Oral history - Charlie Hodder

Born in Midland in 1938, Charlie Hodder's association with the Swan Districts Baseball Club started in 1952, playing in the Club's first junior side, the Under-16s, at age 14. His playing career continued throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, playing A-grade for Swans Angels in the West Australian Baseball League and the Night Baseball League, as an outstanding first baseman. The daytime league saw Swans win the grand finals in 1961/62 and 1962/63.

Charlie was selected in the Western Australian State baseball team in both the 1963 Claxton Shield Series in Brisbane and 1964 in Melbourne. Later, in 1976, he was Assistant Coach to Colin Guest for the State team in the Claxton Shield Championship in Adelaide.

An approach to Charlie Hodder by the Victoria Park Baseball Club to coach their senior team, resulted in a 1964 premiership for the club in his first year as coach. He remained with the club for another two years and then returned to Swan Districts in 1969/70 as a player. In 1972 and 1973 Charlie was the official Swans coach as well as continuing as a player. He was assistant coach to Kerry Wither in 1974-75 and his playing career continued until 1975.

From the mid-1970s the rapid expansion of teeball as a junior sport at other Perth metropolitan clubs, resulted in the Swan Districts Baseball Club fostering the sport in the Midland area. The Club was fortunate that Charlie Hodder took up the challenge of introducing the sport to schools in the area. He spent nearly 12 months trying to get a team together and asking people to commit to the game. Eventually, in the 1976-77 season, Swan Districts entered one team in the Under-10 WA Teeball Interdistrict Carnival.

Affiliated with the Swan Districts Baseball Club, the Swan Districts Teeball Association was formed during the 1977-78 season with 60 registered players in five teams. In the following season the number had risen to 240 players in 20 teams and by 1983-84 there were 1000 registered players.

Swan Districts Teeball Association was one of the first to invite girls to join. In the 1997-98 season, 2000 children were playing teeball, graded into girls-only, boys-only and mixed teams.

Charlie Hodder's long association with Swan Districts Baseball Club included coaching pee wees, under-15s and under-17s when his sons Geoffrey and Paul continued on from teeball. Paul was selected in State junior teams and the Australian Schoolboys Baseball Team that toured Hawaii and Canada in 1995 as a catcher. Both Geoffrey and Paul played senior grade baseball for Swans.