Matt Williams - 2017-18 Adelaide Bite

The one thing I lament about Williams' move from Sydney to Adelaide a number of seasons ago is that I never seem to be able to get good shots of him since he's been at Adelaide, whereas he was one of my more "photogenic" players at Sydney. Oh well, such is life. The 2017-18 ABL season was Williams' eight in the league and his fifth with the Bite.

2017-18 Adelaide Bite Matt Williams card front - ©2018 Adam East

Matt Williams - 2016-17 Adelaide Bite

The curse of not getting an action shot of Williams at the Bite continues. The 2016-17 ABL season was Williams' seventh ABL season and his fourth with Adelaide. Of note though is that his legendary ginger beard reduced down to just a goatee after years of previous growth.

2016-17 Adelaide Bite Matthew Williams card front - ©2017 Adam East

Matt Williams - 2015-16 Adelaide Bite

I'm still a bit frustrated in that I can never seem to get any decent shots of Williams ever since he moved from Sydney to Adelaide. The 2015-16 season was Williams' sixth in the ABL and his third with the Adelaide Bite. Whilst this shot of Williams isn't bad, I'd prefer to get a shot of him in just his uniform, without the Bite hoodie.

2015-16 Adelaide Bite Matthew Williams card front - ©2016 Adam East

Matthew Williams - 2014-15 Adelaide Bite

Williams returned to the Adelaide Bite for the 2014-15 ABL season, his second with the Bite and fifth in the league. He was a workhorse for the Bite, starting in 11 of their games and providing relief in another 8.

2014-15 Adelaide Bite Matt Williams card front ©2015 Adam East

2014-15 Adelaide Bite Matt Williams alternate card front ©2015 Adam East

2014-15 Adelaide Bite Matt Williams alternate card front ©2015 Adam East

Matthew Williams - 2013-14 Adelaide Bite

It was an eventful off-season for Williams. After winning the ABL's 2012-13 Reliever of the Year Award, Williams took up the job of Baseball Coordinator with the South Australian Baseball league, resulting in a move from the Blue Sox to the Adelaide Bite for the 2013-14 ABL season. He has also made the move from relief into the starting rotation for the Bite.

The "week of beards" continues. Matthews, the previously undisputed ABL Beard Champion is now facing some pretty tough competition on the facial hair front to maintain his record.

Unfortunately, the fact that Williams was starting pitcher the day I was taking photos of him meant that he was focussed on warming up for the game before hand and I didn't get to see the jovial and camera aware Williams that I've so often seen in the past.

2013-14 Adelaide Bite Matthew Williams card front - © 2014 Adam East

Dingo 2013-14 Adelaide Bite - Series Two Checklist

I received the rest of my Series Two team sets of ABL cards last week. A couple of quick observations before details of the Adelaide Bite Series Two team set.

1. Whereas the Series One sets were exclusively Australian players (except for Canberra) drawn from photos taken last season, the Series Two sets mainly feature import players from the current season with a small number of Aussies.
2. The cards were once again packaged in hard plastic card holders. This didn't stop my cards being slightly damaged in transit. Despite the card holders being bubble wrapped, the Post Office had managed to damage two card holders - one smashed that badly that it literally fell aaprt when I tried to open it. Unfortunately some of my sets therefore have "dinged' corners from these broken card holders.
3. Series One featured a postage discount for orders containingonly cards from the online ABL store. This no longer seems available for Series Two. Series One cost me $6 to get 5 sets shipped. Series Two cost me $18 to get 5 team sets shipped. I emailed the ABL online store to see if there was still meant to be a "cards only order" discount on shipping, but didn't receive a reply.

Here is the header/checklist card for the Adelaide Bite Series Two set of 2013-14 Dingo ABL cards.

Dingo 2013-14 Adelaide Bite Series Two Header/Checklist Card - front

Dingo 2013-14 Adelaide Bite Series Two Header/Checklist Card - back

Here are the ten cards that make up Dingo's 2013-14 Adelaide Bite Series Two set of cards:

Card Number: Player: (Nationality, current or past MLB affiliation)
041 James Campbell  (USA, played in Los Angeles Dodgers organisation in 2013)
042 Joe Sclafani (USA, played in the Houston Astros organisation in 2013)
043 John Cannon (USA, played in Los Angeles Dodgers organisation in 2013)
044 Blake Holovach (USA, played in Seattle Mariners organisation in 2013)
045 Brock Hebert (USA, played in Seattle Mariners organisation in 2013)
046 Chris Jacobs (USA, played in Los Angeles Dodgers organisation in 2013)
047 James Baldwin (USA, played in Los Angeles Dodgers organisation in 2013)
048 Matthew Williams (Australia, played 6 seasons in the Minnesota Twins organisation between 2005 - 2010)
unnumbered - Header / Checklist Card
unnumbered -  Dingo advert on front / Release Schedule for AdelaideBite card sets on back

Rosters for the 2013-14 ABL Season Start taking Shape

Still being a minor sport, we don't get saturation coverage of ABL roster moves down here in Australia., but it's interesting to note that with only 6 weeks to go til the start of the season, rosters are starting to take shape, even if trying to find out who those players are is like pulling hen's teeth.

The ABL has advised that 12 MLB clubs are sending prospects down to the ABL for the coming season - that's in addition to any Australian players already playing in the minors. In the past there have also been affiliations between NPB and KBO teams. I have yet to hear about any Japanese or Korean imports for this coming season, but would expect Canberra to have some at a minimum.

Here are some of the roster moves we've heard so far:

Adelaide Bite / Sydney Blue Sox

• ABLBuzz Article:  Star Sydney Blue Sox closer Matthew Williams will be relocating to the Bite following his acceptance to a new job in South Australia.

2011-12 Sydney Blue Sox Matthew Williams card front - © 2012 Adam East

Canberra Cavalry

• Canberra Times article: Most local players and many of the independent American imports from the 2012-13 Championship winning team are set to return to the Cavalry for this season. This is a big change to revolving door roster of previous years. Toronto Blue Jays will be sending down 4 or 5 yet to be named players, possibly including Jack Murphy (member of the Cavalry in 2012-13) - who has advanced to AAA this year. 

2012-13 Canberra Cavalry Jack Murphy card front - © 2013 Adam East

Melbourne Aces

• ABL article: Two named players from the Kansas City Royals confirmed on the roster.
• ABL article: Two named players from the Colorado Rockies confirmed on the roster.
• Australian players John Hussey and Darry George have re-signed.

2012-13 Melbourne Aces Darryl George card front - © 2013 Adam East

2013 ABL Supplementary Draft - All Teams

ABL article: The big news last Thursday by the Australian Baseball League was the same day occurence of the previously unaanounced 2013 ABL Supplementary Draft. This appears to be the new way for non-affiliated imports and out-of-state Aussies to be selected by ABL teams. Unfortunately details have been sketchy, but ABLBuzz reports that only Sydney and Melbourne were active at the draft, selecting nine players between them. This also tells us that the other four teams must believe that they have their rosters reasonably settled already, even if they haven't been announced.

Matthew Williams - 2012-13 Sydney Blue Sox

Williams is always fun to shoot - hamming it up for the camera. His 2012-13 campaign with the Blue Sox was the most successful of his three ABL seasons to date, setting the record for Saves in a single season at 15 - breaking team-mate Dae-Sung Koo's 2010-11 record of 12. He has been rewarded with a spot on Australia's 2013 WBC roster.

Rumor has it that Sydney will have to keep an extra roster spot open next season just for his beard.

2012-13 Sydney Blue Sox Matt Williams card front - © 2013 Adam East

Kudos to the Adelaide Bite Players

Just a quick note giving praise to the Adelaide Bite players for being friendly and promoting the game of baseball well. I will quite often try and spend time taking shots of players during their warm-ups before their ABL games. Most players will simply ignore me and get on with their job. A couple will give me the evil eye and a couple like Matthew Williams from the Blue Sox and Aces import Fumikazu Kimaru have joked around with me, but they're usually the exception rather than the rule.

Shooting the Adelaide players this weekend, many of the players seemed to be in good moods and were very conscious of me being there, with players such as Josh Cakebread, Jeremy Cresswell and  import Ji-Man Choi hamming it up for the camera. In addition, both Chris Adamson and Darren Fidge came over and had several minute chats with me. Well done guys! I came out with a very positive view of the club and it's players - friendly, fan-savvy, approachable and positive. Thanks for providing a positive experience with your club. I'm looking forward to getting some of my 2012-13 Adelaide Bite cards up soon.

Adelaide Bite players Jeremy Cresswell and Josh Cakebread decide to make sure I get a good shot of them
© 2012 Adam East

Adelaide Bite import Ji-Man Choi deuces up for the camera © 2012 Adam East

Matthew Williams - 2010-11 Sydney Blue Sox

Another one of the action shots I like. Although Sydney Blue Sox player Matthew Williams looks like he's posing for the camera, this is actually taken with a telephoto lens from a distance during a pre-game warm up session. I was fortunate enough to not only capture him looking towards the camera, but with the ball about to go into his glove.

2010-11 Sydney Blue Sox Matthew Williams card front © Adam East 2011