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Australia Is Playing Baseball In The Winter

On this federal holiday that we honor America’s military veterans (Veterans Day), let’s take a look far overseas, where a new baseball league has been created and is in its first year of operation.

Last Saturday, the Australian Baseball League (ABL) officially began play.  It is not the first baseball to be played in Australia, but it could be the most legit installment of professional baseball the country has ever seen.  Major League Baseball is supporting its operation, which currently consists of six teams, with the possibility of adding two more in the near future.

Winter baseball is very popular amongst Minor League prospects, and even some Major League players, who are looking to strengthen their weaknesses and earn additional money in the offseason.  The Caribbean Winter Leagues, comprised of leagues in Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic have been great places for the countries’ natives and American-born players to play in the Winter months.  Australia may be a new alternative to those leagues.

This is great news for baseball agents.  There are more opportunities to place players looking to play in the Winter months, and with more options, agents may weigh where they want to place their clients based on factors like location and salary.  A bidding war between an Australian team and a Puerto Rican team might be unlikely, but at least there is a new league to consider sending your players.

By Darren Heitner

Darren Heitner created Sports Agent Blog as a New Year's Resolution on December 31, 2005. Originally titled, "I Want To Be A Sports Agent," the website was founded with the intention of causing Heitner to learn more about the profession that he wanted to join, meet reputable individuals in the space and force himself to stay on top of the latest news and trends.

Heitner now runs Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., which is a law firm with many practice areas, including sports law and contract law. Heitner has represented numerous athletes and sports agents as legal counsel. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington from 2011-2014, where he created and taught a course titled, Sport Agency Management, which included subjects ranging from NCAA regulations to athlete agent certification and the rules governing the profession. Heitner serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he teaches a Sports Law class that includes case law surrounding athlete agents and the NCAA rules.

4 replies on “Australia Is Playing Baseball In The Winter”

The more baseball opportunities out there the more quality players we’ll have come up in the sport. Good to hear Baseball is still growing globally.

I love the fact that baseball is alive and well in Australia. However there are a few teams in the league that can’ and won’t win with the players they currently have in the line up.Calvalry will continue to lose until the Manager puts the BEST players on the field! Why are guys who have proven themselves in the game of baseball sitting on the bench. Or worse not even on the 22 man roster! What a joke!

Hey Just a Fan —

Give ’em a bloody chance will ya?! Not all the guys on the 35-man roster are even avaiable yet and even so the Cavs won their home opener 5-2 last night. Hypercritical negativity isn’t going to help the ABL succeed.

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