Winning the Triple Crown is one of Major League baseball’s rarest hitting feats. Depending on what list you reference, it’s only been accomplished 15 to 18 times. Nonetheless, winning the Triple Crown makes for a great APBA card. Over the next few months, I’d like to explore these 18…
Discovering APBA in the 1980s, I had the good fortune of rolling for Tim Raines’s peak APBA cards. Consistently filled with 11s, 10s, and 14*s, Raines was so much more than a poor man’s Rickey Henderson. It’s interesting that for a five year stretch (1983-1987), Raines was more valuable…
The final feature incorporated into the Fielding Range Chart is Dropped Throws on Stealing Tags. This is another feature that saves flipping through the pages to the right page in the booklet. Fielding Range Chart features dropped throws by 2b and SS. The other positions are also listed, but…
June 21 has been an odd date in my 1966 NL replay (Basic Game, actual lineups and rotations, actual games played). Two games in particular stand out. Pittsburgh @ Cincinnati Perhaps spurred on by the hot Braves who are right behind them in the standings, Pittsburgh put their foot down…
APBA Blog reader Martin posed a question: I have a question: According to Zach’s handbook, the 1912 GTOP VOL.2 New York Giants Christy Mathewson has an AYZZ (310 IP 34W). Yet, The 1902 Pirates GTOP Vol.3 has; Tannehill 231IP 25W, Phillippe 272 IP 26W!!!, Leever 221 IP 31W as AYZ,…
In a group text, fellow Illowa League member Dennis Jennings noted that Tony Cloninger passed away last week. I didn’t see Cloninger pitch in real life but I still felt a twinge of sadness. As a CYW, Cloninger is a workhorse starter for the Atlanta Braves in my 1966 NL…
I saw Jack Morris pitch three times at Tiger Stadium, all in the mid-1980s. The first time I saw him, he went nine innings, gave up an unearned run, and got the win. The second time, Morris went eight, gave up five earned runs, and got a no-decision (though…
Thanks to Darren Schulz for submitting this recap of the Linda b. Schulz Memorial APBA Tournament! -Tom Linda B. Schulz Memorial APBA Baseball Tournament IV – Slippery Rock PA – July 7, 2018 Once again, Slippery Rock was home to the 4th annual Linda B. Schulz Memorial APBA Baseball tournament.…
Cleveland was a surprise winner in Rod Caborn’s 1913 American League replay, completed this past June. The AL replay was pitcher-centric with the league ERA of 2.62 and average team batting average of .216 (v. .256 in real life). Caborn reports that while the batting stats were underwhelming because of…
When I think of Jim Thome, I picture a lefty slugger, taking up most of the batter’s box, with the biggest barreled bat I’ve ever seen. It seemed like Thome’s bat covered every part of the strike zone and he couldn’t possibly miss the ball. Maybe I picture this…