At the Annual General Meeting of Baseball Victoria held on 9 February 2016, the members unanimously endorsed the recommendation of the board that Julie Jones be awarded Life Membership of Baseball Victoria.
“On behalf of the Victorian baseball community, I congratulate Julie on being awarded Baseball Victoria’s Life Membership,” President Myles Foreman said. “From her tireless devotion to Baseball Victoria and the exponential growth of the Winter Championships under her watch, Julie has shown a remarkable commitment to the betterment of baseball for all Victorians. She is very deserving recipient of our highest honour.”
General Manger Ashley Blair:
“I’ve always enjoyed working with Julie, especially during the winter state championships. Her unflagging energy, impressive attention to detail and amazing baseball knowledge have all served her very well in all the varied baseball roles she has played. Congratulations on this amazing accolade.”
Julie has been active on Baseball Victoria’s Winter Championship committee since 2009 and has been its chair since 2012. Since then, she has attended every state winter championship—20 in total—and has assisted Baseball Victoria in the running and administration of these tournaments.
Because of this unparalleled success, Baseball Victoria has appointed Julie as tournament director for numerous competitions. She has also been a Bendigo Baseball Association (BBA) delegate to the Victorian Provincial Baseball League (VPBL) for the past 12 years and regularly attends meetings on behalf of that league.
Prior to the committee appointment, Julie was on the Victorian Provincial Baseball League board for 12 years (1996-2008) where she shepherded VPBL Carnivals from their infancy to what is now widely knowns as the winter championships and organised the representative teams that competed at the national level.
During the years 2008-15, Julie was part of the executive committee in charge of winding down the VPBL.
She first became involved with baseball in 1987 when her children began playing with the Falcons Club, a member of the BBA. Soon thereafter Julie could be seen regularly at training sessions, at junior games, umpiring and even running the canteen. Scoring then became her passion as she was selected as the scorer for the Falcons’ Legends Team from 1984-93.
Recently she has established a scorers’ club in Bendigo which meets regularly, with Julie teaching and assisting those who want to learn how to score. She has scored nearly every year for the past 15 for Bendigo representative teams, as well as served as the first division tabulator for Essendon over the last decade.
Julie became the secretary of the Bendigo Baseball Association in 1997, holding the post for nine years. During her tenure, she earned a reputation as being an exceptional organiser and statesperson, who quickly developed a deep and thorough understanding of all things baseball.
After resigning from the secretary role she took the role of BBA registration secretary, which she has done for the last 16 years. Additionally Julie has been secretary and president of the Falcons Baseball Club and was bestowed Life Membership in 2002. The BBA Hall of Fame opened its doors to her in 2011.
Julie also played for the Falcons women’s team and appeared in C grade men’s team contests. When not on the diamond or in the scorer’s box, she is very involved at every level of the Falcons Baseball Club and has given more of her time to the BBA then any who came before.
When her two boys, Paul and Casey, began playing baseball for Essendon, Julie took a more active role with the club. She became club secretary in 1999 and still holds that post 16 years later. She received Life Membership with Essendon in 2007.
For all the above reasons plus many more, Julie Jones is a very deserving recipient of a Life Membership from Baseball Victoria. Congratulations!