30
September

APBA pitchers’ grades database. Any interest?

I want to run an idea past everyone and see if there is any interest in it. 

 

1. Would you find it helpful/useful/interesting to have an online database or spreadsheet that had the pitchers’ APBA grades and ratings for every season that the company issued?  Would you use such a site? 

2.  Additionally, if a wiki-style spreadsheet or database were set up so that anyone could edit the spreadsheet and add pitchers and their grades, would that be something you  would take part in helping with?

I’ve had a couple inquires and requests about web pages with pitchers’ grades and to my knowledge, there isn’t one in existence.  I know my friend Chuck from the IAL has expressed interest in the project. 

But before I go ahead with any major project, I want to gauge the interest in the resulting product. 

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30
September

Take a look at Transcontinental Baseball League’s stats archive

Steve Stein lets us know that he’s updated the historical archive of the Transcontinental Baseball League.

 

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Any league that’s been around long enough to say they have a “history” should pat themselves on the back.  Those who had the forethought to keep their history documented and intact for their benefit (and others) earn a gold star in my book. 

Steve and folks in TBL have done a fine job blending a functional interface with an amazing amount of league stats and figures.  I’m quite impressed.

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22
September

Hot Dice in Naperville

fireGot to Naperville this past Friday evening for the Illowa APBA League’s All Star weekend.  Each team plays each out of town opponent six times for a total of 30 games.  Heading into the weekend my Chicago Champions were in first place, two games up on the 2nd place Rising Bamm Beanos, there were only about six games separating the top six teams.

We managed to win 4 of 6 from every opponent, with the exception of a split with the Molly Putts Marauders, finishing the weekend at 19-11, and improving our over all record to 74-52.  Also had the privilege of managing the East All Stars win over the West All Stars 6-3.  C.C. Sabathia was the starting & winning pitcher, with Joakim Soria pitching the 9th inning for the save.  Offensive heroes include Steven Drew who opened the scoring with a homer, David Wright who blasted a pinch solo shot, and All Star Game MVP Ryan Howard who knocked two over the fence, one solo & one with a runner on.

All of this HOT DICE action must have set off the fire alarm in the hotel where we were playing.  We were playing on the 5th floor, the elevators were shutdown, I can’t take stairs, so I ate hummus & drank beer while the building was being evacuated.

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21
September

Ryan Howard propels East Division in Illowa APBA League All-Star Game

 

For the fifth time in a row, the East beat West in the annual Illowa APBA League All Star Game.  Unlike last year when the outcome was never in question, the game went down to the wire with the West Division getting the tying run on deck in the ninth inning.  The final score was East Division 6  West Division 3

The big hero of the game was Kentucky Kernels’ firstbaseman Ryan Howard.  Howard went 2 for 3 with 2 homeruns and 3 rbis.  Howard’s teammate, David Wright had a pinch-hit solo  homerun in the fifth.  Chicago Highlanders’ shortstop Stephen Drew hit a two-run shot in the third.

Congratulations to East Division manager Tedd Mallasch and the rest of the East Division managers!

This year’s IAL All Star Game took place at the Holiday Inn in Naperville, Illinois with 10 fans in attendance. 

 

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East Division Manager Tedd Manager carefully devises a strategy for his team.		 ial 2009 all star 013
Chicago Highlander manager Rob Moore rolls a 66-1 homerun for his shortstop, Stephen Drew in the 3rd inning of the All Star game.

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The East Division managers consult each other during the All-Star Game

 

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The East Division bench laid out ready to come in when needed.

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Scorekeeper and IAL commish Mike Bunch with West Division Manager Don Smith (right)

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Kentucky Kernels manager Keith Smith and winning manager Tedd Mallasch with All-Star Game MVP Ryan Howard.

 

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The boxscore of the 2009 Illowa APBA League All-Star Game.

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19
September

2009 IAL All-Star weekend

The Illowa APBA League is having its All-Star weekend starting today.  We each got a series or two of regular season games in this evening.  If you must know how I did, I’m currently 2-6 for the weekend.  I haven’t done my stats yet but Geovany Soto and Ray Durham are doing well.  Tom Glavine (DW) did manage to get a win.

Here are a few photos:

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Tomorrow (well later today, it’s 1:09 in the morning now), we will have our All-Star Game.  Here is the lineup for the West Division (the good guys).  Starters are voted on by the managers:

1. SS – Hanley Ramirez, BammBeanos. .311, 18 hr, 59 rbi.

2. C – Joe Mauer, UpperDeckers. .319, 3 hr, 45 rbi.

3. 1B – Albert Pujols, ThunderChickens, .309, 25 hr, 89 rbi.

4. CF – Josh Hamilton, Bombers, .307, 22 hr, 68 rbi.

5. 3B – Chipper Jones, UpperDeckers, .312, 19 hr, 55 rbi.

6. 2B – Dan Uggla, BammBeanos, .228, 11 hr, 45 rbi.

7. LF – Adam Dunn, Bombers, .210, 27 hr, 63 rbi.

8. RF – Nick Markakis, ThunderChickens, .285, 18 hr, 60 rbi.

9. SP – Jamie Moyer, 12-7, 3.12 ERA.

Wish us luck!
 
 
 

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18
September

Predicting 2009: TBZ’ guest blogging project

For those interested, I convinced six writers to guest blog for The Baseball Zealot writing an article a day for one week.  The topic was predicting the MLB end-of-year awards and postseason predictions. 

Guest bloggers ranged from our own Teddy Ballgame to Baseball Musings’ David Pinto. 

Organizing the project was a lot of work but it was fun and the articles are top notch.

You can read them here.

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18
September

Central Florida SABR will host two authors

For those in Florida, Rod Caborn wanted to pass this info on:

 

The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR)  Central Florida Auker-Seminick Chapter will meet on Saturday October 31 at the Southwest Branch (Dr. Phillips) of the Orlando Library system, 7255 Della Drive. Orlando, 10 a.m-2:30 p.m.

 

Presentations will be make by George Gedda, author of The Dominican Connection and Peter Golenbock, author of the recently published biography of George Steinbrenner,The Poor Little Rich Boy Who Built the Yankee Empire and numerous other baseball books. A Florida baseball trivia quiz will also be conducted.

 

Lunch will be available with a fee of $10 is requested to cover luncheon costs.

 

Contact Rod Caborn, 407-622-1365, rcaborn@mac.com or Dave Larson at tazlarson@aol.com.

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