Jay Jaffe has Lee Smith ranked as the 14th best relief pitcher in Baseball history, ahead of enshrined immortals Bruce Sutter, Rollie Fingers, and Trevor Hoffman. His recent election to the Hall of the Fame by the Today’s Game Era Committee is justified and overdue. Unfortunately, Lee Smith is remembered…
Reader Mike McCune was so excited to see a non-baseball Monster Card last week that he inquired if I could do an APBA Football one this week. I am happy to oblige. It’s been a while since I played APBA Football but in the days of Walter Payton, Terry Bradshaw…
With a 4-5 series loss against Marcus Bunch and his Moline Upperdeckers this weekend, my Twin City Thunderchickens have concluded the 2018 Illowa APBA League (10-team, Basic Game) season with a 75-87 record. As late as July, the T-Chicks had a winning record and were very much in the playoff…
After ten long years, there’s joy in Mudville…I mean Seattle. Edgar Martinez, the greatest designated hitter in history, has been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Personally, I’m very pleased with his selection and feel that Martinez deserves his place in Cooperstown. The overriding reason it took ten years…
Craig Christian is helping me expand my horizons a little. He suggested 2001-02 Dominik “The Dominator” Hasek for this week’s Monster Monday featured card. Craig is a big advocate of the APBA Hockey game so I’m happy to oblige. That said, I am a bit out of my wheelhouse so…
I’ve got some serious empathy for Harold Baines. Here’s a guy who quietly and courageous produced at a highly professional level for 22 years. He never had a scandal and by all accounts was an excellent teammate. In many ways, he was the opposite of Manny Machado. He made six…
Recently, I’ve been reading Scott Ferkovich’s Motor City Champs: Mickey Cochrane and the 1934-1935 Detroit Tigers. It’s an interesting read, by the way. As you might expect, there’s a great deal written about Hall of Famer Charlie Gehringer. Knowledgable baseball fans know Gehringer, but because of his quiet demeanor, he always…
Wow, big news! Contributing editor Kevin Weber has joined his first league! Kevin is now a member of the World Baseball Organization. Kevin made his announcement on The APBA Blog Facebook page and asked about trades and drafts. How does an APBA manager prepare for a league draft? What are…
Kevin Weber sent me an APBA GO snip of Adalberto Mondesi’s 2018 card recently thinking it would be a candidate for Weird Card Wednesday. Indeed, it was strange for several reasons. So I logged in to APBA GO to check myself. It seems that Mondesi’s incorrect stolen base total of…
In baseball history, how many pitchers have led their league in strikeouts seven or more times? I’m sure those more in tune with baseball history might immediately think of Walter Johnson, Lefty Grove, and Bob Feller. Those who first took in the game in the 1960s and 1970s, would think…