From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base
1997–98 Australian Baseball League season
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| sport | Baseball |
| league | Australian Baseball League |
| no_of_teams | 8 |
| duration | |
| season | Regular season |
| MVP | Brendan Kingman (Sydney Storm) |
| finals | Finals Series |
| finals_venue | Melbourne Ballpark |
| finals_champ | Melbourne Reds (3rd title) |
| finals_runner-up | Gold Coast Cougars |
| no_of_games | 211 |
| prevseason_link | 1996–97 Australian Baseball League season |
| prevseason_year | 1996–97 |
| nextseason_link | 1998–99 Australian Baseball League season |
| nextseason_year | 1998–99 |
| finals_runner-up = Gold Coast Cougars The 1997–98 Australian Baseball League season was the 9th season of the original Australian Baseball League, contested between eight teams representing state and regional capitals: , , , , , , and . The Melbourne Reds became the first three-time champions defeating the Gold Coast Cougars 2 games to 0 in the Championship series, in front of a small home crowd of 600 at the Melbourne Ballpark.
Teams
| adelaide-label = Adelaide Giants | adelaide-bb-icon = giants | brisbane-label = Brisbane Bandits | brisbane-bb-icon = bandits | gold-coast-label = Gold Coast Cougars | gold-coast-bb-icon = Cougars | melbourne-label = Melbourne Reds | melbourne-bb-icon = reds | geelong-label = Melbourne Monarchs | geelong-bb-icon = monarchs | perth-label = Perth Heat | perth-bb-icon = heat | newcastle-label = Hunter Eagles | newcastle-bb-icon =eagles | sydney-label = Sydney Storm | sydney-bb-icon = storm
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 during the offseason.
In the season opening press release, The league called for expressions of interest in a licence to reform the Canberra Bushrangers 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
| Team | City | State | Stadium | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adelaide | South Australia | Norwood Oval | ||
| Brisbane | Queensland | Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre | ||
| Gold Coast | Queensland | Carrara Oval | ||
| Newcastle | New South Wales | Newcastle International Sports Centre | ||
| Melbourne | Victoria | Melbourne Ballpark | ||
| Melbourne | Victoria | Moorabbin Oval | ||
| Perth | Western Australia | WACA Ground | ||
| Sydney | New South Wales | Concord Oval |
Regular season
Round 1: 31 October – 5 November 1997
Round 2: 7–9 November 1997
| Brisbane Bandits | 3 | d. | Hunter Eagles | 1 | (6-4, 7-4, 4-3, 2-4) |
|---|
Round 3: 14–16 November 1997
| Brisbane Bandits | 3 | d. | Hunter Eagles | 1 | (9-1, 13-11, 12-6, 9-10) |
|---|
Round 4: 21–23 November 1997
| Sydney Storm | 3 | d. | Adelaide Giants | 1 | (1-5, 3-2, 5-2, 6-3) |
|---|
Round 5: 28–30 November 1997
| Sydney Storm | 2 | dr. | Adelaide Giants | 2 | (6-5, 1-4, 8-7, 2-6) |
|---|
Round 6: 5–7 December 1997
| Adelaide Giants | 3 | d. | Perth Heat | 1 | (2-7, 7-1, 5-1, 6-3) |
|---|
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 on the Gold Coast, The then home of the Gold Coast Cougars 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
| Sydney Storm | 2 | d. | Hunter Eagles | 1 | (N/A) |
|---|
Round 8: 19–21 December 1997
| Melbourne Reds | 3 | d. | Hunter Eagles | 1 | (4-5, 17-7, 8-7, 7-0) |
|---|
Round 9: 26–28 December 1997
| Adelaide Giants | 3 | d. | Hunter Eagles | 1 | (12-4, 1-6, 6-2, 7-3) |
|---|
Round 10: 30 December 1997, 2–6 January 1998
| Sydney Storm | 1 | d. | Hunter Eagles | 0 | (17-14) |
|---|
Round 11: 9–11 January 1998
| Perth Heat | 2 | d. | Gold Coast Cougars | 1 | (2-19, 8-7, 8-2) |
|---|
Round 12: 16–18 January 1998
| Perth Heat | 2 | dr. | Hunter Eagles | 2 | (0-8, 11-6, 6-8, 5-2) |
|---|
Round 13: 22–25 January 1998
| Perth Heat | 2 | d. | Melbourne Reds | 0 | (2-0, 9-6) |
|---|
Round 14: 26–29 January 1998
| Gold Coast Cougars | 2 | d. | Sydney Storm | 1 | (9-3, 8-5, 7-12) |
|---|
Round 15: 30 January – 3 February 1998
| Sydney Storm | 2 | d. | Melbourne Reds | 1 | (14-11, 4-13, 10-9) |
|---|
Round 16: 6–8 February 1998
| Sydney Storm | 1 | d. | Hunter Eagles | 0 | (11-5) |
|---|
Ladder
Top 10 Stats
| Name | Wins | Losses | Saves | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mark Respondek | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2.57 |
| Warren May | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4.96 |
| Robert Hogan | 5 | 2 | 0 | 5.97 |
| Pat Ahearne | 3 | 4 | 0 | 3.46 |
| David White | 2 | 4 | 2 | 7.79 |
| Jason Beverlin | 2 | 4 | 0 | 6.22 |
| Name | Avg | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adam Burton | .388 | 21 | 55 |
| Ben Utting | .346 | 7 | 34 |
| Myles Barnden | .343 | 6 | 28 |
| Chris Ashby | .314 | 6 | 18 |
| Jeff Spencer | .306 | 7 | 41 |
| Shane Hogan | .298 | 18 | 49 |
Postseason
Finals Series at [[Melbourne Ballpark]]
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{fact}, 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 Melbourne Ballpark 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
| Award | Person | Team |
|---|---|---|
| Batting Champion | Brendan Kingman | |
| Golden Glove | Glenn Williams | |
| Manager of the Year | Tom Nieto | |
| Most Valuable Player | Brendan Kingman | |
| Championship M.V.P. | Shane Hogan | |
| Rookie of the Year | Rodney Van Buizen | |
| Reliever of the Year | Gabe Molina | |
| Pitcher of the Year | Erick Nelson | |
| Umpire of the Year | Gerard Tancred | New South Wales |
All-Star Team
| Position | Name | Team |
|---|---|---|
| Catcher | Gary White | |
| 1st Base | Ron Johnson | |
| 2nd Base | Adam Burton | |
| 3rd Base | Paul Gorman | |
| Short Stop | Ben Utting | |
| Out Field | Glen Barker | |
| Out Field | Trent Durrington | |
| Out Field | Grant McDonald | |
| Designated Hitter | Brendan Kingman | |
| Starting Pitcher | Erick Nelson | |
| Relief Pitcher | Gabe Molina | |
| Manager | Tom Nieto |
References
References
- "FAI Cup Pitches new finals format and all star competition as baseball bats up for the summer of 1997/1998.". Australian Baseball League.
This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.
Ask Mako anything about 1997–98 Australian Baseball League season — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.
Research with MakoFree with your Surf account
Create a free account to save articles, ask Mako questions, and organize your research.
Sign up freeThis content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.
Report