Claxton Shield

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Claxton Shield
Most recent season or competition:
2023–24 Australian Baseball League season
The Claxton Shield
SportBaseball
Founded1934
First season1934
No. of teams6
Country Australia
ContinentAustralia
Most recent
champion(s)		Adelaide Giants (ABL 2023–24, 2nd title)
Most titlesVictoria Aces (23 titles)
Related
competitions		Australian Baseball League
ABL (1989–1999) & IBLA
Official websiteAustralian Baseball League

The Claxton Shield was the name of the premier

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.[1] 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.[2]

The

Victorian team—the most by any state—including three times by the Waverley / Melbourne Reds and once by the Melbourne Monarchs.[4]

The Adelaide Giants currently hold the shield after overcoming the Perth Heat in the 2023–24 Australian Baseball League season. It was the Adelaide Giants second ABL title.

History

There had been interstate baseball tournaments held prior to the start of the Claxton Shield. Prior to the

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.[4] None were held regularly though, and they did not always involve all baseball–playing states.[5]

Establishment

In 1913 and in the wake of national tournaments having already been played, the

Australian Baseball Council 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.[4] 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 consecutive tournaments, and was named the Claxton Shield.[6]

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,[7] and would go on to win the next two editions as well.[8][9] At this point, all participating states agreed that it should be a perpetual shield awarded to the winner each year.[4] In 1936, the

Queensland would make their Claxton Shield debut in the 1939 tournament in Melbourne.[13]

Post WWII

The early part of the decade was interrupted by World War II, 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 sport's 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.[14]

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.[citation needed]

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

Australian Baseball League
.

Australian Baseball League

Main articles: Australian Baseball League and Australian Baseball League Championships

After 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.

International Baseball League of Australia

In late 1999 Australian baseball player

Australian Baseball League for A$5,000,000.[15] Nilsson, who 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.

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 four-team competition played exclusively on 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.

Return to Claxton Shield

The "State vs State" format of Claxton Shield returned in 2002 during the

2003 when the IBLA folded. The decade has brought close to a hundred young Australians playing baseball in Major League Baseball and Japan
, most of who return home to showcase their talents to local fans.

The

2008 series saw the return of a "home & away" format so that the game can be showcased nationwide.[16]

Season structure

See also: List of Claxton Shield champions

The Claxton Shield has followed numerous formats over the years. The original format saw a

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.

See also

References

  1. ^ Nash, Stephen (9 February 2010). "ACES: a message from the General Manager". Baseball Victoria. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 14 February 2010.
  2. ^ "Season Launch Party". 90 Feet of Heat. Season 1. Episode 4. 19 October 2011. Event occurs at 2:04. Retrieved 29 October 2011.
  3. Australian Baseball Federation. Archived from the original
    on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  4. ^
    Australian Baseball Federation. Archived from the original
    on 10 February 2009. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
  5. ^ Clark 2003, pp.41–53
  6. VIC
    . 18 August 1934. p. 25. Retrieved 26 May 2010.
  7. VIC
    . 13 August 1934. p. 13. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
  8. VIC
    . 12 August 1935. p. 14. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
  9. VIC
    . 10 August 1936. p. 16. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
  10. ^ "Baseball—Western Australia's Position". The Sydney Morning Herald. 18 July 1936. p. 22. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
  11. VIC
    . 18 August 1936. p. 13. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
  12. VIC
    . 19 May 1937. p. 16. Retrieved 26 May 2010.
  13. VIC
    . 28 July 1939. p. 16. Retrieved 26 May 2010.
  14. ^ 8 December 2008. 75 years of Claxton 75th Claxton Shield Tournament Program. pg 7
  15. ^ "Sydney 2000 — David Nilsson". ABC News Online. 2000. Archived from the original on 23 September 2009. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
  16. ^ 8 December 2008. 75 years of Claxton 75th Claxton Shield Tournament Program. pg 8

Bibliography

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