The results are back and I’ve been reading the Facebook APBA Baseball group’s updates on this past weekend’s Chicagoland World Series Tournament in Grayslake, Illinois. It’s a little bittersweet since I couldn’t make it and it looked like everyone had such a great time. I have to admit, I’m a little jealous.
First of all, congrats to Bill Lilley (above left) who took it all with… the 1968 Tigers! Yes, for the second year in a row the ‘68 Tigers won it all at the Chicago Tourney. Bill won the championship by defeating Jim Welch’s 2002 Oakland A’s. Jim (above right) has been the bridesmaid twice now as two tournaments ago, his Giants lost in the finals. Still, nice work, Jim!
I’m sure Scott Fennessy will be chiming in about his participation in this latest tournament. I did get a nice message from Craig Christian with a great story playing Scott.
“Well I finished up at 5-2. Won my division outright on my last game which was a nail-biter!! Was playing a real tournament veteran. He had the 81 Expos will Bill Gullickson pitching. (B yz) and I had Mike Moore (A y). I took a 4-0 lead with a big inning capped by a Dave Parker 3 run jack!! Was feeling pretty good until Montreal came back with two 2 run innings to tie. So we go to extras with Montreal having the hammer. Rickey Henderson leads off the tenth with a double column Jack!! Will that be enough with Eck on the mound for his second inning of work?? After two quick outs here come the Expos. Terry Francona singles to left followed by Andre "Hawk" Dawson laces a single to right moving Francona to third and then Dawson steals second moving the winning run one hit away to winning the division!!
Up comes Warren Cromartie with either a 22 or 44, I was to nervous to remember, and it is a 7. Scott being a veteran says we need to check the book! Turns out to be a fly out to end the game.
I was bounced in the first round by the 98 Yankees 8-3 by an up and coming teenager which was cool by me. Great to see a young guy loving this game!!
Nothing really stands out with my team other then winning 5 straight after losing my first. Lots of close games where the combination of Honeycutt and Eckersley were stellar. Only swatted 5 Hr’s which was disappointing but I can’t complain.
As always a great time with a well organized tournament thanks to Doug and being in the company with all the APBA addicts like myself!! Can’t wait until the next one!!”
William Blair and Eric Berg share a quiet moment
I’d love to hear more stories from the tourney. Doug, it sounds like everyone had a great time. Great work!
Tom: Just a minor point, this is the first time I lost in the finals.
I took the 68 Cardinals to the finals in the last summer Chicago Land Tournament and had to leave early and Craig Christian, played the final games and won the Championship
Hello everyone, I plan on having my story up soon, and have some photos as well, just waiting on Doug to give me the info on the other brackets.
He asked for a couple of days to relax. So let’s not forget how hard Doug and Jim work to make these events happen.
And FYI that was a 22-7. Only against the Eck can something like that happen.
Tom, you asked for some stories. My last game in the round robin was against the ’39 Yankees. Both teams were 3-2 so the winner was likely to go onto the playoffs. The ’39 Yankees scored in the third when Babe Dahlgren led off with a triple and scored on a single by Red Rolfe. The O’s were up 2-1 in the 8th when the same thing happened–Dahlgren led off with a triple and scored on a single by Rolfe! Tied, 2-2, the game went into extra innings. In the top of the 12th, defensive sub Clay Dalrymple led off with a walk and Davey Johnson singled him to third with nobody out. Reliever Eddie Watt was up but I had no one left on the bench and no other pitchers so I had to let him bat. Eddie came through with a “seeing eye” single through
the drawn in infield. Two outs later, Paul Blair hit a three-run homer. Joe Gordon hit a solo home run in the bottom of the 12th but the O’s hung on to win, 6-3. Eddie Watt pitched four shutout innings to get the win and drove in the go ahead run. I enjoyed playing Gary and his ’39 Yanks. It was a classic extra-inning game.