Real Time, Replay Time

I reached the point APBA baseball replayers hit once each year, but it came earlier this time than I had anticipated.

Each year, at some point, the date of a replay day coincides with the actual date. They are two separate clocks, the replay time and the real time, and eventually, they meet for a brief time. When we replay games, we seldom play an entire slate of games for that day in one real day. In my 1950 replay, there are 16 teams and on a busy day that means there are eight games to play. Add in the Sunday doubleheaders that were popular back then and I'm looking at 12 to 13 games to play for that particular day.

I can't play that many games in a day. Lately, I'm lucky to reach that amount in a week. My job may be partially to blame: I am a bureau reporter at a large newspaper. Last month, a tornado struck central Arkansas and killed 16 people. I was part of the team that covered that constantly. Long hours, tiring hours. When I came home, rather than hit the game for relief and peace, I hit the bed for sleep.

Then, two weeks ago, a person fatally shot three people before killing himself in the town I live. We wrote three stories about that for the paper.

It was a busy few weeks and it put me behind on the schedule of games. And that's too bad because I've found that over the years the APBA replay has kept me sane during the stressful times. The games are a way to shut out the bad that I see and report on and it's a controlled world that takes me away.

I began the 1950 replay on March 7 this year. The replay date for the first games that season was on April 18, 1950. So, I was about five weeks ahead of schedule when I started this.

During my last replay of 1942, I began the season on April 18, 2013, which was the actual start date for that year's replay. I fell behind quickly, so that coinciding day was only April 18 and 19.

I'll continue to play on, of course. Today is May 17, 2014. After another game tonight I'll reach May 14, 1950.There are 11 games scheduled for that day; it'll take me a few actual days to knock out those games. Then, I'll pick up some time because May 15, 1950, has only one game scheduled.

We play these games, rolling contests each day, slowly heading to the replay's end. And there's more seasons to play next. I have a very limited life outside of work so that allows me to play maybe two, three or four games each day if I'm not worn out from the day's work. Maybe I can pick up the pace and knock out a few days quickly.

I know I won't catch up the actual date with the replay date during this replay. But each year, at least once in a replay, both days are the same and it gives me a perspective of how long these things can really be.