The Australian Baseball Federation is the national governing body of Baseball in Australia

Baseball in Australia

In Australia, baseball is a game that is played in all states and territories of the country, but it struggles for popularity due to the popularity of many other sports, including the comparable sport of cricket, in which Australia has always been one of the leading nations...

. Baseball is played in all the mainland states and territories, but it struggles for popularity due to the popularity of many other sports, including the comparable sport of cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

, in which Australia has always been one of the leading nations. School-aged children are generally guided toward a future in cricket, rather than baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

, especially in the private school

Private school

Private schools, also known as independent schools or nonstate schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students' tuition, rather than relying on mandatory...

ing system.

They have been announced 25% stakeholders along with Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

, for the new Australian Baseball League

Australian Baseball League

The Australian Baseball League was a baseball league, established in 1987 and disbanded in 1999.-Formation:Before the formation of the Australian Baseball League, the Claxton Shield, established in , was Australia's premier baseball tournament...

 which starts in November, 2010. Since Australia's silver medal

Silver medal

A silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and contests with similar formats....

 performance at the 2004 Athens Olympics the participation rate in most of the eastern states has remained stable, however there has been a large increase in the sport's popularity and participation in Western Australia.

In 2003, within Australia there was roughly 57,000 Australians playing baseball in around 5000 teams.

The most notable Australian-born baseball players include Dave Nilsson

Dave Nilsson

David Wayne Nilsson is a retired Australian professional baseball player who played as catcher for Major League Baseball's Milwaukee Brewers from to . He was an All-Star in 1999, becoming the only Australian player to appear in an All-Star game...

 and Graeme Lloyd

Graeme Lloyd

Graeme John Lloyd is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who had a ten year career from 1993 to 2003.-Playing career:...

- children were once issued a poster of the two with the slogan AUSTRALIAN RULES BASEBALL.

External links

• Australian Baseball Federation official site