Interview: Doug Schuyler, organizer of the Second Chicagoland APBA World Series Tournament

I had the chance to talk to Doug Schuyler last week on the phone.  Among other things, Doug is responsible for organizing the upcoming 2nd Chicagoland APBA World Series Tournament (along with co-organizer Jim Saska) which is slated for November 16th, 2013.  This upcoming tourney seems to be getting a lot of attention so I thought it would be good to get some info straight from the horse’s mouth, as it were.  I originally had the idea of doing this interview as a normal APBA Fan Profile but given Doug’s involvement with the tournament, we decided to talk on the phone.  I’m glad we did as we hit on lot of different topics during our discussion.  I got to know Doug better and I found out what was going on with the Chicagoland Tournament. 

Who is Doug Schuyler?

Doug now lives in the northern suburbs of Chicago and is a physical education and health teacher at a middle school in Antioch, Illinois. He grew up in downtown Chicago. He hearkened back to when he was a kid and could take the “L” train to both Wrigley Field and Comiskey Park and watch ballgames. Doug was a fan of both the Cubs and the Sox as a child (a rare thing indeed!). As he’s grown older though, his allegiance shifted towards the White Sox. As he put it, corporate interests have “hijacked the team” he loved on the Northside.

As a child, Doug ran across boxes of APBA cards in his uncle’s basement. He remembers looking through the cards and as far as he concerned, they may as well be hieroglyphics with the confusing numbers. But the seed was planted. He learned the game and played it as kid. With school taking priority though, it took a backseat. Fast forward through college, marriage and two kids, and he decided to give APBA a try again and he never looked back, playing mostly solitaire. Doug loves the mathematical aspect that accompanies the game. “Gotta love the numbers and stats!”

Does Doug play any other APBA games? Well, he’s trying APBA Golf to see if something he might be interested in. Also, APBA Hockey has piqued his interest. He has been getting together with fellow APBA player in Long Grove, Illinois who he describes as his “Obi-Wan Kenobi” of APBA Hockey and has been mentoring him in the game. Doug is a fan of hockey and the APBA game itself is quite intense.

The Second Chicagoland World Series APBA Tournament

I asked Doug what prompted him to organize these Chicagoland World Series APBA Tournaments.  It’s all about having fun. Doug says, “It’s about guys being 12 years old for a while… escaping reality for a weekend”. I really get the sense from him that these tournaments are not meant to be over-competitive. Just some guys kicking back, playing APBA over a few slices of pizza. Doug also emphasized how these tournaments can help “find other people” who play the game. There have been national conventions in the East and the West but this is one the first real organized effort in a while to get people together in the Midwest. Doug and I even pondered the idea of making this a full-fledged regional convention in the future.

At the first Chicagoland APBA World Series Tournament on July 27th, five people attended. With the help of Jim Saska who helped organize that tournament, Doug is putting a lot of effort into making the second tournament, scheduled for November 16, a success. So far, he gotten a great response. Doug estimates that between 20-30 people have told him they are interested in coming. There will be a traveling trophy (seen right) for the tournament winner and he has talked to John Herson from APBA who will be donating any season card set to the winner of the tourney.

The topic of rules for the tournament came up and that is always a touchy subject. Most tournament participants really don’t want a lot of restrictions and regulations governing them at an event that’s really meant to be fun and relaxed. At the same time, everybody comes in with their baseline idea of how a regulation APBA game is played. Doug says, “We don’t want too many rules and restrictions and want people to bring out their favorite teams.” There might be some baseline rules and if so, he and Jim will have them “finalized sometime soon”.

Toward the end of our phone conversation, I personally thanked Doug for organizing this tournament. I’ll be attending and am looking forward to it. I’ll be seeing some APBA fans who I’ve been in contact for years via this blog but never met in person. People like Doug, Pastor Rich Zawadski, Shawn Baier and many others I’ve interacted with online have expressed an interest in coming to Chicago in November.  Win or lose, this tournament will be a great time for me.

Finally, here are the relevant details for the Second Chicagoland APBA World Series Tournament for those who might be interested in participating:

Date:  Sat., November 16, 2013

Time:  9 AM to 5 PM

Place:  Woodstock Public Library, Woodstock, IL (map)

If anyone is interested in attending the tournament, leave a comment here or check out Doug’s post in the APBA Baseball group on Facebook and leave a comment.  At this point, any stock Major League Baseball team put out by APBA is eligible to be used in the tournament. 

Many thanks to Doug and Jim Saska for organizing this!