Joe Schall wraps up an Illinois sweep of APBA tournaments
Editor’s note: Congratulations to Joe Schall for winning the Chicagoland APBA Tournament. This comes on the heel of Joe winning the Prairieland 3 tournament earlier this year! Nice work, Joe! Congrats also to runner-up, Zach Zavela Now, here is Scott Fennessy’s writeup on his teams’s experience at the Tournament.
This is my 2018 Chicagoland tournament recap using the 1974 Oakland A’s. I didn’t play the games in the order they appear. This is the actual scheduled breakdown.
Game 1 New venue, same opponent
Game one was another in my seemingly endless defeats at the hand of the nicest villain you would ever meet. At first glance Don Smith may look like your average hard drinking grandpa, but don’t let that supposed bad team fool you. He always makes sure you are entertained while he slowly boils the pot until your goose is cooked and you don’t even care that you lost because he’s such a good guy.
Catfish Hunter was clearly overexcited for this one as he walks and uncharacteristic 5 batters and hits two more. Meanwhile “Daddy Wags” Wagner hits a pair of two run bombs and the Angels win 5-3. Bert Campaneris gets 4 hits in the loss.
Game 2 The real Athletics arrive
After several outings where the other team poked a homer or two to win the A’s finally show what they can do. Since my bottom half of the lineup was not doing much I decided to let Kenny Holtzman hit for himself.
Bill North had 4 hits, Bert Campaneris picked up three more hits and drove in 3 while stealing 2 bases. In one of his few good games Mr. October had a couple of hits, ads did Joe Rudi, who hit one of the few homers I had this tournament.
James Holt, the first baseman nobody ever heard of had three hits and 3 RBI as the A’s beat Rob Spatz’s White Sox 10-1. Holtzman allowed just 3 hits.
As always, Chicagoland is packed with rollers
Game 3 Blue Jay blues
Facing a team I really liked just before I went into APBA exile, the Toronto Blue Jays sent Dave Steib to the mound against Dave Hamilton. If that wasn’t a bad enough matchup Lloyd Moseby had hit 4 homers in the previous game.
Mosby kept the bat pounding again, slamming a two run shot in the first inning. Little did anyone know at the time, but a harmless sacrifice fly by the lowly Rance Mulliniks would win the game for Toronto 3-2.
The Oakland bats were mostly silent except for Campaneris, who picked up two more hits and another steal.
Game 4 Burned by the sox
Facing a different and much better White Sox team yielded different results. Britt Burns shuts down the A’s 5-2, with Ron Kittle launching a towering homer in the fifth inning.
The A’s bats remained eerily silent, except for Bert Campaneris, who has been putting on a very surprising hitting display this afternoon. Bert gets three more in this one.
Game 5 stalemate
My opponent could not stay for this one and it was my last scheduled game, so I technically win this one 9-0 per rules. Someone finally found a way to keep Campaneris off the base paths.
Game 6 Finally win a close one
Deciding to use the DH against a powerhouse Red Sox team proved to be a good idea. Both pitchers were solid with David Price and Ken Holtzman minimizing damage with short, quick innings. Eventually Oakland scores a run on a double play in the 5th inning. North and Campenaris both single in the 6th and Rudi drives home a run with a double. Big Papi David Ortiz slams a homer in the top of the ninth, but the Red Sox strand two more as the A’s squeak by 2-1.
Game 7 Yankee thunder
Facing the 36 Yankees was not a pleasant experience. I got lit up early and often. Dave Hamilton was torched for what would thankfully be his last appearance in the tournament.
Things actually looked good as the A’s smacked a string of hits to score two in the bottom of the first to over come Joe D’s solo homer in the top half, but they just kept peppering away, scoring in each of the first four innings.
After taking an inning off New York kept pounding away. Fortunately the game ended shortly afterwards with the aptly nicknamed bombers winning 9-2.
Game 8 A’s stun Braves
This was a game I didn’t expect to win. On the heels of two straight crushings of Dave Hamilton, Darold Knowles (D W) was on the hill for the A’s as the 98 Braves looked to be the favorites.
Atlanta got off to a quick start with a run scored in the first, but Knowles settled down afterwards and Rudi hits his second homer of the day to tie it up in the fourth. Knowles then settles in VERY nicely, allowing just 2 singles over 6.1 innings and Rollie Fingers and Paul Lindblad slam the door as the A’s win 2-1. Oh and Campaneris goes 4-4 with two extra base hits and a steal.
Game 9 And it’s Root, Root, Root for the Cubbies
Charlie Root and Catfish Hunter lock horns in this one, and the hitters were NOT invited. The only run of the game was scored on a Rogers Hornsby solo shot in the top of the 7th and the Cubs win 1-0.
10 Charlie Finley would be proud
Facing the 36 Yankees was expected to be similar to the destruction by the 37 Yankees, but somehow fate stepped in and what may be the most interesting game I have played in these tournaments came to be.
Gene Tenace pops a solo shot in the bottom of the third, and Holtzman managed to grind through five innings before leadoff man Lou Gehrig slammed a solo homer, yes that’s right this guy had the Iron Man batting first (take that Rickey Henderson) to tie the game at 1 each.
I took the lead in the 7th when Rudi hits a one out triple and scores on Holt’s single. I had a chance to expand the lead, but I pulled a Maddon and cost myself a run. With Tenace on first and one out I wanted to avoid a double play and had Holtzman lay down a bunt. Result 66-1. ARRRRRRRRRR.
It looked like it may cost me when Dickey rips a two out homer to tie the game with two out in the 9th, but we entered the 11th inning and the game still tied at 1 each when the real excitement begins.
As we reach the top of the 11th inning Joe DiMaggio hits a solo shot with one out and it looks like the A’s are going to choke this one away. In the bottom of the inning it didn’t look good. For some reason I cannot remember I left Vida Blue in to hit and he gets a bloop single to left.
I sit there looking at my bench, which was pretty weak and suddenly I decided to go for it. The announcer states “now running for Blue, Herb Washington”. I sent the runner and North hits a single that puts runners on the corners and then steals second. With two out and the game on the line, just as my opposing manager predicted “When the lights are brightest Reggie will come through” Jackson, who was almost completely useless the entire day rips a triple to score two as the A’s win 4-3 and finish the tournament 5-5.
I also won a door prize which was a complete set of the 1989 Bowman baseball cards. Rookie card of possible note? Some kid named Griffey, Junior.
See the A’s stats from the tournament here.
