I asked each of the four Illowa APBA League 2021 playoff teams managers to send me a photo of the APBA card of their favorite player from this season. From there, I worked something up.
Let’s start with 4th place and move on up.
Chuck Lucas was in 5th place for pretty much all of the year. It wasn’t until the last nine-game series when their fate would be sealed. Chuck’s Hitmen (84-78) won seven out of nine games in the very last series played by the league to sneak into fourth place guaranteeing a playoff spot.
Chuck’s Hitmen campaign was team effort. Interesting piece of trivia: no Hitmen pitcher had more than 10 wins. Mike Trout was one of Chuck’s pick (he also liked Randy Arozarena but who wouldn’t?). Trout was chosen as a IAL All-League Outfielder after the regular season was over. He hit 43 homers and collected 102 rbis.
Steals leader Trevor Story (30 HR, 107 R, 46 SB) also spurred on the Hitmen.
Chuck will be taking on first place Dennis Jennings and his Global Glaciers in the IAL playoffs. Good luck to both!
