Manager Lucas brought his Northside Hitmen over to Crackerjack Park adding another chapter in the ongoing battle of APBA that has been going on for decades.  Being a History Major, Luke remembered one of the first times he came to my place to play shum APBA, it was circa 1977, the Midwest Monarchs hosted his River Park Solons, and Ed Figueroa tossed a perfect game against us.  My lineup included the likes of “Disco” Danny Ford, John “The Hammer” Milner, Rick Manning, George Brett, Jerry Remy, & Tim Foli.  But that was a lifetime ago, seems surreal, almost like a dream, who were those people, were they really us???

On this day it would be a nine game set featuring the explosive Chicago Champions taking on the Hitmen of the Northside.  The Hitmen wasted no time jumping out to an early lead when Alexei Ramirez hit the 1st pitch of game one off Tim Lincecum over the leftfield wall.  Interesting fact pointed out by Chuck: much maligned Alexei is batting .293, with power numbers of 24, 1, 14, while the highly regarded Hanley is batting .286, 23, 2, 16, I’m not sayin’, I’m just sayin’.  In the bottom of the first AROD bit the hand that once fed him, giving the Freak a one run lead when he launched a two run shot, then hit another two run dinger in the 3rd, giving Chicago a three run advantage, which was upped by another when Justin Morneau, aka Jason Monroe, left the yard.  Lincecum left the game after seven, despite never having to pitch from the stretch, allowing only Alexei’s first pitch bomb.  Hidecki Okajima allowed a leadoff pinch double in the top of the 9th, followed by a one out walk, before giving way to “AK-47” “Papa Grande” Jose Valverde.  AROD booted a ball, filling the bases for Manny Ramirez, who took care of business, just Manny being Manny, as he belted a game tying grand salami.  Ryan Perry pitching in the 10th allowed two runs to give the Hitmen a hard fought game one win, despite AROD hitting a solo in the bottom of the 10th off closer Joakim Soria to make the final 7-6 Northside.

Dualing homers were the second game’s theme as the game was knotted at four thru four, courtesy of Chase Utley & Brian McCann two run homers for them and an RBI double by “Paul Bunyan” and solo shots by AROD & 2 by Grady Sizemore for us.  McCann can, thank you sir, may I have another?, did it again in the 6th off Josh Beckett was the difference as the Northsiders, behind former Champ Jake Peavy, took game 2, 5-4, series two to zip Hitmen.

Matt “Raisin’” Cain held the Hitmen to one unearned run over six as “El Caballo”, Carlos Lee, put it on the board, YES!, in the 4th, a two run tater, which put Chicago up 4-1, Champs scored two more in the 7th, and cruised to a 6-1 victory.  Still down in the series, 2-1.

Mark Buehrle lossed his shutout bid with one out in the 9th, but the Champions showed their power, scoring all eight of the runs playing long ball, two three run pokes, one by Victory “Hulk” Martinez, the other by “Lumberjack” Morneau, to go along with solos by G-Size & Jeff “Frenchy” Fracoeur. Series all tied up at two.

Did you ever not know what was going on until it was over, till it was too late???  This is a common phenomenon in my life, nothing unusual there for me, but in game five I switched my lineup around to take advantage of walks versus Wildman Micah Owings, who would earn another nickname after this game was through.  Jason Marquis, the leader in wins took the mound for the Champs opposing Owings.  The Hitmen loaded the bases against Marquis in the first, but the crafty veteran pitched out of trouble, allowing only one run.  Then they nicked Jason for another in the third when Manny hit into a doubleplay with runners on 1st & 3rd.  The Champs had a golden opportunity to get back into this thing in the bottom of the 5th, when Owings walked Ian “Stewie” Stewart, Miguel “Bombon’” Olivo, & Jason Marquis, but with two outs, Micah got Felipe “FILO” Lopez to ground to first.  Northside batters scored another run in the 7th when Miguel Cabrera doubled home Utley.  The Champions only managed two other bases on balls against Owings, outside of the 5th inning, so when Bombon’ bounced to 1st in the 9th, it was official, put it in the books, and give him a new nickname, Micah “No-No” Owings.  I had no idea a no-hitter had been thrown until Chuck told me, guess that’s called focus or called, lost in a fog.  A no-hitter for Owings, I can’t roll no friggin’ dice!!!  I think PaPa Bunchie will be rolling better dice next year for Josh Hamilton, Evan Longoria, Adam Dunn, & Delmon Young, funny how good dice rolls seem to be pretty much aligned with having good players to roll numbers on.  Now I needed to regroup, grab some water, guzzle it down, and get ready for the four games left to be played on the road in this series, trailing in the series 3-2.

“The Freak”, Tim Lincecum took the mound for the Champs, in an effort to right the ship, in a first game rematch against rookie lefthander Brett Anderson.  JROLL took Anderson deep to start the game and V-Mart also went yard in the 1st, 2-0 after one.  A 2nd inning sac-fly cut the lead in half.  Frenchy came through with a two out RBI single to plate AROD from 2nd base in the 4th, to put us up again by a deuce.  El Caballo put icing on the cake with a 7th inning big fly.  Lincecum went the distance for the complete game win.  Now the series was back to even with three games to be played.

Again the Champs played long ball, knocking four balls out, to pace a 10-2 win.  The four amigos doing yard work for Chicago were AROD, JROLL, Lopez (2-run), & Lee (2-run).  Josh Beckett hardly broke a sweat, allowing only one hit over 5+ innings, and was relieved by Dice-K, who worked the final four for a save.  Hitmen’s Hurler Hiroki Kuroda was hit hard & hit often, and it could have been worse had there not been an official scorer giving him the benefit on a couple of errors where it was questionable as to whether or not RBI’s should have been denied or awarded.  Advantage, Good Guys, 4-3.

Things looked bleak when things unraveled for Matt Cain in the 5th, a walk, a double, another walk, a couple of base knocks, and a 1-0 lead turned into a 3-1 deficit.  Manager Luke turned the game over to his team’s best asset, his pen.  With 2-outs & one on, MO, Olivo cracked one long gone, high & deep, off the leftfield foul pole off Joakim Soria, to tie this one up at three in the 8th.  Two batters later, a single by C-Lee & two basehit by Stewie, and it was 4-3 Champs.  Chicago’s pen was outstanding over the last four innings, making that lead hold up.  But not feeling all that confident, AROD gave up a day of rest in an effort to extend the lead, pinch-hitting in the 9th, when nothing came of that decision, a one run lead would have to do.  Colby Rasmus greeted Papa Grande with a basehit up the box and with 2 outs, Chase Utley walked after fouling off a dozen pitches, bringing up Cabrera.  Valverde dropped to a knee, pointed to the sky, screamed in delight, after getting Cabrera to swing at a slider in the dirt for strike three, ending the game, giving Chicago a 5-3 series lead, heading into the finale.

Miguel Cabrera hit a three run 5th inning bomb off Buehrle, then Manny being Manny knocked one out himself, to put the Hitmen up four.  Brad Penny held us in check, before surrendering a meaningless two out run in the 9th, when El Caballo’s ribbie double scored Morneau to end Penny’s bid for a shutout.  There was some controversy when Ian Stewart, with 2nd column 11’s, appeared to steal second, on a H & R 35, but was called out.  Manager Mallasch came sprinting out of the dugout, arguing the call, but to no avail.  Neither the president nor the vice president could be reached during the contest.  Interestingly, the vice president called after the game to say, he’d have ruled him out.  While the president said, he was safe, because the board states, the runner must have a 10 or 11 on his card, not necessarily in the 1st column, to be considered safe on a 35 Hit & Run.  Reading it’s such an important, necessary, skill, which is so often under utilized.  Final score 4-1 Northside.  But the Champions held on to capture the series 5-4.

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It was an unexciting series for me for the most part… we just couldn’t runs.  It wasn’t until game 3 that we scored more than one run in an inning.  It seemed that our pitchers would practically have to pitch shutouts for us to win.

But my rookie starter Tommy Hanson did one better.  In game 6, he no-hit the Bombers (stupid me, I don’t have the scoresheet with me and don’t have his line).  It was about the fifth inning when I realized that he had the no-no going.  Of course I didn’t say anything to jinx it and Mike had the courtesy to keep quiet too. 

If our league is ever in a group setting and this kind of thing happens, we don’t mention the no-hitter but we might alert the guys and say that there might be some “press interviews” after the game.  They usually get the hint in case they might want to peer over our shoulders. 

My favorite league no-hitter story wasn’t even a no-hitter.  Years ago, I was playing a manager who is now long gone. He had Kevin Appier on the hill and he was lights out.  So much so he was pitching a perfect game through seven innings.  *I* was impressed but of course wasn’t saying anything. 

The bottom of the seventh comes around and his team is up.  Appier is due up and his manager starts thumbing through his bench cards.  “I’m going to pinch-hit”, he announces. 

“Are you sure?”, I asked.

“Mmm-mm”

“Are you REALLY sure?, I double checked.

“Umm”, he glanced down at his scoresheet.  “Maybe not”.

Either he was watching Appier’s innings really closely or just felt it was time for him to come out, he just didn’t realize that Kevin Appier had a perfect game going through seven innings. 

Well, he kept Appier in and I eventually got a hit off of him.  No perfect game or even a no-hitter.  But he got the win. 

Not to pick on this manager… when it came to playing APBA, he was one of the best.  He just got caught up in innings limits. 

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1990 Jose DeJesus DW 7 wins, 3.74 ERA,  22 starts, 130 IP

1979 Steve Busby DW 6 wins, 3.63 ERA, 22 games, 12 starts, 94.1 IP

1937 Spud Chandler D 7 wins, 2.84 ERA, 12 games, 10 starts, 82.1 IP

(by the way, this post and the research was inspired by a posting on APBA- Between the Lines.  Check it out for some good insight).

There are reasons why, in the past, APBA had downgraded pitchers. 

• limited appearances and innings
• to bring the team’s overall strength within the scope of its actual potential
• and to some degree, to compensate for control ratings

Mostly though, it appears that those pitchers in past seasons suffered the most when they pitched a very low amount of games and/or innings. If a starter such as Chandler was given a B grade, perhaps it was thought that he would be used as such throughout the season as a full timer, giving his team an unfair advantage.

But it seems there was a change in recent times.  Those Spud Chandlers of today would be given their due grade.

Why the change?

The APBA fans had more than likely made it known that the true grade was what they wanted.  Let’s face it, baseball fans are more savvy now when it comes to baseball replays.  They have better access to schedules, actual pitching rotations, and lineups and the like.  If I’m doing a 1979 replay, I can quickly go to sites like Baseball Reference and get a quick read on how KC used their pitching staff.

More importantly, APBA fans want to be in control of the replays.  It’s their business who they play and for how long.  In APBA’s formative years, perhaps they attempted to “guide” us by downgrading pitchers who pitched well in a small sample size.  By now, we’re ready to take command of our replays. 

As a side note, the downgrading of pitchers in past years really hurt those who were in leagues with these pitchers.  If I had Jose DeJesus on my team in 1991 (the year after his 1990 season), it would have been disappointing.  Most leagues already implement some sort of limit system to prevent any sort of over use.  So the idea, of downgrading a pitcher because of low actual innings was beyond the point. 

That’s not to say some pitchers don’t still get downgraded but APBA realized this and started giving more representative grades.  It’s a good change and one that most APBA replayers welcome.

By the way, if you can think of other egregious D pitchers wondering what they did to deserve their fate, pass them on.

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Upperdecker manager Marcus Bunch takes on John Brandeberry’s Rising Bamm! Beanos

Pardon me if I rant about my team’s performance today,

See, my Twin City Thunderchickens took on the Moline Upperdeckers managed by Marcus Bunch.  He came all the way down to Urbana to play two nine-game series; one against my cross-town rival John Brandeberry and his Rising Bamm! Beanos and the other against me.

The overall score doesn’t matter (ok, he beat me 5 games out 9) but my frustrations lie with two ninth inning situations.  Surely, they’ve happened to you.

Game #4

Down 4-1 going into the bottom of ninth, I have two out and a runner on first.  Jacoby Ellsbury begins to rally with a base hit making it first and second.  An E-5 scores a run making it 4-2 and first and second with #3 hitter Nick Markakis up. 

Now Markakis is the tying run and I just need two to tie.  I roll the bones and get an 11-0.  Woo-hoo!  We’re going into extra!!  My next roll?  52-7.  My jaw dropped.  A single and a run.  I’ve never been so frustrated over a rbi hit.  Why oh why could it have been anything but a second column seven? 

Yes I had one more out left and it was even Albert Pujols but I must have used up all my mojo on that 11.  Albert rolled a 16-13. 

Upperdeckers win 4-3

Game #9

In the last game, once again in the ninth inning (this time in the top of the frame), I was down 3-2.  Marcus announced he was bringing in Francisco Rodriguez.  I practically giggled like a school girl when he made his announcement.  We owned K-Rod all series.  Win or lose, he couldn’t get the 1-2-3. 

And this game was no exception.  Ryan Zimmerman started us off with a base hit.  One strikeout later, Mike Cameron walked, something K-Rod was familiar with doling out.  Next up, Scotty Podsednik, who was pinch hitting for weak hitting Geovany Soto, followed up with a well-placed 35-9 to load the bases with a base single.  The sacks were drunk with only one out.  Surely I could squeeze out a run to at least tie the game.

I pinch hit for the pitcher with Casey McGehee.  Then came my critical mistake.  I failed to coach Ryan Zimmerman at third. 

What did I roll?  A 23-39.  Zimmerman is caught stealing home.  ARGGH!

McGehee then followed that up with a strikeout to end the game.  K-Rod had the last laugh with an ugly save.

Upperdeckers win 3-2.

Seriously, a well fought series by the Upperdeckers   They had a rough time of it as five of their players were injured during the course of the nine games. 

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The Chicago Champions record stood at 56-22 heading into July, mostly due to beating the teams in the West, we were below .500 (8-10) against Eastern teams.  This did not bode well facing the Three Rivers Gamblers, with the most explosive lineup in the IAL.

Things didn’t look good when their ace, C.C. Sabathia, beat our ace, Tim Lincecum, 3-0 in game one.  A 4^th inning bases loaded sacrifice fly off the bat of Jason Bay provided the only run, until rookie Matt Wieters belted a 7^th inning two run shot off fellow rookie reliever Ryan Perry, to give the Gamblers some insurance, C.C. went the distance, allowing four hits, striking out nine.

Jimmy Rollins gapped a two out 3^rd inning triple to plate Carlos Lee all the way from first base and Josh Beckett made that run stand up, winning game two, 1-0.  J.B. matched Sabathia, allowing four singles, K’ing 13, and the series was even.

In the 3^rd contest Matt Cain took a 4-0 lead into the bottom of the 9^th.  Jeff Francoeur scored twice & Jason Monroe, aka Justin Morneau, knocked two solo shots into orbit, to account for the four Champ tallies.  But trouble came a knocking in the bottom of the 9^th, pinch-hitter Magglio Ordonez laced a two basehit, Shane Victorino drew a base on balls, and Dustin Pedroia cut the lead in half with a double to the gap, plating two.  Cain’s night was through when Ryan Braun singled & stole second, putting the tying runs at 2^nd & 3^rd, with nobody out.  Prince Fielder trotted to firstbase, after taking four wide ones from Ryan Perry.  Jose Valverde induced Derek Jeter into a 6-4-3 DP, now the potential tying run was just 90 feet away.  Righthanded reliever Sergio Romo, a C* XY, was summoned to replace Valverde, an A* XY, playing a little APBA here, to face Jason Bay, who cooperated with a 55-8 to end the ball game, 4-3, 2-1 Chicago series advantage.

Rookie Brad Bergesen out dueled Mark Buehrle, going the distance, for a 6-0 Gambler victory, knotting the series at two.  Prince Fielder provided the only offense Three Rivers would need, with a 1^st inning two run Monster Blast!  Then a walk & five singles, would plate four more runs in the 5^th to chase Buehrle to the showers.

Jason Marquis was the beneficiary of an offensive explosion in the 5^th contest, cruising to a 13-3, complete game victory.  Jason Monroe knocked in six, launching two balls into orbit in the process.  Fielder hit a two run bomb in a losing effort.  Aaron Laffey was rocked!  Champs were up 3-2, heading to Crackerjack Park.

In a repeat of the 1^st game matchup, C.C. was again facing The Freak, things looked bleak, as Chicago trailed 3-0 heading into the bottom of the 5^th.  In the 2^nd inning, Prince & Garrett Jones hit back-to-back pokes to set off the fireworks.  In the bottom of the 5^th Miguel Olivo joined the fun with a three run, pinch, bomb to tie the game at three.  Ryan Perry was called on to quell the Gamblers offense, holding Three Rivers scoreless for a couple of frames.  Another pinch-hitter, this being rookie, Alcides Escobar, came off the pines, ripping a single & a steal, to plate Felipe Lopez, who doubled with two outs in the bottom of the 7^th.  Hidecki Okajima & Jose Valverde held the Gamblers scoreless over the final two innings, to make the slim lead stand up.  Chicago had a 4-2 series advantage, with three games to play.

The Champions overcame an early two run first inning deficit, ripping three long balls, one by Josh Beckett (1^st of the year for my pitchers), Carlos Lee, and a two run two out shot in the 7^th off the leftfield foul pole by rookie Gordon Beckham.  The two 7^th inning runs game Beckett some breathing room, boosting the lead from a one-run margin to a three-run cushion.  Chicago hurlers made it stand up, 6-3 win, 5-2 lead, with two to play.

Matt Wieters provided a clutch RBI single in the 6^th to break a two all tie.  Brian Sanches was called on in the 8^th to face Alex Rodriguez with the tying run on 2^nd, Sanches did his job, stranding the runner, and preserving the 3-2 victory.  Jason Marquis was the hardluck loser for Chicago.  Heading into the series finale, the series lead was down to 5-3.

A 5^th inning error & another in the 6^th, contributed to seven runs, off Aaron (I’m not Laughing) Laffey.  Jeff Francoeur lined a 2-RBI bases loaded single and Jimmy Rollins drove in three with a double & a sac fly.  Matt Cain went six, while Clay Zavada & Sergio Romo threw three scoreless innings for a 7-3 finale winner, closing out the series, Champs 6 – Gamblers 3.

This series was played over SKYPE on a sunny day, with me in Waupaca & Todd in Pittsburgh.  It was supposed to be a rainy Monday, Rainy Days & Mondays always get me down, but the weather men were wrong (like my Dad says, 50-50 chance of rain).  But I was glad to get the series in and am so thankful for SKYPE, it makes long distance APBA seem like you’re playing in the same room, minus the aroma often times provided by Papa Bunch, which isn’t a bad thing, in my opinion, hopefully SKYPE never adds the smell feature, don’t know if there would be that much of a demand for it anyway.

The White Sox played the Buccos in Pittsburgh in interleague play this year, but truth be told, I wasn’t really following my boys all that closely at the time, the series kind of snuck up on me, as I’d pretty much written them off, and was waiting for GM Kenny Williams to mercifully pull the plug on this boring baseball team.  But then something happened, the boys started winning, and I really can’t explain it, it’s more than playing weak National League teams (Pirates, Cubs, & Nats, cuz we also beat the Braves).  And I don’t think it has much to do with Omar Vizquel taking over for injured Mark Teahen at third, although the 43 year old has definitely provided a spark.  No, it seems to be more about pitching, quality starts & not just three runs over six innings, and lights out relief pitching has really done the trick.  I have to tell you, I was a skeptic when in the offseason we jettisoned Jim Thome & Jermaine Dye in an effort to get faster, because we also got rid of speedsters Scott Podsednik & Chris Getz, replacing Scotty with leadoff man Juan Pierre.  But I didn’t see how bringing in Andruw Jones & Omar Vizquel would add to our team speed.  But now I am a believer, of course the team still hits home runs, Alex Rios, Paul Konerko, & Carlos Quentin are still playing in this bandbox of a ballyard.  The homers are flying out of here, but this club is also playing defense & taking the extra base.  I don’t know where the White Sox will end up, especially losing Jake Peavy for the year, but I’m a believer and very excited about watching the Good Guys in Black play a little baseball, they’ll cut your heart out, LET’S GO WHITE SOX!!!

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Sometimes we take on affects.  Call it embellishment or even superstition but such one manifestation is faux mascots.  Here are a few of the mascots I’ve encountered in our league throughout our history.

Brando, our manager of the Rising Bamm! Beanos has always been a Ken Griffey fan.  So much so that he collected Griffey memorabilia.  That included this Griffey Beanie Baby.  Renamed ‘Beano’ (Beanie…Beano, get it?), he traveled with the Bamm! Beanos and even helped ‘roll’ the dice when Brando needed that extra run.

 

My turn.  This is Chuck the Chicken who was the mascot of my Twin City Thunderchickens.    Given to me by Brando (see above), Chuck was a seedy type perhaps fueled by his lack of acceptance in the league.  See, if he was squeezed just right, he would play the Chicken Dance song which he would sometimes do after a Albert Pujols homerun.    He has never forgiven the manager of the Three Rivers Gamblers for kicking him across the room.

 

This figurine of John Smoltz is not so much a mascot of Chuck’s Northside Hitmen but maybe an alter-ego.    Don’t get him (Chuck?) mad or he’ll go off on you.  His Beavis-like voice goes through your head.

 

Back in the late 80s, we had a manager named Rob who had a team called the Chicago Mercenaries.  He religiously brought a 1965 Al Lopez baseball card like the one to the left when he played.    As you see, card has Lopez pretend posing as if calling to his players.  Or perhaps he’s calling to his field manager, “Hey Rob!  Doncha’ think you better get someone up in pen!”.

Does any other face-to-face APBA league have similar silliness or is the IAL certified crazy?  Let us know!

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I received a press release of sorts from Rod Caborn from the Orlando APBA Association announcing the winner of their first half title:

Joe Passiatore’s defending champion Platoon (31-11) have captured the first half title in the Orlando APBA Association (OAPBA) 2010 pennant race.  Led by the all-pinstripe infield of Mark Texeira, Robinson Cano, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, the Platoon rolled over their perennial rival, Dave Larson’s Taz Devils, to ease into their first half crown. In the Harry Caray Division, Walt Taylor’s Whatevers (33-9) set a new record for wins in one half, running away with the Caray division first half race.  OAPBA has its own website which details series results, provides updated standings and other league-related information.

Congrats to Joe Passiatore!

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He asks:

How do you guys feel about owners trying to pull a fast one and dump guys right after they get hurt and when the ink announcing their imminent DL stint is still wet?

The jist of Ambrosino’s is this:  how ethical or acceptable is it for a manager to make a lopsided trade with the knowledge of inside information such as an injury that hasn’t gotten to the big news outlets yet.  In today’s world of news feeds, Twitter, smartphones etc., it’s hard not to stay up-to-date but it can happen. In those cases, is there such a thing as an unethical trade?  Or is it every man(ager) for himself?

In short, is ok for a guy to pull a fast one to help his team, bridges be damned?

I guess this issue rarely comes up in some APBA leagues and probably comes up more often in others.  Our league (the Illowa APBA League) has been together for over 35 years now but more to the point, we rarely have turnover.  We’ve had two new managers in the last ten years.  I think it’s accurate to say that our league in it as much for the social aspect as much (or more so) than the game itself.  While we all want to get the most out of our transactions, we’re not ready to swindle our buddies.

Now, that may be true in every  league.  Newer leagues, larger leagues, maybe leagues that are geographically are farther apart.  And frankly, leagues with more “win or die” dynamics.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not necessarily judging this different way of looking at the ethics of trading.  It’s not the league’s responsibility for looking out for your team.  If you lose out because the relief pitcher you got in a trade was about to go on the DL and you didn’t know about it, it’s your loss. 

But it’s not how I do business either.

Another issue to be considered, what is the role of the APBA league commissioner should a potential lopsided trade be made?  Do they have the power to veto trade if they deem it not in the best interests of the league?  Perhaps one good reason??  A newbie manager in the league who’s getting his feet wet. 

Finally, a quick anecdote: 

In the IAL, we’ve never had an incident of swindling that I know of but it’s come close.  One manager traded Jim Edmonds to another just before our season was going to start.  This was a blockbuster deal so you know it was back when Diamond Jim was GOOD.  After our our day was done, we went down to the hotel bar to down a few and watch sports on TV bar.  That was ESPN News told us that Edmonds had just been injured. 

BUT.. the trading manager had no idea of Edmonds’ injury and if I recall correctly, he recovered enoguh to give his new manager a few good years at the plate. 

Still a good story…

I’d love to hear your comments. 

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Francis Rose is selling the complete collection of APBA Journals on Ebay.  The issues start in AJ’s first year of 1967 all the way to 2002, 363 in all. 

Interesting to note that the early ones aren’t distribution issues but rather Len Gaydos’ original copies.

From the Ebay description:

It is widely known that the early AJs were mimeographed, and the few that survived are usually found in difficult-to-read condition, since the mimeographed pages often run or blur over the years.  Len’s archive, however, has stayed in pristine condition, and since they are original archive editions, they don’t even have address labels on the backs from the initial issue in 1967 until Tom Heiderscheit took over in 1977.

Rose’s “Buy It Now” price is $1600 but the collection is up for auction for anyone who wants to put up a bid.

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Me (right) getting annihilated 5 games to one by Tedd

The Illowa APBA League wrapped up our June get-together on late Saturday night after playing 24-30 games each. 

The big story to me was the domination of the Chicago teams.  You see, our league is divided into two divisions the East (made up mostly of Chicago teams) and the West (the downstate Illinois and Iowa teams).  Technically, the only reason for the divisions is for scheduling purposes (we play inter-division games during three All-league get-togethers spaced throughout the season.  The only other reason for divisions is for our annual All-Star Game.  We don’t have two separate standings for each divisions.

But don’t let that fool you.  It seems to me there it an underlying rivalry between the two groups.  Call it geographical, big city vs small town, whatever.  There’s definitely a healthy “us vs them’ mentality. 

The Smith brothers, Don and Keith, facing off against each other.

Unfortunately for the West Division (including me and my Thunderchickens), we got our butt kicked last weekend.  I don’t have the win totals from everyone but I do know this… I went 9-15 for the weekend and I’m pretty sure I was the winningest manager in the West Division.  Even playoff favorite (and host of the weekend) Rising Bamm! Beanos were stymied. 

Big winners were Tedd Mallasch and his appropriately named Chicago Champions.  He couldn’t find a way to lose as he went 25-5.  Down by 4 runs in the 7th inning of his last game of the weekend, Mallasch’s Champions simply hit 5 solo homeruns to hand the Molly Putts Marauders their tenth straight loss. 

The Chicago Highlanders were almost as good.  They went 22-8 for the weekend.

It might be a long year for the West Division.

Win or lose, it was still fun.  The attraction of the IAL in my book, are the people and they are what make the league worth being in. 

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