Over 40 in attendance at LBS 4!
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. After defending champion and APBA Hall of Famer Steve Skoff was presented with his championship plaque, the schedule was simple: five divisions of six players and one division of eight players for a round robin schedule resulting in 10 games. Round Robin play gave us such memorable moments as Aaren Schulz’s first LBS win on a Marlon Byrd walk off homer, two no-hitters by Gerrit Cole of Kate Silvis’ 2015 Pirates vs 1972 Pirates and Jeff Fassero from Gilles Thibault’s 1994 Expos vs 1989 Giants, and Phillip Silvis’ amazing run at 10-0 with a +56 run differential. This year’s divisional names were rich in Slippery Rock baseball history, and when the playing fields were cleared for playoff preparation, eight managers remained to determine the next LBS champion.
1 Seed – 2017 Washington Nationals of the Bob Shawkey Division (Phillip Silvis)
2 Seed – 1969 Baltimore Orioles of the Matt Adams Division (Joel Medvidovich)
3 Seed – 1975 Boston Red Sox of the Jack Critchfield Division (Jeff Heagy)
4 Seed – 2001 Seattle Mariners of the Greg Jelks Division (Greg Wells – LBS 1 and 2 Champion)
5 Seed – 1961 Detroit Tigers of the Jeff Messer Division (Ron Emch – Glass City Toledo APBA Tournament Director)
6 Seed – 1975 Cincinnati Reds of the Lou Trivino Division (Rob Wyks)
7 Seed – 1980 Kansas City Royals – Wild Card 1 (Brian Silvis)
8 Seed – 1991 Pittsburgh Pirates – Wild Card 2 (Phillip Thompson)
While round one included an even share of shutouts and slugfests, the final four emerged with the 61 Tigers visiting the 17 Nationals and the 75 Reds heading to face the 69 Orioles. After an early Dan Driessen grand slam all but secured a finals appearance for Wyks’ Red Machine, the remaining crowd was circled around the epic 13 inning battle between the Tigers and Nationals. Vic Wertz’s two run shot in the top half of the 9th tied the contest that had so many twists and turns, one had to be there to believe it. Emch’s Motor City squad eventually pulled it out 8-7 on a Colavito sac fly but not without a strong fight from the young Silvis’ Nats. With Michigan director Pastor Rich Zawadzki taking a recent Chicagoland tourney and Chicagoland director Rob Spatz matching the feat this past March in Michigan, Ron Emch earned the most recent opportunity for a director to win a regional contest. If that wasn’t interesting enough, the most recent Glass City Toledo titlest, Rob Wyks, would face the man who presented him that trophy. 75 Reds vs 61 Tigers for the LBS 4 Best of Three championship!
Rob Wyks is presented with the trophy by Darren and Ken Schulz
Game 1: 75 Reds (Don Gullett Byz) at 61 Tigers (Frank Lary Byz)
This was basically a pitching duel through the first five innings. A Pete Rose double plated Joe Morgan in the first inning. The 1-0 Reds lead stayed intact until Vic Wertz stroked a solo shot of Gullett to tie the game. In the bottom of the 6th, the Tigers got to Gullett again with the long ball as Norm Cash (solo shot) and Dick Brown (two run) gave the home team a 4-1 lead. That was more than enough for Mr. Lary in his complete game two hit performance in the 5-1 victorious opener for the Tigers.
Game 2: 61 Tigers (Jim Bunning Bxz) at 75 Reds (Gary Nolan Bz)
No doubt, this was the game of the series, if not for the entire day in respect to the classic Tigers-Nats semifinal game! Tigers got off to a quick start with a two run blast from Rocky Colavito in the first. A Johnny Bench solo homer in the fourth and two out rbi triple from Charlie Hustle in the fifth knotted the game at 2-2. Tigers used some small ball with a sac bunt and sac fly to regain the lead in the 7th. In the same inning, a Griffey error pushed in another run. After Bunning completed a scoreless 7th, the Tigers appeared poise to sweep the series. However, in the 8th, Bunning issued a two out walk to George Foster. That proved costly as Tony Perez found his power stroke with a two run smash. Game was tied again at 4-4 and became a battle of the bullpens through the next four innings. Most notable moments included two instances where manager Emch intentionally walked consecutive batters with the winning run at third base with one out and both times it paid off when Wyks’ rolled a 53. Error number right? Not on this original 75 set, PRN 12 set off the inning ending double play! In the top half of the 13th, a Wertz triple finally ended the game’s scoring drought and brought the Tigers within three outs of the title. Gerry Staley (Cz), who had wiggled out of two jams earlier, got into trouble right away by giving up a lead off single to Cesar Geronimo. After a sac bunt, Geronimo scored the tying run after a Morgan single. After a stolen base and a couple of unintentional walks, seldom used pinch hitter Merv Rettemund lined the walk-off single to send the series back to Detroit for a game three, a first time in LBS history. 6-5 Reds!
Game 3: 75 Reds (Jack Billingham Cz) at 61 Tigers (Don Mossi Byz)
Unfortunately, emotional fatigue must have gotten the best of the Tigers while the Reds displayed the emotional high of a team who had just secured momentum after their dramatic game 2 victory. Foster found the perfect launch angle and blasted a three run homer off of Mossi that all but ended this series. The Tigers managed to close the gap to 4-2 in the fourth after another Colavito homer, but the solid bullpen of Will McEnaney, Pedro Borbon, and Rawley Eastwick combined for four innings of no-hit baseball to give Reds the 5-2 series clinching victory.
Final game box score!
Congrats to Rob Wyks in earning his first LBS championship and second regional tournament title. The 1975 Cincinnati Reds are now no longer eligible for future LBS tournaments, and Rob will have his name and team etched into the championship plaque. Additionally, he took home a brand new APBA Football Game, and he will receive his own personal championship plaque at the 2019 LBS tournament. Other prizes included a new APBA Baseball Game which was presented to Ron Emch for his tremendous runner up performance and a new APBA Hockey Game bestowed to Joel Medvidovich for his third place consolation game victory.
Ken and I would like to thank all of this year’s 40+ participants for their support of this annual tournament. Of course, special thanks to Mark Mcdonel for providing the yearly side entertainment of baseball videos, John Mikulas for organizing the WFMJ Youngstown news story set to air on July 21st, Jackie Schulz for all of her help with the food preparation, and Melissa Schulz for providing lodging information for our out-of-town guests. Most importantly, we raised a little over 100 dollars this year to donate to the American Diabetes Association in memory of our beloved mother, Linda Schulz! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
2019 UPDATE: The fifth LBS MEMORIAL APBA BASEBALL TOURNAMENT will take place at the Slippery Rock Township Building and will include teams from 1920-2018. The 1977 Philadelphia Phillies (LBS 1), 1909 Pittsburgh Pirates (LBS 2), 1974 Los Angeles Dodgers (LBS 3), and the 1975 Cincinnati Reds (LBS 4) are ineligible as per current theme and/or as retired championship teams. First come, first serve so contact Ken Schulz at with your team selection.
One question, do we bring our own teams? Growing up in the 70s almost everyone in our town played APBA, A few of us still play some, was playing on the internet and saw this stuff about a tournament, we are from central Ohio, my wife is from Slipper Rock, I still have a couple of years of cards ‘71 and 72 so didn’t know if we would have to use those years, a friend also has some from the middle 80s, when we get back to Ohio from our Florida place going to meet up with some friends and hopefully get over to the tournament. Thanks Mark