ABF Life Member.2006         

Alan Waldron

• Played for West Torrens in the South Australian Baseball League before commencing an extended career as an umpire in 1961.
• Subsequently became involved in the administration side of baseball both at State and National levels.
• Awarded Life Membership of the South Australian Baseball League 1995.
• Australian Selector 1963 and 1964 Claxton Shield series in Brisbane and Melbourne respectively.
• Appointed as Claxton Shield Umpire, Adelaide, 1966.
• Umpired in the Chrysler Cup and Under Age series in Adelaide in 1964 to 1968,
• Australian Baseball Federation Board Director 1978 to 1982.
• Australian team Executive Officer 1981 (American and Canada). Performed similar role in 1983 with the Australian team tour to Japan and Korea, and then again in 1985 to Canada and the United States.
• Appointed Chief Administrator / National Executive Director of the Australian Baseball Federation 1982.
• Australian Delegate to the International Baseball Federation and the Baseball Federation of Asia 1981-87.
• It was in this role that Alan presented the IBAF Congress with Australia’s bid to host our first two international baseball series – the BFA series scheduled for Perth in 1985, and the Under 18 World Championship Series scheduled for Sydney in 1988. The bid was successful and Alan was in charge of international arrangements for both series.
• What made the 1981 series even more significant was the fact that this became the first ever sporting series in which both Taiwan and the Peoples Republic of China competed. Previous attempts to have these two countries compete had failed, often at the last minute. Alan had to liaise closely with both the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Sport and was summonsed to Canberra at one stage to make sure there were no “hitches” in the arrangements. To his credit, the Series proceeded as planned, with no incidents.
• Following a period of unrest, Alan worked with the National Director of Coaching, Mr David Orsinski, to create the revised Claxton Shield format and then the further revision, which saw each competing State travel to the other States. This format is considered by many baseball people to be the forerunner to the Australian Baseball League.
• Commissioner of the Claxton Shield Series 1987.
• Vice President of the Australian Baseball Federation 1988 and 1989.
• Member of the Australian Baseball League judiciary and an ABF Council Delegate 1999-2002.
• Volunteer at the Intercontinental Cup in Sydney 1999.
• Volunteer at the Sydney Olympics 2000 (personal assistant for IBAF President, Aldo Notari