With 1912 Giants, Dave Rueck steals Chicagoland

Wow! What a day!! Chicagoland Tournaments are so fun! Due to Rob Spatz’ hard work, there were 43 in attendance at the Comfort Inn O’Hare in Des Plaines, Illinois.

Congratulations to Dave Rueck! Mild-mannered Dave went 8-1 in regulation play with his 1912 New York Giants. He then proceeded to defeat his postseason opponents to win it all. The tourney final was a Dave vs. Dave and a New York vs. New York affair. Dave Rueck and his 1912 Giants faced Dave Elsen and the 1928 Yankees.

Dave says that his deadball Giants hit just five homeruns but stole a total of 30 bases for the day!

Kyle Daniels and his 1927 Yankees was an early favorite as he went 9-0 to get to the postseason. He was immediately defeated by Dave Elsen and the ’28 New York Yankees. There was a shift in the space-time continuum then. As you see above, Waite Hoyt started both games.

Congrats to these fine folks who made the postseason!

Quaterfinalists

  • Gary Lindley – 1954 Giants
  • Kyle Daniels – 1927 Yankees
  • Paul Zeledon – 1939 Reds
  • Ryan Daniels – 1906 Cubs

Semi-finalists

  • Ron Emch – 1972 Pirates
  • John Roels – 1930 Cardinals

Finalist

  • Dave Elsen – 1928 Yankees

…and again, Dave Rueck should get a big applause from all of us. I played him and of course, I had to face “Big Six” Christy Mathewson who is an AYZZ. Dave, I must have rolled six or seven 14s with the bases empty.

Nice work, Dave!!

From talking to everyone, it seemed that there were a LOT of close games. My 1966 Twins went 1-8 but my highest run differential was five runs. Don Smith’s 1962 Angels provided Eli “Can I Buy a Vowel” Grba (who is a D pitcher) plenty of run support. Tom Johnson’s 1970 Reds beat me but the lead in the game changed six times.

All told, plenty of extra-inning games and one-run games.

You can find photos from the tourney here (for those interested, I post all photo galleries of APBA functions here).



Rob Spatz knows how to do tournaments right! Rob will deny this, of course. You won’t find a nicer guy, either. And you know what? He didn’t even participate in the tourney.

I got a chance to meet Rob’s mom in the room towards the end of the tourney. I just told her she did all right in raising her son.

thanks, Rob!

Thomas Nelshoppen

I am an IT consultant by day and an APBA media mogul by night. My passions are baseball (specifically Illini baseball), photography and of course, APBA. I have been fortunate to be part of the basic game Illowa APBA League since 1980 as well as the BBW Boys of Summer APBA League since 2014. I am slogging through a 1966 NL replay and hope to finish before I die.

2 Comments:

  1. Again, too kind. Appreciate the kind words, and from the feedback I got a great time was had by most!

  2. Tom, you are spot on. This is a truly great tournament, and Rob does a tremendous job of pulling it together. I’m not sure TD works harder (apologies to all the other TDs).

    I can’t make this every year, but when I do, I know I’m in for a treat.

    Thanks again Rob, and to all the participants and APBA Brothers for making a great weekend, once again.

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