Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels to everyone this weekend.
As for me, I’ll be traveling with my family to my mom’s tonight.
Not only will we be celebrating the holiday but I’ll take a break to play an Illowa APBA League series on Friday. Hopefully, my Twin City Thunderchickens won’t get roasted by Marcus Bunch’s Moline Upperdeckers. He’s on a roll. Rumor has it he just went 8-1 in his last series.
No doubt you’ll hear about it next week.
Happy Holidays!
In the spirit of the season, five things APBA-related that I’m genuinely thankful.
1. |
Albert Pujols |
Yeah, Albert Pujols. As a Cub fan, I’ll admit it. Somewhere out there on the interwebs, there’s even a picture of me in a Pujols jersey. Here’s why.
Six years ago, I had the fortune of having the first pick of the rookie draft in the Illowa APBA League. Their were other rookies with potential (Ichiro, Dunn) but to me, the choice was clear. And he hasn’t disappointed. Albert has been my cleanup hitter ever since.
| YEAR | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG | SLG | OBP |
| 2002 | 157 | 579 | 104 | 169 | 41 | 7 | 41 | 122 | 60 | 86 | 1 | 0.292 | 0.599 | 0.358 |
| 2003 | 153 | 580 | 95 | 165 | 33 | 5 | 43 | 128 | 55 | 79 | 0 | 0.284 | 0.581 | 0.346 |
| 2004 | 157 | 591 | 119 | 206 | 51 | 1 | 47 | 145 | 70 | 44 | 7 | 0.349 | 0.677 | 0.424 |
| 2005 | 154 | 573 | 100 | 169 | 48 | 2 | 41 | 115 | 91 | 72 | 5 | 0.295 | 0.600 | 0.394 |
| 2006 | 158 | 591 | 118 | 175 | 28 | 0 | 49 | 126 | 94 | 76 | 12 | 0.296 | 0.592 | 0.397 |
| 2007 | 143 | 520 | 93 | 137 | 31 | 0 | 42 | 107 | 75 | 62 | 8 | 0.263 | 0.565 | 0.358 |
| 2008 | 134 | 490 | 92 | 151 | 30 | 2 | 35 | 98 | 78 | 43 | 0 | 0.308 | 0.592 | 0.409 |
| 7 | 1056 | 3924 | 721 | 1172 | 262 | 17 | 298 | 841 | 523 | 462 | 33 | 0.299 | 0.602 | 0.384 |
This will be his seventh year in on my Thunderchickens and he’ll have driven in 100 runs each of those years. Most likely, he’ll break 300 homeruns as well. My team lives or dies with Pujols in the lineup.
2. |
My six draft picksin 2009 |
At this point in the season, the Twin City Thunderchickens are 52-83 and in last place. Our only consolation is that we have six draft picks for the 2009 rookie draft. Literally, half of my pitching staff retired or won’t get a card (Rich Hill, Rodrigo Lopez, Ruddy Lugo, Pat Neshek and Akinori Otsuka).
Four months ago, we were some 10 games behind the next team and pretty much guaranteed the the first pick in the draft (Hellloo, Geovany Soto!) but we’ve been fighting back and now we’re only a game back.
Nonetheless, draft picks are the best friends of a manager of a rebuilding team and given the rich crop of rookies in 2008, this should be fun.
3. |
Email, office productivity applications and computer technology in general |
God, isn’t this the truth? I remember back in the old days when I would type up my stats on my Smith Corona typewriter. When I would make a mistake, out comes the Liquid Paper. Then after what seemed like hours, when I would finish, I’d 
slip it in an envelope and send in via postal mail.
We’ve come a long way, baby. Excel has revolutionized the way I’ve kept stats. I’m sure I started out with a standard worksheet but now I use a more complicated version adapted from something my buddy Brando who manages the Rising Bamm Beanos came up with. It essentially keeps a game log for each player and calculates the stats from there. Very handy for keeping an eye out for stuff like streaks and the like.
And I don’t need to tell anyone about the usefulness of email in keeping a league organized. Our phone bills were outrageous during trade season in the pre-computer age.
The technology is stopping either. Last year, I made my first trade via text message. Other methods of social networking like Twitter (by the way, here’s my Twitter page) and Facebook (and yes, my Facebook page, don’t update that one much) allow for keeping track of each other almost to the point of ad nauseum.
4. |
Tom Glavine |
I’ve written about my fondness of Mr Glavine in a previous post. The fact that he’s been on the same APBA team for 17 years is pretty remarkable. I acquired him in 1991 and since then he’s been 228-184.
Another amazing stat: for his career in our league, he has 2709 strikeouts (the R isn’t helping this year, Lancaster).
I have no illusions about Glavine. 2008 is probably going to be his last graded card. But I’ll hold on to him till he retires.
5. |
My league commissioner |
Some leagues have good commissioners. Others just get by with what they got. The IAL got lucky. We got the best.
Mike Bunch gives everything he’s got, spending his time in his office doing the newsletter, updating the league spreadsheets, and doing all the things that make the IAL a great league.
This is what we wrote on his plaque when we inducted him into the IAL Hall of Fame:
Founding member of the Illowa APBA League and President for many years, Mike has had a direct impact on the IAL. As President, his selfless devotion of his time, energy, and talents as well as his sense of fairness have made the IAL what it is today. In addition, his baseball knowledge, amiability and good humor have made Mike a distinguished part of this League
Every bit of it true.
Not to mention, he’s a pretty decent guy, too.
As you reflect on your APBA year, what do YOU have to be thankful for?
Just a post to start a discussion on how leagues limit player usage if at all.
Why limit player usage at all? What’s the point?
I guess a couple reasons. One is accuracy in stats. While it is true that if your APBA leagues of the 8-12 team variety and is drafting from the entire MLB pool, your stats will be skewed. Batting averages will be down and ERAs will be high. (that’s not to say that some leagues get around this. Some may use stock teams. Others may artificially keep the draft pool limited. I’d love to hear how).
Another reason is realism. Closely related to accuracy but not quite the same thing. While I would love to bring in Brad Lidge in the second and leave in him to finish the game, it just isn’t realistic.
Finally, limiting player usage is just plain fair for everyone in the league. Managers can’t just draft that nifty rookie with no potential but whatta card! and bat him cleanup 162 games. You get the idea.
The Illowa APBA League handles player usage this way:
Position Players are restricted to the number of games and at-bats
Pitchers are limited to games started, games relieved, and innings pitched
Sounds simple enough but we have a couple complimentary rules that go along with it. Beginning with how we handle secondary defensive positions.
Maybe it sounds gratuitous but it gives us some leeway when draft time comes and we’re trying to fill our depth chart.
Regarding pitching, we have instituted a rule that helps out managers to stretch out their limits.
“D” pitchers are limited to twice their games and innings. They may also be used in relief.
The D pitchers rule does indeed help us and one would think it lead to skewed stats and D pitchers leading the league in IP and maybe some other categories since they are allowed to pitch so much. This usually is not the case (who wants to pitch a D anyway?) but I must confess that this year, my Thunderchickens’ Scott Olsen is getting his share of innings due to me going with a smaller bullpen than I would like. Ugh!
Summary
Overall, our player usage limit system works pretty well. It attempts to deal with the accuracy and fairness issues described above and does so fairly. I admit, it does nothing about the realism issue. There is nothing to prevent me from say, using my A* for the 2nd through 9th inning for every game till his innings ran out. Managers in our league are pretty good about stay pretty true to the game and we don’t see much of that. Let’s face it, it’s not in our team’s best interest.
If we’re good (and most of us are), we calculate our remaining limits for the players on our team after each month. Actually, I just have Excel just calculate it for me. If we happen to go over our limits at the end of the season (hey, it happens to the best of us), there is the chance our draft position will be penalized. So we do our best to keep both eyes on our limits.
If anyone else out there in leagues has other methods of limiting players so that supercard pinchitter doesn’t play every day, I’d love to hear them. Leave a comment!
Maybe it’s a bit early but for those looking for 2008 MLB drafting info, check out razzball.com, a web site all about baseball fantasy advice.
They just came out with their 2008 rankings of players by position.
Be forewarned that their rankings are geared towards those who play fantasy baseball but the info there is valuable nonetheless.
The Chicago Champions crushed the Chicago Highlanders of the Illowa APBA League in game #8 of their nine game series, 19-4. Miguel Tejada’s solo blast & Lastings Milledge three run poke staked Ian Snell to an early 4-0 first inning lead. But that didn’t hold up as the Champs scored four in the 2nd, five in the 3rd, five more in the 4th, two in the 5th, & three in the sixth, cruising to a 19-4 win. The Champions hit six home runs in the ballgame, two each by Justin Morneau & Carlos Lee, and one each by Grady Sizemore & Jimmy Rollins. Incredibly Alex Rodriguez was 0-6, three strikeouts, and an error. After allowing four first inning tallies, A.J. Burnett settled down, tossing five shutout innings, before giving way to Boof Bonser, who didn’t allow a run over the final three innings, to pick up the save.
The Champions now have a season mark of 90-54, with 18 games to go against the Northside Hitmen & the Three Rivers Gamblers. By taking six of nine from the Highlanders, the Champs need ten more wins to reach the 100 win plateau for the first time in team history. The Champions are shooting for their eleventh league title in 34 years, not having won since 1996-97 campaign.
I just ran across the APBA Baseball Card 12 List and Publication Data web page.
I found a link to it on Between Lines last night. It’s a comprehensive list compiled by Doug Burg of the Yesterday APBA Baseball League. I should have seen it when Doug sent us his league profile a couple weeks ago.
Starting with the 1883 season, the list is sorted chronologically by season, Doug’s list has pretty much any bit of quick info you would want to know about about an APBA Baseball Card set.
Including:
Doug added some useful (or at least interesting) information such as what years result numbers (such as 42 or 14*) came into play.
thanks, Doug!
[edit: the updated 12 list is now here.]
Last year I traded Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for Nick Swisher. Let me introduce myself, I’m Tedd Mallasch, aka Teddy Ballgame, and I’ve been managing the Chicago Champions of the Illowa APBA League, a diceball league, for nearly 35 years. I’m also a White Sox fan, John Brandeberry, the manager of the Rising Bammbeanos, the proud new recipient of Kemp, is a Dodger fan, since the Dodger days of yesteryear when they played at the Polo Grounds in Brooklyn. So the deal made sense as far as major league allegiance is concerned, but did it make sense APBAwise?
Brandeberry’s Rising Bammbeanos were rebuilding, so getting the younger Kemp for Swisher made sense. But how about from a Chicago Champion perspective? Nick brought his high onbase percentage to a Champion lineup that was ready to do some serious scoring and quickly found a home in the two slot. Swisher is second in the league with a .413 onbase percentage and is second in the league with 84 bases on balls, through 125 games. The Champions are currently in first place, on a 100 win pace (for the first time in team history), and hoping to win their 11th Championship (haven’t won in over ten years). So it seems as though the trade worked pretty well for both sides, at least for this year.
With the Yankees Nick looks like he’ll be moving over to firstbase, but the Champs have Justin Morneau at first. The outfield also looks pretty good, with Carlos Lee, B.J. Upton, & Grady Sizemore, from left to right. Swisher will not be of much use next year, after a truly disappointing season on the Southside of Chicago, but should provide a Gene Tenace like presence off the bench. While Matt Kemp just keeps on getting better & better. Still if I had it to do over again I’d probably still trade for Buckeye Nick.
This card is a doozy. Indicative of his wild nature, this Mitch Williams hitting card is pretty much guaranteed of getting you three results; a strikeout, a double play, or if you’re lucky, maybe a homerun.
It was 1989 and after three years in Texas, it was his first time picking up the wood. I guess it was feast or famine. In five plate appearances, he struck out once, hit into a double play and on September 18, he hit a 3-run homerun against Don Aase of the New York Mets.
In case you’re wondering, Williams’ BXW is based on a 2.76 ERA and a 4-4 record. He struck out 67 and walked 52 in 81 2/3 innings. Interestingly, he placed tenth in MVP voting that year probably boosted by the Cubs playoff berth.
As a Cub fan, I remember the Wild Thing. I remember how he would almost fall off the mound when he pitched. I also remember how 9th innings were always “exciting” when he pitched.
That said, he usually got the job done.
From down south, we have the Orlando APBA Association.
Reading Rod Caborn’s summary, I couldn’t help but notice their mid-season call-up system.
“25 man active roster with total 35 man rosters (10 inactive for year.
At mid-season, maximum of three call-ups allowed (and three sent down)”
A few in my league have been advocating something like this in the last couple of years. I’d love to hear how well this works (from Rod or anyone else who uses something similar).
The details on the OAPBA:
League Name |
Orlando APBA Association |
| Contact Person | Rod Caborn |
| Sport | Baseball |
| League Website | Link |
| # of teams | 9 |
| Year of inception | 1988 |
| Basic/Master/Computer/ Combination |
Master Game |
| Out of the box or with modifications? |
with modifications |
| Geographic location | Orlando, Fla. |
Rod says:
“OAPBA is comprised of nine teams. Basics include:80 game schedule. Each division team plays one another eight times in each half and plays four games against the other six teams in the league.Three divisions of three teams each: Red Barber (north Orlando) ,Harry Caray (metro Orlando) and Ernie Harwell (south Orlando) Divisions.
25 man active roster with total 35 man rosters (10 inactive for year.At mid-season (40 games), maximum of three call-ups allowed (and three sent down).Draft each January. 15 rounds. Managers must cut at least 15 players prior to the draft.Playoff format: Each division winner qualifies for the playoffs. The fourth-best record qualifies as a Wild Card and the team with the fifth-best record plays the Wild Card team in a “play-in” series.Modifications include: if XB is drafted in first six rounds, the XB player, must stay on active roster for the entire season (this pre-empts ringer cards with limited appearances).Total games pro-rated to determine the number of games in which a player can play.Relief pitchers can pitch in three straight games, but then must rest.Hit and run modifications (15 off for a ball or strike, which places some necessary limitations on managers who want to overuse the hit and run).”
Harry Caray and Red Barber Division… love it!
[edited profile 2/2011]
If you want to brag about your league, we’re listening! Tell us all about the league you are in and we’ll post a profile about it. In the meantime, read about other leagues who have written in.
If you are in a league that plays by NL-style rules, that is, you let the pitcher bat, do you have 
restrictions or modifications that prevent the overuse of pitcher’s hitting supercards from batting?
Our league uses the Pitcher’s Hitting Card. I originally introduced the PHC sometime in the early 1990′s during my fateful reign as President of the Illowa APBA League. I don’t know who in the APBA community originally designed the card first but we modified it to our needs and adopted it.
Our rules state that any pitcher who has less than 10 at-bats (NL or AL) must use the Pitchers Hitting Card.
The idea here is to diminish the effect of those pitchers who in real life batted so infrequently but maybe got that lucky hit and as a result, got a fantastic hitting card from Lancaster.
We keep the card pretty much the same year to year. The only change we make is where the ’12′ is placed.
It does take a little research before the season to determine which relievers are affected by the rule and which are not Certainly not difficult… but it has to be done..
|
Pitcher’s Hitting Card 11- 7-1 31- 13-6 51- 39-6 12- 25-7 32- 26-6 52- 27-6 13- 13-6 33- 8-1 53- 21-6 14- 30-6 34- 31-6 54- 32-6 15- 9-2 35- 13-6 55- 9-2 16- 28-6 36- 33-6 56- 34-7 21- 30-6 41- 12-6 61- 24-6 22- 8-1 42- 13-6 62- 13-6 23- 29-6 43- 29-6 63- 32-6 24- 13-6 44- 8-1 64- 13-6 25- 36-2 45- 14-6 65- 35-7 26- 13-6 46- 13-6 66- 0-1 |
One last point… our league hasn’t been of one mind when it comes to using the Pitcher’s Hitting Card. It seems we vote on this every annual league meeting. Some like it because of reasons stated above. Others just find it easier to play the cards.
Do any other leagues out there use a modification similar to the Pitcher’s Hitting Card?
