From Wodonga to Werribee, baseball is on offer - why not Shepparton?

I offer benefits to many, even in this far-off region.

From the kids of cricket-playing nations like Australia who come to me during the winter to refine their swing to the Cubans who literally risk incarceration by attempting to defect stateside in hopes of making the major leagues, I carry universal appeal.

Why is that? My rules are simple, and my intense physical contact is minimal; therefore, the parents love me!

The Goulburn Valley knew me well once upon a time, but things have changed.

I can hear the bats cracking in Bendigo and they’re even pitching atn Porepunkah.

Why did I strike out in Shepparton?

Be honest: were you aware that the Greater Shepparton area has no presence in the baseball or softball spheres, while so many surrounding areas do?

Have you ever caught a 440-foot moonshot over the fence in left field?

Or, better yet, watched it sail out of the ballpark and waited to see if the train passing on the tracks beside the venue was about to have a window smashed?

The chances, through a mixture of promotion and participation declines, would be slim to nil of a ‘yes’ to any of the above.

Surrounding regions, both to the east and west, but especially down south towards the city, through sides like Broadford’s Mitchell Majors playing in metro divisions, at least have a healthy enough representation to understand the allure of baseball.

The nucleus of this piece lies in the following question: after once fielding a whole league of its own here, what would it take to re-establish baseball’s presence?

The Australian Baseball League enters finals this weekend and the Melbourne Aces have clinched another finals run, boasting the deepest roster of talent ― on paper ― across the six teams when the season began.

Following the standard ABL model, the Aces’ roster is topped up by imports, usually from Major League Baseball affiliate clubs or rosters out of Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan.

The Aces hosted current Atlanta Braves megastar Ronald Acuña Jr ― who would be heralded as the best active player in the world if modern phenom Shohei Ohtani didn’t exist ― during the 2019-20 ABL season.

No 2023-24 squad member has any northern Victorian heritage, though.

In fact, only one current member of one of the world’s more developed ‘winter ball’ leagues ― those played outside MLB and NPB schedules ― once called the northern regions home.

That man is Bendigo export and current Canberra Cavalry relief pitcher Billy Parsons, who has amassed a wealth of global experience from his regional start.

Parsons stops back in during the summer to stay fresh with Canberra, but is dedicated to New Jersey’s Sussex County Miners in the American minor league framework for most of the year.

The 24-year-old right-hander is accustomed to success, after coming through the Bendigo Baseball Association system and bringing multiple A-grade premierships between stints at three clubs before receiving his big break out of Strathsfieldsaye Dodgers.

“I moved to Bendigo at age five and started playing for the Bendigo Bushrangers, but I’ve played in Melbourne as well since I was 10,” Parsons said.

“After Strathsfieldsaye in 2019, I went to Canberra and I saw people going off to Europe a lot, so I thought ‘why can’t I?’”

Doesn’t typically sound like your average baseball journey at all, does it?

“I got recommended for Sussex County last year and I’ve re-signed there for this season as well.”

Regional Victorian baseball competitions like the BBA play their seasons during winter in contrast to most professional leagues, resulting in the obvious difficulties of competing with Australian rules and association football for places - but not cricket, which carries its own parallels and transferable skills.

Participation was never an issue in Parsons’ circles, though, and he outlines the key demographic organisers will need to tap into.

“I had a core group of friends that I grew up with who were baseball players and we were always trying to outdo each other,” Parsons said.

“Shepparton Colts were around in our league as well when I was younger.

“If you play in a winter tournament, out there or in the NEBA (North East Baseball Association), you have a chance because people always watch them.

“You just have to promote it as much as possible and get it into schools.

“The schools are the biggest thing. I was doing clinics at Strathsfieldsaye and at first, there were about 15 juniors, but by the next spring training there were 45.

“Strathsfieldsaye has expanded greatly and so has the league, and it took a lot of promotion and hard work from the office, but it’s on the rise.”

With that said, if there remains any chance of reinvigorating this game within the Goulburn Valley, those efforts would do well to go through Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Famer Narelle Gosstray.

Gosstray played almost every position on the park during a glittering career that earned her a call-up to the Australian side followed by international trophies.

A multi-sport convert who excelled in many disciplines, Gosstray only adopted baseball into her portfolio in her mid-20s.

Even then, she was already based in Melbourne by that point and the chance to play in her hometown had passed by.

“I think the early to mid-80s were the heyday for baseball in Shepparton,” Gosstray said.

“Baseball picked up again after I moved to Melbourne, then dropped off again.

“A little bit of that is it takes some really passionate people to make it happen.”

Gosstray frequently touched on the “spark of one or two people” that could have the capacity to revitalise the game here.

Now a resident of the Northern Territory, Gosstray herself may not offer the boots on the ground that have come and gone in previous decades, but she has more than enough expertise.

The obvious problem, in her eyes, is simply market share within the local sporting realm.

“Baseball doesn’t have huge capabilities like Aussie rules and netball to get out and promote it,” Gosstray said.

“The AFL has huge commercial backing, and they’ve done a great job getting women into football, but it seriously impacts other sports because top-tier athletes get the most opportunities in that machine.

“A lot of top-level cricketers used to play baseball as well, like the Chappell family, but people tend not to play two sports as much as they used to.

“Just getting clinics would help, but it comes back to needing the one or two people to start the conversation and get people to go out and play for the fun of it.

“Just putting it out there makes a massive difference.”

Surrounding areas, evidenced from the successes attained by the likes of Gosstray and Parsons, have sustained competitive leagues and maintained the necessary participation to survive.

In addition to the Bendigo divisions, the North East Baseball Association takes on much of the Murray district.

While the four-team A-grade league mainly comprises teams from around the border, distant outfits like Benalla Bandits play NEBA ball in the lower grades.

While the Benalla Saints, 45 minutes away from three Shepparton clubs, enjoyed 15 of their 18 2023 fixtures less than an hour out of town in the Goulburn Valley League, the Bandits have a different fortune.

Shepparton’s loss on the baseball front proved to be Benalla’s gain, Bandits coach Ash Cartledge said.

“We’ve had a few people come to the club after the Shepparton association disbanded years ago,” Cartledge said.

“We’re just trying to grow more awareness that that sport is available and grow more interest to come from the Shepparton way.

“When I moved to the GV myself years ago, I was looking for a closer club, so I would have joined Shepparton myself; they were associated with the Bendigo league back in that day.”

While membership has been an overall struggle at the Bandits in the aftermath of COVID-19, like many other clubs, Benalla continues to target surrounding areas with the aim of fielding an A-grade side once again ― with Shepparton at the top of the list.

“Prior to (the pandemic), we had really strong sides, but it was hard to get members back,” Cartledge said.

“Our push is to get a few extra grades for some flexibility. It’s hard for the association to draw home games for Benalla, while we’re missing an A-grade and C-grade side.

“All we need is just to find even 10 people, maybe around Shepparton, who didn’t otherwise know it was available and that makes a side by itself.”

Elsewhere in the NEBA, Wangaratta Rangers is one ball club that fields teams in each grade within the association.

Sure enough, the Rangers have made multiple plays at obtaining Shepparton-based expressions of interest, such is the extent to which players in this area will go to don the mitts.

Rangers president Nathan Pool explains the situation from his club’s perspective.

“We’ve got a couple of players from Shepparton, and they’ve both been playing all their lives,” Pool said.

“Benalla is probably closer, but some want to play at the higher level in A-grade.

“Back in the day, Shepparton played here in the NEBA, then went to the Bendigo league, ran their own comp with six or seven sides, and finished up back in the NEBA again.

“It was a shame that they did finish up, because Shepparton’s a lot bigger than here.”

The venue also becomes a question, although in the Rangers’ case, even an ideal setting hasn’t necessarily brought widespread attention.

“Here, we’re based right beside Cathedral College, which is one of the bigger schools here,” Pool said.

“It’s funny how people will drive past it every day and not know where they play baseball in Wangaratta until you ask them, ‘You know where Cathedral is?’

“Unless it’s publicised, something people can walk past or maybe see on Facebook, it doesn’t seem to get out much.”

Pool cites administrative understaffing as the primary reason for the Shepparton venture’s downfall rather than an issue of player engagement or retention.

Pool warns that if the sport could be resurrected in the Greater Shepparton area, a full-scale commitment is required both on and off the diamond.

“You struggle to get volunteers and people putting their hands up to run it,” Pool said.

“You can get people to play the game, but without people taking on a committee sort of role, you won’t get far.

“Shepparton’s population is probably three times the size of ours, so it’s disappointing that nine people aren’t there to fill a side.”

Our ultimate conclusion, perhaps, is it’s a bit of everything.

Players are a necessary commodity, but the front office and officials that structure and govern games are equally so, as highlighted by Pool.

Could it simply be a ‘chicken and the egg’ situation, where interest on one front would draw forth the other?

For now, time will tell whether Shepparton steps up to the plate again in the future.