31
December

APBA league historical record-keeping and documentation: it’s worth it

O.Z. League manager Dom Provisiero and I have been in contact the past few weeks on the issue of keeping historical stats and other relevant for leagues.  This has been an interest of mine for a while so I thought I’d share my thoughts.

 

Accumulating the Data

Documenting your APBA league’s history of stats, transactions, standings and anything your league deems important and worth remembering can be a tedious task in the short run.  However, I’ve found that once the process is in place, it’s well worth it.  Our league, the Illowa APBA League, has kept lifetime stats for every player and pitcher in our 33 year history.  We keep them in an Excel spreadsheet that updated every year.  

We didn’t always do this though.  Sometime in the 80′s, (The APBA co-Blogger) Tedd spent hours/days inputting years of our data from newsletters into digital format.  At the time, the best format available was Norton Textra, a DOS-based text editor.  But the important thing was that it was being documented.  Each year, the data was updated with new stats.

 

Taking Stats to a new level:  Sortable Data

 

Along came the 90′s and Microsoft Excel.  Our commish, Mike Bunch took the existing text files and with a lot of tough love, he converted it to the Excel format.  The difference of having our lifetime league stats in a sortable, filterable format was quite dramatic. 

Oh, the things that we could do!

  • Sorting All-time leaders for all stat categories
  • All-time single season leaders
  • Leaderboards for a particular season
  • (my favorite) all time worst "leaders"
  • single season leaders by a particular team
  • (for those who want to reminisce) filter by team and year and you have the roster and stats of any team for that year

The possibilities are endless.

 

Sharing the info

Of course, having this data is one thing.  Sharing it is another.  Among our league, we are content to pass around the Excel spreadsheet for managers to play around with.  But what if we wanted to share our wealth of info with other APBA fans and especially other leagues.  Of course, the Web is the obvious answer.  I’m not a database programmer but if you’re not too concerned about how it looks, Microsoft Excel will save a worksheet to web format.

So I cleaned up the database fields a bit (only the stuff everyone would be interested in) and put the Illowa APBA League Register on the web.  Thanks to the team effort of Mike and Tedd, it’s been updated every year and you can see it here. 

There are some side products of our league register that give it more meaning.  For example, our All-Time Leaderboard (both career and single season).  Also, our league Hall of Fame which we vote for annually.  Finally, I put up a manager register which included won-loss records plus all-time records for pretty much every skipper who has rolled dice in our league (caveat:  this hasn’t been updated in a couple years). 

Another project I undertook was something I called Season Spotlight.  Starting with our initial season, 1975, I would do a quick page on that season.  Each page would have the standings, leaderboard, and maybe a short writeup.  Here is the entry point for the IAL Season Spotlights.  A lotta fun for us old guard who like to reminisce about the old times.  The project is still in the works… I’m up to 1986. 

 

Collaboration

Enter Dom Provisiero, from the O.Z. League.  Now I’ve known Dom via email since the early 90s.  He and I have been seem to correspond with each other say, every three or four years.  The last time I heard from him, he asked about our league database and was asking how we did though he said their league wasn’t QUITE ready to go through with it. 

Well, two weeks ago, I heard from Dom again and it seems his league was ready to document their league stats.  So I emailed him our league spreadsheet in case it might give him some ideas.  We also set up a phone call. 

After all these years talking to Dom via email, it was nice to put a New York voice to the name.  It was indeed a pleasure to talk to him.  He had a chance to peruse the spreadsheet and passed it on to a friend with some Excel and database skills. 

In his research, Dom did find a web site which belongs to the Mid-West Baseball League that does a pretty incredible job of displaying stats, transactions, draft history.  If I knew anything about web programming, I’d want our leagues’ page to look a little like theirs.  Take a look at the MWBL’s page.  It might give your league some ideas. 

 

Summary

One piece of advice for any league… it’s never too early to begin documenting the stats and data for your league.  Even if you don’t make it look all pretty, at least make sure you collect it into one repository.  Down the road, you’ll be grateful.  While, we at the IAL have been pretty good about it, there are still some holes in our history.  There are years where we don’t know who won our MVP or Cy Young awards.  While we could probably obtain transactions and draft picks via most recent years via newsletters, those during our early years are gone.  There’s a lot of work that goes into it but if you have an APBA league with a rich history, it’s well worth it to document it. 

I’d love to hear how other groups have documented their leagues stats and/or history.  Let us know in the comment section.  If you have it on the web, leave a link… I’ll post it. 

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28
December

Comparing APBA League Drafts

Our league won’t be drafting till sometime in March but with the release of the 2008 season disk, I’m sure there will be some leagues beginning their seasons soon (if not already).

I’m opening this post up for APBA leagues who are drafting in the upcoming year to let all of us know how their leagues draft went.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a rookie draft or if you’re drafting from the full stock teams… however you do it.  Let us know.  Either way, it’ll be a good fodder for discussion.  :)  I’ll put a link to it the post in the sidebar.

Fill out the form and I’ll post the results  (for the larger leagues, I may cut the list down to the top 10-20).  Be sure to let us know what type of league and draft it was.

Good luck drafting this year!

  1. (required)
  2. (required)
  3. (valid email required)
  5. Type of draft
 

cforms contact form by delicious:days

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28
December

League Profile: Mail 3 League

mail3 Over the holidays, Marc Ross sent me some info on his league, the Mail 3 League.  Take some time to check out Mail 3′s web site.  They’ve done an excellent job not only stat keeping but also documenting their history.

I also notice that their constitution is online.  I think that’s invaluable for those of us who want to exchange ideas (I know I have to update our league’s). 

 

Here’s the scoop on Mail 3:

 

League Name

 Mail 3 League
Contact Person Marc Ross
Sport Baseball
League Web Site http://mail3.org/
# of teams 20
Year of inception 1990
Basic/Master/Computer/
Combination		 Basic
Out of the box or with
modifications?		 with modifications
Geographic location US and Canada

 

Marc writes:

This is the third generation of a league that stared in the early 1970s and a few managers have been around since then. We have four divisions and play the basic game with a few minor modifications. Visit our website for more details and to see the leagues long history and records.

 

I particularly liked the Greatest (and Worst) Mail 3 Teams section as well as the Mail 3′s Biggest Trades.  That a nice touch and makes your APBA league seem a little more "real". 

thanks Marc, for writing in. 

 

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.

3 comments

28
December

ILLOWA APBA LEAGUE HAS CHICAGO OPENING

The Illowa APBA League has been around nearly 35 years.  It started out as an eight team draft league, fell apart after 120 games in its inaugural season, only to rebound strong.  I urge you to checkout at www.illowaapbaleague.com  In the olden days, there were mail, as well as face-to-face series, but now it’s pretty much all face-to-face.  Currently there are ten teams in the league, 26 players per team, playing a 162 game schedule.

Our managers are spread out across the country.  One manager in Pittsburgh, three in the Quad Cities area, two in the Champaign area, and three in the Chicago area.  We are looking for a manager living in the Chicago area.  It’s pretty much a year round commitment.  We get together at a Chicago area hotel in March for our Playoffs, World Series, Rookie Draft, and to open the new season by playing 30 games.  Then we get together a weekend in May to play 30 more games.  And then one more time in the Fall to play the All Star Game and 30 more games.  These gatherings are when our out of area games are played, hotel fees run no more than $100 per manager, and one of the two remaining get togethers is usually either in the Quad Cities or Champaign area.  Every other month throughout the year, you’ll be matched up with an in-area team to play a nine game series.

You’ll be responsible for keeping your teams statistics and e-mailing them to the league president, along with an article, for the monthly newsletter.  Trades are only allowed during the offseason, at the March league get together.  Players are not allowed to go over their games, at bats, or innings pitched, with the exception of D pitchers who are allowed double their games & innings pitched.  The first position on a player’s card is unlimited, 1-9 games, gets you ten games at that position, 10-39 gets you 40, and 40 gets you all.

The available franchise, the State Street Sluggers, is not a doormat, by any stretch o the imagination.  Ryan Howard, Robinson Cano, Michael Young, & David Wright make up the infield, while the outfielders are Pat Burrell, Carlos Beltran, & Andre Ethier, A.J. Pierzynski & Dioner Navarro are the catchers.  Brandon Webb, Jered Weaver, David Bush, Joe Blanton, & Carlos Silva makeup the rotation, with Takashi Saito & Damaso Marte in the bullpen.

There are so many things I could tell you about the IAL, rule-wise, but the most important thing I can say is, “The IAL is where I’ve met my best friends”, come join us.  If you love baseball, but hate the money, would like to manage your own team, and get together with great guys for friendly competition, this is the place you wanna be!

1 comment

18
December

RIP: Dave Smith, my first draft pick

I was a bit sad to hear about the passing of ex-MLB reliever Dave Smith who succumbed to a heart attack at the young age of 53.  From all accounts, he was a kind and laid back guy.  His death, however, has a special meaning for me APBA-wise.  Dave Smith was the very first player I ever drafted in an APBA league. 

Flash back with me 28 years when I was a nerdy 16 year old kid and entering my first APBA league.  I had just “passed” my phone interview with the person you know as Teddy Ballgame as well as a in-person interview with DonS.  I must have passed that too because I was invited to my first league convention.  It was a bit intimidating with all these “grownups” and I was doing my best to hold my own and not look like a fool. 

I had been handed a team a few weeks before the convention and it was no secret my team wasn’t going to win any championships.  Going on memory here but I had Ruppert Jones, Don Baylor, and Lance Parrish with his double ones (and four 24s).  Pitching-wise, I had Roger Erickson (a B) and a couple Cs in Ross Baumgarten and John Curtis…

…and no bullpen.

  It was draft time and all these rookies!  Looking back, I had no idea who they were compared to these other guys who read Baseball America faithfully.  I had two draft picks to play with and I had holes to cover at 2B and SS.  I don’t remember exactly what pick I had but it had to be pretty high in the order given the team’s position in the standings the previous year. 

smith_alltime So for my first pick, my Geneseo A’s took a chance on a reliever named Dave Smith from the Houston Astros who at least was graded Ayz.  I needed bullpen and I figured I could get something out of him.

Nowadays, I generally don’t pick relievers in the first round unless they are something special.  As it turned out, the Smith pick didn’t turn out too bad.  Smith had a 13 year mostly successful career in the majors with a career ERA of 2.67 and 216 saves. 

As for me, Smith had 3 productive years (he was graded A, B, C).  1980, (the year I picked him), he saved 15 games for my last place team with an ERA of 2.27.  After three years, I traded him though I can’t remember the details.  Six years later when I took over a different team (my current Thunderchickens), I remembered what Smith had done for my A’s and went after him again.  I acquired him in a trade from Teddy’s Chicago Champions.  He pitched three more years for me. 

In the six seasons Dave Smith pitched for me, he never had an ERA over 4.00.  For his 12 year career in the IAL, he had a 3.25 ERA in 823 1/3 innings.  Not bad for pitching in a hitting strong league.  Only in his last season did his ERA go over 4.00. 

For those of us who have been in APBA leagues for much of our lives, we reach certain milestones.  When we become as old as one of our players.  Then when we are OLDER than all of players.  But when our former players start passing away, that is a sad day. 

RIP Dave Smith

4 comments

18
December

HOF ’09: Who played for you?

A quick plug for my other blog The Baseball Zealot.  Over the winter, we’re busy profiling the twenty-some Hall of Fame candidates up for selection plus giving our opinion whether they deserve the nod.  We’re about halfway done now. 

Here is the entry point for the HOF ’09 series.

For the old time leaguers out there, which of the HOF candidates did you have on your team(s)? 

For my part:

  • Baines:  like the White Sox, we traded him away then got him back like three times.
  • Dawson:  only for one year but he hit 31 homeruns for me.
  • Mark McGwire:  had him his whole career… he broke the league single season record for homers in the last at-bat of the season in 1999.
  • Dan Plesac:  like Baines, never seemed to retire.
  • Matt Williams:  did his best to protect McGwire.

4 comments

16
December

Blast from the past: photos from 2002 APBA convention

2002apbaconv1

I was re-organizing my photo gallery this afternoon and I ran across some photos from the 2002 APBA Convention.  I remember this trip fondly.  My buddy Brando and I drove out to Lancaster for the convention.  On the way and on way back we saw some minor league games.  The home teams we saw were the Indianapolis Indians, Reading Phillies, Harrisburg Senators plus the big league Pittsburgh Pirates. 

Plus we got some APBA played.  We were in the middle of our 1979 NL replay and we took time out at roadside parks to play a series or two. 

heh, then there was the tournament at the APBA convention.  I had the Milwaukee Braves of ’65 I believe.  I remember thinking that Joe Torre and his APBA smarts would bring me luck. 

Nope, Eric Naftaly and his ’59 Giants took care of me pretty well in the first round. 

 

2002apbaconv2

If memory serves, 2002 was the year the kid won the tournament.  Does anyone remember his name? 

I uploaded all the photos I found to the IAL photo gallery.  Take a look. 

6 comments

16
December

Scoresheet download

I’m making available a scoresheet I designed in Microsoft Word a couple years ago.  At least one opponent of mine liked it enough to ask for it so I’m putting it up for anyone who might want to use it.  It’s suitable for league play, replays or whatever.

If you want a better look at it before downloading, just click the image.

scoresheet

Feel free to customize to your use.  It’s even got a spot in the upper right hand corner to put your team name or logo.

The file is in Word 2003 format.

Download Scoresheet

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14
December

Toying around with lineups

lineuptoy

No lineup toy can help my pathetic lineup next year!

 

If you’re having trouble coming up with a lineup for your team, Steve Stein’s Lineup Toy might be able to head you in the right direction.  It’s a java-based web application.  Just choose your players, click the button and it will come up with a lineup for you. 

According to his webpage, this is the quick summary of Steve’s formula for his lineup generator:

 

This suggests a fairly simple-minded strategy for constructing a reasonable lineup:
1. Put the best OPS in 3rd
2. Put the best remaining Slg in 4th
3. Put the best remaining OBP’s in 1st and 2nd (with the better Slg in 2nd)
4. Arrange the remaining players in order of descending Slg

 

Steve also provides a secondary lineup based on an alternative formula using Tom Tango’s principles.   Also, Steve’s Lineup Toy allows you to to choose MLB players going back to 2003. 

This what happens when I plug in my Thunderchickens for the upcoming season. 

 

Simple Tango
simplel tango

As I said in the byline, no lineup can help my team though keep in mind that we still have to draft and I have 6 draft picks coming my way. 

Since the Lineup Toy doesn’t take speed into account, I would think the Tango lineup looks more doable.  Luis Gonzalez, an original rookie pick of mine (and a favorite), will most likely have an ‘S’ and will have no business in the leadoff spot. 

Anyway, it’s a fun ‘toy’.  Take some time and play around with it.

Link to Steve Stein’s Lineup Toy

11 comments

11
December

APBA Card of the Week: Pujols’ 2008 card

pujolscard

Albert Pujols’ new 2008 card (based on the disk) 

 

All I can say is yippie! 

Yes, the double ones, yes, the 55-7, yes, the 44-0 but what I like are the decent numbers on the “automatic” numbers;  the 21-37, the 26-41 and the 46-22.  I will enjoy those immensely in the coming year. 

The 56-14 and 64-14 are nice too.  Only two yucky 24s compared to his four last year.

Part of me wonders why they didn’t just give him 1-1-6-6-6 with a 10.  I guess with double columns it’s a little more accurate and wouldn’t have given him too much doubles power.

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