This Saturday is the Chicagoland Summer APBA Baseball Tournament! Fifty APBA fans will be congregating at the Hyatt Hotel near O’Hare to roll our dice.
Our teams have been chosen via a draft. Thanks to organizer Rob Spatz’ leadership, we were able pick our teams that fit the theme “The Closer Era”. Any team from 1946-to 1990 was eligible to be chosen other than former Chicagoland champions.
Who’s attending??
Here is the list of participants (there have been a few adds and drops since this list was created):
1) Justin Schubert – 1957 Milwaukee Braves
2) Dave Rueck – 1990 Oakland Athletics
3) Jim Welch – 1954 Cleveland Indians
4) Ron Emch – 1961 Detroit Tigers
5) Jim Radermacher – 1969 Baltimore Orioles
6) Daniel Oliverio – 1972 Pittsburgh Pirates
7) Dick Glisinski – 1961 New York Yankees
8 David Jones – 1967 Minnesota Twins
9) Zach Zavilla – 1977 Philadelphia Phillies
10) John Roles – 1948 Cleveland Indians
11) Frank Fumai – 1972 Baltimore Orioles
12) Larry Eichman – 1956 Cincinnati Reds
13) Kurt Bergland– 1974 Pittsburgh Pirates
14) Thomas Nelshoppen – 1985 Montreal Expos
15) Dan Prizzon – 1985 Toronto Blue Jays
16) Ryan Daniels- 1954 New York Giants
17) David Dawn – 1974 Oakland Athletics
18) Joel Koppenhoefer – 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers
19) Clark Eichman – 1963 San Francisco Giants
20) Vince Bianco – 1970 Baltimore Orioles
21) Alex Auerbach – 1989 Chicago Cubs
22) Alex Dunning – 1962 San Francisco Giants
23) Kyle Daniels – 1975 Cincinnati Reds
24) Norm Zavela – 1985 Saint Louis Cardinals
25) David Kagel – 1964 Saint Louis Cardinals
26) Paul Zeladon – 1963 Los Angeles Dodgers
27) Maddelyn Vanicelli – 1982 Milwaukee Brewers
28) Alec Otto – 1980 Milwaukee Brewers
29) Scott Fennessy – 1989 Oakland Athletics
30) David Wetherbee – 1964 New York Yankees
31) Jack Dolan – 1986 New York Mets
32) John Kelly – 1984 Detroit Tigers
33) Greg Tewes – 1982 Los Angeles Dodgers
34) Eric Berg – 1980 Houston Astros
35) John Gedwill – 1976 Oakland Athletics
36) Todd Daniels – 1987 Toronto Blue Jays
37) Joe Schall – 1982 Saint Louis Cardinals
38) Steve Szauer – 1977 New York Yankees
39) Ed Trojanowski – 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers
40) Tommy Mathew – 1976 Cincinnati Reds
41) David Elsen – 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers
42) Pops (Bob Spatz) – 1963 New York Yankees
43) Tom Lee – 1974 Los Angeles Dodgers
44) Greg Born – 1984 Chicago Cubs
45) Phil Vento – 1951 Brooklyn Dodgers
46) Nick Tegler – 1982 Montreal Expos
47) Jeffrey Niemi – 1988 New York Mets
48) Dan Janezick – 1967 Saint Louis Cardinals
49) Tom Johnson – 1983 Chicago White Sox
Me? I’m taking the 1985 Expos. In hindsight, probably not the best hitting Expos team. They are also hurt by the fact that Dan Driessen finished the season with the Giants and by APBA’s convention, Driessen card ended up on the Giants.
That’s okay, those who know me realize I go to these tournaments to see APBA and the fans that love the game. If the dice favor me, so be it.
I haven’t rolled dice in a Chicagoland tournament since 2019 (photos here!). How much am I looking forward to this? I’ll be getting up at 1:30am to take a bus to Chicagoland for this tournament (thanks to Scott Fennessy for picking up at the bus stop. Much appreciated!).
Many thanks to Rob Spatz (above standing) who has the patience of Job as he has put so much work in pulling this off!
See you all at the tournament!
