1946 Claxton Shield

The 1946 Claxton Shield was the seventh annual Claxton Shield, an Australian national baseball tournament—the first time the tournament was held after a seven-year break due to World War II. It was held at Petersham Oval^[1] and Marrickville Oval^[2] in Sydney from 3 to 10 August, and was won by the hosts New South Wales for the fourth time in a row.^[3] With this tournament win, they overtook South Australia as the outright leading state in Claxton Shield tournament wins.^[4]

Australian Interstate Baseball Carnival

1946
Tournament information
Date	3 – 10 August
Host(s)	Sydney, NSW
Teams	3
Defending champions	New South Wales
Final positions
Champion	New South Wales (4th title)
1st runner-up	Victoria
2nd runner-up	South Australia
← 1939 1947 →

The other participating teams were Victoria and hosts South Australia. The two newest teams to the tournament—Western Australia and Queensland—did not participate.^[5] However both did host an interstate series: Western Australia hosted a South Australian team,^[6] and Queensland hosted New South Wales after the Sydney season.^[7]

Format

With the reduction of participating teams back to the original three, the format also returned to a pure round-robin tournament. Once again, each team met each other team twice over the course of the week. In each game, two competition points were on offer to the teams. The points were awarded as follows:

• Win – two points
• Tie – one point
• Loss – no points

At the end of the tournament, the team with the most points was declared the winner, and awarded the Claxton Shield.^[1]

Results

1946 Claxton Shield Champions
New South Wales 4th title

Team	Points	Wins	Ties	Losses
New South Wales	8	4	-	-
Victoria	4	2	-	2
South Australia	0	-	-	4

3 August 1946	New South Wales	9 – 1	South Australia	Petersham Oval

3 August 1946	New South Wales	3 – 0	Victoria	Petersham Oval

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6 August 1946	Victoria	6 – 4	South Australia	Petersham Oval

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8 August 1946	Victoria	5 – 3	South Australia	Petersham Oval

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10 August 1946	New South Wales	8 – 0	South Australia	Marrickville Oval

10 August 1946	New South Wales	10 – 2	Victoria	Marrickville Oval

All-Australian team

At the conclusion of the tournament, representatives from the Australian Baseball Council selected an All-Australian team. It was the second such Australian team selected at the end of a Claxton Shield tournament. As had been the case in the 1939 side, New South Wales players dominated the team, with seven players selected.^[8]

Position		Player
Pitcher		L. Dale
Catcher		M. Yuille
First Base		F. Brittain
Second Base		N. Harvey
Third Base		M. Diegan
Short Stop		K. Gulliver (c)
Left Field		H. Hawkins
Centre Field		W. Radbone
Right Field		J. Nagle
Reserve Battery	Pitcher	R. Lawler
	Catcher	P. Brideoake
Utility		J. Ellis
Manager		R. Darling