Ken’s 1968 Tigers starting pitchers shut down my 1984 Expos
I may have just participated in the fastest-organized APBA tournament ever. Sure it was just three teams but by standards, it had all qualifications of a tournament.
My buddy John Brandeberry in Missoula texted me on Friday asking me if I wanted to play in a tournament over Skype this weekend. Sure, I was game. We chatted on Saturday and decided that we would all play on Sunday. John had a friend in Missoula who was interested so I told him I’d pick a team and would be ready to go Sunday afternoon.
I decided to go with the 1984 Expos which is the team I’m taking to the Chicagoland APBA World Series tournament. This would get me some playing time with the team and see how the lineup shakes out.
Brando chose the 1938 Pittsburgh Pirates and his friend Ken, a Michigan transplant to Montana, decided on the 1968 Detroit Tigers. Three very different teams from three different eras.
The format was simple. Each team would play a three-game series and the top two winners would play for the championship. We would play the APBA Basic game baseball game with very few modifications and a 3-man rotation.
Tournament recap
I came out of the gate quick against Brando’s ‘38 Pirates winning the first two. Charlie Lea pitched a four-hitter allowing just two runs. Terry Francona hit a two-run pinch-hit homer. Dan Driessen followed it up with a homer of his own. My Expos won over the Pirates 5-2. Bryan Little went 3 for 4 and Andre Dawson hit a homer and drove home two while Bryn “Pear Body” Smith won game two 5-4. The 1938 Pirates won their first game in game three in a pitchers’ duel. Bill Gullickson did a fine job but Arky Vaughn drove home a run eventually scored and that made all the difference in the 2-1 game.
Brando then faced Ken’s 1968 Tigers. They split the first two before the roller-coaster game in game three which the Pirates ended up winning.
Expos management make a call to the pen
Then it was my Expos up against Ken’s 1968 Tigers. Brando told me that he was just introducing Ken to APBA (way to go, Brando!) but it seemed like he was picking it pretty quick. In game one, Charlie Lea continued to pitch well allowing five hits and two runs in seven innings. The Expos were helped by homeruns by Jim Wohlford and Gary Carter as well as an rbi triple by Bryan Little.
The Expos were already up one game with a 7-2 score. That would be it for Montreal offense though. Ken’s Tigers shut down the Expo hitters in the next two games. Super hurlers Denny McLain and Earl Wilson pitched consecutive shutouts while slugger Willie Horton hit two homers and drove in five in the last two games.
Six games played for all three teams. Who won the championship? On Friday, I remember Brando telling me that he’d like to get evenly-matched teams for the tournament. Well, he got his wish. They were so evenly matched that we ended up in a three-way tie. Regardless, it was a fun time for all and we hope to do it again. We all tied winning one series 2-1 and losing the other 1-2. Given the time, we declared it a three-way tie.
1984 Expos summary
For those attending the Chicago tournament wondering who were the big performers on my 1984 Expos for the six games, I’ll name three…
- Charlie Lea (BYZ)- 2-0, 2 GS, 16 IP, 2 ER
- Bryan Little- 8 H, 4 RBI
- Tim Raines- 6 SB
First of all, I apologize for the disparaging remarks I made about Bryan Little before Game One to Brando. He wouldn’t let me forget that. We couldn’t have won it against the Pirates without him.
I used the same lineup for the three games against Brando’s Pirates. Against Ken’s Tigers, I thought I’d go back to the drawing board. Funny thing, after putting the cards down and formulating a lineup, it was the exact same lineup.
- Raines
- Little
- Wohlford
- Dawson
- Carter
- Wallach
- Driessen
- Flynn
I am a little concerned about the Expos’ bench strength. When they use the DH in the Chicago Tournament, they are reduced to three position players on the bench.
Skype tournaments?
All three of us (two in Montana and one in Illinois) seemed to have a lot of fun. While nothing beats actual face-to-face action, playing over Skype allows for plenty of fun banter during the game. Brando’s mini-tournament gave me an idea. With the explosion of regional APBA tournaments that has occurred in the past few years, is there an interest among APBA baseball fans for APBA Skype tournaments? Some APBA fans just can’t make it to these tournaments due to travel costs or other reasons. Playing online would be a way around that. Granted, there will have to be an element of trust among all competitors if rolls are done the traditional way. I’m pretty sure Brando is planning on doing this again. If anyone has any questions, let me know.
Finally, big thanks to John and Ken for a great time this weekend!!
I would be all for it. I organized a mini-season this way a couple of years ago. 4 of us each ran a team, and we played over Skype two 3-game sets (home/away, but not back to back) against each team. If you can’t be face-to-face, Skype is a great alternative. All of us were old friends so there were no trust issues, but I would be willing to play via Skype against guys I haven’t before as well.
I’m all for this. There has been some discussion on FB about playing FTF using something like Skype. The Start guys have Purestrat, and it’s big. Check it out. They had an online dice roller customized for them. I have sent an email to them inquiring how they did it and who they worked with. I’m pretty sure they use a customized version of the Hamete Virtual Dice server. You can check that out at dicelog.com/dice. It allows 2 people to log into the site, so that they both see the result of the dice roll. You could actually do that now without any customization. If someone would like to try, drop me an email.
I’d like to try out an online roller just to see how it works. If whoever has it running wants to adapt it to APBA and monetize it with ads or whatever, it would be to their advantage.
Personally, I like the idea of rolling the dice. If I can’t find people who I can’t trust with a baseball game then they probably aren’t worth playing. :)
That said, there are times when games are won with back to back homers in the ninth over Skype. Even against the best of friends, it’s an awkward feeling. ;-)
Thomas,
To me, that’s exactly why an online dice roller is the way to go. I’d hate to lose a friend over something like trust.
The Purestrat guys swear by their online dice roller. They are very passionate about their game. That’s enough for me.
CONGRATULATIONS GUYS! !!