The 2009 Diamond Anniversary Claxton Shield was the 75-year anniversary of the

Claxton Shield The Claxton Shield was the name of the premier baseball competition in Australia held between state-based teams, as well as the name of the trophy awarded to the champion team. From the summer of 1989–90 until 2001–02, and again since 2010� ...

and was held from 2 December 2008 to 8 February 2009 and was the Shield's

Diamond Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, ...

anniversary. The

Perth Heat The Perth Heat is a baseball team in the current Australian Baseball League and a foundation member of the Australian Baseball League. It is now the most successful team in ABL, winning 15 Claxton Shields. Australian Baseball League (1989–19 ...

won the tournament after defeating the

New South Wales Patriots New South Wales Patriots compete in the Claxton Shield baseball championship in Australia. The Patriots were one of the founding teams of the Claxton Shield in 1934 and competed as New South Wales until 1988 when the Claxtion Shield was awarde ...

3–2 in the third game of a best of three series.

Overview

The 2009 Shield series excluded the Australian Provincial baseball team and consisted of four, three-game series against each team including a two home, two away and a bye round for each of the teams. On top of this to start off the tournament, there was also a showcase round where each team played each other once. To celebrate the 75th anniversary, the showcase round also hosted a variety of other events such as a Home Run Derby. Teams that competed in the 2009 Claxton Shield were the

, Queensland Rams,

Victoria Aces The Victoria Aces are an Australian baseball team who compete in the Claxton Shield Baseball Championship. One of the founding teams of the Claxton Shield in 1934, they competed until 1988. Thereafter the Claxton Shield was awarded to the winn ...

and the

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. The competition served as the primary selection trial for the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

to compete in the

2009 World Baseball Classic The 2009 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international baseball competition. It began on 5 9 and finished 5 26. Unlike in 2006, when the round-robin format of the first two rounds led to some eliminations being decided by run-difference tie ...

. The first round of the WBC commenced Mexico City on 8 March 2009, a month after the final round.

Teams

Rosters

Venues

The 2009 Claxton Shield will be competed between 5 teams from around Australia in 13 different venues. *

** Baseball Park –

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

**Anderson Reserve – Glenelg ** Blue Lake Sports Park –

Mount Gambier Mount Gambier is the second most populated city in South Australia, with an estimated urban population of 33,233 . The city is located on the slopes of Mount Gambier, a volcano in the south east of the state, about south-east of the capital Ad ...

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 ...

– Altona **

Geelong Baseball Park The Geelong Baseball Centre or Geelong Baseball Park is home to Geelong Baseball Club in Geelong Geelong ( ) ( Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the south eastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the east ...

– Geelong ** Aerodrome Oval –

Mildura Mildura is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura had a population of 34,565 in 2021. When nearby Wentworth, Irymple, Nichols Point and Merbein are included, the area h ...

** Blacktown Baseball Stadium – Sydney **

Narrabundah Baseball Park Narrabundah () (postcode: 2604) is a leafy, medium density suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, located in the inner south of the city. Narrabundah is an established garden suburb, valued for its equal proximity to both Civic and t ...

– Canberra **Aquatic Reserve – Manly ** Fred Finch Park –

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wa ...

* Queensland Rams ** John Murray Field – Redlands **

Holloway Field Holloway Field (officially Viticon Stadium, formerly Onehub Stadium, powered by Optus) is a baseball stadium in Newmarket, Queensland, Australia. It is the home to the Brisbane Bandits of the Australian Baseball League and Windsor Royals basebal ...

–

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

Baxter Field Baxter International Baseball Field or the Albert Park Baseball Complex is home to the Far North Coast Baseball Association (FNCBA), part of Baseball NSW, in Lismore, New South Wales. It is a fully fenced and regulation size field with field l ...

– Lismore

Regular season

The regular season was held from 2 December 2008 through to 18 January 2009, followed by a two-week finals series from 23 January to 8 February 2009. The season started with a showcase round featuring all five teams in a single round-robin series of matches at

Blacktown Olympic Park Blacktown International Sportspark (BISP) (formally known as Blacktown Olympic Park) is a multi-sports venue located in Rooty Hill, a suburb in Sydney, Australia. The venue includes two cricket grounds, which have also been used for Australian r ...

. This was followed by five rounds of home and away games, with each team playing four 3-game series, one against each other team, two at home and two away. As there was an odd number of teams, each team also had a bye round. At the end of the home and away season, the top three teams qualified for the finals series.

Standings

Showcase - Round 1

:;Round 1 notes

Round 2

:;Round 2 notes

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

8 January 2009 at 7.00pm, Baseball Park

9 January 2009 at 7.00pm, Blacktown Baseball Stadium

9 January 2009 at 7.00pm, Baseball Park

10 January 2009 at 7.00pm, Blacktown Baseball Stadium

Round 6

Championship series

The 2009 Claxton Shield finals series will have the top three teams after regular fixtures qualify. The team who finishes first will auto-qualify for the final where they will meet the winner of the 2nd vs 3rd. Both semi-finals and finals are best of three series.

23 January 2009 at 7.00 pm,
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 ...

24 January 2009 at 3.00 pm,
Waverley Waverley may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Waverley'' (novel), by Sir Walter Scott ** ''Waverley'' Overture, a work by Hector Berlioz inspired by Scott's novel * Waverley Harrison, a character in the New Zealand soap opera ''Shortland Stree ...

25 January 2009 at 12.00 pm,
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 ...

6 February 2009 at 7.00 pm, Baseball Park

7 February 2009 at 7.00 pm, Baseball Park

Perth Heat def. New South Wales Patriots.

8 February 2009 at 7.30 pm, Baseball Park

Conditions

Blacktown Baseball Stadium experienced quite warm December summer weather for

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. Although the average maximum temperature is 25 °C (77 °F), most games were above this, with Game 8 of the showcase round between South Australia and Victoria Aces hitting 32 °C (90 °F) during the match. On 7 December, the temperature dropped to a maximum of 22 °C with a strong breeze over Blacktown as well as clouds, however, no rain fell and the games finished as scheduled. A large low-pressure system and long periods of rain forced the postponement of both games on 12 December in

Altona, Victoria Altona is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Hobsons Bay local government area. Altona recorded a population of 11,490 at the . Altona is a large subu ...

and Canberra. Games the next day were rescheduled to allow for 7-inning double headers. Game 1 between Queensland Rams and

was relocated to

Mildura, Victoria Mildura is a regional city in north-west Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura had a population of 34,565 in 2021. When nearby Wentworth, New South Wales, Wentworth, Irymple, Victo ...

where Game 2 and 3 were also being played. On 3 January, the

vs Queensland Rams second game at

, Lismore was delayed during the 6th inning due to a small stint of heavy rain.

Drizzle Drizzle is a light precipitation consisting of liquid water drops smaller than those of rain – generally smaller than in diameter. Drizzle is normally produced by low stratiform clouds and stratocumulus clouds. Precipitation rates from dri ...

was present throughout the game, but was only delayed for approximately ten minutes.

Fielders Choice Player of the Series

This is awarded recognition of outstanding individual performances each round of the 2009 Claxton Shield by the

Australian Baseball Federation Baseball Australia, formerly the Australian Baseball Federation is the national governing body of Baseball in Australia and owns the Australian Baseball League. Baseball is played in all the mainland states and territories, but it struggles ...

.FIELDERS CHOICE Player of the Round
/ref> *Round 1 – Nick Kimpton *Round 2 – Daniel Berg *Round 3 – Tim Kennelly *Round 4 – Luke Hughes *Round 5 – Wayne Lundgren *Round 6 – Justin Huber

Statistics leaders

Awards

External links

Official Baseball Australia WebsiteOfficial 2009 Claxton Shield Page
''Courier Mail''

References

{{ClaxtonShield Claxton Shield January 2009 sports events in Australia February 2009 sports events in Australia December 2008 sports events in Australia 2009 in Australian sport 2009 in baseball