Brisbane: Australia’s Baseball Champs
February 15, 2017
Last Saturday, on February 11, the Brisbane Bandits defeated the Melbourne Aces 3-1 to win the Australian Baseball League (ABL) Championship Series, the “down under” version of Major League Baseball’s World Series in the United States and Canada. The Bandits won the best-of-three series 2 games to 0 to claim their second-straight Claxton Shield as ABL champions. Brisbane shortstop (and native Brisbanite) Logan Wade batted .500 (4-8) in the short series to earn the Most Valuable Player award. The series was played at Melbourne Ballpark in Melbourne, Australia’s second largest city. Brisbane won the series opener on Friday, 6-2.
Brisbane Bandits center fielder Tommy Milone slides safely into second base during his team’s 3-1 win over the Melbourne Aces at Melbourne Ballpark on Feb. 11, 2017, in Melbourne, Australia. The win made Brisbane champions of the Australian Baseball League for the second consecutive year. Credit: © SMP Images
The ABL, founded in 2010, is the reincarnation of a previous league of the same name that played from 1989 to 1999. Six teams compete in the ABL, playing 40 games over a season that runs from November through January during the Australian summer. In addition to the Brisbane and Melbourne ball clubs, the league includes the Adelaide Bite, Canberra Cavalry, Perth Heat, and Sydney Blue Sox. Sponsorship adds corporate names to each team as well—the Brisbane Bandits presented by WellDog and the JetCouriers Melbourne Aces, for example. The ABL is co-owned by Major League Baseball and the Australian Baseball Federation.
Many ABL players also play Minor League Baseball in North America, where the schedule runs opposite to the ABL season. ABL players also fill out the roster of the Australian National Baseball Team, which begins play in the World Baseball Classic (WBC) in March 2017. The WBC is a tournament among 16 national teams representing countries from Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America.
Baseball first arrived in Australia with American gold miners in the 1850’s. The first official competition between Australian baseball clubs—Adelaide vs. Melbourne—took place in 1889. Since then, a number of different competitions, tournaments, and leagues have spread throughout the country. The Claxton Shield, the ABL’s championship trophy, is named for Norman Claxton (1877-1951), a famous Australian cricketer and baseball player. Claxton served as president of the South Australian Baseball League from 1913 to 1929, and he donated the trophy in 1934.
Several Australian baseball players have reached the big leagues in the United States, including current Oakland Athletics pitcher Liam Hendricks, former pitchers Grant Balfour and Graeme Lloyd, and catcher Dave Nilsson, whose 105 MLB home runs are the most by an Australian player. (Nilsson is now manager of the Brisbane Bandits.) Second baseman Joe Quinn, a native of Ipswich (near Brisbane) was the first Aussie big leaguer. From 1884 to 1901, he collected 1,800 hits (the most by an Australian) playing for such teams as the Boston Beaneaters (now the Atlanta Braves) and the St. Louis Maroons.
