Sydney Blue Sox

History

Formation

The creation of the ABL was announced at a press conference on the Gold Coast, at the Palm Meadows Baseball Complex, site of the Major League Baseball Australia Academy Program in July 2009. Though there was speculation at the time that there may be as many as 10 teams in the competition, with teams possibly from New Zealand and Asia, it wasn't until two months later that the number and location of teams was announced: Sydney would have one of five confirmed teams, with Canberra eventually being successful in bidding for the sixth team.

Names and colour schemes for each of the teams were determined through a competition launched in December 2009 called "Name Your ABL Team". Fans were asked to select from one of four options for the team's name or provide their own alternative. Though the four options provided for the Sydney team were "Sydney Sting", "Sydney Rocks", "Sydney Surf" and "Sydney Bluewave", the name announced in August 2010 was "Sydney Blue Sox", with Sydney's colour being the blue traditionally associated with New South Wales sporting teams. The Blue Sox would have Blacktown Olympic Park as their home ground, which had been the New South Wales Patriots home in the Claxton Shield the previous three seasons.

On 19 August 2010, Blue Sox signed Glenn Williams as manager for the 2010–11 season. Williams had last played baseball in Australia with the Patriots in the 2007 Claxton Shield, and played 13 games for the Minnesota Twins during the 2005 Major League Baseball season, becoming the 17th Australian-born player to reach the Major Leagues. The following month, Eddie Bray was appointed as general manager of the club, having held the same role with the Patriots in the 2010 Claxton Shield.

Inaugural season

Main article: 2010–11 Sydney Blue Sox season

Sydney's initial roster included two players—Chris Oxspring and Koo Dae-Sung—and manager Glenn Williams with Major League experience. With Oxspring also taking on the role of pitching coach, and a number of players with experience from international league's including Nippon Professional Baseball and Korea Baseball Organization, and the late addition to the roster of active Major Leaguers Trent Oeltjen and Rich Thompson, Sydney had the most experienced roster of any of the teams in the league.

The Blue Sox hosted the inaugural game of the league, playing against the Canberra Cavalry at BOP, which they won 1–0. They would go on to sweep the opening series, the first of three series sweeps they would accomplish through the season, the others two against the Adelaide Bite at home, and the Perth Heat in Perth at Baseball Park. Ironically, immediately after sweeping the Heat, Perth swept Sydney at BOP.

Sydney clinched first place in the league in their final game, beating the Cavalry at Narrabundah Ballpark in Canberra. They led Perth by half a game, with Adelaide a further game back, and the Melbourne Aces six games behind the Blue Sox. Finishing first earned Sydney the right to host the major semi-final series, in addition to a second chance if they lost the series, against the second-place Heat. Perth maintained the perfect season record in Sydney, sweeping the series and qualifying directly to the championship series.

The Bite, having defeated the Aces in the minor semi-final series faced the Blue Sox in the preliminary final series at BOP. Game one of the series featured Sydney starting pitcher David Welch, who threw the league's first no-hitter. This would be Sydney's only win of the postseason, as Adelaide came back and won the series 2–1.

Sydney players took three of the six season awards announced by the league:

• Koo Dae-Sung – Reliever of the Year
• Trent Schmutter – Rookie of the Year
• David Welch – Pitcher of the Year

Season records

Pitchers

'Infielders’

Outfielders

• denotes Development List player

Notable players

• Gavin Fingleson, South African-born Australian, Olympic silver medalist baseball player
• Rhys Hoskins
• David Kandilas
• Jacob May
• Chris Oxspring
• Gift Ngoepe
• Zach Penprase
• Brad Thomas
• Manny Ramirez
• Lachlan Wells

References

References

1. "Darren MacBeth to Depart Sydney Blue Sox Ownership Group".
2. Stockman, Jennifer. (26 August 2010). "ABL Release Inaugural Season Schedule". Australian Baseball League.
3. (6 November 2010). "Canberra @ Sydney boxscore". Australian Baseball League.
4. (29 June 2015). "Effectively Wild Episode 700: Sabermetrics, Australia-Style".
5. Lewis, Daniel. (29 October 2010). "Bases loaded: expats rush back for new league". [[Fairfax Media]].
6. (21 September 2010). "Sydney Blue Sox 'Wait List for 2011' Season Tickets". Sydney Blue Sox.
7. (3 November 2010). "Sydney Blue Sox Tickets Sold Out .... for Season Opener on Sat Nov 6". Australian Baseball Federation.
8. Meers, Daniel. (2 July 2009). "US pitches in and league has lift-off". [[News Limited]].
9. (2 July 2009). "NZ offered place in Aussie baseball league". NZCity.
10. Foster, Ben. (25 August 2009). "Australian Baseball League – Player Information and Frequently Asked Questions". Australian Baseball League.
11. Fitzgerald, Peter. (19 November 2009). "Canberra's national-league bid hits home run". [[Fairfax Media]].
12. "Name Your Sydney Team". Australian Baseball Federation.
13. Schueller, Gary. (5 August 2010). "Sydney Sporting 'Blue Sox' In New Australian Baseball League". Australian Baseball League.
14. Australian Associated Press. (19 August 2010). "Williams to coach Sydney Blue Sox". [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]].
15. (January 2007). "New South Wales Roster (2007 Claxton Shield)". Australian Baseball Federation.
16. "Glenn Williams Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com.
17. "Players by Birthplace: Australia". Baseball-Reference.com.
18. "Eddie Bray". Australian Baseball League.
19. "Chris Oxspring". Baseball-Reference.com.
20. "Dae-Sung Koo". Baseball-Reference.com.
21. "Glenn Williams". Baseball-Reference.com.
22. "Trent Oeltjen". Baseball-Reference.com.
23. "Rich Thompson". Baseball-Reference.com.
24. Warren, Adrian. (6 November 2010). "Sydney kicks-off Baseball League with win". [[Fairfax Media]].
25. Australian Associated Press. (23 January 2011). "Heat and Blue Sox to renew rivalry". [[Ninemsn]].
26. Australian Associated Press. (29 January 2011). "Perth make ABL championship decider". [[Ninemsn]].
27. MacSmith, James. (4 February 2011). "Sydney trashes Adelaide 8–0". [[Ninemsn]].
28. Laidlaw, Robert. (6 February 2011). "Bite triumph in thriller". [[News Limited]].
29. Schroder, Mark. (10 February 2011). "Sydney's Koo, Canberra's Gregorious Rewarded". Australian Baseball League.
30. Lupica, Christopher. (9 February 2011). "Schmutter takes Home ABL Rookie of the Year". Australian Baseball League.
31. (11 February 2011). "Welch Wins Pitcher of the Year". Australian Baseball League.