Gunnah Mollah was an Australian baseball player, coach and umpire. He is considered as one of the founding fathers of
Queensland Baseball. Mollah played with the Eastern Suburbs club in the QBA Fixtures as a
catcher
Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...
in 1927 before moving to Valley in 1930. Gunnah went on to represent Queensland in 1933 and in the first
Queensland Rams touring team, which toured Newcastle and Maitland in 1934. He went on to be a member of the first Queensland team to participate in 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 2010â ...
in
1939.
He was selected in the All-Australian team from 1936 to 1939. His brother Albert also played alongside him at the club and state level and was selected alongside Gunnah in 1936.
After World War II, Gunnah represented Queensland in friendly series against
New South Wales
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, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
, but did not play in the Claxton Shield again due to Queensland not participating in the tournament until the year
1950
Events January
* January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed.
* January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...
. He went on to coach Queensland in
1955 and
1956
Events
January
* January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan.
* January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, ar ...
and umpired many games including Claxton Shield, a friendly series against the
Tokyo Giants
The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They ...
and the
1956 Olympics Baseball.
In 2009, he was posthumously inducted into the Queensland Baseball Hall of Fame.
Current Hall of Fame Members
– Baseball Queensland
References
*Harris, J.O (2009)
''Queensland Baseball 1905–1990''
. pp. 24–36
Australian baseball players
Baseball coaches
Baseball umpires
Place of birth missing
Place of death missing
Year of birth missing
Year of death missing
{{Australia-baseball-bio-stub