Handmade baseball umpire's counter
A homemade baseball umpire's counter constructed of two pieces of brown, wooden fibreboard, with rotating discs sandwiched between them. The fibreboard and the discs are fixed together with brass screws, washers and nuts. Scratched into one side of the fibreboard are the words 'STRIKE', 'BALLS' and 'OUTS'. Three U-shape cutouts in the top edge of the fibreboard reveal the numbers inscribed on the rotating discs for counting. However, the disc for counting the number of 'balls' is missing, leaving a hole where it was attached.
This handmade umpire's counter belonged to Jim Puckett, a prominent baseballer who played Claxton Shield (for South Australia) and club baseball (for Chaffers, Kalgoorlie Baseball League). He was a prominent pitcher from the renowned Puckett family which, at one time, had four brothers playing in the same team in South Australia. Tom and Charlie acted as a reversible battery, Bert at short-stop and Jim as utility man.
History was made in the first match of the 1939 Claxton Shield carnival in Melbourne when Jim, No. 1 pitcher for South Australia, opposed his brother Charlie, who was then No. 1 pitcher for Western Australia. It was the first time that two brothers had been in opposition from the pitching mound in an Australian interstate series.
In 1947 Jim Puckett moved from South Australia to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia and played his first baseball game on the goldfields for Chaffers. He later became a prominent umpire in the local league.
National Library of Australia: [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/79425283; https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/55913325; https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/95531463]
Details
Details
'Strikes'
'Balls'
'Outs'
Umpires' counters could be bought, however this homemade counter shows considerable ingenuity in its making. It belonged to baseball player and umpire Jim Puckett and was donated to the Baseball WA Museum & Archives by his son Bruce Puckett.
This unique piece of handmade sporting equipment shows a high degree of creative and technical accomplishment. It has historic and social significance as it belonged to a member of the Puckett family and comes with impeccable provenance.
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1987 Western Australian State Under-16 Baseball Team
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1989 International Youth Development Squad Friendship Series — Australian Squad
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Baseball presented to Glen Dunstan, 1937 Newspaper Baseball League team captain
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1993 Australian National Youth 'B' Baseball Team
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1992 Australian National Youth 'B' Baseball Team
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