I had a few moments of down time last night so I took a look at my 2012 Illowa team, the Twin City Thunderchickens. Ugh, Tyler Colvin has a horrendous card.
Don’t get me wrong, he should. He batted .150 for the year. But it’s beyond me how the Cubs put up with him for 206 at-bats even in this pitching strong year.
Not only did APBA put a 25-40 on his card but Colvin is so bad that they moved the error number to 15. Yes, he has a 53-13 ala most pitchers and has a 15-17. THAT will take some getting used to. My hope is that my team won’t have to play Colvin’s card enough to get used to him.
In other news, my 1966 baseball set came from APBA last week!! It’s so busy with holidays and stuff I haven’t even opened the box. This afternoon I plan to spend some quality time looking over the teams. No doubt, I’ll have the laptop handy so I can reference stats.
1966 is bordering on an era of baseball which I am probably least familiar (mid-fifties to mid-sixties). I guess that’s part of the reason I opted for that set.
Well, that and Ron Santo had a fantastic year. :)
1966 !
Your heading back into the Golden Age of Baseball ! You may never come back …..
JH
Colvin’s card looks like a typical card for a CUB!!!!
Well Mike, I know you’re a Cardinals fan and they …
…oh wait. Never mind.
I found a formula in an old APBA Journal from the 70s and built it into a spreadsheet to use to evaluate hitting cards. I can’t remember the league, though I guess I could look it up. Essentially it gives every hitter a base grade based on extra points and hit numbers. Then it adds and subtracts values based on 13s, 24s, fielding, speed, etc.
I think the original purpose was to create a salary for each player and then the league had a salary cap. Which helped determined who you kept and who you had to cut. That’s not important though…
What I have chosen to use it for is a calculator to help determine who has the best card in APBA. Not the best hitting card, not the best fielding card, the best all around Player.
You might be interested to know Tyler Colvin ranks 393 out of 480 “hitters” with a grade of 23. The league average is 44.66 this year. His 23 means his card would be valued alongside Kevin Kouzmanhoff, Josh Wilson, Aaron Rowand, and Jose Viciedo.
Who is the worst hitter you might be asking? That belongs to Julio Lugo who posted a -13 this year. His 0 XBH on his card and 7-8 13s really kill his rating.
The best card in the set? Adrian Beltre who posted a 116, just nudged Adrian Gonzalez out thanks in part to Beltre’s 2 first column 1s.
Joe,
interesting about that formula. I guess Colvin isn’t THAT bad. His three 0s with a decent second column help, I suppose.
And good thing I traded Lugo a couple years back, eh?
Worst card I ever saw was Al Luplow, 1964 Cleveland Indians. That was the first year I played APBA.
Take a look and be glad he isn’t on YOUR team.
Perhaps the anti-monster card post is in order … featuring offensively challenged players with high AB totals such as Ray Oyler, Mark Belanger and my favorite modern alternative, Drew Butera. He couldn’t hit a cow’s arse with a banjo. :)
@jeff
that’s funny. I actually thought about that a few days ago. A few of the shortstops from the late 60s like Oyler, Belanger Maxvill all came to mind.