33 Facts About Canberra Cavalry

Canberra Cavalry is a professional baseball team from Canberra, ACT, Australia.

The Cavalry are one-time Claxton Shield Champions and one-time Asian Champions.

The bid, named "Let's do it Canberra Cavalry", was organised by ACT Baseball Association Commissioner Theo Vassalakis and was tasked with meeting the entry criteria of securing the needed sponsorship, community membership and facility upgrades by September 2009.

In November 2009, Canberra Cavalry's bid was successful and the ABL in conjunction with the MLB made the announcement of the decision to grant an ABL licence to the successful bidding team.

Canberra Cavalry started putting their front and back office staff in 2010 in the lead up to the ABL regular season starting in November 2010.

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On 7 November 2010, Canberra Cavalry lost its first ever ABL game away in Sydney against the Sydney Blue Sox.

Canberra Cavalry won their first ABL game on 18 November 2010 at home in Narrabundah.

Canberra Cavalry was selected as the home venue for the best of three Championship series, which would be broadcast in 40 countries worldwide and a possible audience for 40 million people.

Canberra Cavalry defeated the Perth Heat in the Championship series to claim the ABL Championship and lift the historic Claxton Shield.

Canberra Cavalry was originally wearing shirt number 51 but fans requested he should wear the number 4, in allusion to the game Connect Four; and, this became his catch-cry.

Canberra Cavalry won the coin toss and was designated the 'home' team.

The free scoring continued in the eighth innings with the Canberra Cavalry scoring a further six runs, including a loaded bases home run, hit by American catcher Jack Murphy.

The Canberra Cavalry were crowned Asian Champions, with Jack Murphy named most valuable player.

Canberra Cavalry lost the first game against Sydney in the best of three preliminary final, but fought back and defeated the Blue Sox in the remaining two games to claim the series win.

Canberra Cavalry come up against Perth Heat once more in the ABL Championship final series.

However, unlike the previous season, Perth took the lead in the series, Canberra Cavalry levelled before Perth won game three and took out the series and were crowned champions.

The Canberra Cavalry had the best attack in the league that season, averaging 5.

Canberra Cavalry was looking for its second Claxton Shield, while the Bandits were looking to become the first team in ABL history to go threepeat and win the championship for the third season in a row.

Canberra Cavalry won at home in game one and then headed north to Brisbane where the Bandits drew the series level and forced a deciding game.

In July 2018 the Canberra Cavalry management announced they had signed a strategic partnership agreement with Japanese baseball team Yokohama BayStars.

Canberra Cavalry celebrated its history in baseball in 2018, with a throwback night held at Narrabundah in a home series against Auckland Tuatara.

On 24 October 2019, it was announced the Canberra Cavalry was successful in their bid to join the new women's league and was granted one of four licences, alongside Adelaide Giants, Baseball Victoria and the Brisbane Bandits.

Canberra Cavalry have had 6 assistant general managers in the team's history.

The fans nicknamed the venue "The Fort", which the Canberra Cavalry management embraced before the naming rights were sold.

In 2016 and 2017, the Canberra Cavalry were solely owned by Baseball Australia, as BA looked to privatise and sell the ABL team licences.

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On 1 May 2018, ownership of the Canberra Cavalry was transferred to private ownership for the first time.

In March 2019, the ownership team of the Canberra Cavalry acquired the Canberra ice hockey franchise team CBR Brave, with a view to creating Canberra's first multi-sport franchise with a single shared back-office creating efficiencies across both winter and summer seasons.

On 26 April 2021, a new ownership team secured the ABL licence for the Canberra Cavalry and rescued the team from the brink after the collapse of the previous ownership with debts of more than $400,000.

Canberra Cavalry is a 50:50 joint venture between Canberran businessmen Brendan Major and Illya Mastoris.

Canberra Cavalry have a strong rivalry with the Sydney Blue Sox that dates back to the beginning of the Australian Baseball League in 2010.

Canberra Cavalry have regularly auctioned game-day memorabilia to raise money for different charitable causes including Legacy Australia, who supports family members of service people, the Canberra Hospital Trust, the Heart Foundation, Red Cross ACT, and The Global Poverty Walk's Matt Napier.

The Canberra Cavalry auctioned off unique memorabilia to raise funds for the NSW Rural Fire Service as part of the campaign.

Canberra Cavalry are supporters of the LGBTQ+ community and held the ABL's first ever pride night on 17 January 2020.