History of the Cheltenham Baseball Club Inc
The present Club was formed from the merger of the Prahran B.C. which played in the Victorian Baseball Association and the original Cheltenham Baseball Club which played in the Dandenong Baseball Association. The Club operates summer and winter sections under the overall Board of Management.

1915
The Prahran Baseball Club was formed predominantly by members of the Cricket Club. Games were played in the V.B.A. competition on the VFL league and VFA association grounds prior to Australian Rules football on a Saturday. The Club dominated the competition in the 10 year period prior to the second world war. Competition was suspended for several years during the war. The Club continued as a strong competitor in the immediate post war period. The last A grade Premiership was won in 1947. During the 1950's football expanded and baseball was moved off the V.F.L. and V.F.A grounds. The Club was now located at Como Park in South Yarra and was a regular contender in A Grade finals through to 1971.

1953
The Cheltenham Baseball Club was formed to play in the Dandenong Baseball Association and won their first A Grade Premiership in 1958. The Club continues to dominate the competition and won a further 6 A Grade flags in the period to 1971. The Club played on a number of grounds in the Cheltenham and Highett area including the gas works on the Nepean Highway.

1972
The Prahran and Cheltenham Clubs merged and played at the Cheltenham Park and the Kingston Centre. The Club was now the largest senior club in Victorian Baseball and was fielding 6 senior teams and 4-5 junior teams with considerable success in both the V.B.A and D.B.A competitions. The main reason for the merger was the need for both Clubs to find a permanent home and prepare for the restructuring of baseball in Victoria. The playing tradition of both Clubs was particularly strong but continued success required the development of a strong junior program and access to specialist playing and practice facilities. The Prahran Club had no prospect of a permanent ground in the inner city location and the recruitment of juniors was a major problem. The Cheltenham Club needed an entry point into the top grade of Victorian Baseball in order to retain and attract good players.

1975
The Club extended the Cheltenham Park ground and operated from that location for several seasons under difficult conditions.

1977
The V.B.A moved to Summer baseball with the main playing day being Sunday. The Club was still constrained by the lack of a permanent ground and facilities and continued as two largely independent sections. Strong and persistent representations were being made to the Moorabbin Council and our requests received a sympathetic ear hearing and needs recognised in principal.

1978
The Club returned to the Gasworks ground and conditions improved marginally but the facilities were still being shared with Cricket.

1980
The Summer section was relegated to Division 2 in the V.B.A.

1983
The Summer section won the Division 2 Premiership and returned to Division 1. The Club has also won the Division 2 Club Championship for 1981 and 1982.

1984
The Club moved to the Kingston Heath Recreation Reserve and commenced the task of establishing itself in a permanent home for the first time in combined 85 years of operation. The Club committed to a $25,000 contribution to the pavilion facilities. Mr Jim Upfill threw the first pitch to open the Summer 1984-85 season and formally open our permanent ground. The V.B.A. competition was rationalised from 12 to 10 teams and the Club returned to Division 2.

1985
Tee Ball was established as the grass roots of junior baseball from 6 local schools in the area.

1986
The Club was incorporated on 6th January 1986 1987 The Winter section won the D.B.A. A grade premiership after playing in the grand final for 7 of the previous 8 years. The Club also won the Seconds and Thirds Premierships and the overall Club Championship.

1996
After several years of putting out the home run fence each game day, the Club applied for a Village Grant of $2,500 to partially fund permanent home run fence. After successfully being awarded the grant, the City of Moorabbin would not support the installation of the fence. After a further submission and several meetings, the Club was finally granted the permit and the fence was constructed. We now had a facility that looked and felt like a baseball ground. This also led to the park maintenance staff mowing the ground weekly and the outfield surface fee of tufts of dead grass underfoot. The efforts of the junior program were also paying dividends for the players and 17 year old Mathew Gourlay became the first Cheltenham Baseball Club player to sign a professional minor league contract with the Toronto Blue Jays.

1997
1997 was a year were our facilities really began to take shape with the installation of a practice pitching mound, the erection of the now famous and palatial scorers box, seating around the junior diamond, and scoria home plate/pitching circles on the junior diamonds. Our junior talent achieved another first for the Club when Tim Fisher and Rowan Brasher were awarded with scholarships to US Colleges. The Club won the V.B.A Division 2 Grand Final under the coaching of former A.B.L. Bushranger player Terry Reid.

1999
Further development of our facilities were undertaken when another Village Grant was awarded to the Club for the erection of back nets to the junior diamonds and this now gave us 5 high quality junior playing fields. The development of the diamonds were much needed as the summer section were now fielding 23 junior team and the winter section had grown to 7 senior teams and the E grade players were no longer playing in a paddock and carting benches, back nets etc to their diamond.

2000
Village grants were still available through the local council so we applied again for funding towards a ride on lawn mower. Success again and now it's not too hard to find somebody to keep the playing surface in tip top shape. The year 2000 also had it's surprises for Travis Blackley, a young 17 year old junior who had not made a state team throughout his junior years. After gaining selection into the Victorian State team in his last under 18 year and having a great tournament where Victoria took out the Championship, he found himself at the Under 19 AAA World Championships in Edmonton, Canada and became the winning pitcher against Cuba. Australia had never beaten Cuba at any level of baseball. This performance lead to the signing of a professional minor league contract with the Seattle Mariners.

2001
This was big, big year for the winter section of the Club when after appointing John Wardsworth as Club Coach, he delivered his promise and the Club won the D.B.A. A Grade Premiership against Frankston, the fist for 13 years. The Clubs A Res, C, D, E all won their receptive premierships that year and the Club again won the Club Championship which it done for several years previous.

2002
The 2001 wining streak continued for the winter section by winning back to back D.B.A. A Grade premierships. The B.O.M. were also successful with another Village Grant and safety netting inside the batting cage was fitted. The year 2002 also saw the World Masters Games come to Melbourne and the Club had great support from its veterans when 17 Club players participated and the 35 and over and 45 and over divisions at the new Geelong Baseball complex. The 45 and over participants John Ferguson, Kevin Williams, Lawrie Hall, Lance Blackley and Colin Upfill were quite successful in taking out the Silver Medal in their division.

2003
Cheltenham bought out US Mariners player Justin Leone to help out for the season and Justins play from the short stop position was fantastic. 2003 season had only just begun when Adam Blackley had a very successful U18 National Championships and was signed to a professional baseball contract with the Boston Red Sox. Coach Shawn Miller led his players to the Division 2 finals series and ended the season on a high note with Runners Up honors. Shawn Miller took out the VBA Division 2 MVP award for the 2002/2003 summer season.

2004
Travis Blakely makes his MLB debut for the Seattle Mariners against  the Texas Rangers, pitched 5 innings, won the game and came off the diamond to a standing ovation from the 65,000+ crowd in attendance.  New Club Coach Matthew Gourlay takes the helm in a season which saw the club return to Baseball Victoria Division 1 for the first time since 1998.  DBA - A Grade Premiers.

2005
Three Rustlers teams featured in the Baseball Victoria Junior Finals held at Waverley.  The U/14’s, U/16’s and U/18’s are all victorious delivering the three State League premierships for the first ever time.  Tom Ellis was the star of the U/18 Grand Final.  DBA - A Grade Premiers.  DBA - A Reserves win Grand Final with amazing individual performance from Steve Babidge pitching all 17 innings in the 6-4 victory over Frankston.

2006
U/18 State win Back-to-Back Premierships. U/18 Metro Runners-Up. VBA Div 2 Seconds Premiers - first senior VBA flag in 5 years, Thirds Runners Up. DBA Premiers for third consecutive season!  Cheltenham vs Cheltenham Grand Final in B Grade. Andrew Gribbin signs with San Diego Padres.  Tom Ellis signs with Seattle Mariners. Life Members Night held at the Clubrooms with over 20 Life members in attendance.

2007
Adam Blackley selected in the Australian Team to play in the Intercontinental Cup in Taiwan and was awarded the Pitcher of the Tournament.  U/18 State Runners-Up.  U/18 Metro Runner-Up.  VBA - Division 2 Runners-Up to Doncaster.  Kable Hogben helps the club back into Division 1 with outstanding pitching during the Division 2 finals. On the back of these performances Kable signs with the Arizona Diamondbacks.  DBA – Two sides entered in the A Grade competition.  Enclosed dugouts and benches completed on the second diamond.

This site was last updated Saturday, 29 September 2007