My APBA Space

Hello dear readers. (I think I have at least a couple.) I thought that you might like to see my game space. 

As you can see, I use a rolling box which I think I got from the APBA Journal way back when. When I revived the league, I was annoyed by the chute coming loose a lot, so I Krazy Glued it in place, even though that means the box can never be closed. It was worth it, believe me. I just cover it up when not in use, so it doesn't get dusty. 

The white sheet of paper to the left of the rolling box is my self-styled Orsino Board, which is obviously not really a board, but just a chart. The Orsino Board was created in order to put high injury factor wunderkinds--like 1961 John Orsino--in mortal danger. It employs a 20-sided die (thank you Strat) to create certain situations that aren't on the regular playing boards, but which happen in actual games. In addition to its other charms, the Orsino Board rewards good fielders and penalizes bad ones, causes "partial" injuries where the player can still pinch hit, and makes me coffee on demand. Okay, I made that last part up, but wouldn't it be cool if it did?

To the left of the Orsino Board is a little pink card which is my combination error randomizer/weird number randomizer. I think I got that from an APBA Journal article.

The little stadium next to the lamp is County Stadium, Milwaukee. The ones lined up on the left are (from right to left) Camden Yards, Forbes Field, Sportsman's Park, Shibe Park, Griffith Stadium and Yankee Stadium. Hidden in some of the cubby holes are Tiger Stadium, Cleveland Municipal Stadium, Comiskey Park and Busch Stadium. Out of the frame, but scattered around the room are Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, The Polo Grounds, Crosley Field and League Park. I think they are all made by Danbury Mint.

I hope you enjoyed this little peek. 

--Fireblossom, supreme Goddess of this little corner of the world.

Ricky Angel: Friday, September 1st, 1967

Scores!

CHI 3, BOS 1 W-Peters 11-9 L-Lonborg 16-10

CAL 3, CLE 1 (13 inns) W-Simmons 3-0 L-Pena 1-4 HR-Brown(11)Reichardt(17) Reichardt 2-run walk-off HR.

BAL 11, KC 5 W-Miller 6-2 L-Nash 6-14 S-Fisher(1) HR-Haney(4)Powell(11)Webster(22)

MIN 5, DET 4 W-Boswell 13-6 L-Marshall 7-5 S-Worthington(21) 

NY 5, WAS 0 W-Peterson 11-12 L-Moore 3-9 Peterson 2-hitter.

At the Big A, Cleveland's Larry Brown, also known as The Only Indian Who Cares, lunged one-handed at a pitch in the top of the first inning and sent it wobbling down the left field line, where it sank into the very first row of seats for a 1-0 Indians lead. Sonny Siebert made that single tally stand up into the bottom of the ninth. With a man on second and two out, up stepped Bobby Knoop, considered by everyone to have slim to no chance of coming through, but lo and behold, after kneeling in prayer before standing in to hit, he stroked a double off the wall to tie the game! Then in the bottom of the 13th inning, Rick Reichardt blasted a two-run shot to win the game for the jubilant Halos. Winking, he assured this reporter that "We had it in the bag all along!"

With certain very sad happenings in my real life today, thank Goddess for distractions like APBA.

Monthlies! Thursday, August 31st, 1967 plus end of month stat board

Harmon "Harmless" Killebrew

Scores!

CHI 9, BOS 3 W-Howard 10-9 L-Waslewski 5-5 HR-McCraw(7)Foy(15)

MIN 8, BAL 5 W-Chance 15-9 L-Phoebus 14-8 S-Worthington(20) HR-Haney(3)Powell(10) Killebrew 2(33) Killebrew 4 rbi.

NY 2, WAS 1 W-Stottlemyre 16-13 L-Ortega 6-18 HR-Howard(28)

End of August stat board!

PITCHING and misc.

TEAM...E.R.A.....CG......K.....BB......SV.......1-run.......X-inn.....AUG.
DET....... 2.56........44......966....407.....31.......18-15.........12-5......22-13
CHI........2.58........33......938....442......22......17-25.........12-12....17-15
NY..........2.80........35......931....411......28.......21-19.........13-7......18-16
BAL.......2.85........28......856....399......28.......15-18......... 7-11.....18-13
MIN.......3.08........48......936....414......23.......25-16.........11-8......17-15
CLE.......3.19........53.....1047...434......10.......15-20..........4-11.....10-22
BOS.......3.21........36......944...438......25.......28-18..........5-7.......20-15
CAL.......3.25........30......797....431......28.......23-20.........10-10....12-15
WAS.......3.26........19......837....395......24.......14-21..........5-4.......13-17
KC..........3.85........31......944....469......16.......14-18..........7-11.....11-17

BATTING

TEAM....AVG.....R......2B....3B.....HR.....SB-CS.....GIDP.....LOB
BOS.........241......602...184...36.....144......51-28.........74.........905
DET.........228......584...173...36.....141......35-20.........93.........946
MIN.........220......530...199...37.....120......71-19.........68.........880
CLE.........219......437...189...31......98.......62-21.........68.........834
BAL.........218......488...218...35.....112......48-15.........61.........870
KC...........215......455...200...43.......87.....106-28........56.........923
CHI.........213.......459...187...33......74......125-37........61.........917
CAL........212.......432...178...32......75........41-23........53.........957
NY...........201.......467...155...22......92........74-14........84.........920
WAS........178.......327...137...20......86........51-23........64.........799

FIELDING  (rating is innings played divided by errors.)

TEAM.....RATING.....E......DP
DET.........15.38..........80.......98
CAL.........12.65..........96.....104
BOS.........12.17.........100..... 86
CHI..........11.84.........105......95
CLE..........11.79........103......84
BAL.........10.41.........113.....104
NY.............9.71..........128......64
MIN..........9.57..........126......66
KC............8.85..........138......79
WAS.........8.39...........143.....64

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

WINS: Lolich-det 18-5, Wilson-det 17-8, Hardin,bal 17-9, McLain,det 16-7, Lonborg-bos 16-9, Stottlemyre-ny 16-13

E.R.A.: Lolich-det 1.60, Peters-chi 1.79, Downing-ny 1.92, Stange-bos 2.03, Hardin-bal 2.06, McLain-det 2.06

K's: Tiant-cle 242, Lonborg-bos 217, Peters-chi 209, Lolich-det 199, Downing-ny 190

CG: Tiant-cle 20, 4 tied with 14.

Shutouts: Hardin-bal 9, Lolich-det 9

IP: Tiant-cle 241.2, Wilson-det 232.1, Lolich-det 231

SAVES: Rojas-cal 27, Gladding-det 26, Womack-ny 22, Baldwin-was 20, Worthington-min 20

AVG: Conigliaro-bos .300, Freehan-det .296, Scott-bos .295, Blair-bal .290, Kaline-det 283, Morton-cal .283, Yaz-bos .283, F.Robinson-bal .282, Fregosi-cal .275, Adair-bos .273, Mincher-cal .273

HR: Yaz-bos 37, Cash-det 36, Killebrew-min 33, Mantle-ny 31, Howard-was 28, Conigliaro-bos 26, Blefary-bal 25

RBI: Cash-det 110, Yaz-bos 95, Mincher-cal 90, Killebrew-min 87, Conigliaro-bos 84, Scott-bos 81, B.Robinson-bal 79

RUNS: Yaz-bos 95, Scott-bos 83, Freehan-det 81, Agee-chi 78, Tovar-min 78, Conigliaro-bos 75

2B: Johnson-bal 38, Fregosi-cal 32, Mincher-cal 32

3B: Tovar-min 10, Uhlaender-min 10

SB: Campaneris-kc 63, McCraw-chi 40, Buford-chi 31, Agee-chi 27, Clarke-ny 23, Kenney-ny 23

GIDP: Northrup-det 22, B.Robinson-bal 16

E: Campaneris-kc 29, Clarke-ny 28, Versalles-min 26

Ain't We Got Fun: Monday, August 28th, 1967

Hawk Harrelson

This time I'm going to depart from my usual format, because each game on this day was worthy of its own commentary!

DET 13, CAL 8 W-Hiller 2-3 L-Brunet 13-9 S-Gladding(26) HR-Horton(20)Mathews(3) Horton 4 runs, 4 rbi.  Joe Sparma, the one member of Detroit's rotation not having a good year, managed to walk the first four batters of the game! "Where's the plate?" he inquired, waving his white cane around in confusion. For his part, George Brunet was a noted Tiger tamer, but he couldn't stand the prosperity. Trailing 6-5 and due to lead off the bottom of the inning, Gorgeous George got the first two men out, then walked McAuliffe and Kaline, then plunked Freehan to load 'em up. Horton then stroked a two-run single. With lefty Jim Northrup up next, I decided to ride the rapids with Hey There Georgie Girl, and paid for it when Northrup ripped a two run triple to knock him out and give the Tigers a 5 run lead. The Halos did make it tight enough to force the Bengals to use their ace reliever later on, but when Pete Cimino coughed up three more Detroit runs, that was all she wrote. My grandmother, a big Angels fan in the 60s, would have been perturbed with her boys.

CLE 10, KC 8 (13inns) W-Bailey 1-0 L-Odom 3-10 HR-Brown(10)Monday(18)Duncan(4)ph Brown 4 rbi.  Cleveland was cruising with a 6-2 lead behind Looie Tiant going into the bottom of the 9th, but for the second straight start, he couldn't close it out. Last time, the bullpen saved him, but this time, a 3-run pinch jack by Dave Duncan, and a crucial passed ball by Joe Azcue, let the tying run come scampering home. The Tribe scored in the top of the 11th, but with two gone and nobody on, Rick Monday went yard to tie it again. Leon Wagner knocked in two in the top of the 13th as Cleveland built a 10-7 lead, but there was nobody left to pitch except Steve "Call me George" Bailey, who had to be pried from his desk at the good ol' savings and loan and sent to the hill to pitch. He allowed a run but managed to finally subdue the pesky A's for his first decision all season, despite being with the team since opening day. And it was a win! "Thanks, Clarence" he chirped.

BAL 6, MIN 1 W-Hardin 17-9 L-Perry 7-7 HR-Blair 2(11) Hardin 2-hitter. Despite the weird number re-roll minefield I created--more on that in a minute--Mr. Hardin has been a miracle J-4, pitching like an ace and refusing to get injured all season so far. When Jim Merritt couldn't go at the last minute, Jim Perry had to step in and absorb the loss as the Twinks couldn't muster a hit at all until Rod Carew's lead-off double in the 7th. Jerry Zimmerman's single was the only other knock.  For the O's, Paul Blair has three HRs in the past two games. Now, about my re-roll chart...I call it the Orsino board, because in my 1961 replay, the Giants' John Orsino was tearing it up, despite having hardly played in real life. I don't think a real manager would bench a guy who's hot because "he just shouldn't play that much!" so he stayed in and piled up the stats. So, at the All-Star break, I invented the Orsino board, which lays many springes for those with high J-factors. ("Fate lays many springes for those with imagination" --Amy Lowell) Orsino did indeed get crushed under a garbage truck or two in the second half, but still put up 26 HR and 103 rbi for the season.

BOS 6, NY 1 W-Lonborg 16-9 L-Talbot 5-6 HR-Harrelson(10)GS Harrelson 5 rbi. With Tony Conigliaro convalescing from a bout of acid reflux, the Bosox picked up Ken Harrelson last Friday for nothing after he was summarily booted from the A's by petulant owner Charlie Finley. All he's done since then is hit .333 with 2 doubles, 2 HR and eleven rbi! In this game, he singled, doubled, hit a grand slam, and even stole a base before giving way to his new personal caddy, George Thomas. "Wash my car when you're done," quipped Ken.

WAS 2, CHI 0 W-Bertaina 7-16 L-Peters 10-9 S-Baldwin(20) With Mr. Peters and his sub-2 e.r.a. going against the popgun Nats, I figured this would not be a slugfest, and indeed, there was no score into the bottom of the 8th when Ken McMullen doubled. Hank Allen bunted him to third, then Bob Saverine executed the suicide squeeze to such perfection that not only did pinch runner Eddie Brinkman come limbo-ing across the plate, but Chisox second sacker Don Buford was so stunned by the beauty of the bunt that he dropped the throw at first. Saverine (Wtf is UP with Mr. Saverine lately, anyway?) promptly stole second base. Dick Nen was out, as Dick Nen always is, bringing up the pitcher Bertaina, who was working on a 2-hit shutout, having allowed only two early singles, so I let him hit. Lo and behold, he rolled a 66 for an rbi single and a 2-0 lead! However, when Tim Cullen booted one to put a runner on with a man out in the ninth, I brought in bullpen ace Dick Baldwin to nail down the win. The Nats have played decent ball in August, going 13-14. 

All in all a great day on the local ball field!