History
Redcliffe Baseball club was founded as a senior club in 1948 by an American ex-serviceman named Chuck Carroll and was later named the Redcliffe Whitesox. Younger kids played at Redcliffe Police Citizens Youth Club then went elsewhere if they wanted to go on. Redcliffe Baseball Club had no direct feeder clubs from junior PCYC. In 1991 the PCYC could not support baseball anymore and the seniors wanted feeder clubs to support them so they joined forces at the Silcock Street oval and named themselves the Peninsula Padres – based on the San Diego Padres.
In the first year there were 7 teams in total. They needed a home run fence which they did not have at Silcock Street and could not put up. Council therefore asked them to relocate to the Redcliffe Showgrounds in 1996. The club had to take the fences down at showtime and then adjust the grounds after the show to make it suitable for baseball again. However, a big plus was the great light facility on the grounds. With greater promotion and a new facility, the move paid off with a boom and a resurgence of interest in baseball. Within a year at the Showgrounds there were 16 teams.
In 2003-2004 the Council offered Talobilla Park as an option. Touch football had rejected Council’s suggestion so baseball and softball worked together to establish these sports in a permanent setting. The council, Queensland Government and the club used money to put in irrigation, back nets, turf and ancillary fixtures etc. to make the move possible. Also shipped in, was the old Redcliffe golf-club pro shop which is used for a canteen and meeting house. The move caused yet another resurgence and the club has now grown to 22 teams with about 225 players not to mention countless volunteers, coaches and administrators involved with the club. Padres is now the biggest club in Queensland, as well as second largest in Australia.
Read more about this topic: Redcliffe Padres
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