Some of us play (or rather replay) APBA sports to get away from the sordid aspects of our favorite sports… the million dollar contracts, the scandals and all the accusations of PEDs. Some of us like to play our sports the way it should be played. I know I do. If that’s the case, this modification may or may not be for you. It’s the APBA Baseball Brawl Chart which has been around in different versions for a while now. To give fair due, Chris Blackburn gets credit for this version, I believe.
I ran across this version of the Brawl Chart a few days ago. The Brawl Chart is just an interesting modification for the APBA Baseball board game to spice things up a little bit. It gives the replayer options to for ejections or suspensions as well as injuries so beware! I have never used the Brawl Chart in replay or league play but I remember seeing some version of it a long time ago. Our league does joke about using it whenever there are multiple hit batters in one of our games.
As with most board modifications, this can be easily changed in a lot of different ways to suit your style of play (or even the era you are replaying). Reading through the chart, it does appear to be a bit complicated but once you get the process down, it’s probably not that time-consuming especially considering how often it is actually used.
Below is a sloppily-formatted table for viewing purposes. If anyone wants to use it in game play, I suggest downloading the Excel spreadsheet.
| APBA Baseball Brawl Chart | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| First Hit Batter: | |||
| Roll Dice: | If result is 11-63, then batter shakes it of and trots to first. | ||
| If result is 64-65, batter eyes down pitcher and words exchanged: | |||
| Roll Dice: | If 11-26, catcher walks in front of batter and after short exchange of words, cooler heads prevail and the batter takes first. | ||
| If 31-65, intense exchange of words takes place. Next incident of any kind, go to brawl chart. | |||
| If result is 66, batter charges the mound. | |||
| Second (or more) Batters Hit: | |||
| (Same Team) | If result of 11-26, batter gives a mean glare to pitcher, but trots to first. Next incident of any kind, go to brawl chart. | ||
| If result of 31-64, batter and pitcher go at it and are pulled apart after a short melee. Both are ejected. | |||
| If result is 65 or 66, major bench clearing brawl. Go to Brawl Chart. | |||
| Both Teams Have A Batter Hit: | |||
| If result is 11-36, tempers begin to rise, but cooler heads prevail. | |||
| If result is 41-64, batter and pitcher go at it and are pulled apart after a short melee. Both are ejected. | |||
| If result is 65-66, major bench clearing brawl. Go to Brawl Chart. | |||
| BRAWL CHART | |||
| Step One: | Determine number of players involved in the melee | ||
| Result 11-16 | 3 players | (one on defense, two on offense) | |
| Result 21-46 | 4 players | (two on defense, two on offense) | |
| Result 51-56 | 5 players | (three on offense, two on defense) | |
| Result 61-65 | 6 players | (three on offense, three on defense) | |
| Result 66 | 8 players | (four on offense, four on defense) | |
| Step Two: | Determine who is involved in the brawl | ||
| Result 11 | Offensive Manager – no strategy allowed during suspension. Pure dice rolls only. | ||
| Result 12-16 | Catcher | ||
| Result 21-26 | Pitcher | ||
| Result 31-34 | First Baseman | ||
| Result 35-36 | Second Baseman | ||
| Result 41-44 | Shortstop | ||
| Result 45-51 | Third Baseman | ||
| Result 52-54 | Outfielders – roll again (6-side: 1-2 LF, 3-4 CF, 5-6 RF) | ||
| Result 55-65 | Someone on the bench/bullpen (to determine, lay out bench players and roll for each. Highest roll is involved) | ||
| Result 66 | Defensive Manager – no strategy allowed during suspension. Next starter is a D YW. | ||
| Step Three: Check For Injuries | |||
| Roll for each player. | If result is 11, roll for length of injury as a J-3 | ||
| If result is 22, 44 or 55, roll for length of injury as a J-1 | |||
| If result is 15, 25, 31 or 51, roll for length of injury as a J-2 | |||
| If result is a 66, the player is hit with a bat and is out for 60 games. Player who hits him is suspended for 10 games. | |||
| Step Four: | Check For Suspension | ||
| ** You can choose to suspend each player automatically for one game. | |||
| Roll for each player. | If result is 11 or 66 player is suspended for 7 games | ||
| If result is 22 or 33 player is suspended for 5 games | |||
| If result is 44 or 55 player is suspended for 3 games | |||
| All other results result in no suspensions. | |||
Notes:
When teams meet again, you do not need to have multiple hit batters to start a fight. If you roll 11, 22, 33, 44, 55, or 66, then another fight ensues!
If the same pitcher and batter are involved again, then the two immediately create another bench clearing brawl with 8 players involved!
If anyone uses this chart, let us know how well it works!
![[photo credit]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Massive_fenway_brawl.jpg){kind=link}
I have to admit it is tempting to put this in. Especially in the late 60’s “beanball wars” era. I don’t know that I would use it personally, but I do like it, and the effort is there. I would not mind if APBA did find a way to factor this into the game somehow.
I have two questions though. Regarding the “no strategy allowed” part. As I am a single person replayer would I skip this penalty? And the other question is regarding the starting pitcher being demoted to a DYW part A – if the pitcher is for example a D (with no strikeout bonus or Z)would I skip the Y portion? part B – does the pitcher qualify for grade improvement after the 5 scoreless innings?
I love the Brawl chart.
Might want to include the occurrence of an injury (ie. runner out sliding into second type of play) as a trigger event as well. could make the occurrence of ejections a bit more frequent throughout the season, which would force the bench players into action more realistically. (balancing player use does get a bit mechanical during a season replay) :-)
I think this a great idea because, like it or not, it does happen. I’m going to incorporate this into this year’s replay and being a Dodger fan, you know we were involved in a few brawls this past season. Thanks for posting this and I’ll be sure to post any results if and when they happen. Keep up the great work on the blog!
Brawls? I don’t even consider errors or ejections. I play double eliminations mostly and don’t want these occurrences to screw it up. Still, if it’s fun for you go for it!
just coming across this now, 7 years later, but I would make more chances of escalation if the HB occurs the next batter after a HR