Claxton Shield

Claxton Shield

Most recent season or competition: 2013–14 Australian Baseball League season
The Claxton Shield
Sport	Baseball
Founded	1934
Inaugural season	1934
No. of teams	6
Country	Australia
Continent	Oceania
Most recent champion(s)	Brisbane Bandits (ABL 2016–17, 11th title)
Most titles	Victoria Aces (22 titles)
Related competitions	Australian Baseball League ABL (1989–1999) & IBLA
Official website	Australian Baseball League

The Claxton Shield was the name of the premier baseball competition in Australia held between state-based teams, as well as the name of the trophy awarded to the champion team. From the summer of 1989–90 until 2001–02, and again since 2010–11, the tournament was replaced by one of three other competitions: the original Australian Baseball League (ABL), the International Baseball League of Australia (IBLA), and since the 2010–11 season the new ABL. Despite other competitions being held in place of the Claxton Shield, the physical trophy has remained the award for the winning teams. Though city-based teams have competed for the Claxton Shield in some seasons, 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.

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. 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. The Brisbane Bandits currently hold the shield, with a whitewash against the Adelaide Bite in 2016–17's best-of-three championship series.

There had been interstate baseball tournaments held prior to the start of the Claxton Shield. Prior to the federation of Australia, an inter-colonial series was held in Melbourne in 1890 between Victoria and South Australia at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground. South Australia were the eventual winners of the series, winning two games to one. New South Wales and Victoria started holding an annual series between themselves in 1900, that was only called off for a smallpox outbreak in 1913, but would not return until 1919 because of World War I. The first "national" tournament 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. None were held regularly though, and they did not always involve all baseball–playing states.