1980 Australian Baseball Team - 26th World Baseball Championships - Japan

« Prev Item Next Item »

Overview

A colour photograph of the 1980 Australian Baseball Team and officials at the World Baseball Championships in Japan. The team is wearing their playing uniform which consists of a short-sleeved, yellow top, with green bands around the neck, waist and edge of the sleeves. On front of the top, in green, is the word 'Australia' across the chest, with the player's number below it on the left-hand side. The top is worn over a green undershirt with white trousers. The team cap has a green crown with the letter 'A' embroidered in yellow thread. The cap peak is yellow.

Historical information

The 1980 World Baseball Championship was the 26th Amateur World Series (AWS), an international men's amateur baseball tournament. The tournament was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation. It took place in Japan, the first time outside the Americas or Europe, from August 22 to September 5. It was a 12-nation round robin competition with teams from Australia, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Puerto Rico, South Korea, USA and Venezuela. Games were played at the Korakuen Stadium in Tokyo and in Yokohama. Cuba won the championships – its 16th AWS victory – when it defeated Japan 1-0.

Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Amateur_World_Series]
National Library of Australia [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/125620342]

The Australian team (L-R):
Back row: Greg Elkson (SA), Ian Hendy (NSW), Doug Mateljan (WA), Brian Wannacott (VIC), Larry Home (QLD), Mark Peters (SA).
4th row: Bob Medlicott (umpire), David Ziersch (SA), Kim Jessop (QLD), Lionel Harris (NSW).
3rd row: Neville Pratt, Ray Michell (WA), Robert Meates (VIC), John Galloway (SA), Sandy Rennie (Physio).
2nd row: Kevin Greatrex (SA) (Hitting Coach), Robert Rowan (Pitching Coach), Geoff Martin (QLD), Grahame Cassel (NSW), John Hodges (VIC), Leigh McIntyre (VIC), Trevor Jarrett.
Front row: Robert Black, Don Kyle (WA), Dave Went (Manager), Alan Wignall (VIC), Alan Albury (QLD), John Anderson.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-100-2020.430

Item type

Photographs

Themes

People
Photography
Social History
Sport

Material

Photographic Paper

Width

34 cm

Height or length

29 cm

Contextual Information

Three Western Australians were chosen in the 1980 Australian team – Ray Michell, Doug Mateljan and Don Kyle. Ray Michell and Doug Mateljan were inducted into the Australian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006 and 2010 respectively. Ray, Doug and Don Kyle were all inaugural inductees into the Baseball WA Hall of Fame in 2021.

The photograph has been loaned to the Baseball WA Museum & Archives by the family of Ray Michell.

Keywords

1980 Australian Baseball Team

Australian Baseball Team Uniform

1980 World Amateur Baseball Championship

World Amateur Baseball Championship

Korakuen Stadium, Tokyo

Statement of significance

This photograph is of historical significance as it records the images of a team that represented Australia in an international baseball competition in 1980. It has special significance for the history of baseball in Western Australia as three members of the team are elite Western Australian sportsmen.

Primary significance criteria

Historic significance

Social or spiritual significance

Comparative significance criteria

Object’s condition or completeness

Rare or representative

Well provenanced

Baseball WA

Organisation Details
View Collection
Item Feedback