It’s been a few year’s so the Illowa APBA League’s website was in a state of disrepair. Last week, I took some time to spruce it up, add some new content and upgrade it with some bells and whistles. Take a look at illowaapbaleague.com now. The IAL has been around…
Today, it was announced that Lee Smith will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2019 along with Harold Baines. He was a unanimous vote by the veterans’ committee now dubbed “Today’s Game Era” committee. I know some inductions by the veterans’ committee are a bit controversial. If you…
Adrian Beltre reminds me that baseball is like Shakespeare’s Seven Ages of Man, and it has a subtle way of making you feel the passage of time. When you first discover the game, you’re a child and the players seem like stars dropped from the heavens. As you reach school…
The awesome Kevin Burghardt sent me a summary of his current project involving the OFAS 3 set. -Tom The OFAS 3 set When APBA’s OFAS3 set arrived at my doorstep, I initially thought I’d enjoy flipping through the cards, then set them aside to play with at some point down…
Joe Mauer was a modern day Mickey Cochrane. I urge you to compare the two and see their similarities. In 2024, Mauer will debut on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot. Though I’m not sure if Mauer will be a first-ballot selection, I’m confident he will one day see his plaque…
There is so much to love and hate about this 2018 Keon Broxton card that I had to include it in this week’s Weird Card Wednesday column. In just 89 plate appearances, Brewer Broxton hit four homers and stole five bases. He also walked eleven times. At the same time,…
While there are plenty of nasty cards in the new APBA baseball set, none have do it for 522 plate appearances except for firstbaseman Chris Davis of the Baltimore Orioles. Yikes! In 128 games and 470 at-bats, Crush hit .168 while striking out 192 times. While he did hit 16…
Okay, Luke Voit didn’t play a full season in 2018 but you have to admit that is nice card. Voit who split his time between the Cardinals and the Yankees, amassed 15 homers in just 143 at-bats. On top of that, he hit .322 with 30 runs scored and 36…
I reached out to Jesse Elicker, the winner of the 1st annual APBA Blog Pitching Grade Challenge. He and I traded several friendly emails and I am so glad we did. Jesse who predicted 19 of the 20 pitchers’ grades in the Challenge, was kind enough to answer a few…
Just a quick reminder that as of this week, the 2018 season for APBA GO is now available. You will need to create an account on the APBA GO system (at no cost) and the season itself will cost $20. You can also purchase an individual team from 2018 for…