TOURNAMENT AND LEAGUE NEWS
REGIONAL TOURNAMENT REPORT
The Chicagoland APBA Baseball Tournament was held on Saturday July 14th. As of press time the final report of the tournament results had not been received. Therefore the results will be reported in next weeks newsletter.
The next tournament will be the 2nd Annual Lancaster World Series Baseball Tournament on Saturday July 21st under the direction of Dale Shreiner. Good luck to Dale and all the tournament participants.
The 2018 APBA Regional Tournament schedule 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 experience.
Saturday, July 21, 2018 - The Second Annual Lancaster World Series, Landisville , Pennsylvania. Contact Dale Shreiner at
[email protected].
Friday through Sunday August 17-19, 2018 - Las Vegas APBA Tournament, Las Vegas, Nevada. The site will be the Flamingo Hotel. Contact Chris White at
[email protected].
Saturday August 25, 2018 - 4th Toledo Glass City APBA Baseball Tournament, Toledo, Ohio. Contact Ron Emch at
[email protected].
Saturday October 6, 2018 - The Twin Cities APBA Baseball Tournament, Maple Grove, Minnesota. Contact Jim Fraasch at
[email protected].
Saturday October 27, 2018 - The APBA 2018 Wisconsin Fall Tournament, Location to be determined. The tournament theme will be the Negro Leagues using APBA's Negro League Baseball Card Set. Team selection will take place by draft. The draft will begin Saturday, June 23, at noon. Contact Kurt Bergland at
[email protected].
Saturday October 27, 2018 - The Great Florida RollAPBAlooza 2018 Baseball Tournament in Brooksville, Florida (North of Tampa). Location is The Microtel Inn and Suites, 6298 Nature Coast Boulevard, Brooksville, FL. Theme is 1980 through 1989 with $20 entry fee (includes lunch). Sign-up by 8/1 with team selection lottery on 9/1. If interested contact Tony Stevens at
[email protected] / 352-600-0974.
Saturday November 3, 2018 - Inaugural Furniture City APBA Baseball Tournament, Grand Rapids, Michigan (Legends Sports & Games, CenterPoint Mall on 28th St. SE). Contact GF Korreck 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 gameis tournaments are welcome.
THIS WEEK IN APBA RADIO SHOW
APBA continues 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. This past weeks guest was Charlie Fouche; an educator, APBA Hall of Famer, and APBA compatible Negro League Baseball Card developer.
John opened introducing Charlie as a recently inducted member to the APBA Hall of Fame and alternative educator in Dalton, Georgia. Charlie opened by sharing that he has played APBA Baseball since 1974 after being exposed to table top baseball by a friend. Charlie preferred APBA Baseball based on pitching formulation vice a 50-50 pitcher/batter format. Charlie had the idea to use the game in his educational setting for both mathematical and historical purposes. Charlie said that if he makes lessons fun his students stay engaged and learn while having fun. The introduction of APBA into his classroom has provided his students with an alternate method of learning which has elevated their educational experience and for some develop a love for baseball. As a matter of fact, one student learned that he was a grand nephew of a Kansas City Monarch player.
Charlie also expressed his love for research and preservation of the Negro Leagues. As such, Charlie has presented papers at SABR conventions. But it was Charlie's love of APBA and the Negro Leagues that had him approach John Herson on being able to develop and market APBA compatible Negro League team sets. With APBA's endorsement Charlie has done that but all proceeds are donated to charities one of which is The Negro League Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. Charlie's efforts has lead to over $6000 in charitable contributions. Charlie's Negro League teams are based on actual Negro League statistics. Charlie's teams can be purchased at
www.knlba20.org. The site offers 34 Great Teams of the Past, 81 Single Teams, and 10 All-Time Worse Teams. Be sure to visit the site and support Negro League Baseball.
Charlie than shared Negro League stories involving Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, Satchel Paige, Branch Rickey, and others. Be sure to check out the broadcast for further details on interesting stories.
As a side note, this author and some friends visited the Negro League Museum and we had the opportunity to speak with the Director Mr. Bob Kendrick. Bob wished to extend his gratitude to Charlie Fouche for his continuing contributions to the museum and preservation of Negro League history. If ever in Kansas City be sure to stop in and visit the museum and say hello to Bob. I am sure he will share a story or two or more with you.
In closing, I personally know Charlie Fouche and wish again to congratulate him on his recent induction into the APBA Hall of Fame and to thank him for his efforts to educate and improve the life's of our youth in Dalton, Georgia and for his charitable gives to the Negro League museum. This is personal to me as two of three of my grandchildren (Aaliyah and Jaxson) are of African American decent. Preserving and sharing the history of their forefathers is important to our family.
Be sure to tune in next Thursday July 26th for another TWIA broadcast. Next weeks guest is to be determined but is sure to be informative and entertaining.
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 to eight 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:
July 15th Openings - No reported openings this week.
July 1st Openings
O.Z. League Opening - The O.Z. League, an APBA Baseball group created in 1982, is always looking to add new members to their family. Currently the league is at 12 Franchises; if you live on the East Coast and want to join a fun but dedicated League this is one you should inquire about. They use BBW, MG, and the hybrid Paul Marino Boards as preference of the Home Team. This league was featured in the N.Y. Daily News in 1988 and plays a 162 game schedule from February to October. The Annual Draft is held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Ronkonkoma every February. If you are interested contact Dom at
[email protected].
League Openings - A 12 team league that use the basic game and the computer game has 4 openings. They are currently half way through their current season. Please message with inquires or email Stretch at
[email protected] if interested.
June 17th Openings
TFBL League Openings - The True Franchise Baseball league is a league in which each team owns all of his minor league players affiliates from rookie to AAA. TFBL plays BBW, in it's 2nd season only, with aim. The league has 24 teams with 4 six teams divisions. 4 Divisions winners and 2 Wild cards make the playoffs. Each team has a 40 men roster, 28 active, and 12 on the farms. The teams available are the Houston Astros (top of its division), Chicago White Sox (rebuilding but with a strong minor league affiliates coming in the future season, perfect for someone who wants to rebuild) and the San Francisco Giants also a bottom division team which needs rebuilding. So if you are a Giants, Chisox or Astros fan,these teams are up for grab. If interested or for more info, please contact Alain at
[email protected]
MDTL League Opening - The MDTL is in its 46th season. They have one manager that has announced that he is leaving the league due to health reasons. They are looking for a replacement manager to take over the ownership of his franchise. The league is a 20 team league with 25 man rosters. They use the basic boards with a few modifications. They also use the basic pitching grades. This is a very solid league with a competitive but friendly membership. If you are interested in joining the league please contact Keith at
[email protected] with your gaming history and any questions you may have.
EBL League Opening - The EBL is a 24 team BBW league that is almost ready to draft for the 1987 season. They have one managerial opening. The team won 116 games in '86 but will need to be rebuilt. If interested contact Paul at
[email protected].
June 10th Openings
WBO League Openings - The World Baseball Organization ("WBO") is looking for a replacement manager for 2018 and beyond. They are a current year play keeper league, using the old fashioned cards & dice. Not face-to-face, but rather solitaire style play (instructions and pitching rotations sent to opponents by email). Ballstat/Ballscore is used for gameplay and stat-keeping. Full 162 game season running generally from March/April - October/November. Basic game with lots of interesting modifications. This is an opportunity to be part of a truly great league that has been around for a long time, with high character guys.
http://wboapba66.wixsite.com/wbo-baseball. If interested contact Dan Levine, Commish, at
[email protected].
June 3rd Openings
USBL League Opening - The USBL a continuous ownership league using AIM 5.75 and is a 24 team league split into AL and NL. They have a few unique features. You may draft up to four never carded players (do your minor league homework!!) and we use an NBA style random draw for the top overall pick (prevents tanking). Further they require each team to cut players at the end of the season, with playoff teams cutting deeper than non playoff teams. If you are interested contact the
[email protected] or
[email protected]. For more information or see their website (slightly outdated but full of good information) at
https://unitedstatesapbaleague.weebly.com/. They have two team openings due to managers changing jobs.
May 27th Openings
Waugh Classic League - There is an opening in a computer game 5.75 (with AIM) retro league that started with the 1946 season and now is in 1965. The league is stable with 10 of 16 managers having been in the league for at least 12 years. The seasons usually run from late summer ending 28 weeks later as they play an 154 game schedule. The opening is for a manager of the New York Yankees. If interested contact Peter at
[email protected].
Kirby Puckett Memorial League - The Kirby Puckett Memorial League (AIM) currently has four team openings. If interested contact Gene at
[email protected]
May 13th Opening
ASBL Opening - The ASBL ( APBA Salary Baseball League ) is looking for a couple of managers. The league is a 24 franchise based league with continuous ownership. Debut players with the franchise teams are their property unless cut or traded. 40 man rosters are utilized; a draft requires cut down to 28 protected players. Players from non franchise teams are all in the draft. Salary is based on current player yearly salary and creates a cap for the maximum salary per team. The league will be drafting soon since they are behind due to previous commissioner health issues. If interested please contact Robert through e-mail at
[email protected].
May 6th Opening
Basic Game Mail League - A Basic Game Mail League has 4 openings in a 24 team league with a few variations. It is a winter league running October through March and has been around since 2004. It is also a somewhat unique in that they employ a salary cap. Since they have a total of 5 teams dropping out this year they will pool the rosters from each team, including their draft pick slots for the up coming rookie draft, and the new managers will stock their respective teams from a supplemental draft that only the new teams will participate in. All the teams dropping out had good to excellent records this year so there will be good players to stock your team with. For more information please contact Larry at
[email protected].
I trust this column is continuing to bring many APBA players together be it in regional tournaments or league play. I am glad that we can provide this service to the APBA community.
