When the Illowa APBA League got together this past weekend, I got a blast from the past. This is what happened. We were all done playing for the night Friday and ready to hit the sack. Weekend host John Brandeberry told us that he had a stack of APBA Journals…
by Scott Fennessy It’s the fourth of July and America is celebrating its 129th birthday! All games in the major leagues were scheduled double headers. How cool is that! Unfortunately for me because of schedule adjusting the Cubs only play one today against the Cardinals once today. Although he is…
Back in Stock! says the APBA Co. Website. Yes, the APBA Basic Baseball board game can now be purchased again after being out of stock for months. The new game “includes expanded pitcher strikeout ratings, and a new optional "Official Scorer" system, designed to fine-tune the fielding phase of APBA…
Ruths, Bonds, and Gehrigs be damned. 2012 Stephen Strasburg is my monster card this week. Why? He singled-handedly broke me out of my five game losing streak in the Illowa APBA League this past weekend. After losing the first five games of the weekend, he not only pitched our team…
Don Smith may have rolled out of last place this past weekend Despite torrential rainstorms and a fender bender in the driveway (I won’t say who), the Illowa APBA League had a fun and successful get together in Champaign, Illinois this past weekend. Here are some photos… Thanks to John…
St. Louis native William Lee Jennings played for his hometown Browns in 1951. Unfortunately, the shortstop didn’t wow the fans and that was his only year in the majors. Jennings got plenty of playing time in ‘51, all things considered. He came to bat 224 times. Not only that, he…
This week’s Monster Card is 1974 All-Star Ralph Garr which has several interesting features which includes a fancy-dancy 51-7 Garr led off for 136 of the 143 games he played the Atlanta Braves in 1974. I find that interesting. Yes, he has a nice .383 on-base percentage but consider that…
by Scott Fennessy New York, NY 7/12/1905 The Cubs face the Giants today in game two of this series. Both teams have players returning from the DL. Thirdbaseman Jim Casey for the Cubs returns after a 3 day stint with a minor ankle strain, while Giants catcher Mike Bowerman is…
Getting traded midseason in 1987 to the American League didn’t seem to help Sal Butera. It just meant he played a lot more. Butera batted a total of 9 times between 1983-1984. In the next two years, he never had more than 120 at-bats. I guess Cincinnati finally gave up…
Sammy Sosa has the somewhat dubious honor of having been chosen as a Terrible Card and a Monster Card. Back in January, I posted his 1991 card on my Tuesday column, justifiably so I think. Ten years later after Sosa made umm, certain changes to his training regimen, his stats…