Australian Baseball Federation

The Australian Baseball Federation is the national governing body of baseball in Australia. Baseball is played in all the mainland states and territories, but it struggles for popularity due to the popularity of many other sports, including the comparable sport of cricket, in which Australia has always been one of the leading nations. School-aged children are generally guided toward a future in cricket, rather than baseball, especially in the private schooling system.

Currently there is no national league in Australia, although it has been un-officially announced that in November of 2007, a national competition will begin [cite news |url=http://www.austadiums.com/news/news.php?id=272 |title=Australia to get a new Baseball League in November 2007 |date=2006-10-17 |author=Chris Egan |work=www.austadiums.com] . Since Australia's silver medal performance at the 2004 Athens Olympics the participation rate in most of the eastern states has remained stable, however there has been a large increase in the sport's popularity and participation in Western Australia [cite news |url=http://www.austadiums.com/news/news.php?id=271 |title=Perth Heat going from strength to strength |date=2006-10-17 |author=Chris Egan |work=www.austadiums.com] .

There are many Australians playing baseball professionally in the United States, Japan, Korea, and various other countries.

In 2003, within Australia there was roughly 57,000 Australians playing baseball in around 5000 teams. [ [http://www.baseball.ch/2003/f/mc/mcAUS.html IBAF ] ]

The most famous Australian-born baseball players include Dave Nilsson and Graeme Lloyd - children were once issued a poster of the two with the slogan "AUSTRALIAN RULES BASEBALL" [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/worldclassic2006/news/story?id=2291225 ESPN - Welcome to Australia - MLB ] ] . Australian-born baseball players currently in Major League Baseball include Chris Snelling, Grant Balfour, Justin Huber, Peter Moylan and Ryan Rowland-Smith.

History of Baseball in Australia

The first baseball game in Australia was played in 1857. At the end of the 19th century, Americans also tried to set up baseball leagues and competitions in Australia, with some success. A national league was initiated in 1934, and the national team entered World Championship competition in the late 1970s. Prior to winning the silver medal at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Australia had finished 7th in the Olympics twice, which is also the highest position reached in World Championships.

In the late 80's to late 90's the national league took off with most capital cities having a team. The games were broadcast weekly on ABC television around the country.

A national-level competition still exists, as well as lower-level club competitions, but the game attracts comparatively little or no spectator or media interest. Several Australians, however, have attracted the attention of American scouts and have gone on to play in the major leagues in the United States and Japan.

ee also

*Sport in Australia

References

External links

* [http://www.baseball.org.au Australian Baseball Federation] official site
* [http://www.baseball.org.au/site/baseball/abf/downloads/151101BBBackgrounder.doc timeline]