I’ve got some serious empathy for Harold Baines. Here’s a guy who quietly and courageous produced at a highly professional level for 22 years. He never had a scandal and by all accounts was an excellent teammate. In many ways, he was the opposite of Manny Machado. He made six…
Recently, I’ve been reading Scott Ferkovich’s Motor City Champs: Mickey Cochrane and the 1934-1935 Detroit Tigers. It’s an interesting read, by the way. As you might expect, there’s a great deal written about Hall of Famer Charlie Gehringer. Knowledgable baseball fans know Gehringer, but because of his quiet demeanor, he always…
Wow, big news! Contributing editor Kevin Weber has joined his first league! Kevin is now a member of the World Baseball Organization. Kevin made his announcement on The APBA Blog Facebook page and asked about trades and drafts. How does an APBA manager prepare for a league draft? What are…
Kevin Weber sent me an APBA GO snip of Adalberto Mondesi’s 2018 card recently thinking it would be a candidate for Weird Card Wednesday. Indeed, it was strange for several reasons. So I logged in to APBA GO to check myself. It seems that Mondesi’s incorrect stolen base total of…
In baseball history, how many pitchers have led their league in strikeouts seven or more times? I’m sure those more in tune with baseball history might immediately think of Walter Johnson, Lefty Grove, and Bob Feller. Those who first took in the game in the 1960s and 1970s, would think…
To end the 2018 year, let’s bring out Dandy Don Drysdale from 1965. I think it was Doug S. who posted this earlier on the APBA Baseball group on Facebook but boy, it is indeed a Dandy card! Giving up 30 homers didn’t affect Dodger Drysdale’s effectiveness in 1965. He…
Tony Conigliaro was the Bryce Harper of the 1960s. When Jack Hamilton died in February, baseball saw the conclusion to one of its most tragic events. On August 18, 1967, a Hamilton fastball struck Tony Conigliaro on his left cheek, dislocating his jaw, damaging his left retina, and fracturing his…
Here’s a little Christmas gift for all of you…Rickey Henderson. Not only was he the greatest leadoff hitter in MLB history, he was also the greatest player born on Christmas Day. I hope everyone in the APBA community has a wonderful Christmas with their families and friends. Be sure to…
I want to take the time to reflect on 2018, wish everyone a happy holiday season and look forward to a fantastic 2019! The past year was full of countless regional tournaments. Probably more than I have seen previous. That is great to see. The good news is that there…
When Harold Baines was recently elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, I saw several comments that the bar for the Hall is being lowered. Well, though I love the Hall of Fame with all its flaws, I must say it was lowered decades ago. The year 1954 was one…