This fantastic recap of the Twin Cities APBA Baseball Tournament-XI was passed on to me by Jim Fraasch. Thanks Jim!!
Big surprises, especially with a couple of teams from the 1970’s, in TCABT-XI. And 3 no-hitters during the tournament.
We ended up with 29 teams competing. 4 divisions of 6 playing 10 division games each, and 1 division of 5 playing 8 division games each.
The division winners, listed in seed order for the 8-team bracket play were:
- 1999 Braves (Ben Lofgren, 9-1, +26 run diff)
- 1995 Indians (Chuck Penttila, 8-2, +18 run diff)
- 1961 Yankees (Kevin Cluff, 8-2, +17 run diff)
- 1977 Red Sox (Barry Boevers, 7-3, +13 run diff)
- 1912 Giants (Darrell Shreve, 5-3, +13 run diff)
Wild Cards
- 1946 Red Sox (Phil Geraffo, 5-3, 0 run diff)
- 1972 Pirates (Darrell Skogen, 6-4, +10 run diff)
- 2018 Dodgers (Gary Borthwick, 6-4, +10 run diff)
Some big/interesting moments/stats (which were passed along by their managers) in tourney play:
- Mike Cuellar for the 1969 Orioles (Paul Van Beek) pitched a no-hitter.
- Kevin Millwood for the 1999 Braves (Ben Lofgren) pitched a no-hitter (in a later round division game vs Mike Cuellar).
- Kevin Millwood of the 1999 Braves (Ben Lofgren) finishes tourney play with a 5-0 record and a 1.90 ERA (Maddux was 3-0). The Braves launched 25 homers.
- Later in the quarter-final round of bracket play, Mike Paxton, of the 1977 Red Sox (Barry Boevers), would throw another no-hitter, our 3rd no-hitter of TCABT-XI.
- 1977 Red Sox (Barry Boevers, TCABT-XI Runner-Up) hit 23 homers in 17 games played. The starting pitching staff of the TCABT-XI Runner-Up had 3 C’s and a D, and not much more than 1 B in the bullpen.
- The 2001 Mariners (Leroy Arnoldi) began division play, winning their first 5. Leroy lost his last 5 games to finish 5-5, not making bracket play.
- Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews of the 1957 Braves (Dave Norlander) each failed to hit a homerun in 8 division games played.
- Torii Hunter of the 2006 Twins (Scott Ellingworth) blasted 6 HR in division play.
- The 1912 Giants (Darrell Shreve) out SB their opponents by a 26-1 margin.- 1995 Indians (Chuck Penttila) hit 20 homers.
- 1972 Pirates (TCABT-XI Champion, Darrell Skogen) hit .311 as a team in 18 games, with 23 HR, 8 triples, and 40 doubles.
- 1961 Yankees (Kevin Cluff) hit 25 homers in 15 games played. Maris hit 6 of them. Light hitting Tony Kubek had a huge series, hitting .296 with 10 XBH (3 2B, 4 3B, 3 HR) and 11 RBI. The 1961 Yankees might be the only team in the tournament with 0 SB.
Bracket Play summary:
Quarter-finals
#1 1999 Braves (Ben Lofgren) over the #8 2018 Dodgers (Gary Borthwick), 2 games to 0.
#7 1972 Pirates (Darrell Skogen) over the #2 1995 Indians (Chuck Penttila), 2 games to 1.
#3 1961 Yankees (Kevin Cluff) over the #6 1946 Red Sox (Phil Geraffo), 2 games to 1.
#4 1977 Red Sox (Barry Boevers) over the #5 1912 Giants (Darrell Shreve), 2 games to 1 (6 combined total runs scored in this series, the Red Sox Paxton 1-0 no-hitter).
Semi-finals
#7 1972 Pirates (Darrell Skogen) over the #1 1999 Braves (Ben Lofgren), 2 games to 1.
#4 1977 Red Sox (Barry Boevers) over the #3 1961 Yankees (Kevin Cluff), 2 games to 0.
Championship
#7 1972 Pirates (Darrell Skogen) over the #4 1977 Red Sox (Barry Boevers), 2 games to 0.
Darrell Skogen, our humble host for all 11 tournaments, graciously wins his 1st TCABT Title! Congrats to both Darrell Skogen for his first TCABT Championship, and to Barry Boevers (a 1st time entrant) in making the finals.
Coming in October, TCABT-XII, Saturday, October 5th, 2019. Contact “” if interested.
Congrats to Darrell for winning the TCABT-XI championship!
