1937 Claxton Shield

The 1937 Claxton Shield was the fourth annual Claxton Shield, an Australian national baseball tournament. It was held at Unley Oval in Adelaide from 7 to 14 August,[1] the second time Adelaide had hosted the Shield. New South Wales won the Shield for the first time. Western Australia joined the tournament for the first time, becoming the fourth state to be represented. The other participating teams were Victoria and hosts South Australia.[2][3]

1937 Claxton Shield
Australia Interstate Baseball Carnival
Tournament details
SportBaseball
CountryAustralia
Hosts Adelaide, SA
Teams4
Dates7 – 14 August
Defending champions South Australia (1936)
Final positions
Champions
 New South Wales (1st title)
Runner-up
 Victoria
Third place
 South Australia
Fourth place Western Australia
← 1936
1938 →

Format

With the introduction of a fourth team to the tournament, changes were made to the format used in the three previous years. The four teams played a round-robin schedule, meeting each other team once,[1] with two competition points were on offer in each game. The points were awarded as follows:

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

At the end of these preliminary games, the top two teams played each other to determine the champions, while the remaining two teams faced each other to determine third place.

In the event of a tie between teams in terms of points, the tiebreaker used would have been the net runs for and against, with the team achieving the greater value placing in the higher position. This became a factor in the final preliminary game, between South Australia and Victoria. If South Australia had won, they would have tied with New South Wales and Victoria on points. Given the previous results in the tournament, South Australia needed to win by four or more runs to overtake Victoria on for and against, and therefore meet New South Wales in the championship game. Leading 1–0 in the bottom of the ninth inning, South Australia intentionally allowed Victoria to score a run to tie the game, and force extra innings. The plan failed though, as neither team was able to score any further runs, and the game was called after 14 innings because of the light. As a result, Victoria and New South Wales contested the final.[4]

Results

Preliminaries
Team Points Wins Ties Losses For-Against
 Victoria 521–+4
 New South Wales 42–1+7
 South Australia 3111-3
 Western Australia 0––3-8
7 August 1936 Western Australia  2 – 5  Victoria Unley Oval
7 August 1936 New South Wales  6 – 0  South Australia Unley Oval
10 August 1936 Western Australia  0 – 3  South Australia Unley Oval
10 August 1936 New South Wales  1 – 2  Victoria Unley Oval
12 August 1936 Western Australia  0 – 2  New South Wales Unley Oval
12 August 1936 Victoria  1 – 1 (F/14)  South Australia Unley Oval

Finals

Third place final
14 August 1936 Western Australia  0 – 2  South Australia Unley Oval

Championship game
14 August 1936 New South Wales  4 – 1  Victoria Unley Oval
 1937 Claxton Shield Champions 

New South Wales
1st title
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References
  1. "Baseball Carnival". The Argus. Melbourne. 6 August 1937. p. 18. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
  2. Clark 2003, pp.52–4
  3. Harris 2009, p.27
  4. "Baseball Incident". The Sydney Morning Herald. 13 August 1937. p. 16. Retrieved 3 June 2011. South Australia's Tactics Fail

Bibliography
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