Claxton Shield

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The Claxton Shield is an annual event held by the Australian Baseball Federation and is competed for by South Australia, Western Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Australian Provincial and formerly the Northern Territory between 1981 and 1988.

Throughout the 1990s the Shield was awarded to the winner of the Australian Baseball League (1989-1999) and then later from 2000 to 2002 the winner of the International Baseball League of Australia. However, after the collapse of these leagues the event has reverted back to a State v State based competition and is generally played in the week leading up to the Australia Day long weekend in January.

Claxton Shield
Champions
1934	South Australia
1935	South Australia
1936	South Australia
1937	New South Wales
1938	New South Wales
1939	New South Wales
1940 to 45
Series Suspended
1946	New South Wales
1947	Victoria
1948	Victoria
1949	Victoria
1950	New South Wales
1951	New South Wales
1952	Western Australia
1953	New South Wales
1954	Victoria
1955	New South Wales
1956	Victoria
1957	South Australia
1958	Victoria
1959	South Australia
1960	South Australia
1961	South Australia
1962	Victoria
1963	New South Wales
1964	South Australia
1965	Victoria
1966	South Australia
1967	South Australia
1968	Victoria
1969	South Australia
1970	South Australia
1971	South Australia
1972	Victoria
1973	Victoria
1974	Victoria
1975	Western Australia
1976	South Australia
1977	Western Australia
1978	Western Australia
1979	Western Australia
1980	South Australia
1981	Victoria
1982	Queensland
1983	Queensland
1984	Victoria
1985	Western Australia
1986	Victoria
1987	Queensland
1988	New South Wales
ABL Champions
1989/90	Waverley Reds
1990/91	Perth Heat
1991/92	Daikyo Dolphins
1992/93	Melbourne Monarchs
1993/94	Brisbane Bandits
1994/95	Waverley Reds
1995/96	Sydney Blues
1996/97	Perth Heat
1997/98	Melbourne Reds
1998/99	Gold Coast Cougars
IBLA Champions
1999/00	Western Heelers
2000/01	IBLA Internationals
2002	Victoria Aces
Champions
2003	Queensland Rams
2004	New South Wales Patriots
2005	New South Wales Patriots
2006	Queensland Rams
2007	Victoria Aces
2008	Perth Heat

[edit] Brief history

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[edit] ABL years

After the Claxton Shield 1989 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.

Main articles: Australian Baseball League and Australian Baseball League Championships

[edit] IBLA years

In late 1999 Australian Baseballer David Nilsson purchased the rights to the Australian Baseball League for AUS$5,000,000^[1], Nillsson with Glenn Partridge had the vision of creating the International Baseball League of Australia ran the next 3 Claxton Shields each using a different format.

[edit] 1999/2000

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.

[edit] 2001

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.

[edit] 2002

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.

[edit] Post ABL/IBLA

After the final collapse of the IBLA the shield reverted back to its traditional format (last used in 1988) for 2003, The shield was held in New South Wales at Blacktown Olympic Park Baseball Stadium over the last week in January, this format was used until 2007 when the Shield left New South Wales to be contested in Perth at Baseball Park.

[edit] 2008 Claxton Shield

On 10 August 2007 it was announced the 2008 Claxton Shield would be held as a "home and away" series. The revamped series was made up of 2 pools of 3 teams, each team playing 3 home and 3 away games against the other 2 teams in their pool. Pool A was made up of the Victoria Aces, Perth Heat and South Australia, and Pool B was made up of New South Wales Patriots, Queensland Rams and Australia Provincial. The revamped series ran from mid January to early February 2008.^[2][3] See Live Stats for Games 1-6 2008 Claxton Shield at South Australia Baseball Scorers Association

[edit] See also

• Norrie Claxton

[edit] References

1. ^ Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "David Nilsson", www.abc.net.au, 2000. 
2. ^ "Claxton Shield "home and away" series a dress rehearsal", http://www.geelongbaseball.com.au, 10 August 2007. 
3. ^ Ben Foster. "BASEBALL IS BACK…AND IT’S COMING YOUR WAY!", http://www.baseball.com.au/, 22 August 2007.