18
September

Central Florida SABR will host two authors

For those in Florida, Rod Caborn wanted to pass this info on:

 

The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR)  Central Florida Auker-Seminick Chapter will meet on Saturday October 31 at the Southwest Branch (Dr. Phillips) of the Orlando Library system, 7255 Della Drive. Orlando, 10 a.m-2:30 p.m.

 

Presentations will be make by George Gedda, author of The Dominican Connection and Peter Golenbock, author of the recently published biography of George Steinbrenner,The Poor Little Rich Boy Who Built the Yankee Empire and numerous other baseball books. A Florida baseball trivia quiz will also be conducted.

 

Lunch will be available with a fee of $10 is requested to cover luncheon costs.

 

Contact Rod Caborn, 407-622-1365, rcaborn@mac.com or Dave Larson at tazlarson@aol.com.

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23
April

Take part in an APBA League survey

Dave Walker emailed me today about a project he’s taken on.  He’s put up a survey for those involved in APBA leagues.  The best part is that all of us will benefit from its results.
Read more to find out more about it:
 
Tom -
 As a long-time fan of the both the cards and dice game and BBW, I have enjoyed the hobby through solo play, replays, and league play.
 
I am assembling a roster of current APBA leagues. I have opened a survey that asks 30 questions; the answers should fairly well define each league.  I will publish it on certain APBA-related yahoo or Delphi sites, including this blog!
 
I think it will be interesting to see all the variations of leagues that exist.  It may also encourage interested new members who could pick a specific format, or league size, for example.
 
If any of your blog readers are interested in providing information about a league that they run or participate in, I invite them to open the survey and fill it out:
http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB2293XLKNYUY

In the first five days of the survey, more than thirty leagues have reported in.  I suspect there are at least that many more!  Comments and questions are invited.
 
Thanks for your attention and support!
 
Dave Walker

 

I’d encourage all leagues to fill out Dave’s survey.  From what I hear, he’s already got quite a response. 

1 comment

8
April

Finding another APBA player or league in your area

I get a fair amount of emails because of this blog and I’d have to say he most popular question I get via email is “How do I find someone near me who plays APBA?” or “Is there an APBA League near me?” or something to that effect. 

Basically, it comes down networking.  I remember how I first joined the Illowa APBA League in 1980.  Back then there was no Internet or email.  But we did have the APBA Journal.  And the AJ printed out their APBA Journal Directory once a year.  Should you agree to be part of it, your name, phone number and home location was listed.  That’s how the IAL found me, for better or worse.   

But that was 30+ years ago.  Nowadays, things have changed drastically with forums, blogs, and web sites.

So when I get asked this question, my standard answer is to check out the APBA Between the Lines forum.  It’s very popular and does have a classified section that’s worth a try if you want to find someone in your area.

APBA- Between the Lines does require you to register but it’s free.

Most of this blog’s readers probably already know about APBA BTL but hopefully this post finds someone who needs this kind of information.  Also, if anyone knows of any other good method of APBA networking, post a comment. 

1 comment

16
January

I get a grade A request

Tim from Chicago sent me an email today saying he’s going to be in a tournament using seasons from 1975-2008.  Long story short, he’d like to know if there is a database or listing of grade A pitchers by year. 

I’m pretty sure the Ed Zack book documents this but does this kind of info exist on the web? 

I’m sure Tim would appreciate any info. 

2 comments

16
December

Scoresheet download

I’m making available a scoresheet I designed in Microsoft Word a couple years ago.  At least one opponent of mine liked it enough to ask for it so I’m putting it up for anyone who might want to use it.  It’s suitable for league play, replays or whatever.

If you want a better look at it before downloading, just click the image.

scoresheet

Feel free to customize to your use.  It’s even got a spot in the upper right hand corner to put your team name or logo.

The file is in Word 2003 format.

Download Scoresheet

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14
December

Toying around with lineups

lineuptoy

No lineup toy can help my pathetic lineup next year!

 

If you’re having trouble coming up with a lineup for your team, Steve Stein’s Lineup Toy might be able to head you in the right direction.  It’s a java-based web application.  Just choose your players, click the button and it will come up with a lineup for you. 

According to his webpage, this is the quick summary of Steve’s formula for his lineup generator:

 

This suggests a fairly simple-minded strategy for constructing a reasonable lineup:
1. Put the best OPS in 3rd
2. Put the best remaining Slg in 4th
3. Put the best remaining OBP’s in 1st and 2nd (with the better Slg in 2nd)
4. Arrange the remaining players in order of descending Slg

 

Steve also provides a secondary lineup based on an alternative formula using Tom Tango’s principles.   Also, Steve’s Lineup Toy allows you to to choose MLB players going back to 2003. 

This what happens when I plug in my Thunderchickens for the upcoming season. 

 

Simple Tango
simplel tango

As I said in the byline, no lineup can help my team though keep in mind that we still have to draft and I have 6 draft picks coming my way. 

Since the Lineup Toy doesn’t take speed into account, I would think the Tango lineup looks more doable.  Luis Gonzalez, an original rookie pick of mine (and a favorite), will most likely have an ‘S’ and will have no business in the leadoff spot. 

Anyway, it’s a fun ‘toy’.  Take some time and play around with it.

Link to Steve Stein’s Lineup Toy

11 comments

5
December

Between the Lines is abuzz with card info

There’s lots of good 2008 card numbers coming out of the Between the Lines forum (well, good may be a relative term.  I guess it depends on who you have on your team). 

if you want a sneak preview on the 2008 season cards, check out this thread.

 

Haha, I wonder how many people will pinch hit for Carlos Zambrano. 

 

Zambrano 1-4-5-5-7-7-7 

 

more later, as I digest all data coming in…

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5
December

The APBA Pitching grades in excel format

Just to make it easier for me to digest, I imported the pitching grades that Bruce Norlander posted to Between the Lines into Excel.  Makes it easier to sort and filter by grades, teams etc.

Here is the file if you want it.

Keep in mind that while most are listed, not all pitchers are included.

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19
November

Drafting soon? Maybe this will help.

Maybe it’s a bit early but for those looking for 2008 MLB drafting info, check out razzball.com, a web site all about baseball fantasy advice. 

They just came out with their 2008 rankings of players by position. 

Be forewarned that their rankings are geared towards those who play fantasy baseball but the info there is valuable nonetheless. 

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16
November

Where’s the 12? The YABL has a list for you

I just ran across the APBA Baseball Card 12 List and Publication Data web page.

I found a link to it on Between Lines last night.  It’s a comprehensive list compiled by Doug Burg of the Yesterday APBA Baseball League.  I should have seen it when Doug sent us his league profile a couple weeks ago.

Starting with the 1883 season, the list is sorted chronologically by season, Doug’s list has pretty much any bit of quick info you would want to know about about an APBA Baseball Card set.

Including:

  • # teams
  • # cards per team (including # of XBs)
  • year set was published
  • whether Master Game symbols were issued
  • and yes, where the 12 is located on the card

Doug added some useful (or at least interesting) information such as what years result numbers (such as 42 or 14*) came into play.

thanks, Doug!

[edit:  the updated 12 list is now here.]

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