The APBA Blog mail bag: Chuck Foley chimes in

Long time APBA fan Chuck Foley emailed The APBA Blog and I wanted to share his thoughts.  He has a couple of good points worth a look. With his permission, I’m posting his note in entirety. 

I have read with interest the blogs you are all posting. At the risk of boring you, I will write a brief intro of my APBA experience, so that you can better understand where I’m coming from.

I have played APBA baseball since 1967, and own 50 season sets (almost all of them purchased through APBA). I stopped buying them for awhile around 1985, and didn’t play at all for several years, and then happened across the computer game in 1994, at a toy store. I played that exclusively for a few years until my son was old enough to play the basic game. I purchased the 1997 season and played a few games with my son, and purchased a new Master Game, as well. But I was too busy for that, and gradually, I stopped playing the board game again.

Then came the convention in 2008 in Las Vegas, where I have lived for many years (yes, I missed the other conventions that were here). I wanted to go, so I dusted off the old boards and entered the competition. I discovered all over the "joy of the cards." The Basic Game, with whatever faults we can all find with it, is still the best way to enjoy a replay experience in baseball, in my humble opinion.

I have since purchased more sets, including a few through Ebay. My only concern is that it seems as if the hitting numbers are down too much on the modern seasons that APBA has made, including the Reprints.

For one example, compare Ken Griffey’s 1986 Yankee card to Ichiro’s 2006 card (I’m replaying the 1986 season, but only the Detroit Tigers’ schedule). I consider 1986 to be the "old" grading system, and 2006 would certainly represent the "new" grading system. Although Griffey hit .303 and Ichiro hit .322, Griffey’s card is clearly a better hitting card.

Both have 2 14’s, but:

Griffey has 3 "power" numbers at 66, 11, and 33, Ichiro only 2.

Ichiro does have 11’s at 15 & 25, while Griffey has only one 11 at 15.

But Griffey’s card has another 7 at 44 (Ichiro has an 8 there), and Griffey has 8’s at both 31 & 51, giving him 9’s at both 35 & 42, giving him a clear advantage over Ichiro, who has a 9 at 31, and is left with only one more 9 at 35, and a 13 at 42.

Griffey’s card is clearly a better hitting card, and he hit nearly 20 points lower. I believe APBA has over-compensated the pitching in recent years, not only by increasing the grade for pitchers (and some are questionable- does Adam Loewen really deserve a C rating for 112 IP and a 5.73 ERA? He does have a W in his wildness rating, so that might be the rationale for allowing a higher grade), but by also lowering the hit numbers for batters.

There are many other examples, and maybe I can outline some of them another time. If you have a chance, check out Mark Loretta’s 2006 card and see if you can imagine him hitting .285 with that card (teammate David Ortiz hit .287 and has a far superior hitting card).

Oddly enough, if you compare the seasons, they weren’t appreciably different. 1986 AL hitters batted .262 compared to .275 for 2006. The WHIP was 1.381 for 1986 and 1.414 for 2006, and the league ERAs were similar, 4.61 for 1986 compared to 4.56 for 2006. Those differences don’t account for the drastic variances in the hitters’ cards.

I will replay the Detroit Tigers’ 2006 season and I would like to incorporate some of the pitching changes that I hear re-players speaking of, but I don’t know what they are.

For example, what is the Coxx pitching system? Any help regarding pitching variations that have worked for the Basic Game would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading!

Chuck Foley

Thanks Chuck for sharing your thoughts!

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