Australia Hall of FameBaseball Australia Hall of FameThe Baseball Australia Hall of Fame or Australian Baseball Federation Hall of Fame is a group of baseball players, managers and coaches who have been recognised by the Australian Baseball Federation as having had an impact on baseball in Australia over a prolonged period of time "at the highest...
- Baseball awards#Australia