Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Greetings, and welcome to Red 11!

Red 11 is an APBA blog.  Why Red 11 for the name?  I love rolling a result of 11 (Single with a stolen base, or some derivation of that with runners on).  Everyone loves the BIG 1 (HR), but I always feel that the 11 is a real killer for the defense as it gets the line going and usually comes from a hitter toward the top of the order.  It is a powerful momentum changer in a game, as much as an attempted steal and throw out (you went from one on, to nobody on and another out) and the dreaded 6-4-3 is for the defense.  With runners on, the 11 is a real rally roll.

I have been playing APBA Baseball since 2013.  I bought a complete 1985 set at a church tag sale for $5.00 and had no idea what was in the box. The previous owner was a Cubs fan and that set was well used but in overall great shape.  I read the directions, poked around on the internet, and rolled my first game; 1985 Twins v. Cardinals with the Cards winning.

I am a lifelong Minnesota Twins fan, a Royals fan since moving to Kansas in 1999, and adopted the Cardinals when my wife and I moved to Illinois in 2005.

So far, I just roll.  Eventually I may add the digital version, but I love in tactile interaction of the dice and cards.  I play a lot of solitary games, however, I just joined a league based out of Florida so these games (3 a week) will add to my rolling. 

I have modified the game a bit, borrowed from the Minneapolis boys and their error chart (I will post on each modification and give credit where credit is due in the future), I made my own unusual play chart, and created an instant replay chart.  I hope to do a modified Hurricane ('74 A's) pinch runner chart yet this winter.

I am an avid tournament player and will do posts on the tournaments of the mid-west in detail.  I also like to play and collect odd sets: Japanese teams, minor league teams, Negro Leagues, etc.  I will eventually highlight some of these sets I have collected along the short road I have traveled with APBA.