# 1997–98 Australian Baseball League season

The 1997–98 Australian Baseball League season was the 9th season of the original Australian Baseball League, contested between eight teams representing state and regional capitals: Adelaide Giants, Brisbane Bandits, Gold Coast Cougars, Hunter Eagles, Melbourne Monarchs, Melbourne Reds, Perth Heat and Sydney Storm. The Melbourne Reds became the first three-time champions defeating the Gold Coast Cougars 2 games to 0 in the Championship series, in front of a small home crowd of 600 at the Melbourne Ballpark.

## Teams

Each of the 8 teams from the previous season returned, however the Sydney Blues changed their name to the Sydney Storm after legal action taken by Cricket NSW during the offseason.
In the season opening press release, The league called for expressions of interest in a licence to reform the Canberra Bushrangers for the 1998–99 season, The Bushrangers previously folded at the end of the 1994–95 season.

### Rosters

During the regular season each team made use of an active roster of 22–24 men, with a maximum of 4 import players.
* 1997–98 Melbourne Monarchs season#Roster
* 1997–98 Melbourne Reds season#Roster
* 1997–98 Perth Heat season#Roster
* 1997–98 Sydney Storm season#Roster

### Venues

Teams in the ABL :
| Team | City | State | Stadium |
| Adelaide Giants | Adelaide | South Australia | Norwood Oval |
| Brisbane Bandits | Brisbane | Queensland | Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre |
| Gold Coast Cougars | Gold Coast | Queensland | Carrara Oval |
| Hunter Eagles | Newcastle | New South Wales | Newcastle International Sports Centre |
| Melbourne Monarchs | Melbourne | Victoria | Melbourne Ballpark |
| Melbourne Reds | Melbourne | Victoria | Moorabbin Oval |
| Perth Heat | Perth | Western Australia | WACA Ground |
| Sydney Storm | Sydney | New South Wales | Concord Oval |

## Regular season
### All Star Games: 12–13 December 1997

The All-Stars Weekend, was the first series of All-Star exhibition games held by the Australian Baseball League. The games were contested over two nights at Carrara Oval on the Gold Coast, The then home of the Gold Coast Cougars franchise.
The games were played between the Australian All-Stars, USA All-Stars and the 1997 Japanese Industrial League Champions the Mitsubishi Juko Kobe. The Australian and USA All-Star teams were selected from players who were at the time playing in the Australian Baseball League.

#### Game 1: Australian All-Stars vs Mitsubishi Juko Kobe

12 December 1997 19:00 at Carrara Oval, Gold Coast :
| Team | R |
| Mitsubishi Juko Kobe | ? |
| Australian All-Stars | ? |

#### Game 2: Australian All-Stars vs USA All-Stars

13 December 1997 19:00 at Carrara Oval, Gold Coast :
| Team | R |
| USA All-Stars | 15 |
| Australian All-Stars | 9 |

### Ladder

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PCT | GB | Qualification |
| 1 | Melbourne Monarchs | 52 | 32 | 20 | .615 | — | Advance to Finals Series |
| 2 | Sydney Storm | 54 | 32 | 22 | .593 | 1 | Advance to Finals Series |
| 3 | Melbourne Reds | 51 | 30 | 21 | .588 | 1.5 | Advance to Finals Series |
| 4 | Gold Coast Cougars | 53 | 31 | 22 | .585 | 1.5 | Advance to Finals Series |
| 5 | Perth Heat | 53 | 30 | 23 | .566 | 2.5 | |
| 6 | Adelaide Giants | 53 | 26 | 27 | .491 | 6.5 | |
| 7 | Brisbane Bandits | 53 | 20 | 33 | .377 | 12.5 | |
| 8 | Hunter Eagles | 53 | 10 | 43 | .189 | 22.5 | |

### Top 10 Stats
## Postseason
### Finals Series at Melbourne Ballpark

In previous years the post season was played as home and away best of 3 games, with the two winner of each series meeting for a best of 5 series{fact}, in 1997–98 this was changed to a round robin play-off format with each team playing 3 games, 1 against each of the other 3 qualified teams, with the two highest places teams playing off in the Championship Series.
All games for the 9th ABL title were played at the Melbourne Ballpark from February, 10-12 with the best of three championship series 14–15 February.

### Finals Series
#### Game 1: 10 February 1998

| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Gold Coast Cougars | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 7 | ? | ? |
| Melbourne Monarchs | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 5 | ? | ? |
| WP: ? (1-0) LP: ? (0-1) Sv: ? Home runs: Cougars: ? Monarchs: ? |||||||||||||

#### Game 2: 10 February 1998

| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Melbourne Reds | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 18 | ? | ? |
| Sydney Storm | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 5 | ? | ? |
| WP: ? (1-0) LP: ? (0-1) Sv: ? Home runs: Reds: ? Storm: ? |||||||||||||

#### Game 3: 11 February 1998

| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Melbourne Monarchs | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 1 | ? | ? |
| Sydney Storm | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 5 | ? | ? |
| WP: ? (1-0) LP: ? (0-1) Sv: ? Home runs: Monarchs: ? Storm: ? |||||||||||||

#### Game 4: 11 February 1998

| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Gold Coast Cougars | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 1 | ? | ? |
| Melbourne Reds | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 2 | ? | ? |
| WP: ? (1-0) LP: ? (0-1) Sv: ? Home runs: Cougars: ? Reds: ? |||||||||||||

#### Game 5: 12 February 1998

| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Sydney Storm | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 6 | ? | ? |
| Gold Coast Cougars | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 8 | ? | ? |
| WP: ? (1-0) LP: ? (0-1) Sv: ? Home runs: Storm: ? Cougars: ? |||||||||||||

#### Game 6: 12 February 1998

| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Melbourne Monarchs | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 12 | ? | ? |
| Melbourne Reds | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 5 | ? | ? |
| WP: ? (1-0) LP: ? (0-1) Sv: ? Home runs: Monarchs: ? Reds: ? |||||||||||||

### Postseason Ladder

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | RF | RA | RD | PCT | GB | Qualification |
| 1 | Melbourne Reds | 3 | 2 | 1 | 25 | 18 | +7 | .667 | — | Advance to Championship series |
| 2 | Gold Coast Cougars | 3 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 13 | +3 | .667 | — | Advance to Championship series |
| 3 | Melbourne Monarchs | 3 | 1 | 2 | 18 | 17 | +1 | .333 | 1 | |
| 4 | Sydney Storm | 3 | 1 | 2 | 16 | 27 | −11 | .333 | 1 | |

### Championship Series
#### Game 1: 14 February 1998

| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Gold Coast Cougars | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ? | ? |
| Melbourne Reds | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | 4 | ? | ? |
| WP: David White (1-0) LP: ? (0-1) Sv: ? Home runs: Cougars: - Reds: Shane Hogan (1) |||||||||||||

#### Game 2: 15 February 1998

| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Melbourne Reds | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 6 | ? |
| Gold Coast Cougars | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ? | ? |
| WP: Jason Beverlin (1-0) LP: Paxton Crawford (0-1) Sv: - Home runs: Reds: Shane Hogan (1), Myles Barnden (1) Cougars: - |||||||||||||

## Awards

| Award | Person | Team |
| Batting Champion | Brendan Kingman | Sydney Storm |
| Golden Glove | Glenn Williams | Sydney Storm |
| Manager of the Year | Tom Nieto | Melbourne Reds |
| Most Valuable Player | Brendan Kingman | Sydney Storm |
| Championship M.V.P. | Shane Hogan | Melbourne Reds |
| Rookie of the Year | Rodney Van Buizen | Hunter Eagles |
| Reliever of the Year | Gabe Molina | Perth Heat |
| Pitcher of the Year | Erick Nelson | Melbourne Monarchs |
| Umpire of the Year | Gerard Tancred | New South Wales |

## All-Star Team

| Position | Name | Team |
| Catcher | Gary White | Sydney Storm |
| 1st Base | Ron Johnson | Gold Coast Cougars |
| 2nd Base | Adam Burton | Melbourne Reds |
| 3rd Base | Paul Gorman | Gold Coast Cougars |
| Short Stop | Ben Utting | Melbourne Reds |
| Out Field | Glen Barker | Brisbane Bandits |
| Out Field | Trent Durrington | Gold Coast Cougars |
| Out Field | Grant McDonald | Brisbane Bandits |
| Designated Hitter | Brendan Kingman | Sydney Storm |
| Starting Pitcher | Erick Nelson | Melbourne Monarchs |
| Relief Pitcher | Gabe Molina | Perth Heat |
| Manager | Tom Nieto | Melbourne Reds |