The 1997–98

Australian Baseball League The Australian Baseball League (ABL) is a professional baseball league in Australia. The league is governed by the Australian Baseball Federation (ABF). It uses the same name as a now-defunct competition held during the 1990s, and though it sh ...

season was the 9th season of the original

, contested between eight teams representing state and regional capitals: , , , , , , and . The

Melbourne Reds The Melbourne Reds were a Victorian-based baseball team in the Australian Baseball League. They were the only team to win the championship 3 times. The Reds originally played at the home of VFL/AFL football, Waverley Park from 1989 until the 19 ...

became the first three-time champions defeating the

Gold Coast Cougars The Gold Coast Cougars were the re-branded Daikyo Dolphins after major sponsor Daikyo had to end sponsorship of the team due to financial problems with the Australian arm of the company. History See also *Sport in Australia *Australian Ba ...

2 games to 0 in the Championship series, in front of a small home crowd of 600 at the

Melbourne Ballpark The Melbourne Ballpark is a baseball park in Laverton, Victoria. It was opened in January 1990, at a cost of 3.9m, 2m was contributed by the State Government of Victoria and the remaining 1.8m contributed by the Australian Federal Government an ...

Teams

Each of the 8 teams from the previous season returned, however the Sydney Blues changed their name to the Sydney Storm after legal action taken by

Cricket NSW Cricket NSW (officially known as the ''New South Wales Cricket Association'') is an Australian sporting association that administers cricket in New South Wales. It is based at the Sydney Olympic Park. The New South Wales Blues, the New South Wa ...

during the offseason. In the season opening press release, The league called for expressions of interest in a licence to reform the

Canberra Bushrangers The Canberra Bushrangers were originally created as the Melbourne Bushrangers, To replace the Melbourne Monarchs in the 1991-92 Australian Baseball League Championship after the Monarchs were expelled from the competition. The Bushrangers were ...

for the season, The Bushrangers previously folded at the end of the season.

Rosters

During the regular season each team made use of an active roster of 22–24 men, with a maximum of 4 import players. * 1997–98 Melbourne Monarchs season#Roster * 1997–98 Melbourne Reds season#Roster * 1997–98 Perth Heat season#Roster * 1997–98 Sydney Storm season#Roster

Venues

Regular season

Round 1: 31 October – 5 November 1997

Round 2: 7–9 November 1997

Round 3: 14–16 November 1997

Round 4: 21–23 November 1997

Round 5: 28–30 November 1997

Round 6: 5–7 December 1997

All Star Games: 12–13 December 1997

The All-Stars Weekend, was the first series of All-Star exhibition games held by the Australian Baseball League. The games were contested over two nights at

Carrara Oval Carrara Stadium (known commercially as Metricon Stadium) is a stadium on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, located in the suburb of Carrara. The stadium is primarily used for Australian rules football, serving as the home ground of th ...

on the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

, The then home of the

franchise. The games were played between the Australian All-Stars, USA All-Stars and the 1997 Japanese Industrial League Champions the Mitsubishi Juko Kobe. The Australian and USA All-Star teams were selected from players who were at the time playing in the Australian Baseball League.

Game 1: Australian All-Stars vs Mitsubishi Juko Kobe

Game 2: Australian All-Stars vs USA All-Stars

Round 7: 14–16 December 1997

Round 8: 19–21 December 1997

Round 9: 26–28 December 1997

Round 10: 30 December 1997, 2–6 January 1998

Round 11: 9–11 January 1998

Round 12: 16–18 January 1998

Round 13: 22–25 January 1998

Round 14: 26–29 January 1998

Round 15: 30 January – 3 February 1998

Round 16: 6–8 February 1998

Ladder

Top 10 Stats

Postseason

Finals Series at
Melbourne Ballpark The Melbourne Ballpark is a baseball park in Laverton, Victoria. It was opened in January 1990, at a cost of 3.9m, 2m was contributed by the State Government of Victoria and the remaining 1.8m contributed by the Australian Federal Government an ...

In previous years the post season was played as home and away best of 3 games, with the two winner of each series meeting for a best of 5 series, in 1997–98 this was changed to a round robin play-off format with each team playing 3 games, 1 against each of the other 3 qualified teams, with the two highest places teams playing off in the Championship Series. All games for the 9th ABL title were played at the

from February, 10-12 with the best of three championship series 14–15 February.

Finals Series

Game 1: 10 February 1998

Game 2: 10 February 1998

Game 3: 11 February 1998

Game 4: 11 February 1998

Game 5: 12 February 1998

Game 6: 12 February 1998

Postseason Ladder

Championship Series

Game 1: 14 February 1998

Game 2: 15 February 1998

Awards

All-Star Team

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:1997-98 Australian Baseball League Season Australian Baseball League (1989–1999) seasons 1997 in Australian sport 1997 in baseball 1998 in Australian sport 1998 in baseball