List of Claxton Shield champions

The Claxton Shield was the premier baseball competition in Australia, first held in 1934 and last held in 2010. The Claxton Shield is also the name of the trophy awarded to the champion team, and has also been awarded to winners of both the original Australian Baseball League (ABL) and the International Baseball League of Australia (IBLA).^[1] The current version of the Australian Baseball League uses the Claxton Shield as its championship trophy in the same way as its predecessor of the same name did.^[2]

Claxton Shield (Australian baseball trophy) displayed in August 2013 by the 2013 championship team, Canberra Cavalry.

The Canberra Cavalry team celebrating with the Claxton Shield, after winning the 2012–13 ABL championship series.

There had been interstate baseball tournaments held prior to the start of the Claxton Shield. The first was held in Hobart in 1910, won by New South Wales defeating Victoria and hosts Tasmania. New South Wales repeated the feat in 1912 in Melbourne when they won again, this time with the addition of South Australia.^[3] None were held regularly though, and they did not always involve all baseball–playing states. In 1934 Norrie Claxton was the principal driver of an annual national competition, and donated the shield to be awarded to the champions. Though it was originally intended to be permanently held by the first team to win in three consecutive years, when South Australia won the first three tournaments^[4][5][6] all participating states agreed that it should be a perpetual shield, and named it the Claxton Shield in honour of Norrie Claxton.^[3]

The Victoria Aces were the last team to win the shield under the Claxton Shield format, having won the 2010 tournament by defeating South Australia two games to nil in the final series.^[7] It was the eighteenth time the Aces had won the shield, and the twenty second time it had been won by a Victorian team—the most by any state—including three times by the Waverley / Melbourne Reds and once by the Melbourne Monarchs.^[3] The Adelaide Giants currently hold the shield after overcoming the Perth Heat in the 2023–24 Australian Baseball League season. It was the Adelaide Giants first ABL title and seventeen time a South Australian team has won the Claxton Shield. Though city-based teams have competed for the Claxton Shield in some seasons, including under the current ABL format, the name engraved on the shield is that of the winning state; for the 2010–11 ABL season won by the Perth Heat, "West Australia 2011" was engraved.^[8]

Champions

Claxton Shield

Key

State Titles	The number of championships won by that state at the time. (Includes wins by ABL/IBLA teams from the same state.)
Team Titles	The number of championships won by that team at the time. (Treats ABL/IBLA teams as separate from the state teams.)
†	Denotes most championships by a team/state at the time.
‡	Denotes tied for most championships by a team/state at the time.
*	Denotes member of Baseball Australia Hall of Fame.

Year	Champion Team	State Titles	Team Titles	Final Host	Helms Award Winner	Ref
1934	South Australia	01†	01†	Adelaide, SA		[4]
1935	South Australia	02†	02†	Melbourne, VIC		[5]
1936	South Australia	03†	03†	Sydney, NSW		[6]
1937	New South Wales	01	01	Adelaide, SA		[9]
1938	New South Wales	02	02	Perth, WA		[10]
1939	New South Wales	03‡	03‡	Melbourne, VIC		[11]
1940No tournament held 1940–1945
1946	New South Wales	04†	04†	Sydney, NSW		[12]
1947	Victoria	01	01	Adelaide, SA		[13]
1948	Victoria	02	02	Perth, WA		[14]
1949	Victoria	03	03	Melbourne, VIC		[15]
1950	New South Wales	05†	05†	Sydney, NSW		[16]
1951	New South Wales	06†	06†	Adelaide, SA		[17]
1952	Western Australia	01	01	Perth, WA		[18]
1953	New South Wales	07†	07†	Brisbane, QLD		[19]
1954	Victoria	04	04	Melbourne, VIC		[20]
1955	New South Wales	08†	08†	Sydney, NSW		[21]
1956	Victoria	05	05	Adelaide, SA		[21]
1957	South Australia	04	04	Perth, WA		[21]
1958	Victoria	06	06	Brisbane, QLD		[21]
1959	South Australia	05	05	Melbourne, VIC		[21]
1960	South Australia	06	06	Sydney, NSW		[21]
1961	South Australia	07	07	Adelaide, SA		[21]
1962	Victoria	07	07	Perth, WA	Anthony Strand	[21][22]
1963	New South Wales	09†	09†	Brisbane, QLD	Kevin Cantwell*	[21][23]
1964	South Australia	08	08	Melbourne, VIC	Adrian Pearce	[21][22]
1965	Victoria	08	08	Sydney, NSW	Graham Deany*	[21][23]
1966	South Australia	09‡	09‡	Adelaide, SA	Kevin Greatrex*	[23][24]
1967	South Australia	10†	10†	Perth, WA	Garry Thompson	[21][22]
1968	Victoria	09	09	Brisbane, QLD	John Swanson*	[21][23]
1969	South Australia	11†	11†	Melbourne, VIC	Neil Page*	[21][23]
1970	South Australia	12†	12†	Sydney, NSW	Paul Russell	[21][22]
1971	South Australia	13†	13†	Adelaide, SA	Ron McIver	[21][22]
1972	Victoria	10	10	Brisbane, QLD	Don Knapp*	[21][22]
1973	Victoria	11	11	Perth, WA	David Mundy*	[21][23]
1974	Victoria	12	12	Melbourne, VIC	Neil Buszard	[21][22]
1975	Western Australia	02	02	Sydney, NSW	Larry Home*	[21][25]
1976	South Australia	14†	14†	Adelaide, SA	Alan Albury*	[26]
1977	Western Australia	03	03	Perth, WA	Ron Owens	[21][22]
1978	Western Australia	04	04	Brisbane, QLD	Ray Michell*	[21][23]
1979	Western Australia	05	05	Melbourne, VIC	Brian Wonnacott	[21][27]
1980	South Australia	15†	15†	Sydney, NSW	John Galloway	[28]
1981	Victoria	13	13	Adelaide, SA	John Hodges	[29][30]
1982	Queensland	01	01	Sydney, NSW	Geoff Martin	[21][22]
1983	Queensland	02	02	Perth, WA	Doug Mateljan*	[21][22]
1984	Victoria	14	14	Brisbane, QLD	Brett Ward	[31][32]
1985	Western Australia	06	06	Brisbane, QLD	Tony Stall	[22][33]
1986	Victoria	15‡	15‡	Sydney, NSW	Lindsay Orford	[21][22]
1987	Queensland	03	03	Brisbane, QLD	Dave Nilsson*	[34][35]
1988	Queensland	04	04	Brisbane, QLD	Tony Adamson*	[22][36]
1989	New South Wales	010	010	Sydney, NSW	Richard Vagg	[22][36]
1989Replaced by ABL & IBLA 1989–2002
2003	Queensland Rams	08	05	Sydney, NSW	Craig Lewis	[22][37]
2004	New South Wales Patriots	12	11	Sydney, NSW	Brett Roneberg	[38][39]
2005	New South Wales Patriots	13	12	Sydney, NSW	Brad Harman	[40]
2006	Queensland Rams	09	06	Sydney, NSW	Brad Dutton	[39][41]
2007	Victoria Aces	21†	16†	Perth, WA	Matthew Kent	[42][43]
2008	Perth Heat	10	07	Sydney, NSW	Clint Balgera	[22][44]
2009	Perth Heat	11	08	Perth, WA	Nick Kimpton	[45][46]
2010	Victoria Aces	22†	17†	Melbourne, VIC	Wayne Lundgren	[47][48]

Australian Baseball League (1989–1999)

Season	Champion Team	Games	Runner Up	Team Titles	State Titles	League MVP	Ref
1989–90	Waverley Reds	3–1	Melbourne Monarchs	01†	16†	Phil Dale (WR)	[49]
1990–91	Perth Heat	3–2	Daikyo Dolphins	01‡	07	David Nilsson (DD)	[50]
1991–92	Daikyo Dolphins	3–1	Perth Heat	01‡	05	Adrian Meagher (DD)	[51]
1992–93	Melbourne Monarchs	2–0	Perth Heat	01‡	17†	Kevin Jordan (BB)	[52]
1993–94	Brisbane Bandits	2–0	Sydney Blues	01‡	06	Homer Bush (BB)	[53]
1994–95	Waverley Reds	2–0	Perth Heat	02†	18†	Scott Metcalf (PH)	[54]
1995–96	Sydney Blues	2–0	Melbourne Reds	01	11	Gary White (SB)	[55]
1996–97	Perth Heat	2–1	Brisbane Bandits	02‡	08	Andrew Scott (AG)	[56]
1997–98	Melbourne Reds	2–0	Gold Coast Cougars	03†	19†	Brendan Kingman (SS)	[57]
1998–99	Gold Coast Cougars	2–0	Sydney Storm	02	07	Adam Burton (MR)	[58]

International Baseball League of Australia

Season	Champion Team	Games	Runner Up	Team Titles	State Titles	Helms Award Winner	Ref
1999–2000	Perth Heat	2–1	Queensland Rams	01†	09	Chris Snelling	[1][22]
2002	Victoria Aces	1–0	Perth Heat	01‡	20†	Rodney van Buizen	[1][22]

Australian Baseball League (2010–present)

Season	Champion Team	Games	Runner Up	Team Titles	State Titles	Helms Award Winner	Ref
2010–11	Perth Heat	2–1	Adelaide Bite	01†	12	James McOwen (ADE)	[59][60]
2011–12	Perth Heat	2–1	Melbourne Aces	02†	13	Tim Kennelly (PER)	[61][62]
2012–13	Canberra Cavalry	2–0	Perth Heat	01	01	Adam Buschini (CAN)	[63]
2013–14	Perth Heat	2–0	Canberra Cavalry	03†	14	Ryan Casteel (MEL)	[64]
2014–15	Perth Heat	2–1	Adelaide Bite	04†	15	Aaron Miller (ADE)
2015–16	Brisbane Bandits	2–0	Adelaide Bite	01	10	Justin Williams (BRI)	[65]
2016–17	Brisbane Bandits	2–0	Melbourne Aces	02	11	Aaron Whitefield (BRI)	[66]
2017–18	Brisbane Bandits	2–1	Canberra Cavalry	03	12	Jake Fraley (PER)	[67]
2018–19	Brisbane Bandits	2–0	Perth Heat	04	13	Tim Kennelly (PER) Marcus Solbach (ADE)
2019–20	Melbourne Aces	2–0	Adelaide Bite	01	23
2020–21	Melbourne Aces	1–0	Perth Heat	02	24
2021–22	Season cancelled due to COVID-19
2022–23	Adelaide Bite	2–1	Perth Heat	01	16	Jordan McArdle (ADE)
2023- 24	Adelaide Giants	2-1	Perth Heat	2	17
2024-25	Canberra Cavalry	2-0	Perth Heat	2	2	Alexander Wells (SYD)

Championships by state

Rank	State	Titles	Most Recent	Tournaments Contested
1st	Victoria	24	2019–20	78
2nd	South Australia	17	2023-24	78
3rd	Western Australia	15	2014–15	73
=4th	Queensland	13	2018-19	68
=4th	New South Wales	13	2005	75
6th	Australian Capital Territory	2	2024-25	18
=7th	Northern Territory	0		8
=7th	New Zealand	0		2
"Titles" includes seasons of the ABL & IBLA.

See also

• Australian Baseball Federation
• Australian Baseball League (2010–Current)
• Australian Baseball League (1989–1999)
• International Baseball League of Australia