1949 Western Australian Claxton Shield Series baseball team
1949An A4-size, black and white photograph of the 1949 Western Australian Claxton Shield Series baseball team. The 13 players are wearing long-sleeved, white undershirts with the black top and pants of the State uniform. Light-coloured piping is stitched around the edges of the short sleeves and extends around the neckline and down both sides of the button-through front opening. A patch on the right breast is shield-shaped and depicts a black swan above the letters 'W.A.'. Black peaked caps also have the letters 'W.A.' on the crown. The team's coach (centre of middle row) is wearing the team blazer and cap and a man in the back row is weariing a shirt, tie and overcoat. The group are pictured in front of a grandstand (location unknown).
The 1949 Claxton Shield (at the time known as the 1949 Australian Championship Series) was the 10th annual Claxton Shield, an Australian national baseball tournament. It was held in Melbourne, Victoria from 30 July to 7 August, with games played at Prahran, St Kilda, and South Melbourne cricket grounds.
The 1949 edition of the Claxton Shield saw a new format introduced. Each of the four teams played a double round-robin schedule, meeting each other team twice. This ensured that each team would be guaranteed to play six games during the tournament. Two competition points were on offer in each game, with the points awarded as follows: win – two points; tie – one point; loss – no points. At the end of the round-robin games, if a team had an outright lead over all other teams, they would be declared the champions. If two teams were tied for the lead, they would then play in a championship game on the final day. The final points scores were Victoria 10, New South Wales 6, Western Australia and South Australia 4. As Victoria had an outright lead, they were declared the champions...for the third successive year.
Following Victoria's win, an Australian team was named, which included Western Australian Ron Frankish as rightfielder.
Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1949_Claxton_Shield]
Details
Details
The Western Australian team almost didn't attend the 1949 championship when they could not be accommodated on the train to Melbourne. Supporters immediately rallied and raised the difference in train and air travel by public subscription.
Depicted in the photograph are (L-R):
Back row: Roy Gooch, Neville Pratt, Ron Booth, Dave Mickle, Ron Frankish, Frank Day.
Centre row: George Dickinson, Wally Driver, Les Matthews (Manager), Ben Shom (Captain), Tom Nisbet, Charlie Puckett.
Front row: Jim Dore, Alf Hickinbotham, Alan Bell.
National Library of Australia
[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/47736309; https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/243686106; https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/47739477]
Of historic significance, this photograph records the images of Western Australian baseballers who achieved a level of excellence in their sport. It is a rare image of the State team and adds significantly to the Baseball WA Museum & Archive's collection of Western Australian Claxton Shield Series team photographs.
Other items from Baseball WA
-
1993 Intercontinental Cup (Baseball), Italy – signed fixtures poster
-
1937 Western Australian Claxton Shield Series baseball team
-
2019 aerial photograph of Baseball Park, Tom Bateman Reserve
-
Swan Brewery 'Local Heroes' poster
-
'Australian Rules Baseball' poster – Graeme Lloyd & David Nilsson
-
Inaugural 1989/90 Perth Heat baseball team poster
-
John Moore's Australian baseball team catcher's glove – 1996 Atlanta Olympics
-
John Moore's Australian baseball team shoes – 1996 Olympic Games
-
1989 Baseball Quebec poster advertising the Youppi! piggy bank
-
1988 World Under-19 Youth Baseball Series, Sydney – poster
-
First National Inaugural Pee Wee Baseball Championships, Adelaide 1984 poster
Scan this QR code to open this page on your phone ->
