Oral history – Kaye Greenham

Kaye Greenham and his twin brother John were born in Subiaco, Western Australia in 1940. They grew up in Midland, the sons of local doctor Roy Greenham. Education at Midland Primary School and then Guildford Grammar School included playing both cricket and football.

Kaye Greenham recalls his introduction to baseball: "One Sunday morning, in 1952, as a 12-year-old, I was cycling in Midland with my best friends Howard Walker and Peter Colquhoun, and we happened to chance upon the MR Reserve*...and I saw some people playing with a long skinny bat and throwing balls around – which we hadn't seen before. Being very interested in sport—the three of us—we called across and they asked us if we would like to join in. We said 'of course'. So that's how it started".
[*MR Reserve, so named due to its location alongside the Midland Railway Company Workshops.]

In a 45-year association with baseball in Western Australia (1952‒1997), Kaye Greenham played in junior and senior State league teams and interstate and international competitions, as well as serving as a coach and team physician.

In 1957 he was the first-ever schoolboy representative of the Western Australian Senior State Team in Australia's Claxton Shield Championships and was selected in every team he was eligible for from 1957 to 1974. He was a stalwart of the Western Australian State team and was rated by his peers in the top handful of players nationally, whether on the mound, at the plate or in the field.

Greenham was a dominant player at all levels throughout his playing career (1952‒1983). During those years he played for Swan Districts, South Perth, East Fremantle, and Victoria Park baseball clubs, which included five premierships with Swan Districts (1957, 1958, 1959, 1962, 1963), one at South Perth (1966) and one at East Fremantle (1974).

One of the first Australian baseball players to be offered a professional contract by an American Major League franchise, the New York Yankees organisation reached out to him in 1959. Greenham, and his family, agonized over the opportunity but eventually turned it down to pursue his goal of becoming a doctor in Western Australia.