On Saturday, I was challenged on APBA GO for the first time. In fact it was first time I played against another person other than my APBA Jackie Robinson Day against Kirk Weber game on Tuesday.
I have played of course. Up until now, it has primarily been in solo mode either playing against the Micro Manager or in Solitaire “rolling” for both teams. Yesterday though, an APBA GO fan dubbed MikeW submitted a challenged me. APBA GO indicated that he was going to use the 1985 St. Louis Cardinals to take me on.
So I swiped right (figuratively speaking) and accepted.
I had to choose a team to play Mike. I figured a good speed vs. power match up was in line so I chose the Boston Red Sox of 1975. All power and no speed. Good starting pitching and questionable bullpen.
I didn’t know MikeW but we got along great during the game as we typed in the chat during the game. And wow, I remember the ’85 Cardinals were fast but it seems like every card had at least one 11.
Boston was helped by Dwight Evans (3 for 5, HR, 2 runs scored) and Juan Beniquez (pinch hit 3-run double). Bill Lee allowed just one run in 7 innings for the win.
Ozzie Smith helped Mike’s cause with two doubles and an rbi.
Boston 7 St. Louis 2 | Game box score
Mike told me in the chat that he had just purchased the ’85 team and was ready to try them. We chatted about the cards and about the players. For example, Mike told me that Tommy Herr who was born in the original hometown of APBA, was the manager of the Lancaster Barnstormers.
We both commented on Herr’s 110 rbis he totaled in real life in 1985 while hitting just eight homers.
Mike, thanks for reaching out! I had a lot of fun!
If anyone sees me online and available on APBA GO, feel free to issue me a challenge! If I’m not in the middle of a project, I would love to play!
I used 1985 Cardinals in a replay of the 85 World Series. In 7 games they had 17 stolen bases. Lead by Vince Colman with 8. My user name is tles32. If you see me on and have time please challenge me. Cardinals won.
Great stuff! While there are pros and cons for each form of APBA baseball, one thing APBA GO does well is make it easy to communicate with your opponent via the chat feature.
Great article, Thomas!
Chat is nice, but if you’re comfortable with it, you can open a video chat or a Zoom or Skype or something. I find it a bit inconvenient to type while playing. But APBA Go is such a convenient thing to have in these isolated times.
I don’t know what other issues other people have had with APBAGO, but I’m not happy that the game gets hung up when I play a runner safe. As far as I know this is still an issue, but I haven’t played it since. I wish this problem would be addressed, but until then I will not buy any more teams for APBA GO.
I would love to get this. But I just can’t play the Basic game. When can you develop this into the Master game. I’m sure it would be a big hit. Especially for those of us that can’t seem to roll very well (no luck with this)