I thought I’d do a series of articles which share a few modifications or tools that APBA leagues have been using.
John Briggs brings us our first entry. He’s a manager in the Roberto Clemente Memorial Baseball Association. The RCMBA saw a need to adjust how the optional base coaching was done in the APBA Basic Game so they came up with their own system. It’s called the “Slow Runners Card”.
It’s obviously been popular in the RCMBA. John says they’ve used it since 1977.
SLOW RUNNERS CARD
- APBA’s "Optional Base Coaching" (ie; "playing safe") will not be used no matter the situation or result.
- The below chart will be used whenever the runner is slow and the hit & run board is not in use & play result is 7-11.
- The slow runner will advance safely the following number of bases unless "SR" indicates otherwise.
| PLAY RESULT IS: | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 1st | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1*$ | SR |
| 2nd | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | SR |
| 1st & 2nd (S at 2nd) | 1* | 1 | 1 | 1 | SR |
| 1st & 3rd (S at 1st) | 1 | 1 | 1 | SR | SR |
| 2nd & 3rd (S at 2nd) | SR | 1 | 1 | 1 | SR |
| Bases full (S at 1st or 2nd) | 1* | 1 | 1 | 1*$ | SR |
My Take:
There’s no doubt the Optional Base Coaching put forth by the APBA basic boards needs a little refining. Our league has struggled with this as well. In concept, I do like the idea of “coaching” a runner. However, I don’t particularly care for APBA’s “all or nothing” approach (i.e. all runners are coached or none).
This chart has obviously served RCMBA well since they have used it for what, 30+ years now? Would our league use it? Probably not but only because we are going through a strictly boards phase now and aren’t too fond of making changes to it.
Comments from anyone?
thanks to John for sharing this!
Have a APBA modification you want to share? Email me,
This series is a great idea. I love that APBA is so hack-able and I’m always looking for ways to make it more realistic and interesting.
I’m getting ready to start a replay with my son. I think we are going to employ the above slow runner mod and see how it goes. Thanks for sharing guys.