Yes, Albert Pujols played thirdbase tonight against the Phillies.

Pujols playing third base is news in of itself, of course but it does have impact in our league, too.  By Illowa APBA League limitations rules, a player who plays one game at a position is eligible to play up to *ten* games at that position next year (any player who plays 10-39 is eligible to play 40).  So I guess it is pretty exciting.  And timely considering that my starting thirdbaseman is Ryan Zimmerman who is currently on the DL with abdominal strain.

I’ll need those ten games.

Word has it Albert handled himself ok in the field.  I’ll be surprised to see a 3B-4 on his card, though unless Tony decides to make this a regular thing.

Now if only he could get that BA up.

Last night, Orestes ‘Minnie’ Minoso was on the campus of the University of Illinois and I got a chance to hear him speak.  Titled ‘Pioneering Latinos: Building a Legacy on and Beyond the Playing Field’, it was part of the U of I’s MLKs commemoration program and sponsored by the Department of Latina/Latino Studies.  This year is the 60th anniversary of Minoso breaking the color barrier in Chicago. 

Other panelists included Bernardo Ruiz, director of the film ‘Roberto Clemente’ and Fernando Perez who was Tampa Rays Minor League Player of the Year and has been now recently traded to the Cubs. 

I wrote about the event and posted some photos over at The Baseball Zealot.

I am 67 years old 60 years a baseball fan not only do I hate the dh,but my favorite al team ,which is the Tigers dont get played on apba against anyone but nl teams-Iam fortunate to be e true Reds fan and a definate old prude who also is discussed about the state of 30 mlb teams—-thanks to you I got to say that.

Fight the good fight, mister.  I’m with you.

I was going to be in Chicago, that was the original plan, but decided to stay in Santa Barbara with my brother Todd, while he put a new roof on my brain injured friend Lee’s house.  It was still before noon when I turned on the live scoring feature for my CBS Sportsline fantasy baseball team, WTLNXTYR, and noticed the White Sox were playing a 1:05 PM game, hosting the Rays, at the Cell.  It all came back to me, I’d have been at this game, probably with Rob, as we feel like we’re getting away with something, going to a day game in the middle of the week.  With me not working, I don’t know what I’m getting away with.

I was torn, sit in the sun by the pool, or watch Buehrle pitch against Tampa on TV at the bowling alley across the parking lot from my Motel6 room, they happen to have the MLB package there, good things seem to work out for good people.  It took me about two minutes to decide to go watch the White Sox, in the time it took me to walk across the lot, a nothing to nothing game quickly became 4-0 on a big fly off the bat of Josh Fields with the bags juiced.  Later in the game Scotty Pods ripped a leadoff double inside the firstbase line, Alexei Ramirez, hitting behind the runner also sent his double just inside the first base bag, into rightfield for an RBI double.

That was more than enough for Mark Buehrle, as he had it on cruise control, Tampa got NAHTING!  Buehrle doesn’t overpower anybody, just keeps batters off balance by changing speeds, and setting up his cutter.  He was masterful, a joy to watch, besides being a gem, it was also quick.  There were a couple of close calls, but nothing which required a fielder to over extend himself, a line drive to third that Gordon Beckham snared, with his feet planted on the ground, then there was a screamer that the thirdbase umpire had to jump out of the way from, before deliberately & dramatically signalling, FOUL BALL!

Before I knew it, it was the top of the 9th inning, defensive specialist Dewayne Wise took over in centerfield.  Gabe Kapler caught all of one and sent it over the centerfield wall to lead off the inning, only to have Wise get on his horse, in a full sprint, leap at the fence, bringing the baseball back, preserving the no-hitter and the Perfect Game.  Everybody in the bar cheared, but I think I was the only one knowing what was going on.  “Two outs to go!”, I exclaimed, urging Buehrle on, “Go to work, Mark, bring your lunch bucket with you”.  Buerhle struckout the 26th batter he faced and got the final guy on a grounder to short.

I missed Mark Buehrle’s no-hitter, thrown in April 2007, when I went to Rose Angeli’s with my sister in law Lisa and a good friend named Debbie from Waupaca, they were both in to see a taping of the Oprah Show.  I couldn’t have had a better seat for this one, if I’d been at the park, watching it brought tears to my eyes.  And I have to give the homeplate umpire credit, he had the same strike zone all game long, no matter the count, no matter the situation.

For those who haven’t noticed, Albert Pujols has done amazingly well with the bases loaded this year.  Here are his stats with three runners on.

At this point in the season, Pujols is five for five with 3 homeruns and 16 rbis.

I’ve had Albert on my Twin City Thunderchickens since I drafted him as a rookie (first pick, of course!).  The Thunderchickens had Mark McGwire at first base for his whole career so we had big shoes to fill.  Fortunately, we were able to get some to get the job done right away. 

Our commish, who is a Cardinals fan,  warned me that he thinks it will be a matter of a couple of years before Pujols will be rated (S).

Heresy!

Flash back with me 28 years when I was a nerdy 16 year old kid and entering my first APBA league.  I had just “passed” my phone interview with the person you know as Teddy Ballgame as well as a in-person interview with DonS.  I must have passed that too because I was invited to my first league convention.  It was a bit intimidating with all these “grownups” and I was doing my best to hold my own and not look like a fool. 

I had been handed a team a few weeks before the convention and it was no secret my team wasn’t going to win any championships.  Going on memory here but I had Ruppert Jones, Don Baylor, and Lance Parrish with his double ones (and four 24s).  Pitching-wise, I had Roger Erickson (a B) and a couple Cs in Ross Baumgarten and John Curtis…

…and no bullpen.

  It was draft time and all these rookies!  Looking back, I had no idea who they were compared to these other guys who read Baseball America faithfully.  I had two draft picks to play with and I had holes to cover at 2B and SS.  I don’t remember exactly what pick I had but it had to be pretty high in the order given the team’s position in the standings the previous year. 

So for my first pick, my Geneseo A’s took a chance on a reliever named Dave Smith from the Houston Astros who at least was graded Ayz.  I needed bullpen and I figured I could get something out of him.

Nowadays, I generally don’t pick relievers in the first round unless they are something special.  As it turned out, the Smith pick didn’t turn out too bad.  Smith had a 13 year mostly successful career in the majors with a career ERA of 2.67 and 216 saves. 

As for me, Smith had 3 productive years (he was graded A, B, C).  1980, (the year I picked him), he saved 15 games for my last place team with an ERA of 2.27.  After three years, I traded him though I can’t remember the details.  Six years later when I took over a different team (my current Thunderchickens), I remembered what Smith had done for my A’s and went after him again.  I acquired him in a trade from Teddy’s Chicago Champions.  He pitched three more years for me. 

In the six seasons Dave Smith pitched for me, he never had an ERA over 4.00.  For his 12 year career in the IAL, he had a 3.25 ERA in 823 1/3 innings.  Not bad for pitching in a hitting strong league.  Only in his last season did his ERA go over 4.00. 

For those of us who have been in APBA leagues for much of our lives, we reach certain milestones.  When we become as old as one of our players.  Then when we are OLDER than all of players.  But when our former players start passing away, that is a sad day. 

RIP Dave Smith

Here is the entry point for the HOF ’09 series.

For the old time leaguers out there, which of the HOF candidates did you have on your team(s)? 

For my part:

• Baines:  like the White Sox, we traded him away then got him back like three times.
• Dawson:  only for one year but he hit 31 homeruns for me.
• Mark McGwire:  had him his whole career… he broke the league single season record for homers in the last at-bat of the season in 1999.
• Dan Plesac:  like Baines, never seemed to retire.
• Matt Williams:  did his best to protect McGwire.

He won 20 or more games starting in 1992 through 1996, with a career best, 23 wins in 1995.  Known for his outstanding control, in 1997, he only issued 13 bases on balls in 245 innings of work.  A 1.96 ERA was his best, posted in 1993.  You might think all of this talk about the 90s is ancient history, but Maddux won 21 games with the 2001 Champs.  Just to prove he’s not done, he was 15-6 in 2007 and already has 14 wins, with 18 games to go in the 2008 season.  Then Maddux will have one more year of competing in the IAL.

Originally the Champions had a tentative trade worked out with the Northside Hitmen, sending A.J. Burnett & Brett Myers in exchange for Ryan Doumit, but then Myers was rated a D.  Then the Champs reformatted the deal to send Matt Cain, Boof Bonser, & Miguel Olivo for Doumit, Matt Lindstrom, & Edgar Renteria.  Now with Maddux announcing his retirement, will the Champs be able to still trade pitching?  Do they still have “extra” pitching?

Last year I traded Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for Nick Swisher.  Let me introduce myself, I’m Tedd Mallasch, aka Teddy Ballgame, and I’ve been managing the Chicago Champions of the Illowa APBA League, a diceball league, for nearly 35 years.  I’m also a White Sox fan, John Brandeberry, the manager of the Rising Bammbeanos, the proud new recipient of Kemp, is a Dodger fan, since the Dodger days of yesteryear when they played at the Polo Grounds in Brooklyn.  So the deal made sense as far as major league allegiance is concerned, but did it make sense APBAwise?

Brandeberry’s Rising Bammbeanos were rebuilding, so getting the younger Kemp for Swisher made sense.  But how about from a Chicago Champion perspective?  Nick brought his high onbase percentage to a Champion lineup that was ready to do some serious scoring and quickly found a home in the two slot.  Swisher is second in the league with a .413 onbase percentage and is second in the league with 84 bases on balls, through 125 games.  The Champions are currently in first place, on a 100 win pace (for the first time in team history), and hoping to win their 11th Championship (haven’t won in over ten years).  So it seems as though the trade worked pretty well for both sides, at least for this year.

With the Yankees Nick looks like he’ll be moving over to firstbase, but the Champs have Justin Morneau at first.  The outfield also looks pretty good, with Carlos Lee, B.J. Upton, & Grady Sizemore, from left to right.  Swisher will not be of much use next year, after a truly disappointing season on the Southside of Chicago, but should provide a Gene Tenace like presence off the bench.  While Matt Kemp just keeps on getting better & better.  Still if I had it to do over again I’d probably still trade for Buckeye Nick.

My co-hort, Teddy Ballgame promises he’ll write some for The APBA Blog soon but he’s currently in Arizona watching some Arizona Fall League games (the lucky bum).

He’s been writing daily updates on The Baseball Zealot.

You can read them here.