1965 Replay Update: June 12, 1965

I haven’t updated the 1965 APBA baseball replay I’m doing in a while. I haven’t posted any blog in a while for that matter. I’ve been busy cranking out four stories for one magazine, another for a second one I contribute to, a piece for an online site and a lengthy feature for a news service in the state.

But that doesn’t mean I’ve not been rolling the games. The pace did slow a lot; I was averaging four games a day during the first four months of my replay. That’s dwindled some, but I still manage to get a game or two in every so often.

I’ve played all games through June 12, 1965. I use the original schedule (found on Retrosheet.org) for the games and don’t have rainouts, so every team is guaranteed to play 162 games in the season as intended.

So far, the St. Louis Cardinals are the surprise team of the replay with the best record in the majors at 39-19. The Minnesota Twins started off slowly, but aided by a 22-4 run in May, they’ve jumped into the lead in the American League.

So, here’s a brief team-by-team look at a season I’m ranking as the best replay I’ve done. I know, I know, I always say the replay I am doing is the best ever, but so far, this tops ‘em all.

American League

1 Minnesota (38-20, GB --) I don’t know how the Twins are doing so well. Jimmie Hall leads the Twins with 12 home runs, followed by Killebrew’s 11. Tony Oliva has 8 and then there’s a large drop-off for power. Jim Kaat is 9-1 with 50 strikeouts, but the rest of the pitching is mediocre when it comes to whiffing batters. They began the season 7-1 and then got swept in a three-game series at Detroit and, after beating up on Cleveland, lost all games in a four-game set in Chicago to look pretty meek early on. Ahead for them are a game at Detroit and then three games at Chicago, four games at New York and three games at Cleveland before returning home to host the Tigers and the White Sox. The rest of the month could be a pivotal time for Minny.

2 Detroit (35-22 GB 2.5) Norm Cash is a front-runner for the American League MVP. He has 10 home runs and, although I’m not tracking RBIs like I did for the previous 1947 replay, Cash has hit several game-winners. Pitching is key for Detroit with Dave Wickersham leading the team with eight wins. Lolich, at 7-4, has 99 strikeouts.

3 Chicago (32-24 GB 5) The most consecutive games the White Sox have won is six and in June so far, they have gone 3-8. Floyd Robinson leads the team with five home runs. To get an idea of the lack of power they have, pitcher Tommy John has the eighth best home run record so far with one dinger.

4 Boston (30-28 GB 8) Watch out for the Red Sox. Carl Yastrezemski has 17 home runs for second place in the AL home run race. Tony Conigliaro has 13 and a young Rico Petrocelli has 11.The pitching is bleak and if the Sox can get it together, I think they could make a run for the pennant. Earl Wilson is the best hurler with a 6-5 record, indicative of the team so far. He does have 85 strikeouts.

5 California (28-31 GB 10.5) Dean Chance is tied with Kaat with nine wins for the AL pitching lead. In an oddity, Fred Newman, who has pitched in 13 games so far, has five home runs. Jim Fregosi leads the team with eight. If Newman gets in more games, he may end up leading the team in blasts.

6 Washington (29-33 GB 11) Three players have made the Senators better than expected. Frank Howard, of course, is a monster with 22 home runs. For those uninitiated with APBA’s game, players are given cards with dice roll results on them. The iconic roll of “66” generally results in a “1.” But home runs can occur with other results with men on base. It seems Howard is taking advantage of that. He’s rolled several “5s” with a man on first or second for a homer. Pete Richert is the ace with an 8-4 record and 92 strike outs and Ron Kline leads the league with nine saves.

7 Cleveland (25-29 GB 11) Ugh. Other than Sam McDowell and his AL leading 121 strikeouts, this is the least exciting team to play. The only fun with the Indians is when Max Alvis hits a home run and I can say, “Alvis has left the building.” He’s done that five times so far.

8 New York (26-33 GB 12.5) For every good, there’s a bad with the Yankees. Al Downing tossed a no-hitter against Boston and had 16 strikeouts at Kansas City. But, Jim Bouton, whom I root for because of his classic book “Ball Four,” is 0-7. Mickey Mantle has 13 home runs, but outfielder Roger Ropez has none.

9 Baltimore (24-34 GB 14) I keep waiting for the Orioles to wake up. They finished third in the real 1965 American League, but they're far from the real Birds. It may be my managing. I keep playing Boog Powell at first. He has seven home runs, but more strikeouts than he can wave a stick at. Well, despite the dumb euphemism, you get my drift. Baltimore’s longest winning streak is at four games. They promptly lost eight in a row after edging Kansas City in three games and California in the first game of a double-header before dropping those eight.

10 Kansas City (21-34 GB 15.5) Ken Harrelson’s 16 home runs are good enough for third in the AL. That’s as far as it goes with the Athletics. None of the pitchers has a winning record other than spot relievers Don Mossi and Jack Aker, who are both 1-0. They began the season promising, going 10-7. They realized who they were and have gone 11-27 since.

National League

1 St Louis (39-19 GB --) The Cardinals keep finding ways to win in come-back fashion. Lou Brock hit a homer in the bottom of the eighth to go ahead of the Braves in a recent game. Mack Jones hit a solo shot in the top of the ninth to tie it for Milwaukee and then with two outs, Tito Francona drove in Ken Boyer with a double to win it in the bottom of the night. Two nights earlier, the Cards were down 3-1 to the Reds but fought back to win it 4-3 in 12 innings when Mike Shannon singled in Curt Flood. It’s been that kind of year for them. In the real 1965 season, they finished seventh in the National League. It’ll take a collapse for them to fall that far, although …

2 San Francisco (37-21 GB 2) … the Giants have come on strong lately with Willie McCovey’s 17 and Willie Mays’ 14 home runs. Juan Marichal is 8-4 with 109 strikeouts and the Giants have gone 27-14 since April 30

3 Los Angeles (36-23 GB 3.5) The Dodgers seemed pretty weak at first and were mired in sixth place at the end of May. Since then, they’ve gone 10-2 as Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale has each won their last four starts. (Drysdale began the season with a 1-5 record. Koufax has 135 Ks to lead everyone.) Ron Perranoski leads the league with 10 saves. The Dodgers are the likely challengers, along with the Giants, to knock the Cardinals off their nest.

4 Pittsburgh (34-26 GB 6) Vern Law has no-hit the Cardinals and the Phillies and has 112 strikeouts, good for second place in the National League strikeout leaders. Willie Stargell has 14 home runs, but the Pirates are on a four-game losing streak to Houston and San Francisco – at home.

5 Cincinnati (32-25 GB 6.5) Frank Robinson leads the Reds with 14 quiet home runs. I say “Quiet” because they come at inopportune, meaningless times. In a recent game, he struck out and popped with the bases loaded. Sammy Ellis is 10-2 and Jim Maloney is 7-3 to pace Cincinnati on the mound.

6 Milwaukee (26-29 GB 11.5) This is the most disappointing team in the replay for me. Maybe it’s because I started kindergarten in Madison, Wisc., in 1965 and Henry Aaron and the Braves were the first team on my baseball consciousness. Aaron only has nine home runs in the replay and Tony Cloninger at 6-5 is the only winning pitcher for the team. Cloninger did toss a no-hitter against Philadelphia, the victim of two no-nos so far.

7 Philadelphia (27-31 GB 12) The Phillies resembled contenders at first but now look like they are doing an early version of their 1964 swan dive. They are 3-9 in their last 12 games and were swept at home in a four-game series against the Dodgers in which they were outscored 21-4.  Jim Bunning is their only hope with an 8-4 record and 97 strikeouts. Dick Allen, who hit 20 home runs in the real 1965 season, has seven so far.

8 Chicago (27-32 GB 12.5) Billy Williams leads the NL with 18 home runs. Ernie Banks has 16 and Ron Santo has 13. The Cubs started off well, then realized they were the Cubs and sunk to eighth place. Only Bob Buhl at 7-4 has a winning record for the team.

9 Houston (24-36 GB 16) Rusty Staub leads the Astros with only seven home runs, ace pitcher Bob Bruce is 2-7 and only a young Larry Dierker, at 3-3, doesn’t have a losing record. The only thing keeping Houston from being the cellar dweller is…

10 New York (10-50 GB 30) … this team. Jack Fisher leads the Mets in wins with three. He has nine loses. Al Jackson is 2-8 and Gary Kroll is 1-9. The Mets may have four 20-game losers. If they can replicate their actual 1965 record of 50-112 it will be a miracle. The only bright spot is Ron Swoboda and his 15 home runs.

So, there you have it-- a super long run-down of every team in the 1965 replay. The National League looks like a dogfight. San Francisco still has 12 games remaining in the season against the Cardinals and the Dodgers play St. Louis 13 more times.

Howard is on pace to hit 62 home runs and Koufax could reach his actual season total of 382 strikeouts.

In the 11 full season APBA replays I’ve done since rolling baseball games in 1998, only two of my World Series featured the teams that met in the actual Series of those years.  St. Louis faced New York in my replays of 1942 and 1964. Will this be a third replay that has the actual teams facing each other if Minnesota holds on and Los Angeles overtakes St. Louis? Will the Cardinals continue to defy odds and win the National League? Will Mays and McCovey power the Giants?  Will the Mets win 30 games? All these story lines are what make this season so compelling.