INTERNATIONAL BASEBALL AT WAVERLEY
AUSTRALIA v CHINESE TAIPEI - 18 & 19 FEB 2009
       

The WAVERLEY BASEBALL CLUB is proud to host
International Baseball at our NAPIER PARK
AUSTRALIA v CHINESE TAIPEI
Wednesday 18th & Thursday 19th February 2009
Both Games Starting at 5:00pm
Once again, your attendance will remind everyone where 
Baseball should be played in Victoria! For more info, click here

One of Waverley's "favourite sons" GRANT KARLSEN
in the AROOS uniform tags a Taipei runner at home plate		 Chinese Taipei's Wednesday night starter
pitching from "way down under".


Waverley's ADAM BLACKLEY
starts for Australia against Taipei on
Wednesday afternoon.

WAVERLEY GIVES A WONDERFULLY WARM WELCOME
TO INTERNATIONAL BASEBALL AT NAPIER PARK
 AUSTRALIA v CHINESE TAIPEI - FEB 2009

WHAT GREAT OCCASIONS THEY WERE ONCE AGAIN AT WAVERLEY BASEBALL CLUB ON 18th & 19th FEBRUARY 2009 when we were blessed with the opportunity to host TWO important 
Pre-World Baseball Classic warm-up games between Australia's AROOS and the visiting Chinese Taipei National team at our sacred Napier Park home.

For the record, the two games were of an expectedly high standard and, while there was not much to choose between the teams, both games were won by the Australian team; 9-3 and 7-6.

Although the timing of the games, starting at the awkwardly early hour of 5:00pm on the normal working days of Wednesday and Thursday, may have persuaded many not to attend, the crowds were nonetheless heartening.

The Waverley Baseball Club conducted an official head-count of 750-800 at around the half-way mark of the game on Wednesday and there may have been more by the time it finished? For some inexplicable reason there was slightly fewer at the game on Thursday and, while not seriously counted, we would estimate it to be around the 700 mark, at minimum.

The Waverley Baseball Club thanks those fans who attended to make both of these days great ones. Once again we all greatly enjoyed the return of 'big time' baseball to Melbourne baseball's established heartland in the south-east.

To repeat what we have said here before, maybe most heartening about these occasions was the UNIVERSAL praise from fans and players alike that it was a GREAT ATMOSPHERE and you could see the pleasure on all of the faces around the venue, including those very friendly Taipei supporters. The Waverley Baseball Club can be justifiably proud of making both days successful, while the ABF can also take enormous credit for having the foresight to make it all possible!

The message to everyone in Australian baseball is now more than crystal clear... people WILL ATTEND 'big time' baseball games in the Waverley area in numbers that cannot be duplicated anywhere else in Victoria. Although everyone in baseball would love to see our venues bursting at the seams, this is frankly unrealistic. What Waverley has PROVEN, AGAIN, at Napier Park is that you can just about budget upon CONSISTENTLY at least 800 paying fans as a "core attendance".

Folks, I have VERY fond memories of those fantastic ABL days when a guaranteed attendance of about this number would have been a godsend to those private individuals who poured more money than they would like to remember into keeping that league afloat. History is a good teacher!

Given that undisputed logic, you don't need too much imagination to envisage what magnitude of attendances could be extrapolated with slightly upgraded spectator facilities, more favourable weekend timing, night time games (read lighting) and ongoing marketing of the games. Regardless of any parochial views, we already KNOW that this cannot be achieved anywhere else in Victoria... sorry, not even close... not even on their BEST DAYS!

Just in case anyone might find some reason to downplay our report, the pictures cannot lie. 
The photographs below were taken early on the Thursday night (19 Feb 2009) when the numbers in attendance were, quite honestly, about 15-20% fewer than on the Wednesday night. 

We have no interest in making comparisons, but anyone at the other Victorian games of this series, as I was, would have no option but to admit that there was a large multiple of more fans here! 

By Peter Flintoff 
Courtesy of 'Flintoff & Dunn's AUSTRALIAN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL'