The LDBA uses the Delphi Forums as their web presence.  I thought that was creative.  For those who don’t want to invest the time in a web site and don’t feel Facebook is for them, the Delphi Forums is a great idea.  It’s obviously worked well for the APBA Between the Lines forum.

Here’s the scoop on the LDBA:

Jeff tells us a bit about the LDBA:

“The Lame Duck Baseball Association is a 20-team, continuous ownership, modified basic game mail league that plays a 162-game schedule from April through November, with an annual rookie draft in March. The LDBA is an established and competitive league utilizing many fun innovations that combine basic game playability with the sophistication of the master game and beyond.”

Seems like I’ve heard about the Lame Duck Baseball Association for a long time now.  They’ve been around since 1981 and it DOES have a name that sticks in your memory.

thanks for checking in, Jeff!

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.

Stray included a fantastic description of both leagues:

“My name is John (STRAY) Corrado (I live in the METRO DETROIT AREA) and I am the Commissioner of the Mid-West Baseball League & the Mid-West Winter League.

Both are APBA Leagues, and have been mentioned as two of the BEST APBA Leagues around.

On Saturday February 18th, 2012 the Mid-West Baseball League will be holding its 15th annual Draft Day.  Please take a moment to check out the Mid-West Baseball League.  If you have any thoughts or questions, or would like more information please E-Mail me at: straymwbl@gmail.com

The Mid-West Baseball League is a Fantasy Baseball League – 28 Team Deep, 38 man rosters, 12 Man Minor League system.  The Mid-West Baseball League is entering its 15th season of play, and is one of the finest most established APBA / BBW Leagues around. 

Not only does the Mid-West Baseball League have unique playing rules, but we’re also deeply interested in the development of the game and minor leaguers. With Twenty-eight (28) (Yes that’s right twenty eight franchises scattered throughout the United States, we have a wide range of ownership.

With that wide range of ownership comes a great amount of knowledge, enthusiasm, and dedication that makes the MWBL shine above other fantasy (alternative reality) baseball Leagues. Ten plus years ago the Mid-West Baseball League was formed as a continuous ownership league. To this day, we still have eight of the original members, and seven other members who have been with us for at least six plus years. The beauty in all this is represented by the fact that there are still people who are fanatic about the game of baseball.

It goes back to the great old saying “If you build it – they will come” and come they have. From as far West as California, and as due East as New York, and as far south as Florida. The Mid-West Baseball League goes beyond what a normal fantasy (alternative reality) baseball League does. You actually play the games, based on statistics from the previous MLB season using APBA Baseball for Windows game. We play a full 162 game season, along with playoffs (Wild Card & League Championship Series) as well as a World Series and All-Star Game. We have Awards for players, just like the pro’s – everything from Gold Gloves, right down to MVP, and Cy-Young awards.

Scouting and development don’t take a back seat in the MWBL, actually quite the opposite. Each team is allotted twelve (12) minor league roster spots. These twelve minor league spots are often used to draft minor leaguers, college or high school kids, or foreign born players. That’s part of the beauty of the MWBL. Also each minor leaguer play drafted must make it to the big leagues within a three year period or you lose his rights. Sort of like a free agent system.
Each off season we hold a live draft. It’s at this draft where you can try (and I say try) to rebuild your club. Not only do you need to finish off your major and minor league roster on draft day, you need to be more than prepared. There are not a lot of super “Gems” in this draft. Most decent to solid prospects are usually taken a year or two before most of the normal public know who they are. Which if you’re not knowledgeable on the subject you probably missed your prospect two years ago.

The draft is tough, but for the serious baseball aficionado, this is like Christmas Day for you. It’s where you get that great present, but don’t have a clue what it really is.

How many leagues out there, that you know of that have career statistics and full player information including trade and Draft History for each individual player. Do other leagues show what a certain player has done just for your team? Do other leagues have a trade register based on individual teams, so you can go back and look at all your good trades, and all those bad ones you may have made?
The Mid-West Baseball League prides itself on quality owners, we do this for a few reasons. This is not something we take lightly. Some say we’re “overly compulsive” about it. We have a great group of guys, and are looking for a few more. If you don’t believe what your reading to be true, stop by the Mid-West Baseball League web site and see for yourself. This is absolutely one of the premier fantasy (alternative reality) baseball Leagues around. Come check us out at the MID-WEST BASEBALL LEAGUE WEB SITE.

We are always looking for RECRUITS & Back up Managers. If you’re interested , or have any questions please let me know.
I also run a RETRO-LEAGUE called the Mid-West Winter League – you can check that out as well.

Always looking to meet up with more APBA enthusiasts.”

Larry tells me that the FOAL is a brand new “retro league which uses 2010 rosters and draft”.

I always like hearing about new leagues starting up.  Good luck with the league, Larry!

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.

The facts about SABA:

Here’s what Wayne says about SABA:

We are an 18-team retro league currently finishing the 1990 season. We are in our 37th year. We also have a few openings for managers right now as we’ve had a couple managers quit due to health reasons. The new season starts in two more months. We’d like to hear from you if you’re interested.

Bob Grant is our President.

I don’t hear about too many retro leagues though I know they are out there.  A few of my league members are frequently talking about starting up a side retro league but time commitments seem to get in the way.   I’d love to hear more about how these leagues are set up and run.

Side note:  I’m on vacation and just rambled through Nebraska. Go Red.  Am I doing it right?  Welcome to the Big Ten, Huskers.  Nice choice of Darin Erstad for your baseball coach.

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.

John “Stray” Corrado contacted The APBA Blog with info on Mid-West Baseball League. 

It took me a while to figure out that it means Mid AND West… and for that matter there are managers from the East, too.  The 28 team computer based league is everywhere. 

Here are the details on the MWBL:

Stray writes about the MWBL:

My name is John (STRAY) Corrado (I live in the METRO DETROIT AREA) and I am the Commissioner of the Mid-West Baseball League & the Mid-West Winter League.
 
Both are APBA Leagues, and have been mentioned as two of the BEST APBA Leagues around.  
 
On Saturday February 20th, 2010 the Mid-West Baseball League will be holding its 13th annual Draft Day. 
 
Please take a moment to check out the Mid-West Baseball League.
If you have any thoughts or questions, or would like more information please E-Mail me at:  straymwbl@gmail.com
 
The Mid-West Baseball League is a Fantasy Baseball League – 28 Team Deep, 38 man rosters, 12 Man Minor League system. 
The Mid-West Baseball League is entering its 15th season of play, and is one of the finest most established APBA / BBW Leagues around. 
 
Not only does the Mid-West Baseball League have unique playing rules, but we’re also  deeply interested in the development of the game and minor leaguers.  With Twenty-eight (28) (Yes that’s right twenty eight franchises scattered throughout the united states, we  have a wide range of ownership. 
 
With that wide range of owner-ship comes a great amount of knowledge, enthusiasm, and  dedication that makes the MWBL shine above other fantasy (alternative reality) baseball Leagues.  Ten plus years ago the Mid-West Baseball League was formed as a continuous ownership league.  To this day, we still have eight of the original members, and seven other members who have been with us for at least six plus years.  The beauty in all this is represented by the fact that there are still people who are fanatic about the game of baseball. 
 
It goes back to the great old saying “If you build it  -  they will come” and come they have.   From as far West as California, and as due East as New York, and as far south as Florida.   The Mid-West Baseball League goes beyond what a normal fantasy (alternative reality) baseball League does.  You actually play the games, based on statistics from the previous MLB season using APBA Baseball for Windows game.   We play a full 162 game season, along with playoffs (Wild Card & League Championship Series) as well as a World Series and All-Star Game.    We have Awards for players, just like the pro’s  -  everything from Gold Gloves, right down to MVP, and Cy-Young awards. 
 
Scouting and development don’t take a back seat in the MWBL, actually quite the opposite.  Each team is allotted twelve (12) minor league roster spots.  These twelve minor league spots are often used to draft minor leaguers, college or high school kids, or foreign born players.  That’s part of the beauty of the MWBL.   Also each minor leaguer play drafted must make it to the big leagues within a three year period or you lose his rights.  Sort of like a free agent system.  
 
Each off season we hold a live draft.    2011 MWBL DRAFT LINK  It’s at this draft where you can try (and I say try) to rebuild your club.  Not only do you need to finish off your major and minor leaguer roster on draft day, you need to be more than prepared.  There are not a lot of super “Gems” in this draft.  Most decent to solid prospects are usually taken a year or two before most of the normal public know who they are.  Which if you’re not knowledgeable on the subject you probably missed your prospect two years ago. 
 
The draft is tough, but for the serious baseball aficionado, this is like Christmas Day for you.   It’s where you get that great present, but don’t have a clue what it really is.
 
How many leagues out there, that you know of that have career statistics and full player information including trade and Draft History for each individual player.  Do other leagues show what a certain player has done just for your team?  Do other leagues have a trade register based on individual teams, so you can go back and look at all your good trades, and all those bad ones you may have made? 
 
The Mid-West Baseball League prides itself on quality owners, we do this for a few reasons.  This is not something we take lightly.  Some say we’re “overly compulsive” about it. We have a great group of guys, and are looking for a few more.  If you don’t believe what your reading to be true, stop by the Mid-West Baseball League web site and see for yourself.  This is absolutely one of the premier fantasy (alternative reality) baseball Leagues around.  Come check us out at the MID-WEST BASEBALL LEAGUE WEB SITE.
 
We are always looking for RECRUITS & Back up Managers.   If you’re interested , or have any questions please let me know.
 
I also run a RETRO-LEAGUE called the Mid-West Winter League – you can check that out as well.
On Tuesday August 16th, 2011 the Mid-West Winter League will be holding its 15th annual Draft Day. 
 
Always looking to meet up with more APBA enthusiasts.

The MWBL website is very detailed and I had fun poking around.  I was a bit envious as they have all of their postseason and even no-hitter games documented on their site.  Our league should do as well.  Nicely done. 

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.

But several things stand out about the Bump Proffitt Memorial APBA League, the first being they are based in my home state of Illinois.  More importantly though,  this league has been around for an incredible 50 years, according to manager Chris Proffitt.  Not only that, its current membership is primarily made up from one family.  Six of the seven managers are in the Proffitt family.

A quick look at the BPMAL:

Chris writes:

This is only my third season in the league, but it has been going on for a long time in the Proffitt family. There have been some non-Proffitt’s in the league over the years but right now, 6 of the 7 players are Proffitt family members. We just finished our World Series last month. I had a 3-1 series lead and was winning 7-0 in game 5. I ended up losing the game and the series. In game 6, I was down 6-0, came back to go ahead 8-6, and was two outs away from victory in the ninth. My uncle got a three-run homer in the top of the ninth to take the lead.

This must certainly be a tight-knit family to be playing this game for so many years.  I’m wondering how the seventh non-relative got in.  When there’s a family get together does it just turn into a APBA fest to the dismay of the non-APBA fans in the family?  So many questions!

Thanks to Chris 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.

Here’s what ABL contact Chip Kruthoffer has to say about his league:

Face -to Face Dice league, AL East + plus Detroit and Cleveland only, which makes for interesting – and kind of pathetic – drafts.

48 games in two divisions, modified basic game league, NO DH even though we’re AL-based, with a terrific web site: www.ablonline.org

“Terrific web site”, he says.  It ain’t bragging if you can back it up, I always say. 

The ABL has been around since 1982.  I was in high school in 1982 so that’s a long time to me.  The team restrictions on drafts is interesting (our league balks at missing out at a chance at one player).  I’m sure it makes each team more realistic and avoids having powerhouse teams up and down the standings.

The details on the ABL:

thanks to Chip!

 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.

I was obviously drawn to their History Page.  I liked the way they divided that page up into three “eras” much like you see pro baseball history texts you would find in the bookstore.  They describe in detail their “Formative Years”, “The Expansion Years” and The Modern Era”.  Very clever.  It makes me want to do that for our league.  Check that… It makes me want to get someone ELSE to do that for our league (I’m busy enough).

The rest of the A.P.B.A.L. web site is very well put together as well.  Details on managers, All-star games, records are all there.  Nice job, Hugh.

In Hugh’s words:

The A.P.B.A.L. was founded in 1960 and has played annually since 1973. Originally a face-to-face dice league, it moved to a BBW format this year. Unlike most APBA leagues that have been created in order to replay specific seasons or to afford the league’s managers some player continuity, the APBAL has allowed its participants an opportunity to manage a variety of teams against well balanced competition.

The details on the A.P.B.A.L.:

thanks to Hugh for informing us on A.P.B.A.L.!

 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.

Brian talks about his experience this summer:

As a long time APBA fan and player I love introducing the game to new potential players. A physical education teacher by trade, I work at a day camp during the summer. With the help of another co-worker we recruiting kids to be a part of our league. We had 9 kids from the 2 oldest boys groups (10 – 13 years old), 1 junior staff member and 2 counselors (myself and a co-worker).

We taught the kids how to play the game and how to read the cards for drafting purposes. We held a draft by lottery that took 2 days to complete (we had a 1 hour block to play each day) and then began a 24 game season. The kids were hooked after 1 day and the league became the most popular attraction among the boys at camp as kids are already asking us (it’s currently December 1, 2010) if they can be a part of the league next year.

I loved sharing my love of the game with the kids and I loved seeing them embrace the game and fall in love with it themselves.

The details on the BBGCSBL :

That’s a great story.  You can see more about the Bridesburg Boys and Girls Club at their website. 

 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.

With Dave’s permission, I’m making the Directory available here on The APBA Blog.  At this point, I’ll be hosting it and you can download it in Excel format.  For those who prefer, you can also get it in comma-delimited (.csv) format.

Thanks to Dave for doing the grunt work on this project.  It has a lot of valuable data.