Ross Straw was an Australian Olympic coach and former Olympic baseball competitor. He captained the Australian team at the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XVI Olympiad and officially branded as Melbourne 1956, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December ...

in Melbourne, where it was a

demonstration sport A demonstration sport, or exhibition sport, is a sport which is played to promote it, rather than as part of standard medal competition. This occurs commonly during the Olympic Games but may also occur at other sporting events. Demonstration sport ...

. Australia lost the single match there against a selection from the USA. He was one of the first Australians to be offered a 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 ...

team, the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

. Straw was instrumental in getting Australia involved in

Baseball Federation of Asia WBSC Asia, cooperated with the Baseball Federation of Asia (BFA) and Softball Asia (SA), is the governing body of the sport of baseball and softball in Asia. The federation is governed by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. History Th ...

competitions. He was a member of the Victorian Wartime team in 1942 and 1943, and played for and coached the

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

state team from 1942 to 1969. Straw was first appointed national coaching director (appointed by what was then the Australian Baseball Council, now the

Australian Baseball Federation Baseball Australia, formerly the Australian Baseball Federation is the national governing body of Baseball in Australia and owns the Australian Baseball League. Baseball is played in all the mainland states and territories, but it struggles fo ...

) in 1975 and formed Australia's first national elite coaching committee.

References

Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Olympic baseball players for Australia Baseball players at the 1956 Summer Olympics Australian baseball players Place of birth missing (living people) Australian baseball coaches {{Australia-baseball-bio-stub