Interview with Life Member Rob Mccluskey

I only got involved with baseball in August 2000 when a school mate (an American) of our eldest son (Mitchell) suggested to school friends to come along and play baseball at Stealers.

Stealers was located right next door to where we lived in St Ives at that time, therefore an easy choice regarding transport issues.

After signing up Mitchell in the U10’s tee-ball squad, the youngest son (Keiran) didn’t want to know about it all until he realised that Mitchell received a Stealers playing top but needed to complete the purchase of the uniform, KS hat, a glove, and a ball ……. little did we know what would eventuate with Keiran signing on as a mid-week late entry for the U7 tee-ball at 4 years old.

Mitchell ended up playing for around 3-4 seasons until his Sat school sport commitments took over and thoroughly enjoyed his involvement with the sport and club …. he wasn’t interested in playing at any higher level than club ball.

Keiran on the other hand, just could not get enough of the game and was active all year round. Ending up as a specialist pitcher, he played at all the levels through to the NSW U14, U16, U18 (Australian Championships – Gold x 2) teams and made both the Australian 17U & 19U teams for World Championships held in Mexico (17U) & Taiwan (19U). In all, Keiran managed to play on six International touring teams and pitched in countries such as USA, Mexico, China, New Zealand & Taiwan.

He even managed to play for the Sydney Blue Sox pro baseball team in his last year of High School and while he did attract the attention of various US baseball scouts, he was unable to secure a professional career in US baseball. After playing a few seasons with Ryde & Baulkham Hills NSW State League teams, he then decided to get a job as an apprentice plumber. Around this time, he had the start of niggling shoulder injury that would finish his baseball career and the need to concentrate on working career.

The roles I have taken up at Stealers since my initial role as just being a parent in 2000 (trying to understand the rules of tee-ball)  included – team coach from U10 through U16 years; junior teams coordinator; Ryde Hornsby Juniors Rep; VP Juniors; & finally President from 2004-2008.

In 2001 & having never had any involvement with baseball, I managed to do a Level 0 coaching course one Tuesday night followed by the Level 1 coaching course over two days of the weekend. Realising that I needed to better understand how to physically play the game, I took up senior baseball with Stealers in the Pacific Coast Baseball League at age 45 and played for a couple of seasons before I could not find the time to continue playing.

Baseball clubs I have been involved with outside of Stealers include Ryde Hornsby Juniors (VP Juniors, Rep Teams Coordinator & Assoc Cup coach); Sydney Blue Sox Pro team (Assistant General Manager – 6 years from the ABL restart in late 2009); and Armidale Outlaws (as being one of the 100 part owners when the club commenced 2016).

I believe the most significant thing I have been involved with at Stealers was the generation of our Stealers Strategic Planning project involving a group of very dedicated people who managed to understand where we were as a club and setting a direction that would enable Stealers to achieve the title of the inaugural “Australian Baseball Club of the Year” in 2006 some 18 months after the club had completed our project. This single act raised the profile of Stealers to untold heights with many clubs and baseball people Australia wide wanting to further understand our actions. In fact, various clubs copied our template and followed a similar path to achieve the same award.

The recruitment of Juniors coaching Mentor Ric Wickham to Stealers because he understood what we wanted to achieve going forward was instrumental in allowing us to build on our foundations.

The award also sparked a wave of higher performing players that have since gone on and upward in achieving many selections in Rookie Reps, Little League, Association, New South Wales, Australian representative teams including a number who have gone onto US based College baseball careers. I do recall that one season, Stealers supplied some 57% of all rep players selected for Ryde Hornsby Juniors – quite an achievement.

The NSW Rookie Reps Cup was something that I created back in 2005 as it gave young baseballers a taste of the next level of skill required above club competition in a single day tournament format using Zooka pitching machines for U10 players. The tournament is held toward the end of the summer season and is just prior to their first taste of association representative team selections in the winter off season. The Rookie Cup continues today.

My greatest memory of baseball was videoing Keiran when he was pitching for Australia 19U against Colombia at the World Championships in Taiwan in 2013 on Father’s Day. He managed to get the Win and I could not have been any prouder.

I see the future for baseball in Australia as being a very tough one as we as a country have way too many sports which spreads the talent pool very thinly for all sports everywhere. If the professional leagues (ABL) can manage to crack the lucrative Asian market, then marketing of the game can be increased dramatically which is an area that is currently sadly lacking. The more non-baseball people that hear and see the sport in the media the better.

I have retired from work and Lynne & I moved up to Port Macquarie in 2015 but keep in contact with my Stealers family that I married into back in 2000. A number have dropped in to say hello as they venture further North. I now enjoy my fishing and am keen to show other Stealers relatives what is on offer from the local waterways.