Durban Wanderers Baseball Team, 1947, Photograph

Durban Wanderers Baseball Team, Natal Champions Season, 1947, Photograph, Photograph, mounted on board, original, 40.8 cms x 35.5 cms, slight staining 7 loss  to upper RH edge of card,  otherwise condition: very good.

South Africa has a long history of baseball. The game was first played on its shores in 1895 when a group of Americans, who had migrated to South Africa during the gold boom just before the Boer War, settled in the Transvaal Province. The Americans were true missionaries for the sport, bringing equipment, creating a baseball diamond, and setting up games. Thanks to their persistence and local interest in baseball, an official league was set up in 1899, and, in September 1904, Transvaal's first official provincial baseball body was formed.

Following WWII the popularity of the game was such that provincial baseball associations were formed. The first large National Tournament was held in 1952 in Cape Town and Johannesburg.