History
History of St Michael's Baseball Club
In 1908 St Michael’s Old Boys Baseball Club was formed. The driving force behind the club was Father Hill who was parish priest at St Michael’s R.C. Church in Clarence Street, Pill. A year later the club won their first trophy, but by no means was this to be the last.
The 1920’s and 1930’s were to bring great success, with the outstanding achievement being the Invincible side of 1925 that won the League title, O’Niell Cup, South Wales Argus Cup and Florida Cup.
Following the Second World War, St Michael’s won a 3 team competition at Coronation Park against Pill rivals Alexandra Old Boys and Pill Labour. After this win the club rejoined the Monmouthshire League that had been restarted by Mr Reg St Clare.
In the 1950’s the club was making great strides up the Monmouthshire Leagues. At this time there were 2 clubs playing as St Michael’s, the youth section decided to call themselves the CYMS (Catholic Young Men's Society) with the first team staying as St Michael’s. This continued until the first team ran into difficulty and could not continue, so the CYMS reverted back to St Michael’s Old Boys.
In 1962 a great friendship developed between St Michael’s and St Margaret's Baseball Club in Liverpool. St Margaret's fixture with Grange Albion had come to an end so St Michael’s were asked to fill in.
The first game was played at Edinburgh Park in Liverpool with St Michael’s winning by 6 runs.
The Arthur Rose Memorial Cup was played annually home and away until 1983 when St Margaret's ceased playing.
Various honours were won by the club in the 1970’s and 1980’s. The greatest of these wins was against our local rivals, Alexandra Old Boys in the 1986 Welsh Brewers Cup final. The first team has since played in many more cup finals, the most recent being in 2007, but we have not managed to add another major trophy.
St Michael’s has had a number of international players, the first of these being Billy Landers and Mike Burke in 1929. Peter Sanders, Tony Murphy and Norman Parselle have captained Wales with great distinction. We have also had our fair share of youth internationals, Ross Perrett, Martin Phillips, Greg Lyons, Ryan James and the outstanding Ellis Harrison are just a few of those international caps.
The club has had many bases down the years. The Uskside Club, Ship & Pilot, Pill Sporting Club, The Cambrian and Tredegar Arms are just a few of the watering holes we have frequented. We have been happily settled at the Irish Club since 1983, John Reynolds and Sheila Gill have looked after us for 25 years and it gives us great pleasure to welcome them here tonight.
Finally, no history of St Michael’s would be complete if the outstanding service of Peter Sanders was not included. He has been the main man at this club for more years, more than he would care to mention and he is the sole reason that you have been able to read this article.
