Orsino Board

I have tweaked the Orsino Board just a bit. I found, after two replays, that the HR reduction was too severe, and so have reduced it. After using this through the first month of my 1964 project, I find that the new arrangement is like Baby Bear's porridge--just right. You can find the Orsino Board above, with the stand-alone pages just below the blog header.

The new tweak to the Orsino Board is Goldilocks-approved!

We Have A Winner!

Ermagerd! We have a winner! As those few haggard and heavily medicated souls who keep tabs on my replays know, the last position player--on a roster from opening day--to not have a hit wins the coveted (?) Paul Schaal Award. The award is so named because, in my very first Cadaco All-Star Baseball spinner league, Paul Schaal was that guy. Don't be that guy! (But someone always is. Someone always must be!)

On July 1st, 1956, the New York Giants played the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field. The race for the PSA was down to two contestants: George Wilson of NY and Gino Cimoli of Brooklyn. As the Giants pounded Pirate pitching for four home runs (Mays 16, White 13, Thompson 13, Rhodes 3) and sprinted out to a big lead behind their ace Johnny Antonelli, the rest of the story was that NY outfielders were getting scarce. Brandt batted once before getting injured for 6 games. Then Mueller got tossed by plate umpire "Hell" Enkeller for beefing about a called third strike. With Dusty Rhodes already in the game in place of Brandt, the choice was between Lennon and Wilson. Seeing that Lennon was still in bed with Yoko, Giants skipper Bill Rigney gave the nod to George Wilson. His second trip to the plate, with two runners on, George muscled a long drive to the far depths of spacious Forbes Field. He didn't stop until he was standing on third base with a triple and two rbi! You can see the look of wild excitement on his face:

The fact that George never hit a triple in his entire--albeit brief and unheralded--career does not diminish his moment of glory! He got his hit off of the Orsino Board, the potential inside the park HR. "If only I hadn't stopped for sandwiches," lamented George, "I might have gone all the way!"

And so, the Paul Schaal Award for 1956 NL goes to Gino "Not Ready For Prime Time" Cimoli, a raw kid who has only had two official at bats so far, draped in failure though they may have been.  Congratulations, Gino! Kind of.

NBC Strange Game of The Week: Thursday, April 17th, 1969

Scores!

MON 5, PHI 4 W-McGinn 1-0 L-Farrell 0-1 HR-Clendenon(2)

PIT 6, NY 1 W-Blass 2-0 L-Cardwell 0-2 HR-Stargell(2)

CHI 3, STL 2 W-Regan 1-0 L-Washburn 1-1 HR-Hickman(3)

ATL 9, HOU 2 W-P.Niekro 1-2 L-Billingham 1-1 HR-H.Aaron(2) H.Aaron 4 rbi.

SD 5, SF 4 (10inns) W-Reberger 1-1 L-Bryant 1-1 HR-Colbert(1)

Jim Hickman enduring early-season weather

Before we get to the Strange Game of The Week, the big news is that the Cardinals finally lost! Ray Washburn was 1 out from making the Redbirds 10-0 and himself 2-0, when Busch Stadium suddenly began to feel like Bedford Falls. The Cards were up 2-1 going into the 9th. Remember, the Cubs had rallied in the top of the 9th the day before, only to blow it in the bottom of the inning. Anyway, Billy Williams singled and was still on base with two outs when Jim Hickman stepped to the plate. "Help me, Clarence," he muttered as he stepped into the batter's box. "I'm not a praying man, but if you can hear me, send me a hanging curve!" Hickman turned on the very next pitch, sending it far out into the left field stands for a 3-2 Cubs lead. "Hot dog!" said the exultant Hickman as he circled the sacks. Phil Regan, who had pitched the 8th, stayed in to finish off the game, and hand St. Louis their first loss. Leo Durocher (looking and sounding a lot like reader Steve) says that every time the Cardinals lose, an angel gets their wings. Thanks, Clarence!

Soon found out, he had a heart of glass

Now for the Strange Game of the Week! I can go long stretches of games and not have the Orsino Board--my self styled weird play board--have much effect at all, but then just sometimes, it decides to make a certain game its own. It also adds color by giving details that aren't on the regular boards. Observe: the Padres rolled into San Francisco to help the Giants with their long-overdue home opener. The SF nine had played their first 8 games on the road, traveling from Atlanta, to San Diego to Cincinnati and then back to the west coast. Good grief, what an itinerary. However, everything on this day was sunshine and daffodils, with starter Juan Marichal chuckling softly to himself as the Padre line-up was announced. Opposing him was Pirates reject Tommie Sisk. The Giants struck for one in the bottom of the 1st, perhaps an insurmountable lead with Juan on the mound. Then, leading off the top of the third, Ed Spiezio lined a hit off of Marichal, knocking him out of the game with a minor injury. Juan won't miss any starts, but had to be relieved by Ron "Herbal Essence" Herbel. He promptly allowed Spiezio to score to tie the game. "I had soap in my eyes," whined the hastily-summoned reliever.

"Mommy, I'm wishing Linzy into the corn field."

Nonetheless, the Giants built a 4-1 lead after 7, driving Mr. Sisk from the mound. Joe Gibbon had pitched a flawless 7th inning, but gave way to Frank "The Wolf Who Lives In Linzy" Linzy. (Only Joni Mitchell fans will get that. Your Goddess is a fangirl.) Linzy has sucked so far, and took that theme right up again by giving up singles to Gonzales and Arcia to start the 8th. However, former Giant Ollie Brown grounded into a double play, seemingly saving Mr. Linzy. Nate Colbert stepped in as the Wolf Man took a book of matches from his hip pocket and moved his gasoline can closer to the pitching rubber. Colbert launched a drive straight down the left field line. Fair? Foul? It bounced off the pole for a 2-run dinger to make it 4-3, and despite Ivan Murrell following with a single and a steal, the Monks could not tie the game.

In the bottom of the 8th, after 2 were retired, Jim Ray Hart hit a drive to right field that bounced off of Ollie Brown's glove and into the corner. As Brown lay broken on the warning track, Hart pulled in at second base. Jack Baldschun relieved Billy McCool and promptly gave up a walk to pinch hitter Dave Marshall and then beaned Ron Hunt to load the bases. Jim "Any Davenport In A Storm" Davenport got up off the couch to hit, having replaced Hal Lanier who aggravated a previous injury earlier in the game. Baldschun reared back and struck him out, keeping the game 4-3. 

"Where am I?"

In the top of the 9th, Chris Cannizaro and Tony Gonzales ripped base hits and were on first and third with two out against the charred and smoking Mr. Linzy when Jose Arcia hit a bouncer to Ron Hunt. Still seeing double from being beaned, Mr. Hunt watched in horror as the ball clanked off of his glove and into right field. As Cannizaro motored home, Bobby Bonds ran in, grabbed the ball, and fired to third, just a hair too late to get the fleet Mr. Gonzales. Larry Stahl flied out, though, to end the inning at 4-4.

"Watch me snag this line drive!"

The game moved into extra frames. Nate Colbert dinked a single leading off the 10th, moved to second on Murrell's ground out, and after Pena flied to left, Ed Spiezio singled in the go-ahead run off Ron Bryant. Spiezio was so busy preening and strutting that he was easily picked off, but the Friars found themselves with a 5-4 lead! Frank "Double" Reberger retired Bob Burda--playing because Stretch McCovey had been ejected arguing strikes in the 5th inning--on a fly to left. Jim Hart then singled and was run for by Mason. "Call me James" he said, in an elegant accent. Bob Barton stood in and bashed a screaming liner to right. Larry Stahl turned on the afterburners, laid out, and nabbed an ice cream cone in the webbing of his glove. What a catch! Ron Hunt, leaving rehab long enough to bat, flailed blindly at three Reberger deliveries and the game was over, a 5-4 win for the Padres. The Friars are now 5-1 in 1-run games, while the Giants sank to 0-5. Three of the games have been against each other. 

His glove hand is fine, but his mind is gone.

Ron Hunt is rumored to believe himself to be an end table, and the poor addled second sacker spends his days with a lamp on his back in the corner of Willie Mays's living room. So sad.

Total Insanity At Forbes! : Friday, April 11th, 1969

Scores!

CHI 5, MON 2 W-J.Niekro 1-0 L-Stoneman 0-1 S-Regan(1) HR-Williams(2)

STL 3, NY 1 W-C.Taylor 1-0 L-McAndrew 0-1

PHI 15, PIT 11 (12inns) W-Champion 1-0 L-Ramos 0-1 HR-Callison(1) D.Johnson(1)ISP Ryan(1) Stargell(1) Allen 4 runs, Callison and Johnson 4 rbi each.

CIN 6, ATL 3 W-Fisher 1-0 L-Stone 0-1 HR-Rose(1)

LA 9, HOU 2 W-Osteen 1-0 L-Griffin 0-1 HR-Fairly(1) Blefary(2) J.Alou(1)

SD 4, SF 3 W-Sisk 1-0 L-Bolin 0-1 S-Reberger(2) HR-McCovey(2) Brown(1)

"It's not a baseball, it's a live rattlesnake!"

The Buccos dragged their winless selves back to Pittsburgh for their home opener, hoping for better things, and oh what a wild and crazy affair it was! The Pirates sent 10 men to the plate in the bottom of the second and scored 5 times off of dazed Phillies starter Woody Fryman for a 5-0 lead. But Bucco starter Bob Moose threw the ball away twice in the top of the 3rd, allowing the Quakers to score 3 runs on just one hit, a Deron Johnson single. 

NOT Deron Johnson

In the top of the 5th, John Callison hit a two-run shot off of Moose to tie the game. In the last of the 6th, the Pirates went back on top 7-5, victimizing Turk Farrell. In the top of the 7th, Lou Marone, "helped" by a Dave Cash error, gave up 3 runs on an extremely unlikely inside the park home run off the bat of the plodding Deron Johnson. (You might possibly recall that, before the season began, I tweaked my Orsino Board to make this harder to do. My ISP HRs are determined by running speed, not power. To hit his ISP HR, Johnson had to first roll a weird number, which he did--40--and then roll a 36, no other number, and then roll a 20 with the 20-sided die, all of which he did. I'd love to know the odds against that!)  The Phils added 3 more off the ineffective Mister Marone in the 8th to take an 11-7 lead into the bottom of the ninth. 

Nothing to smile ABOUT.

In the bottom of the ninth, with Billy Wilson on the hill, slump-encrusted Matty Alou hit a lazy fly to left that the lead-footed Mister Johnson couldn't quite get to and it bounced off the tip of his glove for a two base error. He would have been replaced already by Ron Stone, but Stone had been used as a pinch hitter, leaving the water buffalo-like Johnson in left field. Dave Cash followed with a double, and Manny Sanguillen singled, making it 11-8 with Willie Stargell up. Wilson flung a hanging curve up there and Stargell smashed it for a 3-run game-tying blast. "I blame Dennis the Menace" whined Mister Wilson. A Jose Pagan single and a walk to Freddie Patek put two on with two out, but pinch hitter Bill Mazeroski popped out to send the game into extra frames.

"It's not a grounder, it's a grenade!"

In the top of the 11th, Dave Cash made his second error, putting Richie Allen aboard, and Larry Hisle singled, but Bruce Dal Canton pitched out of it. Then in the top of the 12th, Cash made his 3rd error of the game and 6th of the young season (!) to put Tony Taylor aboard. Allen singled and Hisle doubled them both in off of Pedro Ramos. Later Mike "Call me Jack" Ryan, who had come into the game a couple of innings earlier, hit one out to make it 15-11 Phillies. Billy Champion completed 2 shutout innings of work by retiring the Bucs in the bottom of the 12th for the win. He was the last man out of the Phillies bullpen. The Pirates set a National League record (as of 1969) by collecting 24 hits and LOSING. Well done, fellas. Sheesh!

 

Opening Day!: Monday, April 7th, 1969

Scores!

CIN 14, LA 1 W-Maloney 1-0 L-Singer 0-1 HR-Bench(1) Maloney(1) Bench 6 rbi.

SF 3, ATL 0 W-Marichal 1-0 L-P.Niekro 0-1 Marichal 1-hitter.

Youngster Bench had his Wheaties!

Annnnnd, they're off! 21-year old backstop Johnny Bench cranked the season's first dinger in the ceremonial opener at Crosley Field. He added a triple and a single and drove in 6 as the Reds destroyed the visiting Dodgers. Bill Singer won the Sleepy Hollow Award for being the first hapless hurler to have his head handed to him. The Rhinelanders pounded out 17 hits and were altogether rude hosts to the Tinsel Town nine. Welcome back to my table top, Reds!

Flirty Juan

Juan Marichal of the Giants did some serious flirting on opening night, but with a possible no-hitter instead of a senorita. Bob Didier's two-out double in the bottom of the eighth spoiled his bid, and proved to be the Braves' only knock.

My new dice arrived all the way from England just in time for the start of the season, and my Opening Day coincides with actual Opening Day 2016. How cool is that? I am using the new boards, recommended by the APBA Blog, and I do like them so far. The annoying 9-strikeout against "A" pitchers is gone, among other small but agreeable changes. I'm not used to having to consult the boards very often, though! I also tweaked my own home-made Orsino Board. I made inside the park homers harder to get, and gave the better catchers more chance to cut down base stealers. I've always felt that catchers' defense got short shrift in APBA. 

I have dispensed with keeping some of the minor stats I kept last time, such as LOB, SH and SF. I have also made the decision to drop pitchers' appearances (though I'll still keep starts) and pitchers' walks and runs given up (as opposed to earned runs). I'll keep a running total of team runs allowed, though. Dropping these stats will make my score keeping much easier and I don't think I'll miss them at all. There's nothing worse than Bob Duliba or somebody pitching an inning and a third in a 10-2 loss and having to mess with his 3 walks, 7 runs given up and 329 boos from the crowd.

Bob "Ach" Duliba, bracing for another line drive.

I only have 25 men to a team, or so. "Or so" because I put everyone back to where they started the season, and will implement trades and so forth at the appointed hour. This gives some teams more, some teams less, to start. Anyway, I can see I will probably need to invent pitchers at some point, for some teams. We'll see. 

I hope you all enjoy the new season and will follow along with me!  

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.

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!