1
January

APBA Card of the Week: 08 Carlos Zambrano

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For any NL-rule APBA leagues out there, yum!  If you can avoid those five 24s on this card, he’s got quite a tasty card. 

It’s not a fluke either.  Zambrano won the NL Silver Slugger award for a reason.  He led all ML pitchers in pretty much every offensive stat in ’08. 

And for leagues that allow it, Zambrano can pinch hit, too.  He had a few actual pinch hit at-bats in 2008. 

The owner of Zambrano in our league also has Livian Hernandez and Jason Marquis so for the past few years it’s pretty much like having a 9th hitter in the lineup.  Not a small matter, when you consider that pinch hitting is not an issue for him. 

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11
December

APBA Card of the Week: Pujols’ 2008 card

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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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15
November

APBA Card of the Week: 1989 Mitch Williams

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1989 Mitch Williams, Chicago Cubs

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.

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3
November

APBA Card of the Week: 2006 Tom Glavine

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By the 2000s, Tom Glavine lost his hit numbers he had in the early 90s not to mention his “Gretzky” nickname (bestowed because he was pretty good at hockey… good enough to be picked in the fourth round in the NHL draft).  But he did picked up a couple of other goodies, though.  As of late, he’s one of few pitchers who has 2 31s on his card making him a decent hit and run threat.

More importantly, in the last few years, he has managed to garner more than the one requisite 14 given to most pitchers.  In this 2006 card he got four.

On a personal note, I love Tom Glavine.  I managed to acquire Glavine in the Illowa APBA League back from Teddy Ballgame in 1991 and he’s been declared untouchable since.  Glavine, who was D then was a throw-in in a deal which had me giving up Kirk Gibson (at the end of his career) and Pete Smith (who never really had a career).  I probably got another player back in the deal (I’m thinking it was Melido Perez) but looking back, it was Glavine who was the key player in the deal.

Glavine who was 25 at the time, went on to have an awesome career both in the majors and for my Twin City Thunderchickens.  He might have been ungraded once in all those years.  Gibson and Smith both retired soon after.

And I never let Teddy forget it.

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27
October

APBA Card of the Week: 1953 Al Kaline

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This week’s APBA Card of the Week is 1953 Al Kaline (reprint).  This was Kaline’s rookie year playing for the Detroit Tigers and even judging by his card you can tell it made from a small sample size.

Year  Tm    G   AB    R    H   2B 3B  HR  RBI  SB CS  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG
+---------+---+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+--+---+---+-----+-----+----
 1953 DET  30   28    9    7   0  0   1    2   1  0   1   5  .250  .300 .357

Like the current year, the 12 landed on 41.  His 42 is based on one hit by pitch in 30 plate appearances.

Interestingly, other than the noticeably missing 6s, it’s a pretty representative card for Kaline for much of his career.  Maybe a tad high on the steals side and low on the 14s.

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