Seven Days a Week

It’s hard to knock down many games in my 1947 APBA baseball replay while working seven days a week, but it’s a task I’m faced with. After I was laid off from my newspaper job two years ago, I fell back into a financial pit that I have feared since I was an adult.

I hired on at another newspaper and then in May took a job totally out of my career in order to make a living. And, I got a second job -- a part-time, weekender where I work 12 hours a day. There’s not much time to roll games unless I stay up late and, because I work seven days a week, I’m not as deft at staying awake much.
Ask my Illinois girl, Holly. We’ll be sitting on the couch at 9 p.m.  watching Dateline on NBC when she’ll turn to me to talk about the show.  I’m out, like one of the victims Keith Morrison is always profiling. All I need to complete the scene is a chalk outline ‘round my body, police tape sealing off the sofa and Morrison’s quirky dialogue. “He often rolled the dice in his baseball replay, but this time, the dice rolled him,” he’d say.

I’ve played the 1947 replay now for seven weeks and have rolled 128 games so far. That’s an average of 2.6 games a day. Not too bad, but there was a time when I could average half a dozen games each day. 

So, it’s tough to maintain the pace I like. When you can play five or six games a day, you really get the feel of the season and how it actually went day-by-day in the real world.

But, like I said so many times before, the game is always waiting for us. It’s a game that’s made the transition with us from childhood to adulthood and it’s remained a mainstay for us. No other game, I can say assuredly, has kept the popularity that APBA has through our lifetime.

And, on a side subject, although I don’t play the game as often as I’d like, it’s still there in some form. I was feeling kind of down and tired the other day at my weekday job. I strive to make money and to provide a decent life for Holly and, because I am somewhat a defeatist, I never feel I do good enough. But, a person who works in the same building as I and who also plays APBA, stopped in the office and asked how 1947 was doing. We talked about players and teams and, of course, Jackie Robinson and it perked me up. I have never met anyone else in person who plays the game. Here’s a guy who’s in the same building just one floor down. The game picked us both up and carried us through the day. I went home and rolled a few games and really enjoyed it.

Replays are an adventure meant to be enjoyed, not a task that has to be completed at a certain time. But there are so many games left ahead and each one contains something new to experience. Will Johnny “Big Cat” Mize and Ralph Kiner each hit 51 home runs in my 1947 replay like they did in real life? Will Ted Williams flirt with batting .400? Can the Red Sox challenge the Yankees, like they are doing now in my replay? Lots of questions that are hard to answer when working seven days a week.

Mow is Me

I declared my lawn mower dead a few weeks ago when I attempted to start it and it mocked me.

It did that slow “chug-chug-chug” noise like an evil chuckle before the engine quit. I tried pull starting it several times, raising blisters on my hand and nearly yanking my arm out of socket only to hear that chugging. The noise sounded like the mower was laughing. “Yeah, sure, you’re going to get this started,” it said. “Heh-heh-heh-heh.”

Half of my front yard was cut when the mower gave up the ghost. I tried repairing it. For some reason, I have a talent for fixing lawn mowers. I can’t balance a checkbook or tie my shoe normally, but I can repair a Briggs and Stratton small engine blindfolded. It’s like when God was dishing out the skills, he pointed at me and said “Lawn engine repair.” I would like to have bargained that my chosen talent could have been business savvy or professional athlete or some other money-making gift. However, negotiation, alas, was also not the talent I was deemed with, either.

I stood in the yard, looking at the half-mown yard (half-grassed?)  and realized I had no other option but to roll out a 70-year-old rotary mower to finish the job. For some reason, during Holly’s move  from Illinois to here, we were able to bring along her grandfather’s Scotts’ Silent  “reel mower.” The rotary mower, for those who are less than 90 years old, is the type with no engine. Blades rotate along the wheels’ axle, quietly clipping the grass. I think Pa on “Little House on the Prairie” was the last to use one.

It sounded good in theory. I actually embraced the idea at first. I wouldn’t have to buy gasoline, the job would be quiet and peaceful and there’d be a sense of accomplishment in some nostalgic form.  I could free myself from the shackles of subdivision standards and do away with the gas-powered tradition.

So, I rolled the rotary, or “clippy mower,” out and finished the yard. It was slow going and, because the blades were somewhat dull, it wasn’t the greatest cut. But at least the yard was finished and I thought I found something new to do.  I rationalized that I needed the exercise of pushing a heavy wheeled thing around the yard all evening.  Despite my sloth-like existence, I do like the concept of health. It may be somewhat ironic that I love watching the NBC’s “American  Ninja Warrior,” the television show that features constants running through a gauntlet that requires them to crawl hand-over-hand on some narrow beam or to swing on a bar and leap across a pool of water.  My Ninja moves including dragging myself out of the sunken couch in our living room, dodging the cat, weaving among his scattered toys and opening the refrigerator for my giant bottle of Pepsi. Me, a Ninja? None ya’ business.

The following week, I rolled the clippy mower out again. The yard had grown because of several rains and pushing the Scotts’ Silent was difficult. And it wasn’t silent. My noises of exertions and cursing rendered the product’s name moot. It was like pushing a plow through mud without a horse. I’d back up, rear up and go at again, only to clip two or three blades of grass.

I was the neighborhood show, too. I looked like an Amish person. All I needed was suspenders, a long beard and a better attitude than I had .

Some lawn care business guy stopped his truck by our yard to gaze at my work.

“Ain’t seen one of those in a long time,” he said, pointing at the clippy.

“Yeah, there’s a reason for that,” I replied.

I finished the yard in three days. Three days! I’d come home from work, change into the mowing clothes and tackle the yard, trying to get as much done before the light faded … both the sunlight and my own personal  light called my soul.

Finally, I realized my return to the days of yore was not going to work. Holly and I went to a local hardware store last week and I ended up buying a gas-powered mower and returned to the 21^st century. I cranked it up the next day and mowed the entire yard in 40 minutes. No one stopped to point at me and, as far as I know, the mower made no cutting remarks about me. (I know, dumb pun)

How does this all apply to APBA? Well, considering it took three days to mow a yard and adding in the prep time, the showering afterward and the general  tired malaise that followed each session, there was little time to roll games.  By the time I became civilized again, it was late and only enough time to roll a game or two in my 1947 replay before I had to go to bed, get up and do it all over again the following day.

On the day I breezed across the yard with the new mower, I got three or four games in.

Because it’s a Briggs and Stratton engine, I can repair it and keep it running for a long while. Mowing will no longer cut into APBA time.

Mowing.  It’s such a pain in the grass.

1947 Begins

Starting an APBA replay of a new season is always fun and interesting, and I think that’s why most of us do it. It takes dedication and determination to plow through an entire season, rolling the dice game by game, but it is also rewarding.

And, you can learn something along the way. Sure, we know about the “headliners” of whatever season we’re doing. We know all about the Ty Cobbs, Henry Aarons, Mickey Mantles, Barry Bonds et al.  Because APBA is an intellectual game, most of the players are also avid readers as well. I’m sure we’ve all delved into our share of baseball biographies and histories. But, there are also the other, less known players that pop up in a replay and, after rolling many games, we begin to learn their characteristics.
I began rolling 1947 about a month ago after finishing my four-year odyssey of the 1991 season. Based upon my own baseball likes and particulars, this may be the best season for me to replay.

Examples: I’m not one of those “managers” who replaces pitchers for every batter in the late innings. I’m still of the old school of leaving a starter in until he really gets into trouble and then, finally, bringing in a relief pitcher to mop up. I may end up using only three or four pitchers in a game, which works because the APBA company only designates cards for a certain amount of players. Generally, when you buy the basic set, you get nine to 11 pitchers on average. Subtract the regular starters and spot starters and you have three or four relief pitchers.

That said, in 1947, managers didn’t go to their bullpens that often.  New York Yankee pitchers completed 47 percent of the games they started that season. Brooklyn starters finished 42 percent of their contests.  Last year, the Yankees had one pitcher, Masahiro Tanaka, complete a game. The other 161 games New York played in 2017 had at least two pitchers.

So, I can leave pitchers in longer and, because it’s that era, I don’t completely skew the game.

There were no designated hitters in 1947, so that lets managers have at least one more element of strategy. Despite my penchant for keeping pitchers in longer, do I pull a starter late in the game and pinch hit for him when it’s his turn to bat?

Home runs are at a premium. It’s not a slugfest like it is today. The National League’s 1947 home run hitters, Ralph Kiner and  Johnny Mize, each had 51 dingers to lead the league. That’s more than enough.  Ted Williams’ 32 home runs lead the American League.

Other interesting observations from 1947 include a lot of walks. Pitchers almost toss as many base-on-balls as they do strikeouts. In the first replay game for the Boston Red Sox, Williams had four walks. In his complete, 2-1, victory over the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland pitcher Bob Feller notched six walks to his 2 strike outs.

Scoring varies. In my replay, the St. Louis Cardinals clubbed Cincinnati, 17-0. A few games later, the Pirates edged the Reds, 2-0. Many games are pretty close and entertaining to the end.  In one contest, Brooklyn beat the Boston Braves in 17 innings when, with one out in Brooklyn, Pee Wee Reese singled in Dixie Walker who was on second for the win. Where else can you say something like that but APBA?

And here are a couple of other notes from the first month of the 1947 replay. Fitting, Joe DiMaggio had the first RBI of the season, leading his Yankees to a 10-4 win over the Washington Senators.  Thomas Henrich had a grand slam for the Yanks in that game, too.

Kiner hit a home run in his first game against Chicago. Willliams hit two home runs against Washington. Mize and Terry Moore also had two-HR games.

Williams leads the AL now with four home runs after games through April 27, 1947. Bill Nicholson of the Cubs also has four homers to lead the National League.

And there are a few surprises with the teams. The Cardinals lead the NL with an 8-2 record, 1.5 games ahead of the New York Giants and their 7-4 mark. The Dodgers, those Bums, are, surprisingly, only 5-6. In the American League, sparked by Williams’ early Triple Crown run of 4 HRs, 12 RBIs and .395 batting average, the Red Sox are 8-3 and lead the Yankees, who are 7-5. DIMaggio has yet to hit a home run, but is batting .370 and has seven RBIs.

It’s early in the season and anything can happen as the games progress. But so far, 1947 looks like a very interesting and enjoyable season to do.

Life Happens During Replays

A lot can happen in your life while you do an APBA season replay, especially if the replay takes nearly four years. While rolling the dice and recreating the past, playing game-by-game of some season of ago, at the same time the game-player is also creating his or her own new history.

I began my 1991 APBA season replay Aug. 16, 2015, with no idea what my future would present.

A week later, I called Holly, my soon-to-be Illinois girl, for the first time and embarked on a journey that’s still going. Before The Call, I could finish a season replay in about a year. I had a pretty shallow life of just working and going home. I’d think nothing of tossin’ several games each night; there was no other thing to do. In previous replays, it was a routine. Throw a frozen dinner in the microwave;  throw Bruce Springsteen, U2 and Joe Cocker on the CD player; and throw dice each night. Lather, rinse, repeat and there you had my life.

But after making The Call, I drove to northern Illinois in September of that year to meet Holly and promptly fell head over heels for her. The games suddenly became secondary, a thing done to pass time before my next trip. And that’s why it took so much longer than before for me to complete a season replay.

A lot of life happened, though, between the first pitch and the last out of the 1991 season.

During the length of my 1991 replay, this is all that happened in my own life: I went from being a single loner to a near-married guy with domestic responsibilities and constant trips to Wal-Mart for hairspray, cleaners and pet food. I found companionship and someone to watch shows like "Dateline"  and to go on neighborhood walks with.

I was laid off of my newspaper bureau job and I had five different jobs during the replay’s tenure. I now have two jobs and work seven days a week and I got out of the newspaper business entirely, something I never thought would happen.

I cut the cable television and internet services at home to save money and have become even more culturally illiterate. Speaking of culture, during the replay, the country elected a new president and shows like “The Bachelor” grew in “popularity” during peak dramas and then returned to their limited relevance.  The Cubs won the World Series  in 2016, about 15 months after I began the replay.

We lost Holly’s mother, who, sadly, passed away suddenly in June. We also lost two cats and Thor, an old Siberian Husky who may have been the greatest dog of all time. We got another cat in late June who is extremely rambunctious. I have to watch him to ensure he doesn’t bite the APBA cards or eat the dice during games.

We got a new car after my trusty Honda Pilot bit the dust (Must have been all those road trips to Chicago). And, on that subject of travel, since I started the 1991 replay, I’ve driven to Chicago 38 times now.

Physically, I continue falling apart. My knees are in constant pain and my hair is even whiter than when I began the replay. I ended up in the emergency room in 2016 after I got  pretty sick once. Doctors actually told me I was showing early signs of bladder and prostate cancer. Thankfully, I got much better and the cancer scare is no longer around.

Despite all the trauma, the losses, the job changes over the past four years, the frustration and stresses of it all, Holly and I continue to be strong together and we continue to grow in the relationship.

There’s a lot of life that goes on during replays. Everyone who does replays, or who is alive for that matter, experiences life and its changes.

Like I said, while we are recreating games that happened in the past, we are forging ahead with our own live and creating things that will eventually become part of our own pasts.

And there’s something worth noting about the APBA game itself. While life was going on, the game was always part of it. You can’t say that about many games, but APBA has always been there. Since most of us began playing APBA as children, the games have taken a back seat in various points along our lives. Going to college, getting married, job changes, moves, things happen that take precedence for a while.

But the game always comes back. It always does.

1991 World Series recap

APBA friend Jim Caputo made a good point about the  last post about the completion of my 1991 APBA baseball replay. I alluded to the winner of the World Series between Pittsburgh and Minnesota in an upcoming Love, Life and APBA. I had meant to write the results last week,  almost immediately after the season review, but things got busy, life stepped in once again and, because I have limited internet service at home, it got put aside.

Jim compared the tease of the upcoming Series recap to a television show that "leaves the cliff hanger then gets cancelled.”

Sorry. But better late than never. So, here’s the recap of one of the better contests I’ve had in the 11  season replays I’ve done so far.

The Minnesota Twins made it to the Series by taking Toronto, four games to one. Pittsburgh beat Atlanta in six games.

The Series went seven games, but based upon stats alone, it should have been a sweep. One team batted .272, but lost, while the other hit a measly .174 and claimed the 1991 title. The hits came at the right time for the winning team and pitching really prevailed.

Only one game was a blowout, three were shutouts and three games went extra innings.

Here’s the recap:

GAME 1

Pittsburgh 1 Minnesota 0

Bobby Bonilla, serving as the Pirates’ DH in the Metrodome, hit a single, driving in Gary Redus in the fourth inning. Pirates’ pitcher Bob Walk went the distance, giving up five hits and striking out eight. The only threat posed by the Twins was a two-out triple by Shane Mack in the second inning. Scott Leius walked and then Greg Gagne flied out to end the inning. 

GAME 2

Minnesota 11 Pittsburgh 4

The Twins had been pretty schizophrenic during the season. Just as in the Series, Minnesota would score a ton of runs in one game and then the bats would go quiet in the next.  Chili Davis had two doubles and a home run, driving in three and Dan Gladden went four for five with two RBIs. Kirby Puckett also went three for four with three RBIs.

GAME 3

Pittsburgh 6 Minnesota 4, 15 innings

The game shifted to Pittsburgh and Andy Van Slyke took advantage of the home field. His one-out home run in the bottom of the 15^th off Steve Bedrosian gave the Bucs a 6-4 victory and a 2-1 lead in the Series. The teams were knotted, 1-1, after nine innings. Kevin Tapani held the Pirates to one hit in nine innings while Doug Drabek only gave up four hits to the Twins in eight innings.

What made this game remarkable was that the Twins scored two in the top of the 10^th on hits by Gagne and Gladden. The Pirates responded with a Barry Bonds triple that scored Bonilla and then a sac fly by Mike LaValliere to tie it. In the 13^th, Puckett bashed a triple, scoring Gene Larkin to take a 4-3 lead. Again, though, the Bucs answered with a two-out pinch hit home run by Orlando Merced. Pirates’ pitcher Bob Patterson, who is rated a D (the lowest rating for a pitcher in the basic APBA game) held Minnesota hitless in two innings for the win.

GAME 4

Minnesota 3 Pittsburgh 2, 10 innings
Puckett tied the Series at two games apiece with his two-out single in the 10^th to drive in Mike Pagliarulo. Rick Aguilera closed out the game for his only save of the seven-game set.

GAME 5

Pittsburgh 5 Minnesota 0

Walk held Minnesota to five hits in his complete game and hit a three-run homer in his victory. Three of the anemic Twins’ hits came with two outs and posed no threat. All five hits were singles.

GAME6

Minnesota 2 Pittsburgh 0

The Twins returned to Minnesota and Jack Morris shut down the Pirates, offering only three hits in the second, third and fourth innings. Mack hit a solo home run in the third and catcher Brian Harper drove in Davis in the sixth.

GAME 7

Pittsburgh 2 Minnesota 1, 10 innings

Yup. Pittsburgh won my 1991 APBA replay World Series. I began this season four years ago, mainly because I am a Twins’ fan and wanted to see if they’d win the Series just as they did in the real season. It all came down to a LaValliere single in the 10^th inning, driving in Gary Varsho. Stan Belinda got the save for Pittsburgh. The Pirates led 1-0 on a Jay Bell home run in the first inning. The Twins tied it in the bottom of the ninth with one out when Puckett drove in Gladden and hope swelled that the Twinkies would take the Series crown. Instead, a catcher nicknamed "Spanky" spanked a single to end the Twins' run.

Mack led the Twins, batting .360 with two home runs and five RBIs and Davis hit .333 with a home run and three RBIs. Gladden batted .320.

Pittsburgh, who batted .174 as a team, was led by Andy Van Slyke’s .259 average. He hit one home run and scored five runs.

It came down to pitching. Walk had two complete game shutouts for Pittsburgh and struck out 11.

The season is over and on to my 1947 replay, This one was one of the better endings that I’ve seen.

1991 Season Recap

It took three years and 364 days to complete, but my 1991 APBA baseball replay is over and the four teams that made my playoffs were the same four teams that were in the post season in the real world.

It was the longest I’ve taken to do a replay; life really stepped in and I realized for the first time in years that there were plenty of things to do other than being a dice-tossin’ loner. But, when I did find time to roll the game, it was worth the time.

It was an odd season, with Minnesota, Toronto, Pittsburgh and Atlanta each winning 100 games. The pennant races were over relatively soon. Atlanta’s nine-game lead over Cincinnati was the closest “race” of the year. But there were other elements that stood out. I did have a home run race that went to the last day in both leagues between Oakland’s Jose Canseco (53 HRs) and Seattle’s  Jay Buhner (52) in the American League and between Kevin Mitchell of the Giants (42), Andre Dawson of the Cubs and Darryl Strawberry of the Mets (both with 41).

Tom Glavine was amazing with is “A” rated pitcher’s card, winning 29 games for the Braves. That victory count, though, is somewhat inflated because the APBA set I have does not include every player who pitched for Atlanta that year. Couple that with my mentality akin to a 1950s manager who leaves pitchers in longer than usual and many of my replay results are skewed because of “over use.”

Jimmy Key of Toronto threw two no-hitters in the American League and Bob Tewksbury of the Cardinals and Doug Drabek of the Pirates each tossed a no-no.

So, here are the final standings:

AMERICAN LEAGUE
EAST                      W            L              GB
Toronto                104         58           --
Milwaukee         92           70           12
Boston                  84           78           20
Detroit                  82           80           22
New York            75           87           29
Baltimore            65           97           39
Cleveland            55           107         49

WEST                     W            L              GB
Minnesota          102         60           --
Chicago                 88           74           14
Seattle                  86           76           16
California             85           77           17
Kansas City         78           84           24
Texas                    74           88           28
Oakland               64           98           38

NATIONAL LEAGUE

EAST                      W            L              GB
Pittsburgh           106         56           --
St. Louis               96           66           10
New York            79           83           27
Chicago                66           96           40
Philadelphia       66           96           40
Montreal             58           104         48

WEST                     W            L              GB

Atlanta                 105         57           --
Cincinnati            96           66           9
Los Angeles        89           73           16
San Diego            81           81           24
San Fran.             70           92           35
Houston               60           102         45

Some observations:  One of the surprises was how bad Houston did. I didn’t keep stats  (I had them on an Apple laptop I used at my former newspaper job, but lost them all when I was laid off), but Tony Gwynn didn’t produce. In the real 1991 season, he batted .317. I’d be surprised if Gwynn hit .250 in the replay. The Astro’s relief corps of Al Osuna and Dwayne Henry were good, but getting save situations for those guys was tough for Astros.

Cleveland was abysmal, as seen by their record. The Indians lost two more games than they did in the real  1991season. Albert Belle was the only bright spot for that team with his 46 home runs.

The Cubs, whom I’ve taken an interest in during the past four years because of my Illinois sweetie (she often rolled Cubs’ games with me during the replay), had a decent end of the season; at one point Chicago was challenging Montreal for being the least in the East.

I began this one on Aug. 16, 2015. After a lot of changes in life, and nearly four years later, the season was completed, along with the playoffs on Aug. 15, 2019. But here’s a thing to consider about APBA. What other game can you finish after starting it four years prior?

I'm Back ...

… Or at least I hope so.

An observant APBA friend noticed it’s been nearly a year since I wrote anything on Love, Life and APBA Baseball (tomorrow will be the one-year anniversary of absence), and that’s sad. I enjoyed writing these things and sharing ideas, game and season recaps and any observations I had while rolling the games.

But life stepped in the past year and the blog took a back seat. I began working two jobs a year and a half ago to make ends meet after I was laid off from my newspaper job of 20 years. I work seven days a week, pulling two 12-hour shifts on the weekend at a security guard job. I found work at a local newspaper for a while, but the stress of the job and the low pay didn’t cut it and three months ago, I got a new, better job. I come home, watch TV with Holly and then fall asleep on the couch a lot. 

When I am awake, Holly, my Illinois girl who moved here three years ago, and I continue to develop our own life with late jaunts to Wal-Mart, walks around the neighborhood and trips back to Chicagoland. We also just got a new young cat that takes time and energy. (No word yet if he's an APBA cat like a cat I had several years ago.)

There’s not much time for rolling games, let alone writing about them. And, in an effort to save some money, we cut the cable and internet from the home. I couldn't really access the blog site, or Facebook well. I do have access on my cell phone to the internet, but it’s hard writing spontaneous blog pieces on a tiny phone that has a limited data connection speed.  We’ve just added a “hot spot” to our phone to allow slow Wi-Fi at home, so I can start writing again.

So, now, 364 days after the last one, it’s time to start writing Love, Life and APBA Baseball again. I’ve been able to find some time to roll games; I finished the 1991 season replay the other day – one day before the four-year mark of when I began it. I’ll recap that season in the next post, but I’ll offer that in my playoffs, Minnesota beat Toronto, four games to one, and Pittsburgh edged Atlanta four games to two to meet in the World Series.

The Series went seven games and Game 7, like in the real Series, went into extra innings. More on that in a bit.

I’ve not completely quit writing. I’ve had two columns appear in the Duluth, Minn., News-Tribune paper recently. I pitched stories to their Op-Ed page just to be able to say I was in a paper near my northern Minnesota home town. And I should have an article in a veterans’ magazine coming out in the near future.

But at its peak, the blog was the most fun to write. The APBA readers got what I was saying and we shared a common bond of the experience of playing the game.

So, there’s lot more to write. I’ll do a recap of the 1991 season with standings, stats and outlines of the playoffs. And tonight, when I get off my weekend shift and I’m not too tired, I hope to roll a couple games of the 1947 season that I will do next. Hopefully, it won’t take four years to complete that.

Life changes, but APBA has still remained part of it, albeit a lessened role for a bit. Still, there are lots more stories to share in this blog.

I’m back.

*Also, please feel free to send any comments to my email since I don't have easy access to Facebook anymore. You can write to me at kenbobwrites@gmail.com.