Okay, I’ve decided to embark on a little off-the-wall project to get me through the cold months. I might need a little help from all of you though. As you readers know, I’ve written a weekly column devoted to Monster Cards for the past few years and another one about…
I found this on my bookshelf in my basement office. It’s the instruction manual for the APBA Pro League Football Game aka APBA Football for DOS. I barely remember playing this game so I guess it didn’t make a big impression on me. I’m sure it was a fine game…
APBA Blog reader William Owen writes: “Love this blog Tom! As a lifelong APBA Baseball player (I’m 45), I already know the “monsters” and lets face it the “terribles” are just that, terrible. The “weird” cards are the best. Getting to see a new “weird” card reminds me of going…
There has been more than a few no-hitters accomplished by APBA replayers during these cold months. First, Mel M writes: Hi Tom. June 27, Denny McLain just pitched the fifth no hitter of my 1967 MG replay, defeating the Cleveland Indians 8-0. The only base runners were Larry Brown, who…
Thanks to Beau Lofgren for this week’s suggestion of Chris Bando’s 1985 card for the Terrible Tuesday column. Bando came off a pretty decent year in 1984 when he hit .291 and slugged .505 for the Indians in 220 at-bats. In 1985 though, he lost something. His batting average plummeted…
I displayed this card extra large well, just because. Babe Ruth has the record for the most Monster Cards on The APBA Blog, appropriately so. I’ve posted his 1920 card, his 1927 card, and his 1930 card. Statistically though, his 1921 season may have been one of his best…
My Thunderchickens were THIS close to making the playoffs in the Illowa APBA League. Had they done so, it would have been a great story. But this cinderella story will have to wait to be written for another year. Todd Ventresca and his Three Rivers Gamblers had one more trick…
This week, Flashback Friday features a gem from Scott Veatch’s Vault that I found pretty interesting. By my guess, it came out in the late 60s (edit: Scott says it came out in 1964) and it’s a list of commonly asked questions by phone callers. I suppose in today’s lingo,…
Scott Veatch came through with this very interesting Ken Suarez card from the original 1966 set. Rookie catcher Suarez played for the Kansas City Athletics and actually started 26 games for them. Batting .145, his only extra base hit was a triple. He did walk fifteen times so his OBP…
Wow, it was really time for Maury Wills to retire. Scott Veatch passed on this 1972 Maury Wills card to me. It was Wills’ last year in the majors and at age 39, all offensive skills had been used up apparently. In 71 games and 30 starts, he went 17…