| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 23 September 1973 (age 49) Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
| Sport | |
| Country |  Australia |
| Sport | Baseball |
Grant Alexander Wesley McDonald (born 23 September 1973 in Brisbane, Queensland), is an Australian baseball player. He competed at the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics. [1]
McDonald first played for the Brisbane Bandits ABL team as an 18-year-old in 1991 he took 2 years to establish himself. McDonald became the starting centerfielder and was part of the 1993/94 Brisbane Bandits championship team winning its first ABL title.
Over the next 5 seasons playing for the Brisbane Bandits his batting average increased each year .269,.286,.326,.354 to 1998's mark of .359 his best year with 18 home runs and 49 RBI's. In 1999 with the Brisbane Bandits folding he was picked up by the Gold Coast Cougars where he won his second ABL championship. [2]
In 2000 McDonald was back in action in the inaugural IBLA season with the Queensland Rams and performed well batting .327. [2]
Grant was selected to four 1st team ABL All Star teams in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2000. He also holds the joint ABL record of 6 hits in a game verse the Hunter Eagles at the Maitland Showground 17/01/96. [3]
McDonald played 339 ABL/IBLA games from 1991–2000 with a career .313 batting average and 190 RBI's. In 2008 he was selected in the prestigious 75th Anniversary Queensland Baseball All-Star Diamond Team as centerfielder. The team was selected from players that played Claxton Shield for Queensland from 1934–2008.
McDonald was inducted in 2009 into the Queensland Baseball Hall off Fame.
In 1994, McDonald was first selected as a centerfielder of the Australian national baseball team at the 1994 Baseball World Cup in Nicaragua. McDonald continued to represent Australia in baseball at the 1996 Olympics(USA), 1997 Intercontinental Cup,
1998 Baseball World Cup, 1999 Intercontinental Cup and 2000 Olympics(Australia).[ citation needed ] The Australian 1999 Intercontinental Cup team won Australia's first ever gold medal in international baseball competition defeating Cuba in the final 4–3.
McDonald whilst playing for Australia won the MVP (Most Valuable Player) of the 1998 Haarlem Baseball Week tournament batting .500 and 9 RBIs in the Netherlands.
McDonald was selected and played centerfield for the Australian baseball team at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. The team finished 7th in Olympic competition. McDonald batted .292 for the tournament and he hit Australia's first ever home run in Olympic competition, against Cuba starting pitcher Eliecer Montes de Oca in Australia's first game on 20 July 1996 in the second inning.
McDonald again played centerfield for the Australian Olympic baseball team in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney batting .304 with 1 HR. McDonald along with Michael Nakamura were the only two baseball players from the 1996 Australian Olympic team who played on the 2000 Australian Olympic team.
With McDonald's home run at the Sydney Olympics he was the first Australian to hit home runs in consecutive Olympic Games in 1996 and 2000.
In 2000 Grant played independent professional baseball with the Cook County Cheetahs in the Frontier League in the USA. McDonald played centerfield and batted a respectable .301 in 45 games.[ citation needed ]
David Wayne Nilsson is an Australian retired professional baseball catcher and current manager of the Australia national baseball team and the Brisbane Bandits. He played for Major League Baseball's Milwaukee Brewers from 1992 to 1999 and was an All-Star in 1999, becoming the first Australian player to appear in an All-Star game. He ended his Major League career on 3 October 1999 with 837 games played, 789 hits, 105 home runs and a .284 career batting average.
The Australian Baseball League (ABL) was a baseball league, established in 1987 and disbanded in 1999.
The Brisbane Bandits were a foundation team in the Australian Baseball League which was bought by a private owner and shut down in 1999. The Bandits have now been resurrected as a team in the new Australian Baseball League which is due to start in November 2010. The Bandits won the ABL Championship in 1994 and finished 2nd in 1997, going down to the Perth Heat in the championship series. The Bandits only competed in the first 9 ABL Championships, but had intentions of re-joining the ABL Championship in following Seasons.
The 1997–98 Australian Baseball League season was the 9th season of the original Australian Baseball League, contested between eight teams representing state and regional capitals: Adelaide Giants, Brisbane Bandits, Gold Coast Cougars, Hunter Eagles, Melbourne Monarchs, Melbourne Reds, Perth Heat and Sydney Storm. The Melbourne Reds became the first three-time champions defeating the Gold Coast Cougars 2 games to 0 in the Championship series, in front of a small home crowd of 600 at the Melbourne Ballpark.
Gavin Fingleson is a South African born-Australian switch-hitting former professional baseball player. Primarily a second baseman, he has also played designated hitter, third base, shortstop, and first base.
Brendan Kingman is an Australian baseball player and coach for the Sydney Blue Sox of the Australian Baseball League.
Paul Gonzalez is an American baseball executive and former professional player. Currently the general manager of the Brisbane Bandits, he played professional baseball in the United States, Japan, Italy and Australia, and won a silver medal with the Australia national baseball team at the 2004 Olympics.
Trent Carl Wayne Oeltjen is an Australian former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Los Angeles Dodgers. He is 6'1" (185 cm) tall and weighs 190 pounds (86 kg). In 2004, he was part of the Australian national baseball team that won a silver medal in the baseball tournament at the Athens Olympics.
The 1998–99 Australian Baseball League season was the 10th season of the original Australian Baseball League, contested between six teams representing state and regional capitals: Adelaide Giants, Gold Coast Cougars, Melbourne Monarchs, Melbourne Reds, Perth Heat and Sydney Storm. The championship was won by the Gold Coast Cougars, who defeated the Sydney Storm in 2 games in the championship series at the Sydney Showground Stadium. The Adelaide Giants finished the season on top of the ladder but were knocked out in Semi-final 1 by the Sydney Storm.
Robert "Bob" Nilsson was the oldest of the four Nilsson brothers and one of the greatest relievers in the history of Australian baseball leagues. Bob's brother Dave Nilsson was the first Australian All-Star in MLB, his brother Gary Nilsson played in the minors and Ron Nilsson also played in Australia for one year. Bob's son Jay Nilsson began his minor league career in 2006.
Brad Daniel Dutton is an Australian former professional baseball player. Dutton played for the Brisbane Bandits and Queensland Rams, where in the 2006 Claxton Shield he won the Helms Award, given to Most Valuable Player.
Phillip Dale, is an Australian former minor league baseball player and is currently a coach with the Australia national baseball team.
Gary Nilsson is a former Australian baseball player who played as a pitcher for the Lakeland Tigers in 1984 and in the Australian Baseball League from 1989 to 1996. He is the brother of former All-Star, Dave Nilsson as well as former minor leaguer Bob Nilsson. His son is Mitch Nilsson, currently contracted to the Cleveland Indians and nephew Jay Nilsson, former Gulf Coast Indians player. He is currently pitching coach for the Brisbane Bandits in the Australian Baseball League.
Gregory Dion Jelks was an American Australian baseball player who played with the Philadelphia Phillies. He spent the majority of his career in the minor leagues, and was most notable playing with the Australia national baseball team and the Perth Heat in the Australian Baseball League.
The Adelaide Giants are a professional baseball team that plays in the Australian Baseball League. They are one of the six foundation franchises of the league, in its first incarnation from 1989 to 1999. The team adopted the name Bite or Adelaide Bite when the league relaunched in 2010, officially Adelaide ETSA Bite, when the South Australian power company ETSA Utilities became its major sponsor. After an ETSA rebrand to SA Power Networks, the Bite became the "Adelaide Bite, proudly presented by SA Power Networks. In 2019, the team was rebranded as Adelaide Giants.
The 2010–11 Australian Baseball League season was the inaugural Australian Baseball League (ABL) season, and was held from 6 November 2010 to 13 February 2011. It came 12 years after the old Australian Baseball League ceased and is the successor of the mostly amateur Claxton Shield competition that has been played since 1934. The season consisted of six teams competing in a 40-game schedule, followed by a three-round finals series to determine the ABL champion.
Aaron James Whitefield is an Australian professional baseball outfielder in the Los Angeles Angels organization. He made his MLB debut in 2020 with the Minnesota Twins.
David Andrew Sutherland is a former Australian professional baseball player who played for the Brisbane Bandits. Nicknamed Goofy due to his tall, uncoordinated looks, he is currently the most capped Brisbane player (379) and first player in the Australian Baseball League to accumulate 200 career hits, a feat he reached 5 November 2015.
Wade Dutton is an Australian professional baseball utility for the Brisbane Bandits of the Australian Baseball League.