IT took just one turn at bat for Brett Bertalli to become hooked on baseball back in the late 1980s.
In 2024 his love of the sport remains as strong as ever.
Bertalli celebrated game 300 for Wanderers in the Sunraysia Baseball League on Sunday in his side’s 12-4 C-grade victory against Eagles.
“I’m bloody sore – had a couple of close calls,” the milestone man laughed.
“I’m 50 years old now so I don’t quite recover how I used to.”
Since first taking up the sport after some encouragement from one of his teachers, Bertalli has pretty much done it all in Sunraysia baseball.
An A-grade premiership coach, former president and life member for both Wanderers and the association and a seven-year Sunraysia representative at the Victorian Championships, he has had a hell of a career that he is still enjoying now.
“I began playing in 1989 in under 17s and was hooked after a line-drive down the first base line,” he said.
“We played at Coomealla High School at that stage.
“We used to shift the hockey nets behind the catcher so we had a backstop.
“Wanderers Baseball Club are such a family-orientated club, it’s a great opportunity to go down and train and talk and get away from life for a little bit, just having that outlet.
“The first A grade premiership was pretty big, in the late 1990s.
“I didn’t play – I was coach.
“We started in a really strong league and we lost a lot of games over the first few years so to get to that point was a huge moment for us.”
Bertalli also hit a ‘walk-off home run’ in a preliminary final to win the game, as well as two homers in a losing grand final effort.
And despite three knee reconstructions as a result of playing as catcher, he said it was the best position to play.
“You can see the whole game, you make calls to the pitcher and you have a great sense of what the batters are doing,” he said.
“People forget you throw the ball as often as the pitcher does.
“I reckon I’ve had nearly a million throws – not sure the body is designed to do that.”
While numbers have been an issue for SBL this season, Bertalli encouraged prospective players to try it for themselves.
“It’s a great sport to play,” he said.
“I really encourage people to come down and give it a go.
“It’s a game the requires a lot of skill but hopefully there might be others like me who get hooked from the first hit.”
