John Murphy, right, of the Canberra Cavalry celebrates with team mate Jeremy Barnes after hitting a homerun. Photo: Reuters
It doesn’t get much bigger than this for the Canberra Cavalry.
In just three short years they’ve climbed from the worst team in the Australian Baseball League to not only be champions of Australia, but they’re now one win away from being champions of Asia.
Under the leadership of coach Michael Collins, born and bred in Canberra, they face Taiwanese champs Uni-President Lions in the Asia Series decider in Taichung, Taiwan, on Wednesday at 9pm Canberra time.
Come back to canberratimes.com.au tonight to follow the action in our live blog of the match.
They’re already guaranteed at least $216,000 in prizemoney, and will pick up $500,000 if they win.
Not bad for a team whose total payroll is just $47,000.
But there’s a chance neither the Cavalry nor the players will see any of the winnings - all prizemoney is collected by the ABL and possibly used to prop up financially under-achieving rivals like the Sydney Blue Sox and the Melbourne Aces.
''It will be reinvested in the success of the league … as a collective we'll decide what's the best way to redistribute this money and make sure the league is successful,'' ABL operations manager Ben Foster told The Canberra Times last week.
''It's not going into a rainy day fund, or any coffers, anything we do come away with will be re-invested - whether it's development or it's something specific, like facilities or stadiums, something that's going to make a significant difference to the operation of the Cavalry or another team.’’
The Cavs’ wage bill makes them the minnows of the Asia Series.
Japan champions Tohoku Golden Eagles fork out $23.5 million on stars like 2005 Major League Baseball player-of-the-year Andruw Jones and pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, who is being touted as the next big thing in the MLB.
While the Uni Lions don’t spend anywhere near as much as the Golden Eagles, their players are fully professional and each of them still earns at least the total payroll of the Cavalry.
In contrast, the Cavs are a motley crew of public servants, part-timers and minor league baseballers just trying to live the dream.
No one expected them to win a game, let alone make the final, but such is the belief Collins has instilled in his players that they fear no one.
They created history by beating Taiwan’s EDA Rhinos, becoming the first Aussie team to win a game at the Asia Series.
Then they continued to write history by making the championship game, when they beat Korean giants Samsung Lions, the defending Asia Series champions.
They fear no one.
So impressive was their extra-innings victory over Samsung, it prompted Foster to compare the Cavalry’s efforts to Australia’s silver medal at the 2004 Olympic Games and the national team’s gold medal at the 1999 Intercontinental Cup.
"It’s certainly significant, 2004 [Olympics] everyone would put both that and the gold medal at the 1999 Intercontinental Cup [as] probably two of the biggest international victories we’ve had,’’ he said.
"From what I’ve seen firsthand, I think they’re three of the significant wins.’’
The Cavalry believe they can beat the Uni Lions and become the champions of Asia.
Soon, we’ll know whether they were right.
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