1930 baseball (and a little league business) with Brando

I took a break from my 1966 replay and went to Brando’s house last night and helped him play some of his 1930 season he’s doing.  Yeah, what a difference!  Pitching is near non-existent and what is there can be nullified by all those nasty power numbers. 

Case in point… our game 2, which pitted the Dodgers against the Cubs.  Brando gave me the Cubs and he took his favorite Dodgers.  Dem Bums had Dazzy Vance a rare A in the NL (an AYZ, to be specific).  The Cubs had Sheriff Blake on the mound, a simple DW. 

I made a comment that the Cubs’ leadoff man, Footsie Blair, was pretty much they’re weakest link in their lineup.  His card would fit in just fine in 1966 but by 1930’s standards, he didn’t stack up to Hack Wilson, Gabby Hartnett or even Kiki Cuyler or Riggs Stephenson.  He “just” has a 44-7 with three 0s and four second column 1s. 

A lot I knew.  Blair went 5 for 5 with a homerun and two triples.  I rolled a 66 on him for his first three at-bats.  The Cubs won 9-6 shellacking Vance for all nine runs. Wilson and Hartnett both contributed homers to the cause.

We then played a doubleheader between the Phillies and the Pirates.  As host, Brando always tries to give me the best team to play.  In this case. he gave me the Phillies who finished last place in 1930 but I knew why.  This team can hit!  Between Chuck Klein, Lefty O’Doul plus Don Hurst and Spud Davis, it doesn’t matter how bad the pitching is (and it is bad!).  You’re going to have fun. 

Chuck Klein ended up hitting three two-run homeruns in a row over the span of the two games and the Phils split the doubleheader.  Lester ‘Sugar’ Sweetland, a D starter, eked out the win in game 1. 

League Business

Brando and I also had some Illowa APBA League business to take care of.  By virtue of his 2012 finish, He’s the manager of our division in the 2013 IAL All-Star Game which is coming up in a little over a week.  While the starters have been voted on by the managers of the league, it’s Brando’s job to pick the pitchers and reserves for the game and he wanted some help picking the players. 

Yeah, I know what you’re thinking… I “helped” him, right?  Actually, I convinced him to pick Dave Adam LaRoche as a first base sub even though he came in third in the voting.  As you can see from the official announcement below, my Thunderchickens did ok in the balloting.  We have Ryan Zimmerman and Jose Reyes both starting in the Classic. 

The official announcement from Brando hasn’t been made so I won’t leak the full team but here is how the voting for starters went (All-Star starters in bold):

For the Visiting “Country Gents” managed by John Brandeberry

• Catcher:  Buster Posey (41), Yadier Molina (27), Joe Mauer (13)
• Firstbase: Joey Votto (43), Albert Pujols (21), Adam LaRoche (17)
• Secondbase:  Neil Walker (35), Aaron Hill (33), Jason Kipnis (13)
• Thirdbase:  Ryan Zimmerman (41), Chipper Jones (20), Pedro Alvarez (16)
• Shortstop:  Jose Reyes (40), Asdrubal Cabrera (19), Hanley Ramirez (18)
• Outfield:  Josh Hamilton (45) (Unanimous), Alex Rios (43), Adam Jones (41), Jason Heyward (31), B.J. Upton (21), Austin Jackson (20), Tyler Colvin (17), Alex Gordon (10), Yoenis Cespedes (8)

For the Home “City Boys”  managed by Todd Ventresca

• Catcher:  Wilton Rosario (32), Miguel Montero (26), Matt Wieters (21)
• Firstbase:  Prince Fielder (45) (Unanimous), Anthony Rizzo (19), Paul Goldschmidt (17)
• Secondbase:  Robinson Cano (45) (Unanimous), Dustin Pedroia (16), Jose Altuve (12)
• Thirdbase:  Miguel Cabrera (43), David Wright (27), Adrian Beltre (11)
• Shortstop:  Derek Jeter (43), Starlin Castro (18), Jimmy Rollins (13)
• Outfield:  Andrew McCutchen (43), Mike Trout (41), Ryan Braun (35), Alfonso Soriano (27), Garret Jones (22), Norichika Aoki (20), Jay Bruce (19), Nick Swisher (12), Shane Victorino (12)

As always, a fun time with Brando and the next time he promises that we’ll play some 1966 baseball.