For the first time that many can recall, the Geelong Baseball Association failed to field a team in the time-honoured Victorian Provincial Championships - this year being held in Mildura. While there are factors that might account for the absence of a Geelong side - and other stalwarts in the Diamond Valley and Ringwood Leagues - it has been especially disappointing for officials and former players who have fond memories of the city's successful involvement in the VPBL series dating back to 1937. 

The elite regional event has rekindled memories for a Geelong sporting legend, who I spoke to just recently. He recalled how, and where, baseball began in Sleepy Hollow and he reflected upon Geelong's involvement in earlier VPBL Carnivals.

Now 90 and with strong recollections of his sporting past, Col King had the distinction of throwing the first pitch of the first game of baseball played in Geelong, way back in 1937. Although he is not sure if it was a ball or strike (or even if there was an official, competent umpire), he believes it was to Jack Vautier of the Fords club, one of just four teams in the inaugural year, the others being South Geelong, Newton/Chilwell and King’s own North West.

“Most of the players had a cricketing background,” said Mr King. “It was a natural progression for us to keep active during the winter months.” 

King quickly developed in the game as a strong hitter and more particularly as a dominating pitcher, who reputedly threw “at a hundred miles an hour” (according to a "Geelong Advertiser" baseball feature in 1996).

The game caught on very quickly and the following year (1938) Geelong entered a team in the Provincial Championships being held in Ballarat under captain and catcher Bill Lawry (no relation to the cricketer). Geelong lost every game.

“They belted us. We hadn’t seen curves, inshoots and droppers from pitchers,” King noted. “We thought you just threw the ball hard. They hit us around – especially Ballarat – so we had to learn very quickly”.

 GEELONG 1938 VPBL REPRESENTATIVE SIDE
 
 Pitching ace Col King is third from left

And learn they did. The local competition expanded to eight teams in 1939, as the game grew in popularity and some terrific sportspersons became involved. King, and others, worked on refining their skills - where and when they could find the venues and the time (as working persons) to do so.

Geelong hosted the 1939 Carnival, to this time go through undefeated against Ballarat, Bendigo, Colac and Northcote/Preston. Some turnaround in baseball fortunes over twelve months!

King pitched three complete games (including the final) and two half games over three days, a remarkable performance and the type of courageous effort that contributed to his arm being unfortunately “shot” (his words) by the time he was 25. These days, it is standard practice for pitchers to be given reasonable recovery time - four, or even five days between outings on the hill (more a paddock, then, where it was not unusual for a pitcher to momentarily lose his footwear in the sloppy mire).

“In the 1939 side, there were no serious weaknesses anywhere,” said King. "If a pitcher gets that sort of back-up, then he can relax, and can even experiment a little.” He recalls that two of his more interesting opponents were Ballarat’s Len Sprague (who won the Stawell Gift the same year) and Colac’s Bill Johnston, who went on to play cricket with Bradman’s Invincibles of 1948.

1939 was the start of a reign of dominance, with Geelong picking up further titles in 1940, 41, 44, 49, 53 and 54 as Geelong baseball enjoyed a golden era.

“There were many great players in the first twenty years or so,” said King, who captained the Geelong squad several times. “The likes of Vautier, Roger Clement, Vern Reavis, Artie Murrells, Sandy Powell, Ray Darcy, Jack McGowan, Ken Brown. Wally Piper. And Gordon McKay, of course – maybe the best of them all”.

Among his toughest opponents King rated Ballarat journalist Ken McKenzie, or “Kenmac”. “He was a really hard case, but very good for baseball," said King. "He never took a backward step against anyone." 

With his own outstanding record spanning fifteen years, King himself was well among the elite. He regularly batted over .400 for the Geelong season and finished with a league ERA of less than 1.5, statistics that say a great deal to baseball aficionados about the man's all-round achievement in the sport. Tall in stature, King appears in photographs as a big, strong athlete with a great presence on the sporting field.

Asked to rate Geelong teams of his own era with baseballers today, King is under no illusions. He is typically  gracious. And direct.

“It was a different game,” he said. “Sliding bases, no helmets, no pitching mound, no fences or all-weather  basepaths. None of this custom-built stuff. Mud everywhere. We played where we could – at the rugby ground, as a curtain-raiser to the footy, at Corio Oval. We improved by working on it ourselves and we learnt from watching other players." 

“But today’s players would have killed us.”

Although he has struggled to get to the ballpark in recent years, King is impressed by the standard of the game these days and is delighted by the chances it has given our young people to progress in the sport.

“Young people have a lot of other things in their lives these days,” he said. “I’m pleased to see that  baseball is still strong in Geelong because it is just a great team game."

“I’d do it all again," he said.

 1939 VPBL CHAMPIONSHIP WINNER
 
 GEELONG
                 

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