sport, local-sport

DICK Shirt, long time manager of the SWR Country Club and well known South West Rocks identity, has been inducted into the Australian Baseball Hall of Fame. Mr Shirt, a left-handed pitcher, had previously been inducted into the NSW and Australian Claxton Shield 75th anniversary teams in 2009. The Claxton Shield is Australia’s national baseball competition which was founded in 1934. Dick was involved in both national and State representative baseball as a player and coach for almost 30 years. He played five times for Australia before coaching the national side in many competitions between 1977 and 1983. “It was a great honour and one that was very unexpected,” Mr Shirt said. “There must have been 200 people at the awards. It was a bit bigger than I expected.” Speaking to the Argus in 2009 Mr Shirt explained how he first became involved in baseball after playing rugby league as a junior. “I turned up and they gave me the ball,” Mr Shirt said. “I couldn’t believe it - no-one hit the ball and I thought, ‘I like this’.” After that first taste of baseball, Dick was hooked and never looked back. He first represented NSW as a player at the 1958 schoolboys competition before going on to be selected in the 1964, 1966, 1970, 1972 and 1975 Claxton Shield teams. He also represented South Australia between 1966 and 1968. Internationally, Dick played for Major League Baseball (MLB) sides Tampa Tarpons and Wytheville Reds in the 1965-66 season, and the MLB Cincinnati Reds Minor League affiliate team in 1967. He said it was an experience he would never forget. “It was such a huge jump because we were so far behind their skill level,” he said. “It was a real cultural shock, and we had to play 144 games in a season, compared to 20 here.” A spokesman for the Australian Baseball Federation said Mr Shirt was an excellent inductee to the Hall of Fame. “He is often thought of as one of the most colourful figures in the history of Australian baseball. As a highly regarded member of the NSW baseball fraternity he is a welcome addition to the Baseball Australia Hall of Fame,” he said.

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