November Chicago Tournament quick Pre-View

First, thanks to Rob Spatz for taking over this tournament and keeping it alive.
Rob did a call for ideas and from the great suggestions, he selected a Sub-500 theme.  Your APBA team must have a sub .500 winning record.  As a Twins fan I had many fine teams to pick from.  I debated an 80s or 90s team, but I am managing the 1988 Twins in the TCABT in Minneapolis in November, so I selected the great 1964 Minnesota Twins!

The 1964 Twins went 79-83.

These Twins can HIT!

Tony Oliva:  .323/.359/.557 with 32 HRs

Harmon Killebrew:  .270/.377/.548  49HRs

Bobby Allison  .287/.404/.553  32 HRs

Jimmy Hall  .282/.338/.480  25HRs

Rich Rollins  .270/.334/.406

Early Battey  .272/.348/.407

And, they can pitch a bit too:  

Jim Kaat  B-yz
Camilo Pascual  B-x
Mudcat Grant C-z
Dick Stigman D-xz

Pen:
Al Worthington  A*xz
Jim Perry  B*xz
John Klippstein B*yz

Now let's get back to earth for a moment, they must have a weakness!  Fielding.  I will have a fielding 3 team no matter what tricks I pull or who is throwing.  

Mincher is killing me at 1B, a fielding 2.
Rollins at 3B is a 3.
Allen at 2B is a 7
The above combined with a fast but three 2s in the OF gets me to a solid 34 without my pitcher. 
Clank, clank, clank, iron hands in the field. 

You can still enter the tournament, just local the Facebook page and sign up, or you can leave a comment here and I can lead you to Rob. 

Chicago Summer Fantasty Tournament

Chicago was fantastic.  I can't express what a gracious host Doug Schuyler continues to be for the APBA community.  I am very happy that I managed a fantastic photo of this future APBA Hall-of-Famer. Below is a shot of Doug and his famous throwing motion-note the dice in the air!

Who won?  We all did-it was an APBA tournament!  Well, technically Bob Eller and his powerful 2015 Cubs won.  I had the privilege of playing Bob and his Cubs in Division play.  We had an awesome set of three games, with a walk-off win by the Cubs and my go-ahead run being gunned down by a throw from center field to home.  Not just a roll of the dice with this guy, many wise managerial moves to get to victory. But you still need a dose of the old "Me hit ball hard" to win.

Here is a shot of the Championship game between Bob and Craig's 1979 Brew Crew. 

How did my 2006 Twins do?  Not so great, but I still believe in them: 2-7.  

MVP: Joe Mauer
He hit a studly .424 for the tournament.
Over 9 games he collected:
9 Runs scored
6 Walks
3 Home Runs
3 Doubles
Stole 2 Bases
and knocked in 12!

Runner-up:
Rod Carew
He hit .432 for the Tourney
Over 9 games:
10 runs scored
2 Home Runs
3 Doubles
2 Stolen Bases

Carew DH'ed so I can't give him the MVP when Mauer worked every inning behind the dish as an 8. 

Special Mention:
Bautista was a great pinch hitter!
Tom Kelly gave him the nod three times and he hit 2 doubles in 3 plate appearances.  All late in games.  I used Tyner (F) as a pinch runner for him and Tyner scored twice.  A deadly combination. 


Two problems that lead to 7 losses:  Outside of Carew and Mauer, the team hit under .250 and I gave up a ton of 8th inning runs in two games. 

In division play I faced Doug's 2015 Royals, a squad I managed in the TCABT in Minneapolis, the 2009 Yankees, and the 2015 Cubs. My team was the oldest team in my division dating all the way back to 2006. 

Here are some shots of the action that I did not post via Facebook while in Chicago. 

I look forward to seeing all these people again and the next tournament in Chicago.

Chicago Fantasy Tournament Pre-view

Chicago is the 23rd of July!  What a great venue, and an even better set of managers at this one. 

I am taking another run at at trophy with the 2006 Minnesota Twins.  I think they are one of the best Twins teams on APBA paper.   PLUS, and it is a big plus, I added the 1977 Rod Carew to this team. 

Doug Schuyler is the organizer of this APBA tourney and it is very well run, to say the least.  This year, for the summer tourney he added a great twist.  You can add one player from the history of your franchise.
Thus, the 1977 Carew added to my 2006 Twins. 

I have been running the numbers and I think I will hit the team this way:

1.  Rod Carew DH (F) .388/.570/.449
2.  Joe Mauer C-8 .347/.507/.429
3.  Justin Morneau 1B-4 .321/.559/.375
4.  Torii Hunter  CF-3  .278/.490/.336
5.  Michale Cuddyer  RF-3  .284/.504/.362
6.  Luis Castillo 2B-8 (F) .296/.370/.358
7.  Jason Bartlett SS-8  .309/.393/367
8.  Nick Punto  3B-5 (F) .290/.373/.352
9.  Lew Ford LF-2 (F) .226/.312/.287

Defense 1

ROTO:

Santana A xyz
Bonser C xz
Liriano A k
Radke C z

I have decided to stagger the good pitching, so each team I face sees an A in every series.  Thus splitting Santana and Liriano from the traditional #1 and #2. 

The pen is STACKED so I hope to get a solid 5 out of Bonser and Radke, then turn loose the cannons in the Pen. 

The Pen:

Reyes A&B* xy
Nathan A&C* kxz
Neshek A* kxz
Crain B* yz

Crain can get the one time boost to an A*if needed, but Reyes and Nathan will throw a whole bunch of innings 6-9. 

The Bench:

Jason Tyner (F) OF-2 Pinch runner
Michael Redmond (S) C-8 Extra catcher
Luis Rodriguez 3B-3, 2B-7, SS-7, 1B-3 Utility Player

There is not as much speed as I like on a team here, so Tyner may play an important role late in tight games. 

Granted, I am facing great teams with great players added like: Ruth, Koufax, Frank Thomas, and Brett, but this time of year is our spring training, and as a manager, I look at this team and think: "We have a much better than average chance!"

TCABT -VI and Howie Mooney Does it Again!

Selection Saturday for TCABT-VI!  What a fun time of year.  

I have some self-imposed rules for team selection that I abide by now: I only play Twins, Royals, and Cardinals teams, with one exception, the 1990 Reds. 

Why these teams?  I grew up in West-central Minnesota-so a life-long Twins fan.  I did part of my graduate work in Kansas (RockChalk!), and I now live in Illinois and adopted the Cardinals as my local team.  The '90 Reds?  Two words: Chris Sabo. 

The TCBAT continues to grow every time we play as it is now up to 32 teams and may go to 36.  I highly reccomend this tournament as the play is excellent, and the fellowship is top notch.  It is a very well run tournament and you will have a great day. 

After midnight on Saturday July 2, we can begin to select our teams.  I usually play a few games with some possible teams and then send my selection in.  Some of the teams I am tempted to manage in the TCBAT are the 1969, 1987, 1988, and 1991 Twins.  I missed my chance to play the 69 Twins in the Prairieland Tournament as I had a death in the family.  So I feel I need to give them a run. However, Howie Mooney ran a set of 1988 Twins for me and I have been playing them to get a feel for them.  

Why '88?  Both Kirby (.356 24HR)  and Hrbek (.312 25HR)  had big years, along with Gaetti's best year (.301 28HR)  at the plate and the '88 Twins have 2 A starters, both with a z. 

Why not '88? Two, yes two, D starters. D as in "Death" in a tournament. 

Howie Mooney ran a set of the 1988 Twins for me and they are gorgeous.  Here is a shot of the envelope and card-back.

Below are some of the well-know players.  This could be the 1-4 in the lineup.  Some speed at the top with "Crank" and "Puck" and then the power of "Buy a Vowel" and "The Rat". 

The lineup as I have it appears to be a 1 defense if a 2 is throwing so my Ds have a defense 1 behind them as does my closer.  I can add a defensive upgrade at catcher (Harper is a 6, Nieto is an 8) and gain a 1 defense late in a game. 

The rotation is hot and cold.  Two As and two Ds.  The saving grace, those Zs are a big help. 

Viola as the ace and then I am always at a loss on how to set the rotation.  Conventional wisdom says top to bottom, Viola, Anderson, Bert and then Straker.  But in a tourney I am inclined to mix it up, Viola (A), Bert (D), Anderson (A), and Straker (D), so I have at least one A going against each opponent. 

The Pen. One A with letters and one B with letters, and both have a z.  Reardon will close and Atherton can go as set-up, and use that one-time A upgrade when needed. The pen is short. "Señor Smoke" Berenguer is a C* with xyw.  A somewhat available option especially in the middle of an inning so he is a one-time B*. 

Yes, I know, I can't use Howie's set in the tournament, but I own an '88 complete set. 

Howie also ran a Twins All-star team for me that I will post next week.

Season Projects

I am amazed at people that play an entire season.  Well done.  I play in one on-line league (World Baseball Organization) where I play 3 games a week to run my end of a complete season with 2015 carded players, and I play 6-10 games for the fun of it each week. Time to use those 6-10 games for a project.

I am about to start a project thanks to Howie Mooney, again!  I am going to play a Minnesota Twins All-Star team against a mix of teams for 162 games.  I picked the Twins and I limited the team to 25 players from the Minnesota franchise alone. 

Starters go 5 minimum, 6 outs per reliever, injuries are in play, most rules like our tournaments.  I am going to try and stick to games played for position players and IP for arms.  Example: Mauer has 138 Games in 2009-so Wynegar will have to pick up 24, Neshek has 70 IP in 2007 so I will hold him to 70 IP in my project. 

First, the Twins:

Catcher- 2009 Joe Mauer
First Base- 1988 Kent Hrbek
Second Base- 1977 Rod Carew
Third Base- 1961 Harmon Killebrew
Short Stop- 1965 Zoilo Versalles
Left Field- 1977 Lymon Bostock
Center Field- 1988 Kirby Puckett
Right Field- 1964 Tony Oliva
Designated Hitter- 2006 Justin Morneau

Rotation:

1973- Bert Blyleven
1966- Jim Kaat
1978- Dave Goltz
1988- Frank Viola
Spot Starter- 2004 Johann Santana


Long Relief/Injury Starter- 1991 Kevin Tapani

Pen:

2006- Joe Nathan
2007- Pat Neshek
2002- Eddie Guardado
1991- Rick Aguliera


Bench:

1988-Gary Gaetti  (3B) Defensive sub for Killer
1977- Larry Hisel (PH/OF)
1988- Dan Gladden (PR/OF)
1979- Butch Wynegar (C)
2006- Michale Cuddyer (PH/OF)
2011- Tsuyoshi Nishioka (2B/SS)

Manager:
Tom Kelly

Home Field:
Metropolitan Stadium

Stadium Announcer:
Bob Casey

The Competition:  10 team "Division"
6 three game series and a two game play-off with the competition team with the best record against the Twins.  Only my Twins will play 162. 

1908 Chicago Cubs
1919 Chicago White Sox
1941 Boston Red Sox
1961 New York Yankees
1975 Cincinnati Reds
1986 New York Mets
1995 Cleveland Indians
2001 Oakland A's
2015 Kansas City Royals

Predictions welcome.

The big winner and the problem of Danny Darwin

Congratulations Jim Welch taking those 1941 Red Sox all the way!

I am so glad the Prairieland was a success, as all these tournament are turning out to be.  Next stop for the Mid-west, the Chicago Fantasy tournament in July.  I will be taking another run with those 2006 Twins with the addition of the 1977 Rod Carew. 

Jim's prize went in the mail last week: a new-in-the-box APBA Negro Leagues set. 

The Trouble with Danny Darwin

I sent an interesting question around Facebook yesterday and I will raise it here again.  I am playing in a small local tournament and I drew a team randomly from a pool: The 1990 Houston Astros. 

Standard tournament setup: Starters must go 5, grade reductions in effect, arms out of the pen limited to 6 outs, no restrictions on the pen pitching back-to-back games. 

There are 2 possible rotations:

#1

Mark Portugal By

Bill Gullickson Cz

Mike Scott Cy

Jim Deshaies C

or 

#2

Danny Darwin B(A*)yz

Mark Portugal By

Bill Gullickson Cz

Mike Scott Cy

The pen for rotation #1 would be

Darwin B(A*)yz

David Smith A*xz

Juan Agosto D*

The pen for #2

David Smith A*xz

Juan Agosto D*

Do I bolster the rotation with a Byz or the pen with a Ayz?

I will play 10 games, so Darwin as a starter will go game 1,5, and 10.  Minimum 18 innings of a Byz

He could throw 20 in relief as a Ayz

I really like the z out of the pen and I tend to be pen-heavy as a manager, but running a rotation of 3 C's is asking for trouble. 

What would you do with Danny Darwin?

The Prairieland and your plans for tomorrow

Well, I didn't get a chance to play in the First Annual Prairieland APBA Tournament.  I was home visiting in Minnesota and my Uncle died.  He was very dear to me and a huge Twins fan.  I would have given him constant updates on the 1969 Twins in the Prairieland had I played.  It is a good time to pause and remember that we all have plans for tomorrow and we must make the most of our time, as tomorrow may not come.

Here is a great photo of me and my uncle Roald playing APBA: The 1991 Twins v. the 1987 Twins.

Who won? Jim Welch with the 1941 Red Sox!  Congratulations and well done.  He holds the trophy for a year and will receive a new-in-the-box APBA Negro Leagues set.