HOF Christmas Mini-Tournament

I am doing what a lot of you have done, I have broken the APBA Hall of Fame set into various configurations and settled on birth month.

Not sure who they would play initially, I grabbed a couple of All-Star Negro League sets and decided they would make for an interesting tourney. 

All games in either Kansas City Municipal Stadium:

Or Kaufman: 

The HOF December team: 

Position Players in Batting Order: 

Rickey Henderson (12-25-1958) Designated Hitter (F)

Ty Cobb (12-18-1886) Center Field 2 (F)

Larry Walker (12-01-1966) Left Field 3 (F)

Johnny Bench (12-07-1947) Catcher 9

Al Kaline (12-19-1934) Right Field 3 (F)

Craig Biggio (12-14-1965) Second Base 9 (F)

Joe Kelley (12-09-1871) First Base 4 (F)

Tony Lazzeri (12-06-1903) Third Base 4 (F)

Ozzie Smith (12-26-1954) Shortstop 10 (F)

Fielding 44

Pitching Rotation:

Steve Carlton (12-22-1944) Bxy

Sandy Koufax (12-30-1935) Bk

Ferguson Jenkins (12-13-1942) Cxyz

Ed Reubach (12-01-1882) By

Pen:

Lee Smith (12-04-1957) B*kw

The Competition:

All-Star K.C. Monarchs

"Sach"

All-Star Homested Greys

"Josh"

All Star Chicago Giants

"Rube"

Wild Pitch - Does a "coached" runner advance?

Greetings all!
At the fabulous Chicagoland APBA Fall Tournament hosted by Rob Spatz and won by Rich Zawadzki an interesting question came up.

Situation:

Slow runner on 1st.

Manger is "coaching" the slow runner.

Result is "Wild Pitch, runner to 2nd."

The rules say:

There is a 6th rule, but it only pertains to 1st and 3rd double steals and the trailing runner.

Does he advance?


Discuss, and GO...........

Selection Saturday Wisconsin Winter Tourney

Another great APBA Saturday with a Selection Saturday for the Wisconsin Winter Tournament hosted by the gracious Kurt Bergland!

This was a tough one for me.  Had I drafted 1st or 2nd I would have taken the 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers or the 1957 Milwaukee Braves.  However, I drafted 4th and I was left with either a strong Giants or Yankees team, or stay true to the Twins and take a Senators team.  I can't stand the Yankees and I have no connection to the Giants other than Jon Miller as my favorite play-by-play person.  Thus, the 1955 Senators are my choice.

They are not the best Senators team in the 1950s if you look at team record.  The 1952 Senators had 78 wins and the 1955 team only had 53.  Yes, I selected a 101 loss team for an APBA tourney.

Let's take a look at the line-up.

1.  Eddie Yost  (F)           3B4        .407 OBP
2.  Squirrel Sievers          LF 1       .489 SLG
3.  Carl Paula                   RF 1      .447 SLG
4. Mickey Vernon           1B 4       .452 SLG .301 AVG
5. Johnny Groth              CF 2
6. Scrap Iron Courtney    C7           .298 AVG
7. Pepe Valdivielso         SS7      
8. Pete Runnels               2B7         .284 AVG
9. Pitcher *

* O'Shea hits 5th or higher and may pinch hit a bit.  "Grab a bat Francis."

Rotation:

1.  Bear Tracks Schmitz    Cz
2.  Mickey McDermott     Cyw
3.  Spec O'Shea                 D

Pen:
Pete Ramos C*z

Bench:
Killebrew (S) 3B3

Ernie Oravetz Pinch Runner (F)
Jerry Snyder Pinch Runner (F)

There is a bit of speed off the bench if needed and Killer as a young player can hit one out.  I can't really help the fielding but I have adequate reserves if an injury hits this team.

Let's talk defense, or not.

Defense is 34 total, with massive adjustments to get to 36.

It should be fun handing the 1953 Dodgers, '57 Braves, and the like a few losses.

Home Field is the massive confines of Griffith Stadium: 388/421/320

The Chicago Fall Tourney

Well, the Vintage Baseball Season is done and that allows time on Saturday for this blog.

The next big event is the Chicago Fall Tournament hosted by Rob Spatz.  It should prove to be a wild one as the teams are limited to the 2000s, thus we enter the PED era of baseball.

I selected the 2002 Twins.  As usual, I feel pretty good about this team working it out against the 2002 A's (Moneyball), 1977 Yankees, 1909 Cubs, and the 2015 Royals.  They played some tough teams pretty tight and consistently beat the 2002 A's.  However, when I take a step back this team has some weaknesses, especially 5-9 in the batting order, they strike out too much.

The strengths are decent starting pitching: Rick Reed Byz, Santana Bxyw, and Eric Milton Cyz.  I may be optimistic calling that "decent.   Yes! A three man rotation for Chicago!

The Pen is solid by any measure: J.C. Romero A&Cx, Hawkins Axz, Guardado Bxz, and Mike Jackson in a pinch, Bz.

Batting Order:

1. Bobby Kielty  LF F2

2. Jacque Jones  RF  F2

3. Torii Hunter  CF  F3

4. David Ortiz  DH S

5. Corey Koskie  3B5

6. Doug Mientkiewicz  1B5

7. A.J. Pierzynski  C8

8. Luis Rivas  2B F8

9. Christian Guzman  SS F9

They field well, that's for sure.

Some speed at the top and bottom.

And a "motormouth" behind the plate.

Easter Back from the Dead Mini-Tournament

Over Easter weekend I am going to run a Back from the Dead Mini-Tournament.  What do I mean by that?

I am taking the 4 worst full-season Minnesota Twins teams in the history of the franchise and running them through a 4 team best of 5 bracket tourney.   Winner gets redemption.
Those teams, ranked from worst to best are, with their top player by WAR, Rotation, and Pen:

2016 Twins 59-103  #4 seed

Brian Dozier 6.5

Roto:
Santana By
Santiago Cw
Duffey Dz
Milone Dz

Pen:
Kintzler B*z
Pressly B*y
Rogers C*xz
Boshers C*xz

1982 Twins 60-102 #3 seed

Tom Brunansky 5.6

Roto:
Bobby Castillo By
Frank Viola Dyz
Al Williams Dz
Terry Felton Dxw

Pen:
Ron Davis C*x (the Vulture is going to get a lot of work)

2011 Twins 63-99  #2 seed

Scott Baker 4.4

Roto:
Baker Bxz
Pavano Crz
Blackburn C
Liriano Cyw

Pen:
Perkins A*xy
Dumatrait B*w
Capps C*z
Mijares C*w

On a side note, the 2011 cards are almost paper thin and the print is light.

1999 Twins 63-97  #1 seed

 Brad Radke 6.5

Roto:
Radke Bz
Mays Cy
Milton Dyz
Hawkins Dz

Pen:
Miller A*yz
Wells B*z
Trombley C*xz

Chicago Selection Saturday

The Chicagoland APBA Tournament run by Rob Spatz is a fantastic tourney run by one of the outstanding individuals in the APBA community, and now he has added another event, Selection Saturday!

The summer Chicagoland teams must have a winning percentage below .556. 

I have selected the 2008 Minnesota Twins!   At 88-74 they should be a solid team. 

Mauer .328/.451/.413

Morneau .300/.499/.374

Gomez stole 33

Fielding 1 no matter what pitching moves I make.  

My "Ace": Scotty Baker Bxz

The Terminator: Joe Nathan A&C*kz