A History of Australian Baseball: Time and Game

Front Cover
U of Nebraska Press, Jan 1, 2003 - Sports & Recreation - 179 pages
Through extensive interviews and archival research, Joe Clark has uncovered the engaging details of Australian baseball?s unique, and often turbulent, 125-year history, and for the first time the dynamic story of Australian baseball is told. ø Initially accepted only grudgingly in the late nineteenth century as an off-season substitute for cricket, baseball in Australia steadily rose in prominence. Starting with neighborhood games played between improvised teams, the sport grew to include state and national leagues and a spirited international competition. Both the shortcomings and the triumphs of Australian baseball are revealed in A History of Australian Baseball: Time and Game, from an ill-fated late-nineteenth-century baseball tour of America and the political firestorm surrounding the formation of the Australian Baseball League in the 1990s, to the amazing defeat of the powerhouse Cuban team in the Intercontinental Cup of 1999.
 

Contents

Early Enthusiasm in the 1890s
18
The Disaster Tour of 1897
24
A New Game for a New Century
41
Claxton Shield and Summer Baseball
60
Changing Times in the 1970s and 1980s
75
The Rocky Path to a National League
90
The Australian Baseball League 19891999
116
Key Aspects of Australian Baseball
125
Australian Baseball at the Turn
138
Copyright

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About the author (2003)

Joe Clark has taught in Sydney, Australia, private schools since 1981. He plays baseball for the Baulkham Hills Club in Sydney.

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