REGIONAL TOURNAMENT REPORT (24 days but who is counting? I am. Good luck TD) 

 

There were no tournaments scheduled this week so I thought I would summarize the 2017 Tournament Season. In 2017, there were twenty-one (21) APBA Baseball Tournaments (6 of them APBA GO coordinated by Percy Ashcraft) with 534 tournament participants (an average of 25.4 participants per event). Seven (7) tournaments had over thirty (30) participants while thirteen (13) events had over twenty (20) participants. The top five attended tournaments were the APBA Convention (75) directed by John Herson, The Linda B. Schulz Memorial Tournament (44) directed by Ken and Darren Schulz, The Greater Michigan Tournament (38) directed by Pastor Rich Zawadski, The Chicagoland Tournament (36) directed by Rob Spatz, and The Robert Henry Memorial Tournament (34) directed by John Cochrane. Congratulations to all tournament directors and participants who made the 2017 tournament season a success.

 

The next 2018 tournament is The 4th Annual Greater Michigan APBA Baseball Tournament (GMABT) in Jackson, Michigan on Saturday March 3rd. 

 

The 2018 APBA Regional Tournament schedule through July 2018 is as follows.  Please mark your calendars accordingly and be sure to attend and participate in one of these fine events.  You will not regret the experience of brotherhood and gaming.

 

Saturday March 3, 2018 - The 4th Annual Greater Michigan APBA Baseball Tournament (GMABT), Jackson, Michigan.  Contact Rich Zawadzki at  [email protected].

 

Saturday March 10, 2018 -The1st Annual Apba Heartland Tournament in Stillwater, Oklahoma.  Contact Earle Shamblin at  [email protected].

 

Saturday April 7, 2018 - The Twin Cities APBA Baseball Tournament, Maple Grove, Minnesota.  Contact Jim Fraasch at  [email protected].

 

Saturday April 14, 2018 - The Old Dominion APBA Baseball Tournament, Richmond, Virginia.  Contact Jim Saska at [email protected].

 

Saturday April 14, 2018 - Florida's Spring Break From Reality APBA Baseball Tournament, Davenport, Florida (Denny's in Davenport).  The theme is Happy Days ... teams from the 1950s and 1960s.  Contact Tony Stevens at (352) 600-0974 or at  [email protected] 

 

Saturday April 28, 2018 - The Prairieland III APBA Baseball Tournament, Springfield, Illinois (Ramada Inn, 3281 Northfield Drive).  The theme is The Golden Years 1920-1960's (No W.S. teams or 1941 Red Sox).  Contact Tom Nelshoppen at [email protected] or register on-line at  www.apbablog.com.

 

Saturday July 7, 2018 - The 4th Annual Linda B. Schulz Memorial APBA Baseball Tournament, Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania.  Contact Ken Schulz at  [email protected].

 

Saturday, July 14, 2018 - The Chicagoland Summer APBA Baseball Tournament, Des Plainies, Illinois (at the Comfort Inn O'Hare in Des Plainies, IL). Contact Rob Spatz at  [email protected].

 

Saturday, July 21, 2018. The Second Annual Lancaster World Series , Landisville , Pennsylvania.  Contact Dale Shreiner at [email protected].

 

If your tournament is not mentioned above and you are planning a Regional APBA Tournament in 2018 please forward me your tournament and contact information at [email protected] and I will be sure to promote your event in APBA's company electronic newsletter.  Remember all APBA game tournaments are welcome.

 

 

THIS WEEK IN APBA RADIO SHOW 

 

APBA has began to sponsor a weekly broadcast offering insights into the game of APBA and players within the APBA community.  The host is John Asalon who offers a extremely professional broadcast.  Please join John Asalon and his guests every Thursday night at 8:00 pm (Eastern) for THIS WEEK IN APBA radio show. There was no TWIA broadcast this week due to a health related emergency in John Asalon's family. John our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family this week.

 

Last week, Jim Sce joined John Asalon on TWIA's weekly broadcast to discuss his 50 years of APBA gaming and hilarious APBA-related stories.  Jim is an APBA Hall of Famer, APBA Ambassador, and all around great guy. This was such a great interview I decided to re-post the summary this week in absence of a show this week.

 

Jim started playing APBA in 1957 with three close friends, all twelve (12) years old in East Syracuse, New York.  There were three "Jim's" and one Ron.  Ron bought the game and the four friends played the heck out of it for a year.  Sce was a Milwaukee Braves fan, one Jim was a Brooklyn Dodgers fan, the other Jim a Yankees fan and Ron, well, he was a Reds fan.  In 1958, Jim bought his own game (1957 season) and has played APBA ever since.

 

Jim played all through high school and his college years.  While at Pennsylvania Military College, Jim met Dick Seitz while picking up his cards at the game company in Lancaster.  This was around 1965 or '66 (a good APBA number by the way).   On his commute to Lancaster from Philadelphia he ran into a bad snowstorm and it became obvious he was not going to make APBA's 5:00 pm closing time.  This, of course, was before cell phones, GPS, etc. so Jim pulled into a gas station, got gas, called APBA and Mr. Seitz answered.   Jim told him his plight, the 1-1/2 hour trip was already three hours long and the gas station attendant told him he was a good 15 minutes away.   Jim told Mr. Seitz that he could get there about 5:15 and asked if he would wait.   Receiving a resounding No, Jim begged and Mr. Seitz relented and told Jim he would stay until 5:15 and not a minute later. There was then a pause and he added, "And bring exact change." On the other side of Seitz, every May Jim would receive in his college mailbox at Pennsylvania Military College, four seats to the APBA box for the Phillies at Connie Mack Stadium. Amazing!

 

Jim talked of playing APBA out of the box as he does not consider himself an game innovator.  Jim shared that he was not good in math.  He once got an F-, yes F-minus, on a Calculus test in college. Of course, everyone gave Jim grief.  Being at a Military College he had to keep up with his class or he was going to be in Southeast Asia a lot sooner than expected and at a lot lower rank.  So, Jim approached Professor Hodgeson, and to the effect said, "an F- "?  The Professor put his arm around Jim's shoulder and said, and Jim has never forgotten this quote even after all these years, "Sce, anything else - wouldn't have been fair to the guys that just got an F".  He did say he knew it was just a prerequisite for Jim and as long as he showed up for class and did not disrupt the class he would get a C for the course, but he inquired when Jim started having trouble with math.  Jim told him honestly, "when they introduced letters to it." And that is why Jim doesn't innovate. When the cards come, he opens the box and begins rolling dice.  Author's Note:  You just can't make this stuff up; your great Jim!

 

Jim then shared one of his funniest APBA moments.  Danny Landers was the Programmer of the StatMaster program for APBA. (He also programmed the APBA Computer Bowling game). He and Jim were in a league together.  One morning at a little after 5:00 am Jim's phone rang and it is Danny.  He tried to trade Donnie Moore to Jim the morning after Moore committed suicide. Jim and Danny laughed about that for years to come although I am quite sure Donny Moore did not!

 

Jim shared one last APBA story involving "Bobby the Brain Heenan".  Bobby and his wife Cindy came to visit Sce and his first wife in their new Atlanta area home.  When they arrived, Bobby inquired why the master bathroom in the brand new house was being remodeled.  Jim's wife noted she wanted it to be exquisite.  Bobby's comment was, "you should have taken all the money you spent to remodel the bathroom and got a good boob job!"  Jim laughed stating he believes this likely lead to his divorce!

 

Jim closed by saying that APBA and all the people that play APBA share a common brotherhood and love of the game and that the convention in 1973 proved that to him and many others that playing APBA was cool.

 

This author personally knows Jim and his dedication to APBA and APBA community.  Jim has experienced much in his 50 years of APBA and as you can tell is a great storyteller.  Great job as always Mr. Sce.  It will be great to see you again in Alpharetta my friend.  Tell Lorraine that I said hello and hope she is doing as well as can be expected considering she is living with you!  I would also like to thank Jim for assisting me in writing this column as the podcast site was experiencing technical difficulties  and I was unable to listen live as I was out to dinner with my wife, Darlene, celebrating her 59th birthday.

 

I believe John's scheduled guests for the live February 22nd will discuss the similarities and differences between fantasy baseball and APBA baseball.  Be sure to tune in to hear this discussion and also get the latest information about APBA.  Also, please note that the interview with David Eisenhower will be rescheduled at a later date.

 

 

APBA LEAGUE INFORMATION

 

I am pleased to report that this column continues to assist leagues in finding new managers and pairing individuals looking for leagues.  Beginning in January 2018 and to better manager newsletter volume, I will run any of your league opening or requests to join leagues for a period of four or five weeks.  I will be glad to run them longer if you contact me at  [email protected].  Openings or individuals looking to join leagues are as follows this week:

 

February 18th Openings

The International Master APBA League Opening - The IMAL, in it's 7thseason, is looking for a manager of their 2017 Championship winning team.  The league is a C&D based league, there are only 8 teams in the league.  Most of the members are living in Southern California and play some of their games FTF.  The IMAL uses the Master Game with modifications and the CMBA Pitching System.  They have a 108 game schedule.  This year's draft starts in March and the season around the beginning of April.  They only use the 30-man National League rosters from the current APBA season.  There is a 3-tier draft, Auction (player's coming from the AL), Free Agent, and finally a Waiver Draft.  If interested or for more information, please contact David Breeden at [email protected].

 

February 11th Openings

 

The United Baseball League Opening - The UBL enters its 51st season in 2018, and is looking for a serious and committed owner for an open franchise.  The 20-team, 4-division keeper league drafts players from MLB teams, and has used most recently Baseball for Windows 5.75 computer game with a few modifications.  Each team has a 60 player roster with minor leaguers drafted from MLB 40-man rosters in the spring, a MLB free agent draft after the season, Fall draft consisting of newly qualified players, and a Rule V draft during the off-season.  Off-season activities are normally marked by 35-40 trades league-wide annually. This is a competitive and extremely stable organization with 15 owners with 15 to 45 years' membership, and simulates most non-fiscal aspects of MLB team operation.  For questions or to apply, contact Joe Olivera at  [email protected].        

 

BBW League Openings - This BBW league has two manager openings in their 14 team, continuous ownership BBW league that is in it's 13th year.  One of the teams has the first overall pick in the draft on Saturday, February 17.  Great league, great members, and great rules. Some of the members have been together in leagues since 1980.    Please contact Duane at  [email protected] with interest and/or questions and he will send you a copy of their league rules. 

 

February 4th Openings

 

Mid-West Winter League Opening - The Mid-West Winter League is looking for a replacement expansion owner.  The MWWL is finishing up the 1993 season and will have an Expansion Draft prior to our 1994 Season in early March.  The MWWL will be adding 4 franchises to a now 20 team League - to bring us up to 24 Teams total.  One of the expansion owners had some life commitments arise.  If interested contact Stray Corrado at [email protected].

 

The Internet Computer Baseball League Opening - The ICBL has openings for two (2) managers. The ICBL, established in 1989,  is an in-season, 24 team league divided into the National League (NO DH) and the American League (DH) using BBW 5.75 and AIM. Team roster size is limited to 34 carded players and 6 prospects. At this time both openings are in the American League. If interested, please contact Brian Devine at  [email protected] with your league/game experience and general knowledge of the game.

 

January 30th Openings

 

Texas League Opening - The Texas League (you don't have to live in Texas) is in need of one manager.  This is a 20 team computer league utilizing Baseball for Windows.  The Texas League is a stable league with quite a few managers who like to trade.  Please email Jack Modrak in response to Between the Lines thread number 53775.1 if interested.

 

January 23rd Openings

 

No listings this week.

 

January 16th Openings

 

CCBL Openings - The CCBL is looking for two managers.  The CCBL is a 20-team, off-season (October to March) continuous ownership baseball league established in 1979.  We play a 162-game schedule, with teams competing on either the computer game or the Master game with minor modifications.  Our draft is April 28.  Contact Dave Greer at  [email protected] if interested.

 

BWABL Openings - The Baltimore-Washington APBA Baseball League is currently looking for managers to fill vacancies in each of our two divisions. We have one opening in our Baltimore Division and one in our Washington Division. We are a 12 team, continuous ownership, F-T-F, MG league entering our 44th season. We play an 84-game schedule. Each team plays 12 games against each other team in their division and 4 games against each team from the other division. The inter-division games are played at two scheduled league meetings during the season. Our draft is on Sunday, March 11, 2018 so there is still time to get in on the action. You can check out our website athttp://www.angelfire.com/games2/bwabl/. If interested, please contact Tim Haller at  [email protected].

 

January 9th Openings

 

BWABL Openings - The Baltimore-Washington APBA Baseball League is currently looking for managers to fill vacancies in each of our two divisions. We have one opening in our Baltimore Division and one in our Washington Division. We are a 12 team, continuous ownership, F-T-F, MG league entering our 44th season. We play an 84-game schedule. Each team plays 12 games against each other team in their division and 4 games against each team from the other division. The inter-division games are played at two scheduled league meetings during the season. Our draft is on Sunday, March 11, 2018 so there is still time to get in on the action. You can check out our website athttp://www.angelfire.com/games2/bwabl/.  If interested, please contact Tim Haller at  [email protected].

 

I trust this column is continuing to bring many APBA players together be it in regional tournaments or league play.  Everyone have a great week.