Boog thrills, F-Robbie disappoints at Chicagoland Tournament

I finally got around to calculating the stats for my 1966 Baltimore Orioles from last week’s Chicagoland Tournament.  The results weren’t all pretty.  I felt that my division partner and eventual tournament winner Scott Fennessy dragged my Orioles into the deadball era with his 1905 New York Giants. 

In our six games in which we went 2-4, we had a .215 batting average with no homers.  On the plus side, our Oriole hurlers ended up with a 1.76 ERA. 

Some offensive highlights

Boog Powell has to be the Team MVP of the Tourney.  He went 8 for 19 (.421) with 2 doubles and 4 rbis and 3 runs scored. 

Russ Snyder batted .348 (8 for 23) with 4 rbis.  He contributed three doubles and a triple. 

Brooks Robinson hit a solid .318 (7 for 22).  I’d like to say his bat made a difference but for all his effort, he only drove in one run and scored one run. 

Some lowlights

Frank Robinson was a bit disappointing.  He went 3 for 23 (.130) with zero rbis.  Leadoff man Luis Aparicio batted .167 though he did score four times.  Curt Blefary (.105, 1 rbi), Dave Johnson (.136), and Andy Etchebarren (.125) didn’t do much better. 

Pitching

The Oriole pitching numbers were a bit odd.  Take Steve Barber (AY) for example.  He allowed 4 ER in 16 for a 2.25 ERA in two games.  That unfortunately, doesn’t tell the whole story.  In each of his games, Barber gave up a four-run inning and all four of those runs were unearned both times.  Barber had trouble with control too.  He gave up 13 walks in those 16 innings.  As a result, he went 0-2. 

Moe Drabowski (BX) had a bit of a control issue, too. He gave up six walks in his loss. 

Not being used to a tournament format, I carried four starters.  In a way, I’m glad I did.  Jim Palmer (BYW) made a surprise start and pitched a three-hit shutout. 

The relief staff of Stu Miller and Eddie Fisher deserve some kudos.  In a combined, five games and six innings, Miller and Fisher only gave one hit and two walks.  Fisher allowed one unearned run. 

Fielding

I didn’t count the errors but this is a telling stat for my pitchers:

• 21 Runs allowed  
• 10 Earned Runs allowed

Eight of those unearned runs were in those two innings pitched by Steve Barber I mentioned earlier.

You can see all of the 1966 Orioles stats from the tournament here.  I do have to hand it to Scott and his 1905 Giants.  I had this idea that power overcomes pitching in APBA, especially with the Basic Game.  He proved us all wrong.