1946 Claxton Shield
# 1946 Claxton Shield

The 1946 Claxton Shield was the seventh annual Claxton Shield, an Australian national baseball tournament—the first time the tournament was held after a seven-year break due to World War II. It was held at Petersham Oval and Marrickville Oval in Sydney from 3 to 10 August, and was won by the hosts New South Wales for the fourth time in a row. With this tournament win, they overtook South Australia as the outright leading state in Claxton Shield tournament wins.

The other participating teams were Victoria and hosts South Australia. The two newest teams to the tournament—Western Australia and Queensland—did not participate. However both did host an interstate series: Western Australia hosted a South Australian team, and Queensland hosted New South Wales after the Sydney season.

## Format

With the reduction of participating teams back to the original three, the format also returned to a pure round-robin tournament. Once again, each team met each other team twice over the course of the week. In each game, two competition points were on offer to the teams. The points were awarded as follows:

* Win – two points
* Tie – one point
* Loss – no points

At the end of the tournament, the team with the most points was declared the winner, and awarded the Claxton Shield.

## Results

* 1946 Claxton Shield Champions
* New South Wales 4th title

| Team | Points | Wins | Ties | Losses |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| New South Wales | 8 | 4 | - | - |
| Victoria | 4 | 2 | - | 2 |
| South Australia | 0 | - | - | 4 |
| 3 August 1946 | New South Wales | 9 – 1 | South Australia | Petersham Oval |
| 3 August 1946 | New South Wales | 3 – 0 | Victoria | Petersham Oval |
| 6 August 1946 | Victoria | 6 – 4 | South Australia | Petersham Oval |
| 8 August 1946 | Victoria | 5 – 3 | South Australia | Petersham Oval |
| 10 August 1946 | New South Wales | 8 – 0 | South Australia | Marrickville Oval |
| 10 August 1946 | New South Wales | 10 – 2 | Victoria | Marrickville Oval |

## All-Australian team

At the conclusion of the tournament, representatives from the Australian Baseball Council selected an All-Australian team. It was the second such Australian team selected at the end of a Claxton Shield tournament. As had been the case in the 1939 side, New South Wales players dominated the team, with seven players selected.

| Position | Position | Player |
| - | - | - |
| Pitcher | Pitcher | L. Dale |
| Catcher | Catcher | M. Yuille |
| First Base | First Base | F. Brittain |
| Second Base | Second Base | N. Harvey |
| Third Base | Third Base | M. Diegan |
| Short Stop | Short Stop | K. Gulliver (c) |
| Left Field | Left Field | H. Hawkins |
| Centre Field | Centre Field | W. Radbone |
| Right Field | Right Field | J. Nagle |
| Reserve Battery | Pitcher | R. Lawler |
| Reserve Battery | Catcher | P. Brideoake |
| Utility | Utility | J. Ellis |
| Manager | Manager | R. Darling |
