Brando nearing the end of his 1930 replay

Brando pulls a “Puccinelli” on me

I’m treasuring my APBA time with my buddy John Brandeberry lately.  As soon as he sells his house, he’s moving out to Montana to join his wife.  That will be an adjustment for me.  I’ve known John for some fifteen years and we’ve rolled a few dice in our time.

We’ve been in two leagues together, we’ve replayed most of the the 1979 season, helped each other with our own respective replays (his 1930 replay and my 1966 NL replay) and heck, we even played APBA just for fun.  And yes, we even played Strat-O-Matic on occasion.  On top of that, he’s a good friend.  I’ll miss his generous nature and free spirit (for an old man ;-) ) when he moves out West.

So I took advantage of some free time on Wednesday night and went to his house.  Earlier in the week, Brando texted me saying he had “computer problems”.  I knew the drill.  I let my wife know and off to John’s I went.  I took a quick look at his computer, made a few changes and said, “Well, it looks good to me, buddy.”  Brando said, “Well, while you’re here, we could play some 1930 APBA”.

Of course.

It turns out Brando is just about wrapping his 1930 AL/NL replay up.  He’s got 20 games left before he starts the World Series.  He tells me the A’s and the Giants have already clinched their respective races.  So we got rolling..

Cincinnati at Chicago

Brando is a nice host and always gives me the Cubs to play.  I have Pat Malone, their B starter on the mound but I really didn’t need him.  The Cubs hit like crazy with a six-run 6th inning.  Gabby Hartnett and Danny Taylor both hit two-run homers in the 10-2 shellacking of the Reds.

Philadelphia at New York (NL)

This time, Brando did his usual “teams behind the back and pick left or right” schtick.  I got Philly.  As some of you know, the 1930 Phillies are probably the best hitting last place team ever.  They didn’t have any pitching but I was lucky to have “Fidgety Phil” Collins on the mound.  He was their lone C starter.  As I mentioned, John’s Giant’s have already clinched the NL and personally, I feel they probably have the best team in the league with hitting, power and pitching.  This game, they have Carl (BZ) Hubbell going.

What a game!  The Giants got off to a 4-0 lead hitting for the cycle in the 2nd inning.  My Phillies came roaring back, scoring seven in the 5th inning with homers by Chuck Klein and Spud Davis.  A Freddie Lindstrom three-run homer in the sixth put NY back on top 10-9.

We weren’t done yet.  Three walks in the seventh led to a Chuck Klein two-run single giving the Phils the lead again.  Alas, Tommy Thevenow’s error in the bottom of the eighth led to two runs for the Giants and New York finally won it 12-11.

Quote of the game:  Me: “Where’s my bullpen?  John:  “He started the game.”

Pittsburgh at St Louis

John let me choose this time and I chose the Bucs.  St Louis got off to a quick 1-0 lead in  the 2nd but Pittsburgh battled.  They scored at least one run in every inning after the fourth.  Gus Suhr came through with a two-run dinger.

Brando pulled out every trick in the book including pinch hitting with monster card George Puccinelli.  The Count did his part by getting a 51-7, driving home a run in the ninth.  Bucs still won it 6-3.

New York at Philadelphia (AL)

I don’t know how many Hall of Famers were in this game but there were plenty.  Brando had the edge from the start as Moose Earnshaw (a BY) was scheduled to start for the A’s and Roy Sherid (Grade D) was on the hill for the Bombers.  Earnshaw did his part at the plate hitting two doubles and driving home a run.  Sherid gave up four runs in the first three innings including an rbi triple by Mule Haas.  Give another win to the eventual champion A’s, 6-2.

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Brando tells me he’ll let me help him play the World Series once the regular series is over.  Can’t wait!

As for Brando’s future plans, all is not lost.  Once he leaves for Big Sky country, he still plans on remaining in the Illowa APBA League.  He’ll act as General Manager of the Missoula Rattlesnakes with help from assistant manager Dan Bunch who is still in the area.  I’m hoping Brando will make it back for league get togethers too.