Baseball

Baseball has a long history in Australia and at one time there was a national league which had quite a following.

I have never played baseball, but I enjoy watching it more than the other American sports, ice hockey and gridiron. I don’t understand American football at all.

When I was growing up in Traralgon, baseball was a winter sport. I think cricketers used to play it to keep fit and practice their throwing.

I used to watch the Claxton Shield on television, that’s the interstate baseball competition.

The Claxton Shield dates back to the 1930s.

For many Claxton Shield players of this era, the late 1930s marked the “golden age” in Australian baseball. The players were mainly club and Sheffield Shield cricketers who saw each other on the cricket pitch in summer and the baseball diamond in winter. It was the lull of the war which was to change the style and face of Australian baseball.

Baseball is played in summer now. There is a league in Mount Gambier and Claxton Shield matches between Victoria and South Australia were recently played here.

That was the weekend before Christmas. I had planned to attend, but visited Mum instead.

I’m writing about baseball because I read in The Australian today about Grant Balfour.

He’s an Australian who pitches for the Tampa Bay Rays in the Major League.

Tampa Bay is in Florida, so the weather is probably similar to what Balfour was used to growing up in Sydney. Apparently he played rugby and baseball as a boy.

Wikipedia says Balfour came into 2008 spring training as a long shot to make the Rays bullpen. Despite a solid spring training, eventually he lost out on the final spot and was designated for assignment. He cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Durham on April 3, 2008.

He was recalled from Durham and did well as relief pitcher. I’m not sure if that is Durham, North Carolina, or not. I like that Durham website. It makes the city sound progressive.

Back to Balfour, I don’t understand these statistics, except the strikeouts: He finished the year with a 1.54 ERA, a 6-2 record, 4 saves out of 5 opportunities, 14 holds, and 82 strikeouts over 58 1/3 IP in 51 appearances.

ERA sounds like the acronym for a terrorist organisation.

According to The Australian, Balfour is known as the “Mad Aussie” because he swears every time he pitches.

I’ve known some bowlers in cricket to grunt with each delivery, like a tennis player serving, but not to swear.

Balfour is tipped to play a bigger role this year with the Rays. “Should that happen, Balfour can expect a further contract upgrade which is likely to push him towards annual earnings of $US10 million.”

Not bad money for throwing a ball.

I’ll follow his progress this year, and I might even barrack for Tampa Bay.