1998–99 Australian Baseball League season

1998–99
Australian Baseball League
Season details
Sport Baseball
Country  Australia
Teams 6
Dates 17 October 1998 – 13 February 1999
Defending champions Melbourne Reds (1997–98)
Champions Gold Coast Cougars (1st title)
MVP Adam Burton ( Reds)
Final positions
Champions Gold Coast Cougars
Runners-up Sydney Storm
Finalists Adelaide Giants
Finalists Melbourne Monarchs
Fifth place Melbourne Reds
Sixth place Perth Heat
Regular season
Games played 132
Best batting average Brandon Pollard ( Cougars) (.317)
Most homeruns hit Brandon Pollard ( Cougars) (12)
Best ERA Brett Cederbald ( Cougars) (2.34)


Last updated on 13 February 2013

The 1998–99 Australian Baseball League season was the 10th season of the original Australian Baseball League, contested between six teams representing state and regional capitals: Adelaide Giants, Gold Coast Cougars, Melbourne Monarchs, Melbourne Reds, Perth Heat and Sydney Storm. The championship was won by the Gold Coast Cougars, who defeated the Sydney Storm in 2 games in the championship series at the Sydney Showground Stadium. The Adelaide Giants finished the season on top of the ladder but were knocked out in Semi Final 1 by the Sydney Storm.

All play-off games in the 1998-99 ABL season were held at the then-recently completed Sydney Showground,[1] which was to become the main venue for baseball at the 2000 Summer Olympics.

1998–99 was the final season of the original Australian Baseball League. At the completion of the season the rights to the league were purchased by Dave Nilsson who then attempted to form the International Baseball League of Australia.

Teams

Only 6 of the 8 teams from the previous season returned, The Hunter Eagles and Brisbane Bandits were both unable to continue in the league due to increasing financial pressure.

Rosters

During the regular season each team made use of an active roster of 22-24 men, with a maximum of 4 import players.

Adelaide Giants

Adelaide Giants roster - 1998–99 ABL
Active roster
Pitchers

Right-handed pitchers

Left-handed pitchers

 Catchers
  • ? Australia Darren Phillips
  • ? Australia Sam Tibbets

Infielders

  • ? Australia Rick Bennett
  • ? Australia Andrew Brett
  • ? Australia Nathan Davison
  • ? Australia Michael Forbes
  • ? Australia Jason Hewitt
  • ? Australia Andrew Scott

Outfielders

  • ? Australia Jay Ivanoff
  • ? Australia Tony Mota
  • ? Australia Mark Paparella
  • ? Australia Chip Sell
  • ? United States Eric Stuckenschneider
  • ? Australia Andrew Taintley
  • ? Australia Marc Taintley
  • ? Australia Craig Watts
Current as of February 1999.

Melbourne Monarchs

Melbourne Monarchs roster - 1998–99 ABL
Active roster Coaching Staff
Pitchers

Right-handed pitchers

Left-handed pitchers

 Catchers
  • 14 Australia Brett Caulfield
  • 28 Australia John Edwards
  • 36 United States Steve Dax Norris

Infielders

Outfielders

  • 37 Australia Ben Hammer
  • 33 Australia Aaron Harvey
  • 16 Australia Dean Marnell
Manager

Coaches

  • - Australia Neil Bourke
Current as of February 1999.[2]

Melbourne Reds

Melbourne Reds roster - 1998–99 ABL
Active roster
Pitchers

Right-handed pitchers

  • 27 Australia Matthew Gourlay
  • ? Australia Ben Mann
  • 37 Australia Warren May
  • ? United States Denis Pujals
  • ? Australia Lucas Van Raake
  • ? United States David White
  • ? Australia Gregg Wiltshire

Left-handed pitchers

  • ? United States John Box
  • 44 Australia Ben Donald
  • ? Australia Matt Ryan
Catchers
  • 8 Australia Scott Dawes

Infielders

  • 22 Australia Myles Barnden
  • ? United States Brian Becker
  • 20 Australia Adam Burton
  • 16 Australia Shane Hogan
  • 30 Australia Ben Utting

Outfielders

  • ? Australia Cameron Hubbard
  • ? Australia Matt Kent
  • ? Australia David McGrady
  • ? United States Matt Quatraro
  • 26 Australia Jeff Spencer
  • 19 Australia Darren White
  • ? Australia Glynn Kimberley
  • 35 Australia Glen Reeves
  • 46 United States Derek Shumpert
  • 18 Australia Paul Weichard
Current as of February 1999.

Sydney Storm

Sydney Storm roster - 1997–98 ABL
Active roster
Pitchers

Right-handed pitchers

Left-handed pitchers

 Catchers
  • ? United States D. Tomaszewski
  • 15 Australia Gary White

Infielders

  • ? Australia Matt Buckley
  • ? Australia Greg Morrison
  • 19 Australia Mark Shipley
  • 43 Australia Craig Stone
  • 4 Australia Scott Tunkin

Outfielders
Current as of February 1998. Incomplete

Venues

Teams in the ABL
Team City State Stadium Ref
Adelaide Giants Adelaide South Australia Norwood Oval
Gold Coast Cougars Gold Coast Queensland Carrara Oval
Melbourne Monarchs Melbourne Victoria Melbourne Ballpark
Melbourne Reds Melbourne Victoria Moorabbin Oval
Perth Heat Perth Western Australia Bassendean Oval
Sydney Storm Sydney New South Wales Sydney Showground Stadium

Match results

Key
† Clinched final berth
1997-98 regular season standings
Team
[3] 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Adelaide Giants† 28 17 .622 - 15-9 13–8
Gold Coast Cougars† 24 20 .545 3 1⁄2 16–10 8–10
Melbourne Monarchs† 22 22 .500 5 1⁄2 13–8 9–14
Sydney Storm† 21 22 .488 6 13–10 8–12
Melbourne Reds 20 23 .465 7 15–8 5–15
Perth Heat 17 28 .378 11 12–9 5–19

    Top 10 Stats

    Defensive Stats
    Name Wins Losses Saves ERA
    Adrian Meagher 6 1 3 2.97
    Brett Cederblad 4 1 0 2.34
    Phil Brassington 5 3 0 3.68
    Paul Wollin 1 2 1 3.41
    Jason Davis 2 3 1 3.60
    Aaron Reed 2 2 2 3.89
    Offensive Stars
    Name Avg HR RBI
    Brandon Pollard .317 12 33
    Ron Johnson .307 5 19
    Steve Hinton .303 1 8
    Grant McDonald .269 5 29
    Paul Gorman .263 7 22
    Jose Macias .267 1 18

    Postseason

    Finals Series at Sydney Showground Stadium

    The 1999 Postseason was held at the newly constructed Sydney Showground Stadium, The Showgrounds Stadium was to be the main venue for Baseball at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

    The Postseason followed a 3-game Semi Final playoff format, 1st vs 4th and 2nd vs 3rd. The winners of the two Semi Finals series then played off in a 3-game Championship series.

    Semi Final 1: 1st vs 4th

    Game 1: 10 February 1999
    Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
    Sydney Storm 0 1 0 1 0 0 3 1 1 7 10 2
    Adelaide Giants 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 ? ? ?
    Starting pitchers:
    Storm: C. Anderson
    Giants: S. Bennett
    WP: C. Anderson (1-0)   LP: S. Bennett (0-1)   Sv: C. Lewis
    Home runs:
    Storm: G. White, C. Snelling
    Giants: D. Phillips
    Attendance: 1,500[4]
    Game 2: 10 February 1999
    Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
    Sydney Storm 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 3 8 1
    Adelaide Giants 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 2
    Starting pitchers:
    Storm: G Glover
    Giants: M. Herges
    WP: G Glover (1-0)   LP: M. Herges (0-1)   Sv: G. Cassel
    Home runs:
    Storm: -
    Giants: -
    Attendance: 1,500[5]

    Semi Final 2: 2nd vs 3rd

    Game 1: 11 February 1999
    Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
    Melbourne Monarchs ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
    Gold Coast Cougars ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
    WP: ? (1-0)   LP: ? (0-1)   Sv: ?
    Home runs:
    Monarchs: ?
    Cougars: ?
    Game 2: 11 February 1999
    Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
    Melbourne Monarchs ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
    Gold Coast Cougars ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
    WP: ? (1-0)   LP: ? (0-1)   Sv: ?
    Home runs:
    Monarchs: ?
    Cougars: ?

    Championship Series at Sydney Showground Stadium

    Game 1: 12 February 1999

    Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
    Sydney Storm 5 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 7 13 1
    Gold Coast Cougars 0 3 1 0 2 0 0 0 2 8 12 1
    Starting pitchers:
    Storm: C. Lawrence
    Cougars: K. Calvert
    WP: A. Meagher (1-0)   LP: G. Cassel (0-1)   Sv: nill
    Home runs:
    Storm: -
    Cougars: R. Jonhnson, B. Pollard, P. Gorman
    Attendance: 3,120[6]

    Game 2: 12 February 1999

    Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
    Sydney Storm 2 0 1 0 2 1 2 0 0 8 13 8
    Gold Coast Cougars 1 2 0 1 0 8 2 0 - 14 9 1
    Starting pitchers:
    Storm: C. Lewis
    Cougars: P. Brassington
    WP: P. Brassington (1-0)   LP: S. Pepper (0-1)   Sv: nill
    Home runs:
    Storm: S. Tunkin, G. White (2)
    Cougars: S. Hinton, A. Pearce
    Attendance: 5,600[7]

    Awards

    Award Person Team
    Most Valuable Player Adam BURTON Melbourne Reds
    Championship M.V.P. Paul GORMAN Gold Coast Cougars
    Golden Glove Gary WHITE Sydney Storm
    Batting Champion Adam BURTON Melbourne Reds
    Pitcher of the Year Pat Ahearne Perth Heat
    Rookie of the Year Clinton BALGERA Perth Heat
    Manager of the Year

    All-Star Team

    Position Name Team
    Catcher Gary WHITE Sydney Storm
    1st Base Andrew SCOTT Adelaide Giants
    2nd Base Adam BURTON Melbourne Reds
    3rd Base Paul GONZALEZ Melbourne Monarchs
    Short Stop Matt BUCKLEY Sydney Storm
    Out Field Brandon POLLARD Gold Coast Cougars
    Out Field Matt Quatraro Melbourne Reds
    Out Field Chip SELL Adelaide Giants
    Designated Hitter Craig WATTS Adelaide Giants
    Starting Pitcher Pat AHEARNE Perth Heat
    Relief Pitcher John CHALLINOR Adelaide Giants
    Manager Tony HARRIS Adelaide Giants

    References

    1. ↑ Flintoff, P. (1999?) Flintoff & Dunn's Australian Major League Baseball - The First 10 Years. Accessed on 28 July 2010.
    2. ↑ "Melbourne Monarchs Roster". Melbourne Monarchs. Archived from the original on 22 April 1999. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
    3. ↑ "FINAL FAI CUP STANDINGS". Australian Baseball League. Sydney Storm. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
    4. ↑ "FAI CUP - Playoff 1 Game 1". Sydney Storm. Archived from the original on 29 April 1999. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
    5. ↑ "FAI CUP - Playoff 1 Game 2". Sydney Storm. Archived from the original on 29 April 1999. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
    6. ↑ "FAI CUP - Championship Game 1". Sydney Storm. Archived from the original on 29 April 1999. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
    7. ↑ "FAI CUP - Championship Game 2". Sydney Storm. Archived from the original on 29 April 1999. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
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