by Scott Fennessy
Today I wanted to talk about the APBA lineup. I certainly don’t consider myself an expert by any means. When I first learned to play I had no mentor, just another person who had been playing for a couple of years; and I know I got pounded on a regular basis. I finally started getting tired of getting crushed so I scraped together enough money to quietly order a set on my own, and over the course of the summer learned how certain numbers took priority over others in game situations, and what types of players would do better before or after other hitters.
That said I have had to kind of “re-learn” the art as I have moved from the modern era to the dead ball era. While the numbers and play results are the same, the level of pitching, and lack of power make it almost like another game altogether. Notice I don’t call it a better or worse time for the game, just different.
So that said, there is one more all-important factor. The manager, or YOU. Do you sacrifice a lesser defender who is a better hitter? Do you go with more speed and sacrifice power? Depending on your roster, you may have to drastically alter your “normal” or “preferred” type of lineup to better utilize your rosters strengths. This last one is probably the most important, especially on a team like the 1901 Cincinnati Reds who had basically Sam Crawford and nobody else.
I have some traits that I think help me personally. I generally prefer my number 3 hitter to be the guy that gets the best opportunity for extra base hits. Not necessarily via the home run, but a solid 30-60 EBH per season. Even if this player only hits about 10-15 home runs he is going to be in a position to drive in 100 runs and score 100 runs if you have any decent hitter behind him. The leadoff spot is the toughest spot for me personally, as in the dead ball era there are teams that have plenty of speed but no real hitting ability. For example in my 1901 replay, the Phillies had two very fast guys, but were not much help as far as average, and especially for extra base hits. Roy Thomas who in the real 1901 season had well over 100 walks had a ton of 14’s on his card and if I remember right an 11-11-10-10, but had a 7-2 8-2 7-2 0-1, and Monte Cross, who had was even worse for power/average. I believe he had an 8-2 8-2 9-2 0-1 66 0-2, and had 11-11-10. Shad Barry was similar to both players but I think had 0-1 0-1, so there were three very easy outs not even counting the pitcher. Admittedly I am only guessing on these three players cards.
Fortunately for the Phils, they had 3 extremely good hitters and a couple of pitchers that were more than able to pick up the slack. That said below is what I look for in a typical “Fen Man lineup”
1 – Maximize speed. If the team has no speed, the guy that draws the most walks or if has only 1-2 zeros has the most 7’s. I have had some guys that were not slow had a 10 and a 42 that I had some good results on.
2 – Maximize 14/31’s. Combined with a lead off hitter with even one 11 on his card this really wreaks havoc on an opposing team and can instantly put multiple runners on base.
3 – Maximize EBH ability. Preferably a single column player, with even a 1-6-6, or 0-1 0-1 0-1 and 3 7’s can really do some damage. If they are a good hitter and get the third 31 you have the makings for some big innings.
4 – Raw power. I want a single column player here for sure. At the very least a 1-1 player or if this is a weak power team at least 3 zero’s and lots of 1’s in the second column. (your teams overall power may negate some of this)
5 – Same as number 4 spot, but I have on occasion used a player very much like my number 3 hitter. I also look for a little speed to reset the table so to speak. A fair amount of 14’s are something I look for too.
6 – Preferably like number 5, but on some teams I end up more or less settling for a similar to number 2 type hitter.
7 – If the number 6 hitter has any speed and the number 7-8 guy are similar I put the guy with the most 13/14 here to get the guy into scoring position.
8 – On NL teams this usually turns out being “leadoff hitter #2” as I can then use the pitchers 13’s to advantage. If this is a low contact/high power hitter this can sometimes maximize
9 – On NL team obviously pitcher, but on DH era teams I try to use a #1 or #2 hitter style
Also, how long do you stick with a struggling player or an underperforming card? The latter can be tough. For example in my current replay I have two cards. Honus Wagner of the Pirates, who ended the month of May hitting under .200. I briefly benched him and then he came through with a pinch hit a couple of days later. I reinserted him in the lineup and he has suddenly started to hit. He has steadily improved over June and early July and is now hitting .289. On the other hand for the Indians Napoleon Lajoie; he finished May hitting .199. Like Wagner I briefly benched him and he did come around a bit in June, but has struggled in July and is hitting only .269. Fortunately for him the Indians have almost no reserves to speak of and they have horrible cards. Something to think about I guess.
Just curious as to how other managers dictate their lineup. Please don’t consider this a “how to” type of article, you may have better ideas how to put a lineup together than I do.
great article, Scott! I’ve been thinking about doing something like this so I’m glad you did. Reminds me of the old AJ articles.
I tend to put a lot of emphasis on how a player gets on base. All things considered, I’ll bat the walker ahead of the guy who gets on with the hit. Don’t want to waste those precious 7s. :)
Also, I know I will “bench” an under performing player regardless of his card for a game or two. Or if a player gets a key hit in a sub role, he may get another chance.
I have been doing something similar in subs. In the case of the Reds Bridwell and Barry have actually taken the jobs away full time now. they are a big reason the Reds have improved in July.
A pretty solid algorithm. I have tools that compute obp/slg for batter card/pitcher grade combos. I put the best OPS guy #3, the remaining 2 best OBP guys 1 and 2 (with the better SLG #2), and then arrange #4 through #9 in order of descending SLG.
There is data to support putting your worst hitting guy #8 instead of #9, btw. Most NL managers don’t do this, but there are a few who have (LaRussa comes to mind).
Being a Zambrano owner for many years, I have often put him in the lineup even though our league uses a DH. Some of his cards have been really good. I’ve batted him as high as 4th. This causes problems late in games (or early in games, since sometimes Z got lit up early), and plays havoc with the batting order after he leaves.
Hi Stephen,
I read something a very long time ago that supported that too.
The ILLOWA League uses the “American League Pitchers Hitting card” for any pitcher who batted fewer than 10 times in the regular season. We also (for all intents and purposes) outlawed batting a pitcher anywhere other than 9th.
Like most rule changes, these were spurred by one manager who spent a season abusing a good hitting pitcher card.
Hi Don,
Curious to see how you wrould handle a pitcher card like some of the ones in the deadball era.
James Callahan of the 01 White Sox is rated a J-0 or J-1 Grade A starter, but also rated at second third and outfield. He has a better hitting card than most regular position players and has an 11-11-10 as well. Joe Yeager of the Brewers that same season was rated as I believe a J-1 or 2 and rated a C starter and rated at outfield, second, third and short.
APBA lineup construction is always a great distraction. I do solo replays exclusively (1912, 1954, and 1966), so I try to keep things as realistic as possible. I start the season by sticking to the lineup sheets and looking at old boxscores for guidance (I do not try to replicate actual game lineups). Eventually, player performance starts to make a case for more or less playing time. In my 1954 replay, Al Smith refuses to hit for the Indians. He has a great card, but the dice hate him. I moved him around the lineup, gave him days off, but I’m just over the half way point in the season and he’s stuck hitting around .200. I’ve starting splitting his playing time between two reserves (Westlake and Pope) who are both decent players. So my stats for these three will be a little skewed at season’s end, but to me that’s a more realistic outcome then keeping a guy in the lineup who isn’t hitting.-
Hi Jim,
I certainly understand your situation. I am currently in a 1905 replay and have plenty of situations similar.
Jimmy Sebring of the Reds has an 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 and a 15-11, yet he continues to hit just over .200. Unfortunately the reserves left after a couple of other players lost their starting jobs are not doing any better, so I have moved him all over the lineup, given him days off and he just is not getting the rolls.
All you can do in this situation is do what you can and hope the rolls come around.
As a long time BBW player the actually cards were not important to me as I made up my line ups along fairly traditional lines. The only difference was that I have often favoured a lead off hitter with lots of walks and power over speed guys.
Its been real fun playing BBW 5.75 as I now am back to viewing cards and making line up decisions based on them.Currently, in my 1948 replay, Duke Snider is seeing a lot of pinch hit opportunities with men on base because of his 2-4-6-1 card. Unfortunately since I don’t have boards anymore I have to remember my dice rolling days from pre-1991 to remember that a 4 with men on 1st and 2nd is good (that’s correct, right?)
I am glad to hear about card viewing on BBW. I had the old version and it was hard to tell how my lineup was for the results.
The item below comes from the August 1974 issue of the APBA Journal which contained an article by Norm Roth titled “The Ideal Line-Up.”
Roth made suggestions for each spot in the line-up.
I have included his suggestion for the clean-up hitter.
Roth made the following suggestion for the “perfect clean-up hitter . . . have four power numbers . . . not have too many 14s, . . . bat at least .290 . . . no more than a single 24 . . . a card that can score a hand from third either by a hit or an out.”
Small correction
“can score a man (not hand) from third either by hit or an out.”
“Hand” was, back in the day, a term used for baserunners; “All hands safe” was commonly used on a failed fielder’s-choice play, for example.
Thanks John,
That’s an interesting bit of information; espically the single 24 part. I will have to look at my cleanup hitters to see how close I came.
Scott:
There is yet another way to construct a batting order.
The APBA Journal’s November 1973 issue contained an article titled “APBAx Card Ratings” written by Robert Ellis.
The article contained a formula for calculating a card’s offensive worth, APBAx points.
After calculating the offensive worth for each card you “arrange them in a batting order of descending APBAx points, using discretion if ties should occur.”
Ellis claimed that an average player will have between 30 and 33 APBAx points. “Ballplayers with an APBAx of 55 or more can be considered ready for Knighthood, and those below 20 are to be pitied . . . or, ultimately, benched.”
As a solo player I use this approach to determine which players to pinch hit for, especially pitchers.
I calculate the pitcher’s APBAx points and then compare them to potential pinch hitters. Occasionally the pitcher will have more APBAx points than the potential pinch hitters.
I am a replayer not a draft league player. Therefore I resist the urge to misuse an “unnatural” card. These are mostly pitchers but occasionally you find someone like 1979 pinch runner extraordinaire Matt Alexander. A .211 lifetime hitter he was .536 (7 for 13). I look hard at on base percentage for # 1 and #2; so more often then not I have the highest on base guys at the top. I like to run, including hit and run so steal percentage is considered in addition to pure on base. There are two exceptions the big power hitters—Ted Williams, Harmon Killebrew, Mr. Potato Head (aka Barry)—who I usually hold until # 3 or #4—and obviously slow men, speed of 7 or less. For the power slots I tend to look to speed or absence of double plays—number of 24s on the card—to arrange the 3-5 holes. If you have a second leadoff man type I will put them #8 or #9 especially if they are fast. I play the computer game which minimizes the impact of “APBA Oddities” like 31 on the hit and run. In non steal eras like the 40s-60s I like to run so stolen bases mean more to me than they did to the actual managers. One other thing I do that I learned from Al Lopez but haven’t seen many others use is starting pitchers as pinch runners. Why waste a speedy bench player who you might prefer to have bat later.
Because I don’t venture into replays (not enough patience), I like to vary my lineups considerably. Now I wouldn’t use Ernie Lombardi or Gus Triandos as leadoff hitters (well, now, Gus did steal one base in his career), but once in a while I’ll lead off with a power hitter. I have no idea what Bobby Bonds’s OBP was, but he was much more effective in the leadoff spot than batting down in the lineup. Most of the time I try to bat guys with reasonably good on-base percentages at the top, then just go on hunches. Oh, and I hate stats. I do keep score during the game, but beyond that only pitchers’ use and final scores. I used to keep batting and pitching stats but quit about 30 years ago. Don’t miss it at all.
I can put lineups together in my sleep I was in a league, with a very subpar Chicgo White sox team, not a year, a 20 man tema that was just all white sox cards
1-Sax 2B
2-Paciorek LF
3-D. Allen 1B-DH
4-Soderholm 3B
5-Kruk DH
Spencer 1B
6-Reichardt CF
7-Johnstone RF
8- Slaught C
9- Dent SS
Hill C-IF
Morrison IF
Foster OF
John P
Seaver P
Reuss P
Hough P
DeLeon P*
Gossage P*
LaGrow P*