Ron Fairly: Cub Killer
I’m getting my money’s worth out of the 1966 set with the replay I’m doing. Lots of close, low-scoring games. The two games I finished between the Cubs and Dodgers were no exception.
April 15th Chicago at Los Angeles
Cubs score a quick two runs in the top of the first on a two-run double by Ernie Banks. Dick Ellsworth starts for the Cubs but gets ejected arguing balls and strikes in the second inning. Bill Faul (DY) takes over and does a bang up job. He doesn’t allow a run for six innings. Meanwhile, Don Drysdale (CYZ) hasn’t allowed a run since the first. Score 2-0 bottom of the ninth when Jim Lefebvre takes one deep to tie it.
Fast forward to the 11th inning when the score is still tied 2-2. Ted Abernathy has already pitched one scoreless inning. Ron Fairly leads off the bottom of the 11th for the Dodgers with a dinger to win it 3-2.
April 16th Chicago at Los Angeles
Bob Hendley (CYW) vs Claude Osteen (B) are going and it’s another pitcher’s duel. No runs score for either team for the first seven innings. As a matter of fact, Hendley has a no-hitter going into the 7th. It’s Ron Fairly again with a little help from Murphy’s Law, who with two outs gets a 9. Hendley had just advanced to a B so the no-hitter was broken. Cancel the post-game show.
Osteen gets a 66-2 and triples the next inning. I bunt with Wills and it’s a good one down the line… Osteen manages to score the first run of the game.
Don Kessinger doubles in Hundley to tie it in the top of the ninth. One out later, the Cubs lead-off hitter is up. The thing is that hitter is Carl Warwick who has a 31-13 (note: for the time being, I’m using actual lineups. The Cubs must have seen something left in ol Carl). I decide to pinch hit with Harvey Kuenn. Good thing. Kuenn came through with an rbi double. Abernathy pitching on no rest gets the job done this time for a save. Cubs win 2-1.
I’m starting the second series for each team just to give you a sense of where I’m at. I’m finding it very interesting to use actual lineups (thank you, Baseball Reference). I would never have started Carl Warwick much less led him off. In past replays, I’d most likely just throw the likely starters out there every day for a while and maybe give them a rest after a bit.
A nice thing: Baseball Reference has photos of some of the 1966 players on their player page. B-R can’t do this for current players because of licensing reasons but for a few of players who debuted before 1960 they have.
Finally, what do Ed Speizio, Ken Holtzman, Tom Haller all have in common? They all played for the University of Illinois AND are in my 1966 NL replay. I’m a huge Illinois baseball fan so that matters to me.
Sounds like you are off to a good start. How many games are you getting to play each day? A total season replay is a definite labor of love! Good luck with completing this awesome task!
I recently finished the 1927 Yankee season replay. It was a blast. I used the original line ups after about 30 games or so. The APBA line up sheet that was sent with the season doesn’t appear very accurate for a lot of the teams. But I am sure it would be hard to come up with a “most” used line up to be very accurate!
A few thoughts on my replay. I used the Basic game and the rules for Pitcher grade reductions and advancements. I followed the injury results as well and that was good. I used the 2000 play booklet so there seemed to be a lot more errors compared to the more recent version that I just received. I also thought the stats were pretty true to life but some of the stats were skewed a bit. For example, Ruth had 62 HRs. Close to his 60. But Earle Combs had 278 hits and Gehrig had 140 EBH (117 in his real year). So, I think I was rolling hot or the pitching was bad but overall it was a lot of fun.
I started the 1927 Pirates replay recently. I am finding that the teams with more players that have 1 column cards are at a distinct advantage over the 2 column cards!
It is a lot of fun and I have quite a bit left before I am finished with the Pirates season and then I will play the WS as well. Then it will be on to the 1929 year with the A’s and the Cubs.
Continue to roll those 66’s and thanks for sharing with all of us PABA faithful!
Jeff
right now, I play four or five games every couple days.
I had my first injury the other day. I hadnt thought about how I was going to handle those. I said I was going to play the boards but adding an injury chart adds a little more randomness (and fun) to the mix.
Wow Combs 278 hits!