“Had our draft today for the inaugural C.W.Henry Elementary School APBA League and was lucky enough to land the first overall pick via lottery. Using the 2011 cards (the ones donated by John Herson) I took Halladay in the first and Price in the second. We finish up our rosters Thursday and start play next week….I’ll keep you updated.”

Later, he went on to say:

“I’m really excited and hopeful. The group of kids (6th-8th graders) are really excited and were totally into the draft, we ended up stayin a 1/2 hour later than planned. I will definitely keep you updated with the proceedings. I can’t remember who was #5 but I remember the top 3. I took Halladay at 1, Pujols went #2 and Josh Hamilton at #3. We are only using the playoff teams. It’s gonna be fun!!!!”

You might remember Brian as the one who formed the Bridesburg Boys and Girls Club Baseball League a couple years back.  Seems to me that he’s a one man force to change the demographic age of the APBA base.  I’m all for it!  Great job!

But Brian, I’m curious.  Do the girls enjoy APBA Sports as much as the boys?

My Twin City Thunderchickens are languishing in last place but we have a chance to play spoilers.  With a few wins against us, Brando’s Rising Bamm Beanos have a chance to enter the playoffs.  As his friend, it’s my job as opposing manager to prevent that. 

As always in the IAL, the last series is almost as much about keeping within our player usage limits as winning.  Fortunately for the Thunderchickens, our limits are pretty good and we only have to rest Nick Markakis who only has 15 at-bats for the year.  I didn’t plan out Chris Perez usage very well.  He has over 20 innings left for the nine games and most likely won’t get all his A&C innings in.  Bad manager!

Update: I managed to take four of nine from the Beanos today.  Not bad I suppose for a last place team with a 68-94 record.  It usually came down to who managed to score first.  Early on in the series, that was Beanos. 

Kudos to my starter Jonathan Niese who went 2-0 for me.  His first start was quite exciting, though.  He had a 10-1 lead going into the 7th inning and managed to give up nine runs in three innings before I called in Chris Perez to close the game for the save.

After the final game of the season, the Twin City Thunderchickens announced the retirement of the following players:  Hideki Okajima, Manny Parra, Scott Podsednik, Mark Hendrickson, Scott Olsen.

The Williams Division has ended in an 87-75 tie between Glenn Taylor’s Wakefield Wizards and his brother Bruce Taylor’s Richmond Rebels.

The head-to-head series ended 7-7.

The division title will be decided by a one game playoff, the home team will be decided by a coin flip, as I read the TBL rules.

- Steve

Here are the current standings in the TBL.  Steve also included the play-by-play for the Williams division’s Wakefield Wizards and the Richmond Rebels last series of the season.  The series wrap-up below was written by Bruce Taylor.

Gentlemen,

After 162 games, the Wakefield Wizards and the Richmond Rebels conclude their seasons with identical 87-75 records.

The Rebels used an 18-4 October to eat up a 5 game lead from Wakefield and push the advantage in their favor to a one game lead.

Glenn and I saved our 3 game, mid-November match-up, until the end of the schedule.  With 8 games remaining for the Rebels and just the final 3 on tap for the Wizards, the records showed both teams with 85 wins, but the Wizards had 5 more losses:  RIC 85-69 vs WAK 85-74.

The Rebels traveled to POR for a 5 game series.  They lost the first 3 games (2 in extra innings!), won game #4, and lost the finale to Joey Votto’s bat!

That set the stage for the 3 game series at Richmond.  The Rebels had a one game lead, with 3 to go.  In our opening game of the series, Albert Pujols hit a 3 run HR in the bottom of the 12th to give the Rebels a 6-3 win and a two game lead with two games to go!

In the 2nd game, the Wizards pound Rebel pitching with four HRs and cruised to an easy 8-2 win!  Now with one game to play, the Wizards were one game back

The 3rd and final game of the series matched the team Aces: Vincente Padilla vs Brett Myers.  The Wizards scored single runs in the 1st and 2nd inning to forge a 2-0 lead. The Rebels answered back in the home half of the third.  Kouzmanoff led off the inning with a solo shot to halve the lead to 2-1.  Victorino sandwiched a single and an SB between outs, Hamilton walked, and Pujols smacked a 3 run shot to LF to make it 4-2 Rebels after 3

Rasmus picked up the gauntlet for the Wizards in the 4th.  Morales led off with a single and two batters later it was  4-4 when Rasmus deposited a Myers offering deep in the RF bleachers.

Into the 6th inning now….both starters still on the mound…..Myers retires the first two he faces, before Wells launches a solo shot over Victorino and the CF wall for a 5-4 Wizards lead!……Brian McCann led off the Rebels 6th and drew things “all square” when he  hit a solo shot of his own to RCF to make it 5-5!

On to the 7th….Myers retires Peralta on a fly ball to CF,  and induces Milledge to bounce out 3-1.   Lead-off batter Andrus drops a single to LF….The Rebels bring on Ondrusek to face Ruiz.  Ruiz works a BB to push the speedy Andrus over to scoring position.  Cano steps in and bounces a grounder through the SS hole into LF as Andrus streaks home to make the score 6-5 Wizards.  Gregg replaces Ondrusek on the mound and gets Lee to bounce out Kendrick to Pujols to end the threat.

The Rebels in the 7th got Victorino to first on a Cano error with one out, but he died there on a line-out and a Hamilton K vs Salas who had come on to replace Padilla after the error.

In the 8th, the Wizards tried to pad the lead with an insurance run, but Wells was left at 3rd base when Bray struck out Peralta.  Following that, Salas put the Rebels down 1-2-3 in the Home half of the 8th.

In the 9th, Mitre came in to pitch for Richmond.  Milledge was left in to face him and the gamble worked as he led off with a single.  However that was all….Andrus forced  him at 2nd on a FC 5-4, Ruiz popped out to third, and Cano struck out to end the visitors scoring chances.   In the bottom of the 9th Sean Burnett came in and disposed of the Rebels in order to earn the Save and to put the Williams division in a flat-footed tie!  The Wizards pitching of Salas and Burnett retired the last 8 Rebel batters to get the coveted 87th win!

We are in the process of checking out the Play-Off rules and will play the 163rd game of the regular season, as soon as we can.

Bruce

Wow!  MLB could only dream of having this happen to them.  I can only imagine the news sub-plots and the media attention.

John Briggs sent us a quick update:

Our 37th Champion was crowned a couple of weeks ago. Mike Fisher’s Albuquerque Horsemen captured their 2nd straight title. You can read the details of the playoffs at our web news page until the next newsletter is posted. Photos of the participants are also posted.

RCMBA’s web site is always a fun(ny) read if you haven’t seen it yet.  I chuckled a bit during my read of the article about Fisher’s win.

Nice going, Mike!

Pujols showing us how many rbis he had for me last weekend

Just some random ramblings and rants as the Illowa APBA League enters the homestretch of our 2011 season.  Opponents have nothing to fear from my Twin City Thunderchickens… we’re 61-83 and set firmly in last place. 

My buddy Brando and I went to Colona, IL to take on Mike and Marcus Bunch, father and son.  The results don’t matter, we had a good time.  That’s code for “I didn’t do well”.  

Usually, on our way home from these weekends, I would bitch and moan about how bad Albert Pujols did to Brando. 

“But Tom, how did he REALLY do?”, he say.

So I’d get the scoresheets out and tally Albert’s homers and rbis and Pujols’ rbi total would be pretty high anyway and I’d have egg on my face. 

Not this time.

Got home before I even looked at the scoresheets.  In the 14 games and forty-some at-bats that Pujols played, he hit 0 homeruns.  I can get past that but his rbi total?  1.  One stinkin’ rbi. 

That helps explain our 7-11 record for the day. 

Thinking Ahead

We have 18 games left in the 2011 IAL season.  For those of us not in the hunt, there are two things occupying our minds.  Trade talk and proposals for changes in the league constitution.  Commissioner Mike Bunch has a strict rule which works well.  All proposals must be proposed ahead of the league draft weekend or they won’t be entertained. 

There are two major issues being discussed right now in the IAL.  One is simply the return to the Unusual Play Card and Error Chart. 

The other is the perennial discussion of expanding our rosters.  Our current rosters are at 26 players and some managers feel that come draft time, we’re too concerned about filling our desperate position needs and ignore the rookies with potential.  Personally, I’m on the fence on this one.  The 26-man roster is limiting but it does force the manager to be creative and trade for his needs. 

I’m short at three infield positions for 2012.  Time to get creative. 

Rod Caborn sent in the update:

Joe Passiatore’s Platoon (48-32) upset Dave Larson’s favored Taz Devils (56-24) to win the 2011 Orlando APBA Association title. The Platoon rolled over the surprisingly punchless Tazmen in five games.
The 2011 World Series win gave Passiatore his fourth straight OAPBA title and ninth crown in the league’s 24-year history.
2011 MVP was Josh Hamilton, Taz Devils (league-leading .352 and .435 OBP). Cy Young winner was the Taz Devils Roy Oswalt (11-1).

Wow!  Nine titles and four straight.  Don’t worry OAPBA, we have a manager who had a similar reign of championships in our league but he eventually came down to earth.  As a matter of fact, last year he (checking standings from last year followed by an awkward pause)  came in first place… and the year before…  and in 2008.  Never mind.

Congrats again Joe!!  Quite a dynasty you have going there!

You can find out more about the Orlando APBA Association at their web site.

Rod Caborn updates us on the postseason drama of Orlando APBA Association (OAPBA):

Dave Larson’s Taz Devils (56-24), who had the league’s best record in 2011, defeated Walt Taylor’s Whatevers (42-38) in a grueling seven-game series to advance to the 2011 OAPBA World Series.  The Devils, five-time champs in OAPBA, will face Joe Passiatore’s Platoon (48-32), seeking their fourth straight OAPBA title. Passiatore has won the league crown nine times in 24 years in the league.

Congrats to Dave and Joe for getting as far as they have.  Good Luck to both of them!  You can get all the news on the OAPBA at their very fun and colorful website.

Maddux:  You’re voting for me?

It’s Hall of Fame time at the Illowa APBA League.  I’m finally getting around to filling out my ballot for the 2011 IAL inductee class.

As I mentioned before, this is a year with some talented players especially among the pitchers.

The pitchers on this year’s ballot with their IAL stats:

…and the hitters

The emails flying among the IAL managers around the HOF issue have been interesting.  They’ve centered around couple issues.  One, how does one feel about “first ballot Hall of Fame voting?  Do managers take that into consideration when they vote?

There’s also the standard “they’re all on steroids” talk.  Meh.

Well, I’m voting on players whether they belong or not, first ballot or not.  In the tradition of sport journalism, I’m publishing my open ballot.

If I could give Greg Maddux three votes I would.  He’s the IAL career leader in wins plus a couple other categories.  Sixty-three shutouts.  Wow!  That’s enough for me.

Tom Glavine gets a vote.  That’s a given.  For seventeen years, he’s been my one-up on my nemesis Tedd M who traded him to me as a throw-in back in 1993.  Since then, he’s won over 200 games and struck out over 2500 batters.

I feel like I’m giving away prizes at kindergarten (everybody wins!) but  I can’t ignore Frank Thomas’ 1368 runs and 1431 rbis.  That combination is rare even in the Hall of Fame.

Barry Larkin was the best of his generation at his position (save perhaps Ozzie Smith).  His relative power (199 HR) and speed (376 SB) to go with his fielding merits recognition.  Give him a vote.

The big question is what to do with Pedro Martinez and Mike Mussina.  I’ve been thinking about this for a bit. I just gave our all-time leaderboards a check.  Didn’t help.  Martinez is a Koufax-type who didn’t pitch as much but boy, when he did, he pitched great.  In roughly 1500 innings less, he had as many strikeouts as Glavine.

Give it to them both.  Mussina and Martinez.  Both of them for winning 200.

My ballot:

• Maddux
• Glavine
• Thomas
• Larkin
• Mussina
• Martinez

Delgado is just going to have to lobby harder this coming year.

Here are some more articles from the past about the BBGCSB.

Brian’s update

Year 2 was just as successful as year 1. We added teams to the league, but also had a few drop out but we were able to replace those teams with new players so the league did not suffer too much. It is difficult to have everyone play a set amount of games with families taking vacations.  Some kids would miss weeks at a time, but we were still able to establish a core group of teams and players.

The only downfall this season was that alot of stats were incomplete. With our numbers rising to 15 teams and with this being a pencil and paper league, I was not able to keep track of the stats for all teams like I did during the summer of 2010. My Senators again focused on pitching which proved fatal once again as my team had the lowest E.R.A., but also among the lowest team batting averages. We have a small dynasty building as the Scuba Divers once again rolled through the regular season, but came up short in the post season while falling to the Man Children in a 5 game championship series. We created an optional base stealing system this season that some players used and others did not as the only modification.

The cards that were used for this season were generously donated to the Bridesburg Boys and Girls Club by John Herson and APBA Game Company

The final standings were as follows:
“A” Division:
Man Children 25-14
Red Wings 16-13
Hummelcanes 15-14
Blues* 10-14
Suns* 9-13
Reds* 4-9
New Kids* 4-7

“B:” Division
Scuba Divers 23-5
Speed Talkers* 22-4
Senators 18-17
Jump Ropers 15-12
Hosers 8-12
Elmo 4-7
Team Jackson 5-6
Convicts 5 – 21
* denotes expansion team

Playoffs:
“A” Division
Manchildren over Blues 3-0
Red Wings over Hummelcanes 3-1
Manchildren over RedW
Wings 3-0
“B” Division
Scuba Divers over Jump Ropers 3-1
Speed Talkers over Senators 3-1
Scuba Divers over Speed Talkers 3-1

Championship Series
Manchildren over Scuba Divers 3-2

Congratulations to the ManChildren on their championship and to the league on their second season!

I read about the shortfalls this season.  I think that’s typical or at least not uncommon for a second season for a league.  Our league went through this at the very end of Season One thirty-five years ago.  Rumor has it, the league almost disbanded.  Obviously, they got over their problems and continued (it was before I joined).  Point is, sophomore issues tend to happen and hopefully everyone learns from them.  Of course, your league membership is of a quite different nature, Brian (ie younger).

Also, I ‘d like to hear about the optional basestealing modification you used, Brian.  Was it successful?

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.