Game #195: Why replayers play every game

Game No. 195 of my 1947 APBA baseball replay didn’t size up to be much of a contest. The 9-14 Chicago Cubs were in Cincinnati to face the 9-17 Reds on May 9, 1947, It definitely wouldn’t be featured on NBC’s Game of the Week had they televised the show back then. (Note: 10 years later, in 1957, NBC began airing the Saturday baseball game of the week.)

The game before this one featured the Boston Braves and the New York Giants – two teams that have started off well and are interesting to play, both because of the Braves’ pitching and the Giants propensity to hit home runs. Johnny Mize hit his 7^th homer of the season and the Giants won, 4-3.

The Cubs-Reds clash was just a minor speed bump for better games ahead. The Yankees were scheduled to face the Red Sox three games later and the Cardinals, who have been a surprise so far, were up for Game No. 197. There were definitely better games ahead.

But season replayers must replay each game no matter how drab they may seem. I’m sure there are a lot of replayers with stories of drudging through those late August San Diego vs. Montreal games during replays of mid 1970s seasons. When I did the 1977 replay, I almost dreaded seeing Texas and Cleveland coming up.

There are times, though, when looks may be deceiving. And that’s why we replay each and every game.

Since I’ve been playing the ABPA baseball game in 1998, I’ve played more than 19,000 replay games. Each game counts in the standings, regardless of who the teams are, and each game has the opportunity for something different to happen.

For those uninitiated with APBA, it is a statistical-based game that uses players’ results from real seasons and transposes those stats onto cards. Replayers role dice (or click mouses on the computer version) for each player at bat and those results dictate how the games progress.

So, Game No. 195 was up and I began rolling. I wasn’t disappointed.

Cincinnati took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Babe Young hit a home run. But, rather than fade away like they have in previous games, the Cubs fought back. Four singles and a walk gave Chicago four runs in the second. The Cubs then scored three more in the third and two in the fourth on nine singles and three walks.

They led, 9-2, after four innings.

But the Reds returned the favor. Augie Galan pinch hit a two-out homer in the fourth and Cincinnati battered Cubs’ pitcher Doyle “Porky” Lade for five runs in the sixth. The standards for obesity must have been different back then. Ol’ hefty “Porky” stood 5-10 and was a portly 180 pounds.

The Cubs took an 11-8 lead in the seventh, but the Reds answered with four more in their half of the seventh, giving Cincinnati a 12-11 lead. By then, I knew I needed help and was forced to summon resources.

I called Holly, my Illinois sweetie, in to roll for the Cubs. She rolled several Cubs’ contests during my 1991 replay and uncannily seemed to constantly roll 66s for Andre Dawson, the universal dice roll for home runs.

Sure enough, she rolled well; Bill “Swish”Nicholson, the Cubs’ early version of Dave Kingman who mostly either homered or struck out, blooped a single and drove in catcher Bob Scheffing in the top of the ninth to make it a 13-13 tie.

The Reds were scoreless in the bottom of the ninth and the game went into extra innings.

Both teams failed to score in the 10^th and the contest continued.

Apparently, Holly was getting tired and, wanting to wrap up the game and get on with her own life, did her best rolling of the season so far in the 11^th inning.

With one out, Scheffing singled and Nicholson added his own single, driving Scheffing to third. Eddie Waitkus then hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Scheffing. Fans remember Waitkus as the idea for Bernard Malamud’s novel “The Natural,” which later became a movie with Robert Redford and Glen Close. Waitkus was shot in 1949 by an obsessed, love-struck fan upset when he was traded to Philadelphia.

Then, the gates opened and the Cubs followed with a triple, single, walk, single, error and single before Scheffing, batting around, flied out for the final out. Seven runs scored and the Cubs took a 20-13 lead.

Cubs pitcher Bob Chipman closed out the game, giving up only a one-out double before getting two ground outs to win the game.

The score seemed more like a Bears-Bengals game with Chicago winning on a fourth-quarter touchdown. Instead, it was one of 1,232 games I’ll play in this replay and there were many elements to this game that made it stand out. The score, Holly’s rolling of the dice, the stories associated with the players such as Waitkus and the fun of a really wild game.

Even though some of the games on the schedule may appear boring and pointless, we have to play them out. You never know what will happen.