Chicago Tourney!

Greetings!
I am finally able to get back to blogging with the semester at a close.
The Chicago Fall Tourney was a huge success, thanks to Rob Spatz and all the fantastic managers. Rob found a great venue, was well organized, and it ran very smoothly, in the tradition of all the Chicago tourneys.

My 1964 Twins were nothing short of AMAZING.  They ran the table: 9-0 in divisional play.  I went from feeling like they were doing well, to not believing it, and ended with a series of superstitions to not break the streak.  9-0: congratulations to a strong hitting, above average pitching, and poor fielding team.

They will be an interesting group to use in the future. A big "thank you" to The APBA Blog run by Thomas Nelshoppen  for these tourney pics.   Check out his blog, it is excellent and link above takes you to it.

The Twins hitting was off the charts showing a massive run differential (north of 70).  Here are some rough stats presented in the batting order over 9 games.  I will do a separate entry for game 10.

The team hit .351 and smashed 23 Home Runs over 9 games.

Jimmy Hall:  .424
Tony Oliva:  .390
Bobby Allison:  .294 with 5 Home Runs
Harmon Killebrew:  .432
Don Mincher:  .316
Rich Rollins:  .333
Early Battey:  .361
Bernie Allen:  .352
Zoilo Versalles:  .257

We ran the table for divisional play, and then ran into the 2000 Astros managed by Pig Daniels.  Don't sweat the "Pig" name, it is the name he prefers. The Twins were shut out by Jose Lima.....Yes, Jose Lima.  And, that sent the Twins back to Minneapolis, the front office into turmoil, and sent the Astros on a run to the championship game. It was good to see the Daniels clan join the APBA action.

Next stop is a winter tourney in Wisconsin-January 21st to be specific in Wauwatosa.   I will be taking the powerful 1970 Minnesota Twins squad up north for that one.  After Wisconsin is the Prairieland 2.0-teams yet to be announced.  

The Wisconsin tournament is a 1970s tourney and the Prairieland is teams from 1970-2000 with one dead-ball player.  Look for more blogging about those two. 

I can't bring a Twins dead-ball player but I can bring a Washington Senators dead-baller to join a Twins squad.  The scouts say this guy has potential:

However, there seems to be some disagreement at headquarters.  I like the kid's numbers, but there are other dead-ball players.  And, I am never sure to go with a once-every-four-games ABxz starter or a studly every-day position player.  Time to crunch the numbers.