Despite other competitions being held in place of the Claxton Shield, the physical trophy has remained the award for the winning teams.

[4] The Canberra Cavalry currently hold the shield after overcoming the Perth Heat in the 2024-25 Australian Baseball League Championship Series.

New South Wales and Victoria started holding an annual series between themselves in 1900, that was only called off for a smallpox outbreak in 1913, but would not return until 1919 because of World War I.

The first "national" tournament was held in Hobart in 1910, won by New South Wales defeating Victoria and hosts Tasmania.

[5] In 1913 and in the wake of national tournaments having already been played, the Australian Baseball Council was formed by representatives of the state controlling bodies.

[4] In 1936, the Western Australia Baseball League applied to join the other states in competing for that year's tournament in Sydney.

[11] In a repeat of circumstances, the Queensland Baseball Association applied to send a team to the 1937 tournament, but as had been the case with Western Australia their application was too late.

Behind starting pitcher Neil Page, South Australian teams dominated the decade, winning six championships.

[citation needed] The era saw a new dimension of Claxton Shield with corporate involvement and interstate rivalries becoming strong.

The 1980s saw the likes of such names as Tony Adamson, Dave Nilsson, Graeme Lloyd, Adrian Meagher and Phil Dale.

[15] Nilsson, who with Glenn Partridge had the vision of creating the International Baseball League of Australia, ran the next 3 Claxton Shields each using a different format.

The second format was a four-team competition played exclusively on the Gold Coast at Palm Meadows Baseball Stadium.

The tournament would be hosted in a single city, though in some cases multiple grounds were used for individual games, the team with the most wins being declared the winner.

When the International Baseball League of Australia collapsed and the Claxton Shield resumed in its own right in 2003, the original format was continued.