The year 1966 was a memorable one, both in Sunshine and further afield.
St Kilda won its first and only VFL premiership, The Beatles were top of the pops, prime minister Robert Menzies was enjoying his final days in charge, and a Sunshine sporting club played its first game at its new home ground.
Five decades of baseball at Barclay Reserve was celebrated at the weekend, when Sunshine Baseball Club took on its Werribee rivals.
Sunshine was forced to move from Selwyn Park – its home base since 1948 – to the reserve in 1966 under council instruction, president Glenn Letts says.
“The council decided that each sporting code, football, cricket, baseball and soccer, should have separate headquarters,” he said.
“[That year] the Eagles was adopted as the club emblem and, in the same year, the new clubrooms were completed.”
While the club now fields 15 teams – six senior and nine junior sides – some facilities remain almost as they were in 1966.
“The clubrooms are pretty much the same – the biggest change was the installation of the synthetic infield back in 2012.”
The club has produced some big names for the game, including Australian first baseman, Don “The Man” Deeble.
