13
May

League Talk: IAL’s David Price pitches a perfect game

Lesson learned… always keep a neat boxscore because you never know how important the game might be. 

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I played a Skype series against Mike Bunch for our Illowa APBA League.  My Twin City Thunderchickens weren’t hitting against Mike’s Green Rock Bombers for the whole series but I certainly wasn’t prepared for what happened in Game 7.  I had rookie Scott Diamond (BZ) going and the Bombers put David Price (AX) on the mound. 

Price went on to pitch the game of a lifetime.  27 up and 27 down.  A perfect game with 8 strikeouts.  The Bombers won 3-0.

I was aware of the impending perfect game pretty early on and gauging by his stilted voice, I’m sure Mike was too.  Of course, I didn’t mention anything during the whole game though I did use carefully coded phrases when rooting my players.  “C’mon, Soto!  Get a hit, here!”  and things like that.  As frustrating as it was to lose one more game, I have to admit I was happy for Mike and hearty congratulations were given once it was over. 

How did the Thunderchickens fare for our nine-game series?  We went 2-7.  I’m beginning to realize that pitching isn’t going to carry us this season and our hitting is going to have to step up.  Perhaps I need to submit my team to “Make me a lineup” and see if someone can help ME out.

Congrats, Mike!! 

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28
April

League talk: 39 games down and accounted for

The other day, I wrote about APBA leagues and what they are all about.  As it turns out, today is the 28th which is the monthly due date for the Illowa APBA League’s stats to be turned in to the commissioner. 

A little league trivia:  The reason it’s the 28th goes back to the days before the Internet and we sent in our stats via postal mail (I remember typing up my stats on a old Smith-Corona).   Making the due date the 28th gave the Post Office plenty of time to get them to the commish before the end of the month. 

As usual, I’m getting my stats done just in time.  Actually, I emailed them to my commissioner with five and half hours to spare (pretty good for me considering there were 39 games to compute). 

Here are some highlights:

First, big kudos to Tyler Colvin who was the subject of a season long tongue-in-cheek feature I did last year.  For those interested, he batted .148/.248/.198 with 16 rbis in 243 at bats for my team last year.  I won’t have to feign his “contribution to the team” this season.  With his 1-0-0-0-0 power numbers, he’s actually putting out some great numbers so far.  In 24 games, he’s batting .355 with 16 rbis and 5 homeruns.  Yes, he’s already matched his 2012 rbi total. 

What to do with Reyes’ strange 3-5-6 power combo?  What I’ve been doing is batting him second in the lineup behind Jason Kipnis.  It seems to be working as he is second on the team in rbis with 21. 

I had been going on about rookie OF Justin Maxwell and how great he had been doing.  That was before I had done my stats.  He is doing ok with five homers and 16 rbis but is hitting .244.  He also has 30 strikeouts in 21 games.  I think what had skewed my vision was a couple of clutch hits he had gotten during our league convention.  Once we get an idea in our head, we just look for facts to confirm it.  It’s human nature. 

As for Albert Pujols, I know better to malign him or my friend Don S will get on my case about it.  Pujols doesn’t have his best card in his career but let’s face it, he’s leading the Thunderchickens in homers (6) and rbis (24). 

I do appreciate rookie pitcher Scott Diamond very much.  He finally lost his first game in his seventh start against the Bamm Beanos.  So far, he’s 5-1 with a nifty 3.15 ERA.  In fact, he’s the only pitcher on our staff with a winning record.  We’re 16-23 right now. 

The Illowa APBA League is in the midst of its intra-division season right now so I’ll have a few division rivals to take care of in the next couple of months.  That has its upsides and downsides.   Down seven games below .500, we have a lot of work to do. 

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21
April

League Talk: Making do with what you’ve got

IMAG0132Sometimes you got to make do…

I met with my friend John Brandeberry for our first nine-game series of the year in the Illowa APBA League.  We met at a local coffee shop and in my rush to leave the house, I had left my dice shakers at home. 

The people at the coffee shop were nice and gave me a to-go cup to use.  I just couldn’t bring myself to roll with my hands (sorry, that’s just a good-natured dig at the hand rollers out there). 

It didn’t help that all my white dice were somehow left at home too.  Do you know how hard it is to read a red die and a green die when your brain is conditioned to the red and white dice combination?  I found out today.  Lesson learned.  Always make sure you have everything before you leave.  

Thankfully, I did remember my team cards but to be honest, the Thunderchicken’s hitters really didn’t show up till about game 6 or 7.  How did my team do today?  Well, my “playoff-bound team” lost the first five games against Brando’s Rising Bamm Beanos.  Not only that, we didn’t have a lead in the first four.  I can’t really complain about our pitching.  Our intrepid hurlers let up only 16 runs in those five losses.  How many did we score in those five games?  Try six runs. 

The single low point was when Albert Pujols was up with a runner on second and I rolled a 13.  That would be a welcome sight in any other year but this year he has a 37 there.  With the Beanos’ fielding one defense, that becomes a double play.  I sensed that even Brando was a little disappointed in that. 

We eventually rallied to win three of the last four games to make it a 3-6 series.  I haven’t done stats yet but rookie outfielder Justin Maxwell (who’s having a great year for the Thunderchickens so far) and newly acquired veteran Vernon Wells (thanks, Don S!) both figured greatly in a couple of the wins. 

Now my Twin City Thunderchickens are 16-23 and have a lot of work to get ourselves to get back into the hunt. 

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22
February

The not-so-blockbuster deal I won’t regret

Last year, my Twin City Thunderchickens weren’t the best hitting team in the Illowa APBA League.  They didn’t have the best pitching staff either.  But dang if they didn’t have the best middle infield the IAL had ever seen.  It’s not often you see a SS-10 and a 2b-9 on the same team.

And now they’re both gone.

HPIM0361I’ve already told you about my blockbuster deal that shipped Troy Tulowitzki across town to the Rising Bamm Beanos.  Now, the T-Chix say goodbye to long time secondbaseman Orlando Hudson.   The funny part?  He was traded straight up for Vernon Wells, a APBA Blog Terrible Card Tuesday nominee.

And you what?  Mascot Chuck the Chicken is happy with the deal and so am I.

The key to the deal was that O-dog was pretty expendable.  With my pickup of Jason Kipnis and Danny Descalso last year, my infield needs have been taken care of and Hudson would be riding the pines most of the year.  A 2B/3B still commands a bit of value on the trade market so I put him up for sale and had a couple offers.  While Vernon Wells is no Tyler Colvin, he’s a OF-3 and plays enough of the season to help out my beleaguered outfield which is suffering from “de-Markakisizing”.

As for Hudson, we wish him well.  He’ll be playing for Don Smith’s Molly Putts Marauders and he knows how to treat old players. :)

As an epilogue to my Tulowitzki-Reyes deal, you’ll notice that I’ve made Reyes get a haircut.

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11
February

Rich Meyer joins TBL’s elite class

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Newest TBL Hall of Fame inductee Rich Meyer

As I was following up with the Transcontinental Baseball League’s Walter Hunt on their weekend’s wintry draft, he mentioned that they inducted one of their managers into the TBL Hall of Fame.

Richard Meyer, winner of six TBL championships, is the fourth manager to
be enshrined in the Manager’s Wing of the TBL Hall of Fame. The
presentation took place at the TBL Annual Meeting on 9 February 2013.

Rich is a Georgetown alumnus and a real estate appraiser. He lives in
Franklin, Massachusetts, and has a well-earned reputation as a skilled
manager and general manager. His TBL nickname is “Sensei”, and has shown ability in both the art and the science of APBA. He has a personality as big as it looks in this picture.

That’s great news!  Congratulations, Rich!

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4
February

Bryce Harper goes #1 in OAPBA’s draft

P1010330We’re getting our first look at how league’s drafts are going to go as Rod Caborn updates us on Orlando APBA Association’s 2013 Draft. 

Thanks, Rod!

The Orlando APBA Association held their 2013 draft on Saturday, Feb. 2, in Winter Park, Florida, kicking off their 26th season.

Passiatore 2013-b

Platoon manager Joe Passiatore has won the OAPBA title the past five years in a row. 

Dave Mitchell’s Piranhas, 24-56 in 2012, took Washington OF Bryce Harper with the first pick. Dave Larson’s Taz Devils, 38-42 last season, grabbed Atlanta P Kris Medlen with the second pick and Jonathan Stilwell’s Otters, tied at 38-42 with Larson in 2012, took Arizona 2b Aaron Hill with the third pick.

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The complete draft results are attached in PDF form. If you need individual pages, let me know and I’ll contact Dave Larson and ask him to send them to you individually.

OAPBA 2013-a

All nine managers in OAPBA

Play in OAPBA for 2013 starts Monday, Feb. 4, with the Beefers, one of last year’s two World Series teams, taking on Kris Stenger’s Gashouse Gang, who were a wild card team in the 2012 season.

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29
January

League News: New MWWL website announced

A few days after announcing the draft date for the Mid-West Baseball League, Stray Corrado the busiest APBA fan I know, has announced the new website for the Mid-West Winter League.  Here is his press release:

The Mid-West Winter League Commissioner’s Office is proud to announce the launch of our newly redesigned website! After many months of development, the new site heralds a fundamental shift in our online presence.

http://www.straybaseball.com/mwwl/wordpress/

The new website has been built using the highest design and accessibility standards and offers the Mid-West Winter League Commissioner’s Office the opportunity to publish its materials and engage with its audiences using the latest web-based technologies.

MWWL provides vastly more information than any other APBA/Baseball for Windows league or website. Our site provides Mid-West Winter League followers, fans, franchise owners and anyone interested in APBA/Baseball for Windows a complete history of our league.  It’s an online resource offering knowledge on all aspects of the Mid-West Winter League.

And we’re just getting started! Exciting new elements are still in development with roll-outs over the next twelve months.  We’d love to talk about them but are holding off until they’re ready for prime time. We want to be sure the Commissioner’s Office has the opportunity to get them right.

It’s this commitment to providing as much information as possible that sets Mid-West Winter League apart from other retro leagues.

Enjoy the new website & as always comments are welcome.

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23
January

League News: Mid-West Baseball League announces Feb 16 draft day

2013draftStray Corrado, commissioner of the MWBL sent out this press release announcing their draft day.   -Tom

On Saturday February 16th, 2013 the Mid-West Baseball League will be holding its 16th annual Draft Day in Mount Clemens, Michigan.

Please take a moment to read about the Mid-West Baseball League, and the stop by the web site to check it out.  If you have any thoughts or questions, or would like more information please E-Mail me.

The Mid-West Baseball League is a Fantasy Baseball League – 28 Teams Deep, 38 man Major League rosters, 12 Man Minor League system.

The Mid-West Baseball League is entering its 17th season of play, and is considered 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 league players. With Twenty-Eight (28) franchises (Yes that’s right Twenty-Eight) scattered throughout the United States & Canada, we have a wide range of ownership. With that wide range of ownership comes a great amount of knowledge, enthusiasm and dedication to baseball  which makes the MWBL shine above other fantasy (alternative reality) baseball Leagues.

Sixteen years ago the Mid-West Baseball League was formed as a continuous APBA / BBW ownership league. To this day, we still have seven of the original members, and nine other members have been with us for at least nine 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, as due east as Massachusetts and as far south as Florida.

Are you interested in the Mid-West Baseball League?  www.straybaseball.com/application.htm

How often does your fantasy baseball league take a player before he’s drafted in Major League Baseball?  This happens often in the Mid-West Baseball League.  in the 2009 MWBL Draft Steven Strasburg was the #1 selection by the Detroit Crime on February 21st, 2009.  A full five months previous to Strasburg being selected by the Washington Nationals in Major League Baseball.

Does the Draft provide any late round gems?   How about Aroldis Chapman?  Chapman was selected in same the 2009 MWBL Draft, (Pick #280) before he ever stepped foot in the United States, before he pitched in the World Baseball Classic, before he defected from Cuba and a full ten months before he signed a major league contract with the Cincinnati Reds.

The Mid-West Baseball League goes beyond what a normal fantasy (alternative reality) baseball League does. You actually play the games using APBA / BBW 5.75 Game Engine, based on statistics from the previous MLB season. We play a full 162 game season, along with playoffs (Wild Card & League Championship Series) as well as a World Series & All-Star Game. We have awards from Gold Gloves, right down to MVP and Cy- Young awards.

Scouting and development does not 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 kids, or foreign born players.  Each minor leaguers must make it to the major leagues within a three year period or you lose his rights. Sort of like a free agent system.

In between each season we hold a live draft (Usually the second Saturday after the Super Bowl). It’s at the draft where you 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 prepared. There are not a lot of super “Gems” on Draft Day. Most decent to solid prospects are usually taken a year or two before these players are known to the public.  The draft is tough, but for the serious baseball aficionados, this is like Christmas day. It’s where you get a great present, but don’t have a clue what it really is, just yet.

How many leagues do you know that have trade registers , including individual teams trackers, so you can go back and look at all of those good trades, and all those bad ones too?

The MWBL 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 always looking for a few more. If you don’t believe what you’re reading to be true, stop by the MWBL web site and see for yourself. This is absolutely one of the premier fantasy (alternative reality) baseball leagues around. Come check us out at:  www.straybaseball.com/mwbl

Thanks for the update, Stray.  The MWBL is for real and for keeps.  I do encourage everyone to check out their website.  Thanks to Stray’s tireless work, it’s a very well run league. 

Good luck to the members of the MWBL and let us know how the draft goes!

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5
January

MWBL’s Christmas Classic Home Run Derby

Christmas ClassicIt never fails to amaze me to see APBA players want to simulate an event and then find a way to achieve it.  The Mid-West Baseball League have been doing a homerun derby since 2003. 

Stray Corrado wrote me to announce that the MWBL just held their annual 2012 Christmas Classic Home Run Derby.  That was a new concept for me and I was intrigued. 

Here are the rules as explained by Stray:

How is the MWBL going to handle the Christmas Classic Home Run Derby? This is an idea that came from a league (BUNT), that I check out from time to time, and think has a great web site. Dave Snyderman one of the members came up with the idea a few years ago and which has been refined somewhat as they went along. The MWBL refined the idea a little more, but will adopt this concept for the 2003 MWBL Christmas Classic Home Run Derby.

It is very simple really. What the MWBL Commissioner will do is take a pair of percentile dice. These are 2 dice, each with 10 sides, and ideally, both with different colors, one red one white. If you ever played any role playing games you probably have seen these dice. They are readily available at hobby shops and game stores that cater to the role play crowd. When rolled, these dice will produce a number between 01 and 00 thus the name percentile dice.

To determine each hitter’s chance of hitting a home run, we assign them a % chance. This is equal to ½ their total Home Runs in the previous MWBL season, plus 10%. The rest of the contest consists of rolling the dice and recording whether it was a homer or an out until 10 outs are recorded. So, for example, Bonds in 2002 who had 68 HR’s at the end of the season would homer on a roll of 01-44. We also allowed 00 to be a homerun so everyone got an extra 1% chance of hitting one.

Each Home Run hit will follow with a roll of two percentile dice, and one six sided dice. This will help us create the total distance for each Home Run hit. The six sided dice on all rolls of a (6) six will result in a re-roll, with a (5,6) result will be a (5), any rolls on the re-roll will result in (4) four. On all rolls of a (5,4) five or four the result will be in the number being a (4) four, on all rolls of a (3,2,1) three, two, one will result in the number being a (3) The two percentile dice will follow, with the white dice being the foot distance in (10) tens, and the red dice being the distance in single feet. Thus a roll of a six sided dice of (TWO), white Percentile (FIVE), and red percentile (SEVEN), would result in the batter hitting a (457) Four hundred fifty seven foot home run.  We then follow the actual rules of the Home Run Derby.

Curtis Granderson was the MWBL’s victor in the 2012 Christmas Classic Home Run Derby.  You can see MWBL’s press release on the event and here are the final results. 

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3
January

Lackey: something to prove

IMAG0257Last night, I played the my last series of the 2012 Illowa APBA League season against John Brandeberry’s Rising Bamm Beanos.  I won four of nine games but that’s not the big story to me.

The big story was pitcher John Lackey.

See, John Lackey was pitching his last series after a 10-year career in the IAL.  He is retiring after this season.  I drafted Big John in 2003 and while he hasn’t been a big superstar, he has been consistent in my rotation ever since his rookie year.  The Thunderchickens haven’t always given him the offensive support he probably deserved (see 2010, when he was 9-11 with a 3.07 ERA), but he’s always given his best on the mound.

This past year was a rough one for Lackey.  He was a D plain, a rarity for him and his job was simply to eat up innings.  He certainly did that unceremoniously.  Going into December’s series, he was 6-16 with a 5.91 ERA but pitched 221 innings for us.

As we headed into the last two series of the year though, John Lackey pitched like he had something to prove.  He may have been a D pitcher with no letters but he pitched like an AZ.  Against Don Smith’s Molly Putts Marauders on Boxing Day, he was superb, pitching two complete games and allowing just three runs in 18 innings.  Unfortunately, for Big John, he lost Game 1 by the score of 1-0.

Last night against the Beanos was Lackey’s swan song… his last hurrah.  And boy, he gave the Thunderchicken fans something to cheer about.  In Game One, he spread out 12 hits and gave up just one run in a complete game 2-1 win.  Game Five was John Lackey Day at Thunderchicken Park and the man of the day rose to the occasion.  Lackey pitched a five-hit shutout walking just one batter and the Thunderchickens won 1-0.

All told, John Lackey (again, a D pitcher) gave up just FOUR runs in his last four starts, all complete games.  With the final win, he tied for the team lead in wins.

Then he retired from the Illowa APBA League.

For his career, Lackey finished 102-112 with a 4.04 ERA and 1417 strikeouts.

YEAR CLUB G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO W L Sv ShO ERA
2003 TCHIX 15 15 3 103 94 50 44 37 76 7 6 0 0 3.84
2004 TCHIX 33 33 4 199 1/3 203 112 96 84 144 10 12 0 1 4.33
2005 TCHIX 33 32 3 198 178 85 78 61 143 8 8 0 0 3.55
2006 TCHIX 32 32 5 208 2/3 154 94 80 60 169 12 10 0 2 3.45
2007 TCHIX 33 33 6 217 194 116 107 77 173 14 14 0 1 4.44
2008 TCHIX 30 30 12 207 2/3 163 93 82 50 149 13 11 0 1 3.55
2009 TCHIX 24 24 3 163 1/3 177 97 93 48 121 5 13 0 1 5.12
2010 TCHIX 26 26 5 176 145 74 60 39 131 9 11 0 1 3.07
2011 TCHIX 32 32 6 214 2/3 185 91 84 81 154 15 10 0 1 3.52
2012 TCHIX 41 28 17 257 297 164 149 90 157 9 17 1 1 5.22
10 Totals 299 285 64 1944 2/3 1790 976 873 627 1417 102 112 1 9 4.04

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