1998–99 Australian Baseball League season

1998–99
Australian Baseball League
Season details
Sport	Baseball
Country	Australia
Teams	6
Dates	17 October 1998 – 13 February 1999
Defending champions	Melbourne Reds (1997–98)
Champions	Gold Coast Cougars (1st title)
MVP	Adam Burton ( Reds)
Final positions
Champions	Gold Coast Cougars
Runners-up	Sydney Storm
Finalists	Adelaide Giants
Finalists	Melbourne Monarchs
Fifth place	Melbourne Reds
Sixth place	Perth Heat
Regular season
Games played	132
Best batting average	Brandon Pollard ( Cougars) (.317)
Most homeruns hit	Brandon Pollard ( Cougars) (12)
Best ERA	Brett Cederbald ( Cougars) (2.34)
← 1997–98 Last updated on 13 February 2013

The 1998–99 Australian Baseball League season was the 10th season of the original Australian Baseball League, contested between six teams representing state and regional capitals: Adelaide Giants, Gold Coast Cougars, Melbourne Monarchs, Melbourne Reds, Perth Heat and Sydney Storm. The championship was won by the Gold Coast Cougars, who defeated the Sydney Storm in 2 games in the championship series at the Sydney Showground Stadium. The Adelaide Giants finished the season on top of the ladder but were knocked out in Semi Final 1 by the Sydney Storm.

All play-off games in the 1998-99 ABL season were held at the then-recently completed Sydney Showground,^[1] which was to become the main venue for baseball at the 2000 Summer Olympics.

1998–99 was the final season of the original Australian Baseball League. At the completion of the season the rights to the league were purchased by Dave Nilsson who then attempted to form the International Baseball League of Australia.

Teams

Only 6 of the 8 teams from the previous season returned, The Hunter Eagles and Brisbane Bandits were both unable to continue in the league due to increasing financial pressure.

Rosters

During the regular season each team made use of an active roster of 22-24 men, with a maximum of 4 import players.

Adelaide Giants

Adelaide Giants roster - 1998–99 ABL

Active roster

Pitchers

Right-handed pitchers

? Tom Becker
? Shayne Bennett
? John Challinor
? Darren Fidge
? Matt Herges
? Graham Ingram
? Blake Mayo
? Luke Prokopec
? Jeff Williams

Left-handed pitchers

? Kym Ashworth
? Adrian Burnside

Catchers

? Darren Phillips
? Sam Tibbets

Infielders

? Rick Bennett
? Andrew Brett
? Nathan Davison
? Michael Forbes
? Jason Hewitt
? Andrew Scott

Outfielders

? Jay Ivanoff
? Tony Mota
? Mark Paparella
? Chip Sell
? Eric Stuckenschneider
? Andrew Taintley
? Marc Taintley
? Craig Watts

Current as of February 1999.

Melbourne Monarchs

Melbourne Monarchs roster - 1998–99 ABL

Active roster

Coaching Staff

Pitchers

Right-handed pitchers

43 Phil Dale
34 Jason Flach
23 Cameron Forbes
9 Keith Gogas
47 Michael Nakamura
18 Steven Schram

Left-handed pitchers

5 Earl Byrne
45 Cameron Cairncross
11 Erick Nelson

Catchers

14 Brett Caulfield
28 John Edwards
36 Steve Dax Norris

Infielders

19 Rohan Brasher
10 Mark Doubleday
26 Paul Gonzales
50 Mike Hessman
25 David Kim
22 Ben Risinger
4 Jay Willis

Outfielders

37 Ben Hammer
33 Aaron Harvey
16 Dean Marnell

Manager

24 Jon Deeble

Coaches

- Neil Bourke

Current as of February 1999.^[2]

Melbourne Reds

Melbourne Reds roster - 1998–99 ABL

Active roster

Pitchers

Right-handed pitchers

27 Matthew Gourlay
? Ben Mann
37 Warren May
? Denis Pujals
? Lucas Van Raake
? David White
? Gregg Wiltshire

Left-handed pitchers

? John Box
44 Ben Donald
? Matt Ryan

Catchers

8 Scott Dawes

Infielders

22 Myles Barnden
? Brian Becker
20 Adam Burton
16 Shane Hogan
30 Ben Utting

Outfielders

? Cameron Hubbard
? Matt Kent
? David McGrady
? Matt Quatraro
26 Jeff Spencer
19 Darren White

? Glynn Kimberley
35 Glen Reeves
46 Derek Shumpert
18 Paul Weichard

Current as of February 1999.

Sydney Storm

Sydney Storm roster - 1997–98 ABL

Active roster

Pitchers

Right-handed pitchers

? Anthony Brasher
7 Graham Cassel
? Greg Clark
? Gary Glover
? Craig Lewis
? Mark Marino
? Sean McClellan
? Peter Moylan
? Brian Murphy
? Robbie Taylor

Left-handed pitchers

? Craig Anderson
? Clint Lawrence
11 Shane Pepper

Catchers

? D. Tomaszewski
15 Gary White

Infielders

? Matt Buckley
? Greg Morrison
19 Mark Shipley
43 Craig Stone
4 Scott Tunkin

Outfielders

3 Matt Everingham
22 Brendan Kingman
? Ryan Manfield
? Brett Schylder
? Chris Snelling
? Rodney van Buizen
? Vernon Wells
18 Glen Williams

Current as of February 1998. Incomplete

Venues

Teams in the ABL
Team	City	State	Stadium
Adelaide Giants	Adelaide	South Australia	Norwood Oval
Gold Coast Cougars	Gold Coast	Queensland	Carrara Oval
Melbourne Monarchs	Melbourne	Victoria	Melbourne Ballpark
Melbourne Reds	Melbourne	Victoria	Moorabbin Oval
Perth Heat	Perth	Western Australia	Bassendean Oval
Sydney Storm	Sydney	New South Wales	Sydney Showground Stadium

Match results

Key
†	Clinched final berth

1997-98 regular season standings
Team ^[3]	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Adelaide Giants^†	28	17	.622	-	15-9	13–8
Gold Coast Cougars^†	24	20	.545	3¹⁄₂	16–10	8–10
Melbourne Monarchs^†	22	22	.500	5¹⁄₂	13–8	9–14
Sydney Storm^†	21	22	.488	6	13–10	8–12
Melbourne Reds	20	23	.465	7	15–8	5–15
Perth Heat	17	28	.378	11	12–9	5–19

Top 10 Stats

Defensive Stats
Name	Wins	Losses	Saves	ERA
Adrian Meagher	6	1	3	2.97
Brett Cederblad	4	1	0	2.34
Phil Brassington	5	3	0	3.68
Paul Wollin	1	2	1	3.41
Jason Davis	2	3	1	3.60
Aaron Reed	2	2	2	3.89

Offensive Stars
Name	Avg	HR	RBI
Brandon Pollard	.317	12	33
Ron Johnson	.307	5	19
Steve Hinton	.303	1	8
Grant McDonald	.269	5	29
Paul Gorman	.263	7	22
Jose Macias	.267	1	18

Postseason

Finals Series at Sydney Showground Stadium

The 1999 Postseason was held at the newly constructed Sydney Showground Stadium, The Showgrounds Stadium was to be the main venue for Baseball at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

The Postseason followed a 3-game Semi Final playoff format, 1st vs 4th and 2nd vs 3rd. The winners of the two Semi Finals series then played off in a 3-game Championship series.

Semi Final 1: 1st vs 4th

Game 1: 10 February 1999


Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Sydney Storm	0	1	0	1	0	0	3	1	1	7	10	2
Adelaide Giants	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	?	?	?
Starting pitchers: Storm: C. Anderson Giants: S. Bennett WP: C. Anderson (1-0) LP: S. Bennett (0-1) Sv: C. Lewis Home runs: Storm: G. White, C. Snelling Giants: D. Phillips Attendance: 1,500^[4]

Game 2: 10 February 1999


Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Sydney Storm	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	3	8	1
Adelaide Giants	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	3	2
Starting pitchers: Storm: G Glover Giants: M. Herges WP: G Glover (1-0) LP: M. Herges (0-1) Sv: G. Cassel Home runs: Storm: - Giants: - Attendance: 1,500^[5]

Semi Final 2: 2nd vs 3rd

Game 1: 11 February 1999


Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Melbourne Monarchs	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Gold Coast Cougars	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
WP: ? (1-0) LP: ? (0-1) Sv: ? Home runs: Monarchs: ? Cougars: ?

Game 2: 11 February 1999


Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Melbourne Monarchs	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Gold Coast Cougars	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
WP: ? (1-0) LP: ? (0-1) Sv: ? Home runs: Monarchs: ? Cougars: ?

Championship Series at Sydney Showground Stadium

Game 1: 12 February 1999


Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Sydney Storm	5	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	7	13	1
Gold Coast Cougars	0	3	1	0	2	0	0	0	2	8	12	1
Starting pitchers: Storm: C. Lawrence Cougars: K. Calvert WP: A. Meagher (1-0) LP: G. Cassel (0-1) Sv: nill Home runs: Storm: - Cougars: R. Jonhnson, B. Pollard, P. Gorman Attendance: 3,120^[6]

Game 2: 12 February 1999


Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Sydney Storm	2	0	1	0	2	1	2	0	0	8	13	8
Gold Coast Cougars	1	2	0	1	0	8	2	0	-	14	9	1
Starting pitchers: Storm: C. Lewis Cougars: P. Brassington WP: P. Brassington (1-0) LP: S. Pepper (0-1) Sv: nill Home runs: Storm: S. Tunkin, G. White (2) Cougars: S. Hinton, A. Pearce Attendance: 5,600^[7]

Awards

Award	Person	Team
Most Valuable Player	Adam BURTON	Melbourne Reds
Championship M.V.P.	Paul GORMAN	Gold Coast Cougars
Golden Glove	Gary WHITE	Sydney Storm
Batting Champion	Adam BURTON	Melbourne Reds
Pitcher of the Year	Pat Ahearne	Perth Heat
Rookie of the Year	Clinton BALGERA	Perth Heat
Manager of the Year

All-Star Team

Position	Name	Team
Catcher	Gary WHITE	Sydney Storm
1st Base	Andrew SCOTT	Adelaide Giants
2nd Base	Adam BURTON	Melbourne Reds
3rd Base	Paul GONZALEZ	Melbourne Monarchs
Short Stop	Matt BUCKLEY	Sydney Storm
Out Field	Brandon POLLARD	Gold Coast Cougars
Out Field	Matt Quatraro	Melbourne Reds
Out Field	Chip SELL	Adelaide Giants
Designated Hitter	Craig WATTS	Adelaide Giants
Starting Pitcher	Pat AHEARNE	Perth Heat
Relief Pitcher	John CHALLINOR	Adelaide Giants
Manager	Tony HARRIS	Adelaide Giants

References

↑ Flintoff, P. (1999?) Flintoff & Dunn's Australian Major League Baseball - The First 10 Years. Accessed on 28 July 2010.
↑ "Melbourne Monarchs Roster". Melbourne Monarchs. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
↑ "FINAL FAI CUP STANDINGS". Australian Baseball League. Sydney Storm. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
↑ "FAI CUP - Playoff 1 Game 1". Sydney Storm. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
↑ "FAI CUP - Playoff 1 Game 2". Sydney Storm. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
↑ "FAI CUP - Championship Game 1". Sydney Storm. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
↑ "FAI CUP - Championship Game 2". Sydney Storm. Retrieved 12 February 2013.

1998–99 ABL season

Adelaide Giants Gold Coast Cougars Melbourne Monarchs Melbourne Reds Perth Heat Sydney Storm

Rosters 1998 All-Star Game 1999 Postseason

Australian Baseball League (2010–)

Seasons

Clubs

Australian Baseball League (1989–1999)

Australian Baseball League Championships Australian Baseball League Records Australian Baseball League Awards

Seasons	1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99

Clubs	Adelaide Giants Brisbane Bandits Gold Coast Clippers > Daikyo Dolphins > Gold Coast Cougars Melbourne Monarchs Melbourne Bushrangers > Canberra Bushrangers Parramatta Patriots Sydney Blues > Sydney Storm Sydney Metros Sydney Wave > Hunter Eagles Perth Heat Waverley Reds > Melbourne Reds

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