Baseball Books and Replays

As I was reading Henry Aaron’s autobiography, “I Had a Hammer” recently, I found myself  interested in getting out my 1957 APBA baseball cards and reliving that season, or the 1974 season – the year Aaron became the Home Run King when he surpassed Babe Ruth’s 714 home runs.

Now, I just began reading “The Selling of the Babe,” Glenn Stout’s book on how Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in 1920 and I’m now itching to do a replay of the 1927 season.

It’s something I’m sure APBA replayers all go through. We read books of a certain era in baseball and the natural response is to delve into it further by holding the cards and rolling the dice. I first found that out after reading “Cobb,” the questionable biography on Ty Cobb by Al Stump. Upon finishing the book, I immediately called the APBA company and ordered the 1919 season. Soon, the cards arrived and I pored over them, recognizing names that Stump mentioned in his book.

I think part of it all is the demographics of the APBA fan. This is not bragging and I am sure there are some who will refute what I say based on my own actions. But, APBA replayers, I surmise, are intelligent folks who have both the dedication to playing out a lengthy replay and the desire to read more about baseball. They are two passions I think we share.

And what better way to further understand seasons and author’s inputs than doing a replay while reading of a particular season. One of my favorite seasons I ever did was 1957. I enjoyed it even more after reading John Klima’s “Bushville Wins,” the tale of how the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Yankees in the 1957 World Series. The Wisconsin town gained that nickname when Yankees manager Casey Stengel was upset that the hotels near County Stadium in Milwaukee were all booked and he had to take his team to a town some 30 miles from Milwaukee. He retorted that the town was so much smaller than New York based on its accommodations and called it “Bushville’ in a reference to Bush League towns.

I plan on re-reading Jane Leavy’s “The Last Boy,” about Mickey Mantle soon. I’m sure that’ll rekindle desires to do a season in which Mantle played.

Of course, probably the most motivational replay-driving book has to be Jim Bouton’s “Ball Four,” his chronicle of the 1969 season and his role as a relief pitcher for the expansion Seattle Pilots. Doing a replay of that season gives us a closer perspective of some of the players Bouton names in his book. Sure, we know Ray Oyler’s name from the book, but we know him more when rolling the dice for his at bats in a replay.

There are scores of baseball books out there and each adds a dimension to replays we are all doing. It makes the season more interesting; if we know of some anecdotes from reading a book, it enhances the replay,  just as we may remember a player in our replay who is mentioned in a book.  It goes hand in hand.

I’m currently doing the 1947 season. One of the books I checked out from the library for the sole purpose of adding to the experience is Ed Henry’s “42 Faith,” the book on how Jackie Robinson ended up breaking the color barrier in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers.  It’s up next on my to-read list right after I finish Stout’s Babe Ruth book.

If you’re doing a replay, and you haven’t already done it, try reading a book on that particular season or era.  I think you’ll enjoy your replay even more.

1947 Replay Update: June 1

I’ve reached June 1 in my 1947 APBA baseball replay and a few things are evident. The Yankees and Red Sox look like they’ll have a close battle to the end of the season, the St. Louis Cardinals are playing above what they did in the real game and Ted Williams will have a monster season.

All this is based upon the completion of about 30 percent of the season; there’s plenty to play and, as APBA players know, anything can happen during a full season replay.

Here are the standings and highlights for the American League so far:

                       W      L    GB

New York       31     16   --
Boston           28     17   2
Detroit           29     18   2
Cleveland      22     21   7
St. Louis         18     25   12
Philadelphia  16     30  14.5
Washington  16     31   15

Ted Williams is the Triple Crown winner so far. He is batting .402 with 15 home runs and 54 RBIs. Williams dipped below .400 in late May , but a few good outings boosted his average above the coveted mark again by June 1.

Joe DiMaggio, who was quiet for the first part of the season, is second in the American League with 12 home runs and 40 RBIs. He’s batting .348.

The Detroit Tigers are a playing well, too. Roy Cullenbine has 10 homers and Fred Hutchinson leads the team with six wins so far  Joe Gordon, who was traded from the Yankees in October 1946 to Cleveland for pitcher Allie Reynolds, has helped pace the Indians to a fourth-place mark. Pitcher Bob Feller, who George Kell once told me was the most difficult pitcher he ever faced, has a 6-2 record for the Tribe.

It looks like Washington and Philadelphia will clash for last place honors. Those late season As-Senators doubleheaders will  be a chore to play.

Here are the National League standings and some highlights:
         
                          W     L     GB
St. Louis         30     15   -
Boston           29     17   1.5
Brooklyn        26     19    4
Philadelphia  25     22   6
New York       22    22     7.5
Cincinnati      22     25     9
Chicago          15     31   15.5
Pittsburgh     14     31    16

Ralph Kiner, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ outfielder, and New York Giants first baseman Johnny Mize are tied for the league lead in home runs with 13 each. The two led the real season with 51 dingers each.

Mize also leads my replay with 44 RBIs. The Giants are somewhat of a disappointment; they are clobbering the long ball. Willard Marshall has 12 home runs and Bobby Thomson has 11. But the team is only playing .500 ball. Part of that reason is because of the slow runners, and I intend to write an entry on that soon. Seems like the Giants’ slow runners – those marked with an ‘S’ on their card – are often thrown out at second when running from first to second on a batter’s single. It’s happened twice in an inning for the Giants several times and has been a major rally killer.

The Cubs are simply bombing. Other than Bill “Swish” Nicholson’s 11 home runs, there’s nothing to see at Wrigley Field. They are on a tailspin lately and have a chance of toppling the Pirates for a lock on the cellar spot in the standings.

On the top of the league, the Cardinals are playing way above what the real team did in 1947. After 45 games in the real season, the Cards won 19 and lost 26 games. The Birds are playing 11 games above that pace in the replay and part of that is a combination of both hitting and pitching. Whitey Kurkowski has 12 home runs so far and Stan Musial is in second place in the RBI race with 42. Harry Breechen and Red Munger each have 7-1 records on the mound.

So, I’ve reached June 1, 1947. It’s a day where most teams will play doubleheaders. The standings are bound to change as teams and players get hot or cool off. Despite the statistical-based nature of the APBA game, I’ve found over the years there are some teams that get streaky and roll off several wins, or losses. The same with the players. DiMaggio had been pretty quiet early on, but lately he’s on a huge tear, hitting seven home runs in his last 10 games.

We’ll see how the season progresses. It’s why we roll all these games.

APBA New Year, 2020 Version

Ten years ago, as we entered a new decade, I was mired two years into a medical bankruptcy after the death of my wife with no real positive outlook in sight. I struggled to make bill payments and forewent most entertainment opportunities because of the cost.  I was a frequent visitor to the public library because the books and videos were free.

Halfway through the last decade, I got out of the bankruptcy, began saving money and started living again. In the fall of 2015, I drove to Gurnee, Ill., about 45 miles north of Chicago, and met the girl of my life. She moved to Arkansas a year later and we began our life. I was at the top of the world.

But then the bottom dropped out.  I had a medical scare, my car quit running, I lost my job of 20 years and ended up working two jobs seven days a week and returned to the financial struggle of ago all within a couple of years.

You never know how life’s hilly path will take you. It’s random; people don’t set themselves up for collapses, usually, and it happens to lots of them. Despite my constant whining of things, I’ve met people in dire worse shape than I.

And now we enter a new decade – if you count 2020 as the first year of a decade. There is that debate that the decade doesn’t official begin until 2021. And with that new decade comes hope for another upswing. I’ve got a decent job in a field totally alienated from the news career I had created over the years. It’s a less stressful job and the hours are set. There are no breaking stories to cover, no tight deadlines to meet, no crazy editors screaming for copy.  I’m also starting to write more for magazines to help supplement income and create a fair life for Holly and me.

Despite all the changes, here’s the stable part. It’s something I’ve written about ever since starting Love, Life and APBA Baseball on Jan. 1, 2012. The APBA game has always, always been a constant. No matter what the circumstances were in life, I always knew I’d get some peace and reprieve by rolling a few games each day. You have the wavy line of life with its peaks and valleys, and running straight through it all is the game. No other game or even any other thing at all, can make a claim like that.

The only time I slowed down playing the replay games during the last decade was when I was making frequent trips to Chicagoland to visit Holly.

So, we’re beginning a new decade – depending upon your interpretation of a decade’s start – and who knows how any of our lives will go. Health issues? Money? New jobs? Who really knows? 

But we do know that the game that we found as youngsters will continue to be our companion as we trek through this new decade. Keep rolling the games into the Roaring 20s.

APBA New Year, everyone.