Neil Philip Page (born 17 January 1944) is an Australian former baseball player. A left-hand

starting pitcher In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pit ...

, he regularly played for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

from 1964 until 1977.''Hall of Fame inductees''
. Australian Baseball Federation: Neil Page. Retrieved 25 November 2010

Career

Page was born in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, the son of Roy Page, a well-known local baseball identity. As a junior, Page grew up playing for the Glenelg Tigers and Adelaide Angels baseball clubs, before transferring, in 1969, to the Goodwood Indians baseball club in the South Australian Baseball League (SABL). ABF Hall of Fame
Goodwood Baseball Club Inc. Retrieved 27 November 2010 Page attended Adelaide Boys High School from February 1956 to 1960. On 1 February 1966, Page became the first modern Australian player to sign a professional contract with a

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

organisation, the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

. He remained with the organisation until 16 October 1967, but was released following an arm injury. Page won the Helms Award in 1969, regarded as Australian Baseball's most prestigious award; and is judged based on a players performance in National

Claxton Shield The Claxton Shield was the name of the premier baseball competition in Australia held between state-based teams, as well as the name of the trophy awarded to the champion team. From the summer of 1989–90 until 2001–02, and again since 2010� ...

competition. He also won the Capps Medal in 1974, for the "

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

" player during the regular SABL season (i.e. not including finals matches) as decided upon by umpires votes. Page played for

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

at 8 Claxton Shields (1964, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973 & 1974) and

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

at 3 Claxton Shields (1975, 1976 & 1977). In 1977, Page won the President's Medal, for the

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

in the West Australian Baseball League. On 16 March 1972, Page was involved in one of the greatest games in Australian baseball history. Under lights at

Norwood Oval Norwood Oval (currently known as Coopers Stadium due to sponsorship from the Adelaide-based Coopers Brewery) is a suburban oval in the western end of Norwood, South Australia, Norwood, an inner eastern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. The ...

, in the 1971/72 SABL

Grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

between the Goodwood Indians and

Port Adelaide Magpies Port Adelaide Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, Alberton, South Australia. The club's senior men's team plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), where it is nicknamed the ...

, Page pitched all 19 innings (21 strikeouts, 9 hits & 1 walk), only to lose the game 4 – 2. In the book, ''A History of Australian Baseball: Time and Game'', Page is described as "one of the greatest pitchers Australia has ever produced". At the 2000 Millennium Sports Award recognising achievements in Australian sport, Page won the

Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, off ...

for "45 years involvement in Baseball as player and coach, many individual achievements". In 2005, Page was an inaugural inductee into the

Baseball Australia Hall of Fame The Baseball Australia Hall of Fame or Australian Baseball Federation Hall of Fame is a group of baseball :Baseball positions, players, manager (baseball), managers and coach (baseball), coaches who have been recognised by the Australian Baseball ...

. At the 2009 Baseball Australia Diamond Awards, Page was named as a starting pitcher to the 75th Diamond Anniversary Claxton Shield All Stars team.Diamond Anniversary Claxton Shield
Australian Baseball Federation 2008–2009 Annual Report (page 5). Retrieved 1 December 2010

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Page, Neil 1944 births Living people Australian expatriate baseball players in the United States Baseball people from Western Australia Baseball pitchers Minor league baseball players Baseball players from Adelaide People educated at Adelaide High School 20th-century Australian sportsmen