Several years ago, the World Baseball Organizations was profiled by Tom Nelshoppen in his APBA League Profile feature. The 14-team league is run efficiently by commissioner Dan Levine from Boca Raton, Florida. However, a couple of other league members do a wonderful job helping the league to run smoothly through its 162 game schedule. Bobby Porter does great work on the league website; Bob Mugler is tremendous in compiling all of the league’s stats via BallScore/BallStat. As you can tell, the league is truly national as there are teams from all over the country. The league is in its seventh year of existence and has been dominated by the Kalamazoo Eagles and Boca Raton Pinstripes.
The WBO is a basic game, card and dice APBA league. Each manager plays his 81 home games with specific e-mailed instructions from the road manager. There are several modifications the league uses, which can be found on the website under the WBO Constitution. The league isn’t an All-Star league because players are only drafted from a limited group of teams each year. Position players are limited to their actual games played during the carded season; pitchers are limited to their actual innings pitched. Here are this season’s league leaders.
My first year in the WBO has been a fun experience. Luckily, George Barkwell left the Welland Mustangs franchise in good shape for their move to Grand Rapids to become the Holy Harveys. Through trades and a solid draft, I was able to put together a competitive team that won 93 games and earned a playoff birth.
In the 2019 WBO Playoffs, the Iron City Pirates defeated the Boca Raton Pinstripes three games to two in their wildcard series to advance to the Rusty Kuntz Division Series. Unfortunately for the Pirates, their bats went cold and they were swept by the Eagles. In the Pete LaCock Division, my Holy Harveys were able to sweep the Portland Pilgrims two games to none to advance to the division series against the Galveston Grey Ghosts. In a back and forth series, the Holy Harveys were able to outlast the Grey Ghosts in seven games. The WBO Championship Series was also a humdinger, going seven games. The Kalamazoo Eagles were able to protect their home field advantage and win their second consecutive league championship over the Grand Rapids Holy Harveys.
Now, it’s hot stove time for the WBO. Trades and draft preparations will be intense until the new APBA baseball cards are released in early 2020.
Bobby Porter is a cool cat, he helped me with my league website. Going out of his way for a complete stranger.