Arncliffe Scots Baseball Club president Laurie Barnes has been awarded the OAM for service to baseball.
Bexley resident, Mr Barnes has been president and head coach of the club since 2006 and is also a director of the Arncliffe Scots Sports and Recreation Club.
Mr Barnes assisted in setting-up to the Baseball Academy in the late 1980s and early 1990s and established Bayside Academy for Junior Development in 2015.
He has also been Coach and Selector of Junior Player Development, Cronulla Sutherland Junior Baseball Association since 2015.
He was a delegate, NSW Women's Baseball League, 2013-2014 to help forge a pathway for female players in the sport.
Mr Barnes's involvement in the sport of baseball goes back to his school days in Canberra.
"I first got involved in baseball as a kid in 1965," he said.
"I was playing cricket when I met people at the local club who said baseball was the go.
"I wasn't enjoying cricket. It is just bash and run and if you get out you sit on the sidelines.
"With baseball you are in the game all the time. You can get out three or four times in a game and you are still playing, whereas cricket you are out of the rest of the game.
"In cricket you can hide on the boundary and never get a ball while in baseball you get to really participate.
"It's a sport for all ages. In our club we have an 82-year-old playing. It's a non-contact sport so it's also suitable for young children.
It's good for your motor skills. You are always moving and running. It's also the interaction with people.
"There's a team environment where you have got to sacrifice yourself for someone else.
"It's a game of give and take and discipline."
