PNC Park greeted me as I woke up this morning.  It was on the other side of the Allegheny River as our bus rode into town.  In my opinion, it’s one of the best new baseball parks I’ve been to.  I saw a Pirate-Reds game there some eight years ago.  It’s like they did everything just right.  Now, I haven’t been to Miller Park yet and I’ve heard the same about that stadium so maybe the jury’s out yet.

But that’s just their fancy new fangled stadium.  Turns out my friend works at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh which is practically across the street from where old Forbes Field stood.  While he worked, I went exploring…

There is a nice sign where Forbes Field’s outfield used to be, commemorating the old stadium and what it stood for.

People can still see the original centerfield and right field walls.

The 436 ft. mark of right field.

A University of Pittsburgh student building now stands where Forbes Field’s home plate is but thankfully, they have left preserved the home plate used in its last season in its exact location.

There’s Mazeroski, of course.  Every Pirate fan and anyone who knows baseball is familiar with that story.  But there’s also the story of Babe Ruth’s last three homeruns, 712, 713, and 714 which were hit at Forbes Field.  There’s a bit of controversy surrounding this.  Early reports of Ruth’s final homerun’s landing spot has it in foul territory.

From a 2006 article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Original accounts from the Pittsburgh Press indicate that the ball scorched to earth, hitting a rooftop at 318 Bouquet St., in the city’s Oakland section, some 600 feet from home plate. Except that there’s a knot in that yarn: Bouquet Street was in foul territory. No one contests that the home run was legitimate, nor is their any argument that it was a titanic blast. But further research has indicated that No. 714 — the last of three Ruth hit that afternoon in an 11-7 Boston Braves loss to the Pirates — most likely touched down behind the right field fence on Joncaire Street and either ended up in a backyard on that street or bounced down the steep hill toward Panther Hollow and was chased down by a small group of boys.

An interesting story nonetheless.

[edit] I’ve added a few more photos from the Forbes Field area.

This comes from fellow Illowa APBA League manager Rob Moore with the subject line “Record set in final Highlanders series!”:

That’s right, Jeff Fulchino now has the highest ERA in IAL history for a pitcher with over 71 1/3 innings, with a 10.07 in 81 1/3 innings.  And that’s WITH 4 1/3 innings of shutout ball over his last three appearances to end the year.  Bobby Witt has a 10.72 in 71 1/3 innings in 1988 (he actually allowed 10+ runs per game in two consecutive seasons – he had a 10.57 in 1987).  On a more positive note, Jeff got his only win of the season in the final series with Todd.  Scott Kazmir also got his only win of the year in this series – he was the last pitcher in the pen for game 162, which went into the 11th.  If the game had gone another 208 2/3 innings, I might have had to forfeit.  The Highlanders end up 73-89.

I can empathize.  Scott Olsen, who just retired from my Twin City Thunderchickens this year, broke the all time IAL walks record in 2008 with 213.

Now that the new year is upon us, I guess it means it’s time to reflect.  Here are my resolutions for 2012 (the APBA-related ones, at least): 

1. Update my league’s web site more frequently

I’ll admit it.  Our league’s website is kind of in a state of disarray. It has some great features like its all-time register and leaderboards as well as its Hall of Fame. But it doesn’t get updated as quickly as it probably should.

You’d think with someone like me who runs a site like The APBA Blog as well as a few others, I’d be all over that but I sort of let it slide. With my league’s help (hint, hint, if you’re reading this guys), maybe I’ll do better in 2012.

2. Do a Season Replay

I’ve been a pretty solid APBA baseball league participant for some 30 years now. Yet, I haven’t done an honest to goodness baseball season replay for some five or six years. My buddy Brando and I had a 1979 NL replay going pretty good for a while (we passed the All-Star break) until we just burned out. These days, he and I will occasionally pick out a couple of teams and do a mock World Series but that’s been the extent of it.

However, I’m on my way to rectifying this. I’ve already bought the 1966 season from APBA (I even did a stop motion video of me unpacking the box). I haven’t decided exactly what the parameters of the replay will be. To me, that process is part of the fun. No doubt, you will read about it here on the blog.

3. Provide coverage on APBA sports other than baseball on The APBA Blog

I think the APBA Blog has grown a lot in the past year. There’s more traffic, more interaction, and people just seem to be having more fun here. But let’s face it, it’s primarily a baseball-only website. Not only that, it’s focused on the boards and dice game ignoring computer APBA. That’s not intentional. It’s what I know. And you know what they say… “Write what you know”.

I have made some overtures to some “experts” if you will, on other APBA sports (and computer APBA). I’ve been asking them if they’re interested in writing a post or two about their particular topic of interest. I’ll be pursuing this more in the coming year to make this truly an “APBA” blog.

4. Get those league stats in on time (or earlier)

To Mike Bunch, my dear commissioner who is the best one in the world, I commit to getting my league stats in earlier. This past month, I sent my stats in four hours before they were due. Sometimes, I cut it even closer.

Mike takes a lot of time out of his life for our league. The least I could do is get them in a more timely fashion.

5. When it comes to my team, don’t go for the quick fix

You all probably know what I’m talking about.  You’re in your annual league draft and instead of picking the outfielder with lots of future potential but has no playing time and a crappy card, you pick the A* reliever who’s probably already got a bum arm going into the next year. 

Wait, you don’t do that??

In last year’s league draft, I dropped Jacoby Ellsbury in lieu of a rookie draft pick. Arggh!  We all know how Ellsbury turned out this year (1-4-5-6 and two 11s). No more will I draft “cards”. In 2012, I resolve to look to the future for my Twin City Thunderchickens.  With two last place finishes in a row, it’s time to get some franchise players on the team (Ellsbury would have been nice, eh?)

How’s this for a start? According to our rules, Stephen Strasburg is eligible to be dropped for a rookie pick. Nope, he’s taking up a roster spot all year. I’ve learned my lesson.

6. Have fun!

This one is easy. I love APBA.

Again, I wish everyone a happy new year.  May all your dice rolls in 2012 turn up 66s!

“I have the disk.  I predict that Tedd will have a really bad year!!!!!!”

“The “12” is on 66.”

Don’t even tease about that.

As I had mentioned in my previous post, I had my Black Friday already planned out.  Don S stopped by to play a nine-game series for the Illowa APBA League while I was in town to see family.

“Black Friday” indeed.  I started out by losing the first five games.  Don’s team, the Molly Putts Marauders, has a bullpen that includes Brad Lidge (A*XYW) and Billy Wagner (A&C*KX) which didn’t help me any.  The good news from my perspective was that Wagner was pretty tight on limits  (the IAL restricts managers from playing their players by their actual usage).

Don was calling on Wagner pretty often early on, obviously with some success.  After two appearances (and two perfect saves) in the first two games, he fished him out of his pile of cards and had a talk with him.

“Billy, you’re going into the team envelope”

… and did just that.  Wagner was shuttled in the Molly Putts APBA team card envelope.  ‘Out of sight, out of mind’, the saying goes, I guess. Don told me that Wagner’s appearances were quite limited and he wanted to save them for his last series against my crosstown rivals, the Rising Bamm Beanos.  Made sense to me. The Bamm Beanos were knocking on the Molly Putt’s door and looking for a playoff spot.  Any edge in the last series would help.

Fast forward to Game 3.  That was an extra inning affair.  Don’t get me started on that one.  That game we wasted every opportunity afforded us (we loaded the bases in the 11th with no outs and didn’t score).    Molly managed to score in the top of the 14th inning on a two-run homerun by Hanley Ramirez.  When the good guys came to bat, Don gave out this grunting sound…

“Billy, you’re coming out of the envelope for this one game”.

Well, Billy Wagner did come out and did a fantastic job.  A one-two-three inning with two Ks.  Molly Putts won the game 5-3.  Once the game was over, Don got up and excused himself.

“Billy’s going out to the car now.”

Don took Billy Wagner’s APBA card and went out to his white Firebird and put it on his seat of his car and and came back.   It was all done so that the temptation to use that nifty A&C*KX would be removed.  Sure enough, when we were done playing and Don gave me a ride to my mom’s.  I got into the passenger seat and there was Billy’s card looking all forlorn and dejected like “what did I do to deserve this?  Three appearances and three saves and then he puts me out in the cold car!”.

For those wondering, I won split the last six games of the series without facing Wagner.  Watch out Beanos!  Maybe those appearances by Billy ARE golden.

What teams will we be playing?  I asked him earlier if he wanted me to pick the teams and he said “I’ll pick the teams”.  Okaaay, maybe he didn’t like my choice of the 1982 Braves and Rangers the last time we played.  Just heard last night that he’s chosen the 1930 Cubs and Dodgers.  I have the Cubs.  The inside joke with Brando is that he’s a Dodger fan… a Brooklyn Dodger fan.  This should be fun.

Remember Brando, Dazzy Vance can pitch only one game for you but Hack Wilson plays every day.

(Mum mum mum mah
Mum mum mum mah)

I wanna hold my APBA cards like they do in Lancaster  please
Pick up the dice, hit sixty-six, dude stay with me (I love it)
Luck and intuition, make sure Pujols is in there to  start
And after him, someone good to protect him, he’ll play his part

Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhh, oh-oh-e-oh-oh-oh
The dice are hot, show them what I’ve got
Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhh, oh-oh-e-oh-oh-oh,
The dice are hot, show them what I’ve got

Can’t read my,
Can’t read my
No he can’t read my APBA dice
(of course it’s a sixty-six)
Can’t read my
Can’t read my
No they can’t read my APBA dice
(of course it’s a sixty-six)

AP-AP-AP-APBA dice, AP-AP-APBA dice
(Mum mum mum mah)
AP-AP-AP-APBA dice, AP-AP-APBA dice
(Mum mum mum mah)

I wanna roll with them a sixty-six, boxcars it will be
A little APBA is fun when you’re with me
APBA baseball is not the same without a good arm
And baby it wouldn’t hurt to roll an 11-1
Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhh, oh-oh-e-oh-oh-oh
I’ll get the dice hot, show them what I’ve got
Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhh, oh-oh-e-oh-oh-oh,
I’ll get him hot, show him what I’ve got

AP-AP-AP-APBA dice, AP-AP-APBA dice
(Mum mum mum mah)
AP-AP-AP-APBA dice, AP-AP-APBA dice
(Mum mum mum mah)

I won’t tell you that I’ve won or lost
Mock or taunt you Cause I’m not bluffin’ with my red and whites
I’m not lying I’m just rollin’ by bones
Just like a dude across the table asking you to
Take your crying towel out before I before it’s done
I promise this, promise this
Check this roll out cause I rolled another sixty-six

AP-AP-AP-APBA dice, AP-AP-APBA dice
(Mum mum mum mah)
AP-AP-AP-APBA dice, AP-AP-APBA dice
(Mum mum mum mah)

I was inspired this morning. I guess.  LOL

[Reference for those who have no idea what this is parodying.  It’s what the kids are all into these days]

Alas, it’s not for APBA’s Baseball for Windows.  I was just shopping at Bath and Body Works.

Come to think of it, some their scents would do wonders for our sweaty APBA weekends.

"People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring."

-Rogers Hornsby

Fortunately, we all have APBA. 

It’s this time of year when I thank the APBA gods for one particular player on my team.  One who I really could not do without.  He quietly does a job that few in baseball can do and I am  grateful.  Who am I talking about?

Julio Lugo

.

Eh? Julio Lugo?  A few of my IAL leaguemates are probably guffawing at my choice.  Not only is the infielder Lugo’s .334/.386 OBP/SLG pretty dismal, I’ve heard some say he’s one of the worst ballplayers in baseball.

But there’s this… year in and year out, Julio Lugo plays multiple positions during the actual season and that pays off dividends when making sure I’m covered at each position.  This year is no exception.  In 2010, Lugo played five different positions in the field (not including DH, of course).

Take a quick look at the IAL’s limits rules regarding positions:

• a) The first position listed on a player’s card is unlimited*
• b)If a player played 40 games (inclusive) or more at a position he is unlimited*
• c) If a player played 10 to 39 games (inclusive) at a position he may play 40 games at that position
• d) If a
  

  Lugo covered two positions in 2009, too.

  player played 1 to 9 games (inclusive) at a position he may play 10 games at that position

• e) If a player has a position on his card that he did not play he may play 1 game at that position.

*unlimited up to actual number of games

So thank you Julio Lugo.  Not only can you back up Orlando Hudson but because of your 26 games at short, you can cover Troy Tulowitzki.  Heck, you could even play 10 games at third or in the outfield if I so desire (no thanks!).

Because of Lugo’s versatility, he saves me a draft pick.  Instead of using one to pick a rookie second baseman to cover a position, my options are open to choose who I want (though the snarky answer to that is that if Julio Lugo is your backup at short AND second, maybe you should shore up your infield, dude… point taken).

So let’s hear it for the Julio Lugos, the Miguel Cairos, the Rich Amarals and the Tom Brookens (am I dating myself yet?).  We think you utilitymen are the tops.