There are a few ways APBA keeper leagues can determine draft order for rookie drafts. Depending on how it’s done, it can emphasize league parity or competition. I thought I’d run through the methods our league (the Illowa APBA League) has tried (or considered trying) throughout our history with…
This week’s APBA Card of the Week is 1953 Al Kaline (reprint). This was Kaline’s rookie year playing for the Detroit Tigers and even judging by his card you can tell it made from a small sample size. Year Tm G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS…
I got the APBA Game Co. monthly eNewsletter today. Highlighting their communiqué was the announcement that we can pre-order Pro Hockey Board Game. I’m not a huge hockey fan (but I’ve been known to watch a game or two) and I’ve never played APBA Hockey. That said, when I was…
Steve Liles contacts us from back East about the Patriot League. An interesting facet about this Virginia-based, master game league is the salary structure they use which also implements the salary cap. Here’s the scoop on the Patriot League: League Name Patriot League Contact Person Steve Liles Sport Baseball #…
At the last Illowa APBA League All-Star weekend, fellow manager, CLuke told me of this cool website he ran across that makes available team rosters, transactions, lineups and pitching rotations for pretty much every year of modern baseball. He said he used it to help with his 1959 APBA replay.…
I always enjoy seeing APBA mentioned in the news media even if it’s just briefly. First, any PR for the game is good, in my opinion. Second, it’s interesting to see which sportswriters/athletes have played or encountered the game. This time it’s Tim Griffin who interestingly covers college football for…
Seamheads.com has a book review of "The Eastern Colored League" by David Lawrence and Dom Denaro. I haven’t read the book but it has an APBA twist to it. The monograph project started with the authors wanting to improve upon the APBA set of 20 Greatest Negro League Teams…
Steve Stein and Walter Hunt both wrote in to tell us about their league, the Transcontinental Baseball League. True to its name, the 24-team league spans both the USA and Canada. One thing that struck out about this league was its yearly publication. It’s very professionally done and slick! League…
Thanks again to our fantastic commish at the IAL, we have the MLB stats in Excel format (zipped). The spreadsheet includes: pretty much all hitting and pitching stats games played at position pitchers’ hitting a plus for APBA fans, certain offensive stats/36 PA so you can approximate hitter’s APBA cards.…
I’ve written about this before on The Baseball Zealot but the idea of using video Skype is catching on in the Illowa APBA League. At least among some of us. Don’t get me wrong. The IAL prides itself for being a face-to-face league. Considering we have managers that live hours…