Brendan Kingman - 2010-11 Sydney Blue Sox

A regular of the Australian Baseball Team in the late Nineties and early Noughties, Kingman was included on the inaugural roster for the Sydney Blue Sox at the spritely age of 37. Despite only playing in 4 games he hit a healthy .455 in his 11 at bats to show the youngsters how it's done.

2010-11 Sydney Blue Sox Brendan Kingman card front - © 2011 Adam East

Sarge - 2011-12 Canberra Cavalry

Sarge is the mascot for the Canberra Cavalry. I hadn't planned on doing a card design for him, but I liked how this shot came out - one of those split second candid ones that seemed to work in my opinion.

2011-12 Canberra Cavalry Sarge card front - © 2012 Adam East

Matt Kennelly - 2011-12 Perth Heat

One of the ever-growing list of Kennelly brothers breaking into professional baseball, Matt was signed to the Atlanta Braves organisation. For his hometown Perth Heat he has been a stalwart - playing 85 games in the initial two seasons of the ABL. In 2012 he is playing for the AA level Mississippi Braves.

[Note 10th Jan 2013: UER - I spelt his name wrong on this card! Should have been Matthew, not Mathew]

2011-12 Perth Heat Matt Kennelly card front - © 2012 Adam East

Mark Thomas - "Bleed" Concept Card

Another concept card. This one is similar to one of the old American MLB card series from memory, but I can't place which set it is. Whilst I like the design, I'm having issues getting the colouring of the background tint correct. Although the tint is an exact orange match to the Cavalry orange, the opacity over the B&W photo seems to change the hue. Have to work out how to fix it to be more accurate. This particular card features a photo I liked of 2011-12 Cavalry player Mark Thomas, an American import from the Tampa Bay organisation.

"Bleed" concept card - Canberra Cavalry - Mark Thomas  - © 2012 Adam East

Ryan Battaglia - 2011-12 Brisbane Bandits

Youngster Battaglia has been given playing time as Catcher for the Bandits across their first two seasons, playing 26 games. He debuted in the ABL at age eighteen and has signed with the Cleveland Indians and is playing Rookie level ball for the AZL Indians in 2012

2011-12 Brisbane Bandits Ryan Battaglia card front - ©  2012 Adam East

..

Paul Weichard - 2011-12 Melbourne Aces

Despite being a native Victorian who spent 7 seasons in the Minors in his younger years, 2011-12 was Weichard's first ABL season, where he played outfield for the Melbourne Aces. He hit a respectable .313 over 37 games.

2011-12 Melbourne Aces Paul Weichard card front - © 2012 Adam East

David Kandilas - 2011-12 Sydney Blue Sox

Kandilas is an Australian outfirlder for the Blue Sox. He saw reduced playing time for the Blue Sox in the 2011-12 season compared to 2010-11. In 2012, he is playing for the Ashville Tourists, the Rockies A level team in the minors.

2011-12 Sydney Blue Sox David Kandilas - © 2012 Adam East

Denny Almonte - "Starburst" Concept Card

Working on some more abstract designs. Threw this one together to try out some more background designs. I know the player cutout of Adelaide Bite player Denny Almonte  is very poor - this was only a quick mockup, but I quite like the design of this. I do find doing the player cutouts rather tedious to do correctly though, and don't know if I could be bothered doing a large set like this.

"Starburst" concept card - Adelaide Bite - Denny Almonte - © 2012 Adam East 

Allan de San Miguel - 2010-11 Perth Heat

Unfortunately I only managed a couple of photos of Perth players from the 2010-11 season, and none of them were action shots. I did quite like this one of de San Miguel though. My original thoughts for the 2010-11 card designs had been to do a strong blur of the background and non-player elements, however I changed my mind and reverted to a more natural look for the majority of cards. This card remains one where I left the stronger blur in - I just liked the way de San Miguel looked in it. Yeah, I know, the blurring is tacky, but despite all that, I still like it, and these are my card designs :)


I have to admit, I think that de San Miguel is rather photogenic - nearly all the photos I took of him during the 2011-12 season looked good IMHO. When testing out card design concepts, I'll quite often throw in one of my photos of him in.

2010-11 Perth Heat Allan de San Miguel card front - © 2010 Adam East

Nick Kimpton - 2010-11 Canberra Cavalry

Back in January 2010, I took a trip back home to Perth, and took the opportunity to catch a couple of Claxton Shield games. After the game, I got chatting to one of the Perth Heat players, commenting about how I appreciated getting to see the Heat play as "I was a Perth boy trapped in Canberra". The player joked back that he was the opposite, a Canberra boy trapped in Perth.

That player was Nick Kimpton, and he did manage to come home to Canberra for the inaugural ABL season where he played with the Canberra Cavalry. I really like the photo of Nick I managed to get here - I usually have a lot of difficulty getting a decent shot of any runners at second base, but this one turned out quite well I thought.

2010-11 Canberra Cavalry Nick Kimpton card front - © 2011 Adam East

Tom Brice - 2011-12 Adelaide Bite

Brice is a native South Australian who has played 72 games for the Adelaide Bite over their first two seasons. In the 2011-12 season he hit a respectable .301

Brice has had a decorated career. Drafted by the Chicago White Sox in 2002, he was also a part of Australia's silver medal winning baseball team at the 2004 Olympics. He has also played for Australia in the 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classics.

2011-12 Adelaide Bite Tom Brice card front - © 2012 Adam East

Taisei Makihara (牧原大成) - 2011-12 Brisbane Bandits

Japanese short stop on loan from the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks to the Brisbane Bandits for the 2011-12 season. Taisei made his NPB debut with the Hawks in 2012.

2011-12 Brisbane Bandits Taisei Makihara card front - © 2012 Adam East

2011-12 Brisbane Bandits Taisei Makihara alternate card front - © 2012 Adam East 

Dominic Ramos - 2011-12 Melbourne Aces

One of the problems with trying to get shots of players from visiting teams is that a lot of players get involved with Movember. This means that any shots I get of teams visiting during November are likely to show them as sporting mustaches or facial hair that they normally don't have. That was the case with American import Dominic Ramos, who has played both seasons so far with the Melbourne Aces.

2011-12 Melbourne Aces Dominic Ramos card front - © 2012 Adam East

Dean White - 2011-12 Perth Heat

Despite pitching 10 games for the Heat in the 201-11 ABL season, White pitched in only one game in the 2011-12 season. That one game consisted of only one inning, which he was still fortunate enough to pick up a Save. I was fortunate enough to get photos of him during that single innings work last season. Sometimes it's great to get the "bit part" players and not just the big names as well.

2011-12 Perth Heat Dean White card front - © 2012 Adam East

Trent D'Antonio - 2011-12 Sydney Blue Sox

Aussie native D'Antonio spent three years playing in the minors for the Florda Marlins, but with the inception of the ABL, he has been a member of the Sydney Blue Sox roster.

2011-12 Sydney Blue Sox Trent D'Antonio card front - © 2012 Adam East

Fumiya Araki (荒木郁也) - 2011-12 Canberra Cavalry

Another of the Cavalry's Japanese imports from the Hanshin Tigers, Araki played Shortstop during the 2011-12 season for the Cav. Araki debuted for the Tigers in the NPB during the 2011 season, playing 2 games, but has yet to establish himself onto their senior team.

2011-12 Canberra Cavalry Fumiya Araki card front - © 2012 Adam East

Player Lists Added to Site

I used to keep a website (Best of Both Worlds) that had extensive card checklists of every Australian who had played in the Major Leagues, as well as those who had played in the NFL, NBA and WNBA. Unfortunately, after about 7 years of operation, I no longer had time for that site and it became inactive back in 2006.

I have however added several pages to this blog that keep a track of these players, even if they no longer have the associated card checklists. I've added the lists for the Australian Major League Baseballers and NFL players.

Carlton Tanabe - 2011-12 Adelaide Bite

Tanabe was an American import from the Seattle Mariners who played for the Adelaide Bite in the 2011-12 season. His batting struggled during his time in the ABL - only hitting .141 in 31 games, however,  at only 20 years of age he seems set in the Mariners farm system with the opportunity to continue his career.

2011-12 Adelaide Bite Carlton Tanabe card front - © 2012 Adam East

2011-12 Adelaide Bite Carlton Tanabe alternate card front - © 2012 Adam East 

Brad Harman - 2011-12 Melbourne Aces

Former Australian MLBer Brad Harman missed the inaugural year of the ABL due to a 14 month suspension due to breaking the "Wherabouts Rule" of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority. Following his suspension he was able to come back and play for the Melbourne Aces in the 2011-12 season. I was fortunate to grab a few photos of him at one of the games - unfortunately nothing fantastic.

2011-12 Melbourne Aces Brad Harman card front - © 2012 Adam East

011-12 Melbourne Aces Brad Harman alternative card front - © 2012 Adam East 

James McOwen - 2011-12 Perth Heat

McOwen, an American import, played for the Adelaide Bite in the inaugural ABL season, and was the 2010-11 Silver Slugger award winner. He also led the league in Home Runs. His defection from Adelaide to the champion Perth Heat for the 2011-12 season was seen as a recruiting coup. Whilst he failed to reclaim his batting title, he still put up good numbers and helped the Heat to their second successive title.

In 2012 he is playing for the Long Island Ducks in the independent Atlantic League.

2011-12 Perth Heat James McOwen card front  - © 2012 Adam East