Well with a lot of work and some frustration, the Boys of Summer APBA Online League is almost there! We’ve finished our draft yesterday. I won’t rehash our issues with the APBA Online drafting mechanism. You can read about it here. I will say that our managers in this league have pressed forward and found a way when it seemed there wasn’t one. Under less than optimal circumstances, we’ve drafted 45 players for 16 teams.
A lot of credit for this goes to Shawn Baier (pictured) who has bugged us, prodded us and encouraged us till we finally got the job done. I’m not sure if he knew what he knew what he was getting into when he brought this league into existence. Starting any league is a tough enough task but to do it with a very new product like APBA Online is bordering on groundbreaking. Thanks Shawn!
For those wondering, here is a screen cap of my team at the moment (who knows? I may make a trade.) Note: The BoS is using the 2012 season for their first year of existence.
…and the pitchers.
By my count, I have seven players who are on my Twin City Thunderchickens from the Illowa APBA League, and two former players not to mention a son of a former player (Mitch Moreland, son of Keith). Go with what you’re comfortable with, I say.
Those screen shots are from BBW’s Advanced Draft, by the way. I’m slowly becoming familiar with how things are done in the APBA’s Baseball for Windows world, thanks in part to my fellow managers in the Boys of Summer league, especially Shawn Baier and Stray Corrado.
IAL Drafts this Weekend!
Draft one is down but I have another coming up this weekend. The Illowa APBA League (10-team, basic) is holding its draft and will be starting its 40th season this weekend. Plans are in place and we are meeting in our usual place in the Chicago area for our annual postseason, draft, league meeting and our inter-division round of games to start the 2014 season.
Unlike the BoS, the IAL’s draft is a rookie draft. It is a continuous ownership league and we draft rookies to replace those players that retired or otherwise didn’t get a card. I should note that there is a twist. The IAL has voted to expand our rosters from 26 players to 30 over a period of two years. This year, we’re adding two extra picks. While that sounds fantastic, we’re also stipulating that every APBA card is eligible to be used. Previously, players under 125 at-bats could be dropped in favor of a rookie draft pick.
In a lot of ways, the BoS and the IAL are very different leagues. The IAL uses dice and cards, play face-to-face, and has been around for 40 years. The Boys of Summer league is brand new, uses BBW and with any luck will play APBA Online.
I’m looking forward to both leagues this year. It will definitely be two different experiences.
Correction made: Mitch is not Keith’s son. Thought I had heard that before. Thanks, Richard!
Just an FYI… Mitch Moreland is NOT Keith’s son…
Doh! thought he was for some reason. thanks Richard.
Enjoyed the article Tom, finally got caught up on sleep, now I’m getting caught up on the blogs. Good post, I think it’ll get easier as we start playing the season. Start-up drafts are the worst. I didn’t expect the Online mess, but I think the league really pulled together & rolled with the punches.
I actually thought Mitch was Keith’s son too. But I was lucky enough to have dinner with Keith Moreland (among others) last year in Las Vegas when the Cubs and Rangers were in town for two exhibition games. I asked Keith- a very nice but kind of goofy guy- why he wasn’t having dinner with his son instead. Keith said ‘who’s that?’ and i said Mitch and Keith just laughed and laughed. ‘if he was my son, I could retire!’