The 1906 Southern Union Baseball season was the twelfth season of professional baseball within the Southern Union. It was the first time the Centaurus Cup was played and was also the first time the I-League consisted of 12 teams and the last time the Topklasse Divisie in Houtmansland consisted of 6 teams before expanding to 8.

International Baseball

Centaurus Cup

With the Koanian capital city of Omfattandestad hosting all 12 games spread out over 24 days in November 1906, the inaugural Centaurus Cup was won by the host nation, Koana Islands.

Things got off to a less than stellar start for the Koanians, losing their first ever international baseball game to Houtmansland 6-4. Four consecutive wins followed for the eventual champions, who were crowned winners after Houtmansland defeated Günsovölk 6-5 prior to Koana Islands final game against Ianoia.

It was a disappointing tournament for the Ianoians, who finished last with their lone victory coming in a 5-0 drubbing of Houtmansland at the start of the competition before a 2-2 draw with the host nation preceded the trophy ceremony.

Houtmansland   0  0  0  2  2  1  0  1  0     6
Koana Islands  0  0  0  4  0  0  0  0  0     4
                                    
Ianoia         2  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0     2
Günsovölk      0  0  2  0  0  0  0  4  0     6
                                    
Ianoia         0  0  3  2  0  0  0  0  0     5
Houtmansland   0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0     0
                                    
Günsovölk      0  0  0  0  0  0  3  2  1     6
Koana Islands  0  0  0  0  0  0  9  0  0     9
                                    
Houtmansland   0  2  0  0  0  0  0  3  0     5
Günsovölk      2  0  0  1  0  0  0  1  3     7
                                    
Koana Islands  4  0  0  0  3  0  0  0  0     7
Ianoia         1  0  0  0  1  0  0  2  0     4
                                    
Koana Islands  0  1  0  0  2  0  1  1  2     7
Houtmansland   0  0  1  1  2  0  0  0  0     4
                                    
Günsovölk      0  0  1  0  0  2  0  1  2     6
Ianoia         0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0  1     2
                                    
Houtmansland   1  0  0  0  6  1  0  0  0     8
Ianoia         2  1  0  0  0  0  1  0  0     4
                                    
Koana Islands  0  0  2  0  0  1  1  0  0     4
Günsovölk      0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  3     3
                                    
Günsovölk      1  0  0  0  0  3  0  0  1     5
Houtmansland   0  1  0  0  2  1  0  2  0     6
                                    
Ianoia         1  0  0  1  0  0  0  0  0     2
Koana Islands  0  0  1  0  0  1  0  0  0     2

Domestic Baseball

Koana Islands

Super Ligan

Having looked like a season for the ages with just 12 points separating top from bottom at the halfway point of the season, Omfattandestad BoIS lost just 8 more times to comfortably clinch their 5th league title and first since 1904 ahead of Bryankeld Förenta BK who had their highest ever finish. The same could not be said for defending champions Vizhune IS who had their lowest ever finish since their dismal 1896 campaign in which they finished 8th.

After leading the league after 33 games, BK Humoor 1893 finished 4th to match their highest ever finish which they set back in 1898. Ny Aucklanda IF finished ahead of them having made a triumphant return to the top-half of the standings after flirting with relegation last year.

Having made an immediate return to the Super Ligan, Portlethen Måndag GK showed why they won Division Ett last season, finishing 7th after falling agonizingly short of 500-ball. Sandford Stad finished 8th for their best ever finish in the Super Ligan despite spending most of the season hovering around the drop zone.

A fractious relationship between the BK Embleton manager and owner soured the exceptional 5th place the team achieved last year to narrowly avoid relegation after a 5-4 victory over BK Humoor on the last Friday was all that was needed to keep their Super Ligan status. The same cannot be said for Jordnot Kanjon BK and Centurio Conneaut who both return to Division Ett after two and one year stays in the top flight respectively.

Division Ett

After chasing pace-setters Nyhaven SK for much of the year, BK Salau clinched the Division Ett title for the third time in 6 years to once again return to the Super Ligan. Despite falling off the pace of eventual winners, Nyhaven SK proved that relegation last year was not a sign of things to come, bouncing straight back up to Super Ligan at the first time of asking.

1890 Ängelar SK finished third for the second time in three years, having spent the majority of the season on the outside looking in at Salau and Nyhaven SK hoping for a drop in form that never came. They finished 6 points off the pace, comfortably ahead of SK Ryttare who beat out Hamnområde BK on the final day with a 7-3 victory over 1890.

Körsbärstad IF tied on 80 points with recently relegated Uckford Gemenskap with the latter hovering around 4th and 5th for much of the season before a drop in form saw them slip to 8th. Atletisk Nyhamn, meanwhile, languished just below 500-ball for most of the season to finish a comfortable 9th, ahead of IF Blidområde whose early season form saw them flirting with a promotion-push in 4th.

Ruysdael Akademisk and Prestons-Grenada both narrowly avoided re-election for the second successive year with Grenada only securing 12th on the final day after a 4-3 victory over IF Blidområde away from home to jump ahead of BK Randia.

Both BK Randia and Rovaniemi Förenta were successfully re-elected with the latter slumping from 5th last year to finish last for the first time after injuries to star players saw a dramatic loss in form.

Günsovölk

Baseball Meisterschaft

In what proved to be an exciting two-horse race for the title, Gelb Kekerdom TuS clung on to lift the Baseball Meisterschaft for the second time in history after last being crowned champions at the end of the 1903 baseball season. Fortuna Juemen finished runners-up for the third time in their history, narrowly missing out on the title by 3 points, despite sitting in second a whopping 13-points adrift of the eventual champions at the mid-point of the season.

Rasensport Sorgenfrei came third where they spent the majority of the year, ahead of SG 1632 Schönheit and BV Küstestadt whilst defending champions Blau-Weiss Ruigoord finished a disappointing 6th, dropping out of the title race early after amassing 11 draws in the first half of the year.

Ducibus BV spent much of the year in the top-half of the table before slumping to finish 8th behind Uelzenia Hüll who set a new highest finish in their short professional history.

VfB Andacht – early pre-season favourites for last place having finished 15th and 16th in the last two years – performed admirably, narrowly falling short of 500-ball to come 9th with a new record of wins in a season with 37 ahead of 1. Trappen.

At the bottom of the table, Hafenstadt BV continues to freefall, finishing the lowest they have ever done in 14th, admittedly comfortably clear of Mächtstadt VfL who had to enter the dreaded re-election process. It was the first time the Die Artilleristen faced the process, comfortably gaining the support of their peers. Joining them was Druten Stadt SV 91 who finished last for the fifth time in 7 years; they too garnered enough support to keep their professional status for another year.

Ianoia

I-League

With the introduction of two new teams entering the I-League for the first time following an expansion agreement last year, people seemed to forget about the one-horse race the championship had become the last few years. Unsurprisingly, Blenkinsopp Town eased to victory for their fourth consecutive league title. McCutchen City were thought to have been able to bring a fight to the reigning champions, but a slow start to the year all but ended their hopes before they began, with solace in the fact they improved on their final finishing position from the year before for the fourth straight year.

Tyrant-Ilford finished 3rd, extending their consecutive streak of top-3 finishes to six after tying on points with the Myrmidons, only losing out on another 2nd-place finish with less wins during the season.

Oldstead Irish returned to winning ways after their first ever losing record last year to come in 4th ahead of Juniors whilst Chatteris United had their best ever finish of 6th despite hovering just below 500-ball for the entire year.

Athletic Ivychurch achieved 7th as they continue to slide down the standings ahead of Byfleet Hawks who had their worst ever finish of 8th and win percentage of 0.462.

Newcomers Racing Welford faired well to finish 9th having sat in mid-table at the halfway point of the year, ahead of Ulcombe United and the other new expansion team Sporting Cuckney.

Donyatt-Burstwick finished last for the fourth time in five years and entered the new re-election process despite voting against the change in the last annual owners meeting. In a surprise twist, the Sharks were voted out of the league and lost their professional status and were replaced by Spartans of Martletwy in the 1907 baseball season.

Houtmansland

Topklasse Divisie

In what continues to be a volatile league, Bos Aan Zee claimed their first ever championship having finished 5th last season. After an exhilarating two-horse race, defending champions HHV pushed the eventual champions all the way to the end and were both level on points with two games to play. HHV drew 6-6 with KBO Armweide whilst Bos Aan Zee comfortably beat SHC Koedijk to take a 1-point advantage going into the final day of games. Both teams won their final match-ups, clinching the title for Bos Aan Zee.

RKC Mesch finished third for the second straight season, amassing 18 less points in the process to show the gulf between the top two and the rest of the league. So tight was the bottom half that RKC Mesch was 5th with two game to play, leapfrogging KBO Armweide & Eikenheuvel HC to finish out the year.

SHC Koedijk finished last once again, where they sat for the entirety of the season after going winless in their first 7 games, including 6 straight losses.

At the Annual Owner’s Meeting in October, Samen Als Een and Atletisch were voted into the expanded Topklasse Divisie for next season, however no agreement was reached on any re-election process with major disagreement between the current 6 member teams on how competitive some amateur teams would be making the process pointless from a competitive sake.