APBA Fan Profile: Kevin Burghardt

To me, Wisconsin resident Kevin Burghardt seems like just your regular guy.  Like most of us, he loves baseball and APBA and has yearning for when the game was simple.  When I found him on Facebook, I found his posts quite entertaining and creative.  He knows his baseball history and isn’t afraid to put himself out there.  Not only does he have a fun website dedicated to his 1970s-based tournament but he’s even posted some YouTube videos of himself playing APBA. 

It’s been a while since I’ve done an APBA Fan Profile and Kevin was a great choice to pick up again.  Kevin graciously agreed to answer some questions.  -Tom

The APBA Blog:  Give us the lowdown on Kevin Burghardt.  Where are you from and what do you do?  What do you do for fun if it’s not playing APBA?

Kevin Burghardt:  I’d like to start by saying I am utterly and completely flattered that you have chosen me for your latest APBA Fan Profile. It’s quite an honor and I appreciate it very much. Your blog is simply outstanding and I was floored when you asked me to be a part of it via an interview!

I grew up in Aurora, Illinois and lived there up until the college years. I first landed in southern Wisconsin in 1992 and continue to live in Janesville, Wisconsin today. I recently completed my 23rd year of teaching, all of which have been at the third grade level. I am extremely fortunate to do what I do for a living.

The most fun I have and the greatest joys life has brought my way have been loving, raising, and interacting with my boys. My children are incredible human beings and my undisputable heroes in life. Outside of family (and APBA) time I enjoy interacting with the rest of my family members and close friends, as well as reading, writing, movies, working out, golfing, dining out, and cheering wildly during Bear games, Cub games, and Rafael Nadal’s tennis matches.

TAB:  How did you get started playing APBA? Do you play any other APBA games besides baseball?

Kevin:  When I was 8 years old I found my Dad’s old APBA Football game in the basement’s storage room. I pulled it out and through a combination of solo efforts and Dad’s teachings, I figured out how to play it. However, Dad’s game had cards from the 1960’s and I didn’t know any of the players, so my enthusiasm waned a bit. At some point thereafter I learned that the game company was not only still in existence, but that it sold cards for the modern day football players! I received my first modern set for my birthday that year and when Terry Bradshaw, Roger Staubach, Tony Dorsett, and others from the ’70’s hit my tabletop, my interest in the game rekindled.

The football game had a brochure detailing information about the baseball game within. I thought, ‘This amazing game company makes a BASEBALL GAME TOO????’ I clearly remember being off the charts excited about this discovery. I ended up receiving the baseball game and newest card set that Christmas.

A lifelong love affair was born the day it arrived.

These days I stick with APBA Baseball, but on occasion I’ll pull out APBA Football and play a game just for kicks. In the past I’ve played APBA Basketball and APBA Bowling, but they’ve both sat in the closet gathering dust for quite some time now. I’m curious to try out APBA Golf and APBA Soccer but I know myself well; I’m obsessed with the baseball game (specifically my current project) and there are only so many hours in the day. I’d rather invest those hours fully in my obsession, as I get so much enjoyment from it I just don’t see how another game could match that.

TAB:  Your latest project is entitled “Best Teams of the 1970s”.  Give us a breakdown of the project.  Are you a fan of 1970s era baseball (like I am)?

Kevin:  I am head over heels in love and obsessed with 1970’s era baseball. It has always been an interest of mine, but when I first read Dan Epstein’s brilliant book entitled, Big Hair and Plastic Grass a few years ago, the wheels started churning on creating a project exclusive to teams from the ’70’s.

What I ultimately decided on for the project was to select each franchise’s best team from the decade (excluding Toronto and Seattle because they were only around for three years, and were horrible during that time span as well). The decision of which team to select for some of the franchises was difficult and a strong argument could be made in favor of a different team in a handful of cases. I simply had to go with what I felt was right and with the team that I felt would have the strongest chance for success in the end.

Here’s the setup I ultimately decided upon:

AL East: ’70 Orioles, ’77 Yankees, ’78 Red Sox, ’78 Brewers, ’72 Tigers, ’76 Indians

AL West: ’77 Royals, ’70 Twins, ’73 A’s, ’77 Rangers, ’77 White Sox, ’79 Angels

NL East: ’77 Phillies, ’79 Pirates, ’79 Expos, ’71 Cardinals, ’72 Cubs, ’76 Mets

NL West: ’75 Reds, ’77 Dodgers, ’71 Giants, ’79 Astros, ’74 Braves, ’78 Padres

I incorporate several statistically sound innovations in conjunction with the basic game in my playing rules. These innovations were originally learned while I was a member of the Lame Duck Baseball Association, an outstanding mail league of which I was a member for 14 years (a league that is still going strong today). These innovations are an absolute necessity when I play APBA. They ensure statistical accuracy, do a great job of differentiating the pitchers far more than the basic game, and help make each game reach an unequivocal level of joy for me.

TAB:  I’ve learned every APBA player plays the game a different way.  Take us through how you get ready and then play an APBA Baseball game.  Do you have any strange superstitions when playing APBA?

Kevin:  I use the rival game company’s software to track stats and help me manage player usage. I roll the dice via a Yahtzee dice roller (to save time and effort when it comes to the additional dice rolls that are sometimes necessary when using the LDBA’s innovations) and use the APBA cards and aforementioned ratings and innovations to determine the result, then use the game’s manual input feature (if Baseball for Windows had a manual input feature I’d use it in a heartbeat, but no such luck) to record the result and track the game action. I never, ever click auto play to generate results. Doing that for even one at bat would forever ruin this project in my eyes. I should also add that I do roll the bones in the traditional way on occasion for big games on the schedule so I can slow down, savor the moment, and build up even more anticipation and drama.

So to further answer the question, during the pre game I pull the two teams and look over the computer’s suggested starting lineups, then either go with those or make adjustments as I see fit. My game setup sees the two lineups stacked with the cards on top of each other and I flip each batter’s card upside down and below the batting order’s deck as I work my way through the lineup. The pitcher’s cards lay by the opposing team’s batting order deck and I write symbols directly on the cards for easy reference as well.

I don’t feel I have any strange superstitions while playing APBA. Sometimes I’ll ‘announce’ the game aloud in a whisper (or as loud as a yell when a dramatic moment occurs) but most of the time I just play the game out with a sort of commentary running through my head as it goes along. On second thought, that’s all probably so strange that I should have kept it to myself!

TAB:  You’re quite active online.  You post quite frequently on Facebook’s APBA groups and now you’ve started your own web presence on Tumblr as well as posting a few YouTube videos.  What prompted that?  Do you have an underlying message to tell fellow APBA fans or are you just simply telling us what’s happening in your APBA life?  Also, how did your very creative baseball cap meme get started? 

The Facebook APBA group’s posts started on a whim. I was at some early point in the ’70’s project and felt a creative moment come on, so I posted a brief game recap with some sort of comedic fictional scenario related to the game’s hero at the end of the recap. The post got a bunch of ‘likes’ and fun comments so I started posting more often. One could argue that all those likes and comments created a Facebook posting monster!

Since that post I’ve gotten into the habit of posting game recaps when something related to the pennant race or a unique game performance occurs. I certainly don’t want to post after every game so I plan on sticking with that approach the rest of the way. I try to make it fun for the reader by mixing in fun fictional player quotes or scenarios so that it’s not always just a game report. There appears to be a core of however many people who enjoy the reports because I see the same names pop up in the ‘likes’ and comments sections time and again. If my posts are creating joy, giggles, or triggering memories of old players for them my mission has been accomplished.

The Tumblr thing started for two reasons. One, I didn’t want to mix APBA related stuff with the blog I previously created because I wanted to keep that one exclusive to my personal/non-APBA related life. Second, I realized at some point that this ’70’s project was one that I was going to look back at years from now, simply because I’m enjoying it so much and it just feels so special when I’m working on it. Thus, I decided to create the Tumblr blog so I could have all of the old Facebook posts in one central location and be able to look back through them in the future.

The YouTube videos were done to promote the joy of APBA Baseball. Perhaps a 10 year old kid will come across it and it’ll spark a desire to buy the game or maybe a former APBA player will see it, remember the enjoyment he/she used to have with the game, and pull APBA Baseball out again as a result of seeing one of those videos. I doubt I’ll ever know if that has happened or will occur in the future, but I’d like to think it did with someone out there.

The baseball cap thing started when I was reading Jonah Keri’s recent book about the Montreal Expos. As I was working my way through it I suddenly felt an overwhelming desire to own an Expos cap so I went on eBay and found one, then snapped a pic of me wearing the cap while reading his book. I sent it to Keri via Twitter and he ‘favorited’ it, which made me smile. A day or two after that I started to think more and more about the 1970’s project and how many of the caps back then were different when compared to today’s styles, so I started buying ‘old school’ style hats that I could wear when playing APBA. As of this writing, I’m up to a dozen in hand with two more on order. I now expect I’ll end up with a cap for each of the 24 franchises in the APBA project and if I do get that far, I will probably finish off the collection by adding a 1977 edition of the Blue Jay and Mariner caps as well!

TAB:  Finally, what is one thing no one knows about Kevin Burghardt?

Kevin:  I doubt there’s anything that absolutely no one knows about me. However, one thing that only the people closest to me know about is my deep and unwavering Christian faith. There is one very special person that I share those types of thoughts with often, but outside of her it’s a topic I keep to myself unless someone specifically asks about it or wants to discuss my religious beliefs.

Every time I do one of these Fan Profiles, I learn something new and I feel like I’ve expanded my view of the APBA community.  More importantly, I get to know another APBA fan.  You can see all the Fan Profiles here. 

It was a pleasure to work with Kevin on this and I thank him for his time!