The Sydney Blue Sox were founded in 2010 as an inaugural member of the Australian Baseball League (ABL).
Sydney is one of eight teams in the ABL, with six from the mainland states of Australia. There is a team from New Zealand and Geelong (Victoria) hosts a primarily Korean Club.
Sydney represents the state of New South Wales in baseball at a professional level, continuing on a proud history of clubs striving to win the prestigious and historic Claxton Shield. Previously, the state has been represented by such clubs as the New South Wales Patriots, Sydney Blues, Sydney Wave, Sydney Metros, Sydney Patriots and the Hunter Eagles at a National League level.
After being playoff bound in the 2018/19 season, the Blue Sox fell short of our playoff ambitions in the 19/20 season. The club did boast four former Major League Baseballers that year in Chris Oxspring (San Diego Padres), Andy Burns (Toronto Blue Jays), Gift Ngoepe (Toronto Blue Jays) and Matt Marksberry (Atlanta Braves).
The 2021/22 ABL season was forced into hibernation due to COVID-19 however, an opportunity to provide baseball in the summer led to the Kent-Oxspring Cup formerly known as the ‘Hume Highway’ Cup against long standing rivals the Canberra Cavalry. The series is named after the two starting pitchers of the respective teams, Steven Kent (Canberra) and Chris Oxspring (Sydney), who played in the first game of the modern version of the ABL on 6 November, 2010. In true Australian fashion, the series has been nicknamed the KO Cup.
The Sydney Blue Sox have a proclaimed home ballpark at Blacktown International Sports Park located in the Western Sydney suburb of Rooty Hill. This facility played host to the Baseball during the 2000 Olympics and consists of one main diamond with 1,200 capacity grandstand and first class amenities as well as two secondary diamonds.
For more information on the venue, please click here.
While undoubtedly Rhys Hoskins would be the most famous player to don a Blue Sox jersey the club has boasted over a dozen other big league players in it’s short history, this includes internationals Tyler Collins, Keon Broxton, Jacob May, Adan Engel, Andy Burns, Gift Ngoepe, Brandon Barnes, Rhys Hoskins, Jacob Robson, Adam Oller and Matt Marksberry, as well as Australian’s Brad Thomas, Rich Thompson, Trent Oeltjen and Chris Oxspring.
Check out the full list of all ABL players in the MLB Here
The state’s proud history additionally fostered players such as Craig Shipley, Damien Moss, Grant Balfour, John Stephens, and Glen Williams into the big leagues.
More information about the ABL Competition can be found Here.
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