League Mods: Pitcher’s Hitting Card

The second entry in the APBA League Modifications and Tools Series comes from my own league, the Illowa APBA League. 

I can take the credit/blame for instituting the Pitcher’s Hitting Card in the IAL though admittedly it was not my creation.  I picked it up somewhere from a fellow APBA player (I can’t remember who) back in the early 90’s when I was commissioner of the league.  We modified it slightly and introduced into play.  We’ve used it in the IAL ever since. 

It’s sometimes called the “American League Pitcher’s card” but that’s really a misnomer.  Our rules are simple.  If a pitcher with less than 10 real life at-bats is up to bat, we refer to the card below instead of the card that APBA gave him. 

The PHC serves two purposes:

1)  It gives those American League pitchers with the typical 7-8-9 card fighting chance.  Let’s face it, if your league is a pitchers hitting league and John Lackey was on your team, he would probably develop some hitting skills… at least up to the par of your typical National League pitcher.

2)  On the other end of the spectrum, the PHC lessens the impact of some of the monster cards that some of the relievers get from just a few at-bats of work in real life.  Does anyone remember Mike Stanton?? 

Essentially, the Pitcher’s Hitting Card evens things out a little bit.  Owners of Carlos Zambrano and Livian Hernandez fear not… according to our rules, this card will only affect those with less than 10 at-bats so those slugging starters (and starters who hit poorly too) will get to use their own card.

Pitcher’s Hitting Card

11-   7-1     31- 13-6     51- 39-6

12- 25-7     32- 26-6     52- 27-6

13- 13-6     33-   8-1     53- 21-6

14- 30-6     34- 31-6     54- 32-6

15-   9-2     35- 13-6     55-   9-2

16- 28-6     36- 33-6     56- 34-7

21- 30-6     41- 24-6     61- 13-6

22-   8-1     42- 13-6     62- 13-6

23- 29-6     43- 29-6     63- 32-6

24- 13-6     44-   8-1     64- 13-6

25- 36-2     45- 14-6     65- 35-7

26- 13-6     46- 12-6     66-   0-1

My Take on the Pitcher’s Hitting Card

Since it was my idea to use this in the IAL way back when, I suppose it would be prudent to say this was a great modification.  It does achieve its goals of equalizing the hitting prowess of those pitchers who really batted in real life.

It’s highly customizable.  You think the card is too strong/weak?  Fine.  Change it.  On a side note, we change it every year to relocate the 12 to where it is supposed to be.

But you would be surprised how controversial the Pitcher’s Hitting Card is in our league.  “The card is too strong”.  “The card is too weak”.  “Why can’t we just use APBA’s cards?”  For a while there, we were voting every year on whether to use it.  I think we even added a stipulation that we couldn’t bring up for vote for the next year because managers were tired of voting on it. 

There IS something calming and simple about  just using the cards that APBA deals you.  If you’re willing to get past that and this appeals to you, give it a try.

Have a APBA modification you want to share?  Email me,