REGIONAL TOURNAMENTS
There were no regional tournaments this week. The next scheduled tournament is The Third Annual Lancaster World Series Tournament which will held in Millersville, Pennsylvania and The Chicagoland APBA Baseball Tournament which will be held in Des Plaines, Illinois. Both tournaments will be held July 20th. See tournament details below.
NEW THIS WEEK - Tournament Directors who are planning an APBA Regional Tournament between January and April of 2020 are requested to forward tournament information to Randy Coryer at
apba66nyslp@yahoo.com for inclusion into the newsletter. Thank you in advance for your assistance.
IMPORTANT - EACH TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR OVER THE NEXT YEAR IS REQUESTED TO MAKE A DONATION TO THE ALS FOUNDATION IN THE NAME OF RANDY WALKER - 2019 APBA HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE. RANDY IS IN LATE STAGE OF ALS BUT CONTINUES TO FIGHT THE DISEASE AND ENJOY PLAYING APBA WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF HIS WIFE LISA. THE DONATION CAN BE COLLECTED THE DAY OF THE TOURNAMENT BY PASSING A HAT OR BY INCREASING THE TOURNAMENT REGISTRATION FEE. APBA WILL AWARD A PRIZE TO THE DIRECTOR AND TOURNAMENT RAISING THE MOST MONEY FOR ALS. REMEMBER IT IS IMPORTANT TO BE BENEVOLENT WHEN AN APBA BROTHER IS IN NEED. I KNOW I CAN COUNT ON YOUR SUPPORT. MORE DETAILS WILL FOLLOW IN THE COMING WEEKS.
Upcoming Tournaments
The 2019 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 face-to-face gaming and APBA brotherhood.
Saturday July 20, 2019 - The Third Annual Lancaster World Series Tournament will held at the Millersville Brethren in Christ Church. The cost is $20 and includes lunch. The theme is "World Series Losers." Contact Dale Shreiner at
dashreiner@gmail.com for more details.
Saturday July 20, 2019 - 2019 Chicagoland APBA Baseball Tournament will be held at the Comfort Inn O'Hare in Des Plaines, Illinois. Additional information can be found at
Friday and Saturday August 9 and 10, 2019 - The 2019 Vegas APBA Tournament will be held at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. The entry fee is $50 with a 10 game guarantee. For more information please contact Chris White via email at
cwhitesports@yahoo.com.
Saturday August 24, 2019 - The 5th Annual Toledo Glass City APBA Baseball Tournament (GCABT-V) will be held at the Maumee-Bowling Green Elks Lodge #1850 137 W Wayne St, Maumee, Ohio 43537. The cost is $15.00. The theme is "Second Place Teams". Only teams from 1930 through 1999 that finished second in their league/division will be eligible. A 3-man rotation, DH, Unusual Play and Error Distribution play chart, and advanced fielding will be used. On June 1st, Ron will randomly determine a draft order for coaches who have already signed up and you will be able to pick a team at that time. Please email Ron at
rce@emcher.com or send him a message on Facebook with your name and cell phone number if you wish to participate.
Saturday September 14, 2019 - The Indy 500 APBA Baseball Tournament will be held at the Holiday Inn Express, 9797 N. Michigan Road, in Carmel, Indiana. 1950-1972 teams with records less than .500 are eligible. Each team roster is to be 20 players with no DH. Twenty-four (24) teams maximum. Awards will given for Division, Conference, and Tournament winners. The cost will be $25 per participant. Please contact Michael at
willett.michael@att.net for more tournament details or to register for the tournament.
Saturday October 5, 2019 - Twin Cities APBA Baseball Tournament (TCABT-XII ), Maple Grove, Minnesota. Contact Jim Fraasch at
jwfraasch@mchsi.com.
Saturday October 12, 2019 - The Linda B. Schulz Memorial Apba Baseball Tournament V, Slippery Rock Township Building, Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania. Entry fee is $15. Contact Ken Schulz at
schulzka02@gmail.com.
Saturday October 26, 2019 - The Second Furniture City APBA Tournament will be held in Grand Rapids, Michigan at Legends Sports. Any APBA carded non-pennant winning MLB team. from 1920-1972 is elegible; 25-man rosters, no XCs, plus one player from the dead ball era (1901-19). Draft for team seelction begins on August 31, 2019. For more details or to register, contact GF Korreck at
gfk1949@yahoo.com.
Saturday November 2, 2019 - The DVAL Tournament will be held at Concordia Lutheran Church, 3003 Silverside Road, Wilmington, DE 19810. Eligible teams are from 1946 to present, excluding 1981 and 1994. You may begin sending your requests for teams as soon as you like. The only teams taken so far are 1965 Minnesota and 2018 Boston. The tournament will use the DVAL boards (which will be provided) but in the interest of time they will not use MG pitching grades as in the DVAL. Basic Game pitching grades only. For those of you unfamiliar with the DVAL boards, there are no changes to the hit numbers 1-11 - the main change is in the fielding. For some plays where a fielding position is listed in the left margin of the board, you must roll for that fielder and use the MG Fielding Column Finder Chart for the result. Other playing rules will be sent out shortly to anyone who asked to be on the mailing list. Tournament cost will be in the $20-$30 and will be finalized once arrangements for lunch are finalized. Contact Dick Moore at
moore315@comcast.net with questions or to register for the tournament.
Saturday, November 9, 2019 - The Fall 2019 Wisconsin Tournament will be held at the Wauwatosa Public Library in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. The tournament will start at 9 am and end at 4:30 pm. BATS 3 is the tournament theme, with each participant randomly selecting a post-1961 team upon arrival at the tournament that morning. The DH, 3 man rotations, and 2 inning limits per game for any relief pitcher will be used. After each player has his or her team, they will have 10 minutes to cut down to a 22 man roster .... and then they will start rolling! The cost is $20 and includes lots of prizes and good food! Please contact Kurt Bergland at
bergland.kurt@yahoo.com for details and registration.
UPDATED INFORMATION - Saturday, November 9, 2019 in Clermont, Florida 34711 at the Lake Hills Church. The theme is 100 losses in a single season teams (1903-present). The cost is $20. If this is your first Florida tournament, the cost is only $10. A team selection draft lottery will be held in October 2019. Please contact Tony Stevens at
AandTstevens@Gmail.com.
Saturday November 9, 2019 - The Bath City APBA Baseball Tournament in Mount Clemens, Michigan 48043 at The Wilson Gymnasium on 58 South Wilson. The cost is $25 due by October 1st. The Inaugural Bath City ABPA tournament will be capped to 36 teams. Any Major League Playoff team from 1919 - 2018 that did NOT win a World Series may be used. More information and registration can be found at
http://www.straybaseball.com/bathcity-apba/. ; The tournament director is Stray Corrado and can be contacted at
straycorrado@gmail.com or at 810-357-9024.
Sunday November 10, 2019 - Inaugural Veteran's Memorial Tournament in honor of USN, CAPT John Scalzo will be held in Leesburg, Virginia. Cost $20. Any team during the Cold War 1946-1991 plus a veteran from that team any time (ie. 84' Det plus 1911 Ty cobb). For more detail or to register contact Rob Wyks at
rwyks@pwcgov.org
NEW TOURNAMENT LISTING - Saturday February 22, 2020 - The 2020 APBA Scenic City Shootout will be held in the Hamilton Room of the Embassy Suites by Hilton located at 2321 Lifestyle Way Chattanooga TN 37421. The cost will be $20 with the event scheduled to start at 8am. The tournament theme is The Expansion Era 1961-Present with teams having a Winning Percentage between .475 - .525. Team selection will begin on November 30, 2019 at Noon. The rules will be similar to the 2019 Shootout. APBA Hall of Famer Charlie Fouche was the Inaugural Scenic City Shootout Champion. Email Mike Kehrer (
mkmags79@gmail.com) or Steve Ryan (
Festsgrber@aol.com) with any questions or to register.
If your tournament is not mentioned above and you are planning a Regional APBA Tournament in 2019 please forward me your tournament and contact information at
apba66nyslp@yahoo.com and I will be sure to promote your event in APBA's company electronic newsletter. Remember all APBA game tournaments are welcome.
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. I will be glad to run your league opening, if you contact me at
apba66nyslp@yahoo.com with a brief and concise write-up. Openings or individuals looking to join leagues are as follows:
June 9th Openings
LABL League Openings - Ken Schulz is considering a restart of an existing cards and dice league but using APBA Go. There are potentially up to 6 open spots with pre-existing rosters that have some very big names from the 2002 season. This league would be an 84 game schedule, 2 divisions (1 AL only and 1 NL only), and a small draft prior to the start. If you would be interested in competing in a league using APBA GO Collections to compile stats, please contact Ken at
schulzka02@gmail.com.
May 19th Openings
KPML League Opening - The KPML has a current managerial opening. The AIM BBW league is currently playing the 2015 season. If interested, please contact Gene at
apbagene@yahoo.com.
UAL Opening - The UAL is an APBA Basic League with optional fielding looking for two managers. The league has been in existence since 2004 and has 24 teams. The league applies controls on player usage and a salary cap using actual MLB player salaries for the applicable season. The 2019 UAL Draft (2018 season) draft is in July and will use the 2018 season (30 cards; No XC's). The season runs from October through March with April playoffs. That's about 15 home games a month and the sending of instructions for another 15 road games. If interested or questions on the league, please contact Larry Wilson at
lwcougar77@yahoo.com for further information.
April 22nd Openings
The General Manager's Baseball League (GMBL) - The GMBL has an immediate opening for a new owner.
THE GMBL is a BBW 5.75 league, and is one of the most challenging APBA franchise/replay league around. The GMBL is comprised of 28 teams each with 40 man MLB roster and 20 man MiLB roster. To succeed in GMBL, one must draft and develop talent from the minor leagues, just like real MLB GM's. Since they are a 28 team league, almost all players on the disk are actually used and play - giving value to those real-life defensive subs and pinch-runners that seldom factor into replay leagues.
The league also has a very rich historical statistics database (founded in 2008), and uses a custom built web draft program to handle their annual drafts. The open team has some very good young MLB and MiLK talent, including Rougned Odor, Byron Buxton, Nomar Mazara, Eloy Jimenez, AJ Puk, Forrest Whitley, and more.
March 31st Openings
The Jackie Robinson League - The Jackie Robinson League, a BBW continuous ownership league, has three immediate openings. The available teams are Billings, Redding, and Sawdust City. The league has played continuously since 1998 beginning with the 1947 season. The league is now preparing for the 1971. League off-season roster limit of 24 players. League communications through groups.io. If interested contact Chris Strovel at
www.strovel.com.
New League Forming - Joseph Whitbeck is starting a new email league. A Basic Cards and Dice Retro Keeper League starting with the 1960 season and going backwards through time. The Summer league will consist of 12 teams and play games from May thru September. The season will consist of 76 games of which each manager playing 38 games. If interested contact Joe at
deadball274@gmail.com.
March 24th Openings
APBA Player Looking to Join a League - Lew lives in Laguna Niguel, California and would like to join a basic C&D league. If you have a C&D league opening, contact Lew at
glen571944@gmail.com
Player Looking for a Computer League - Individual looking for a computer league opening. he has played the regular board game for years, but would like to delve into the computer game and get into a league. If you have a league opening please contact the gentlemen at
pstul@aol.com.
March 3rd Openings
DBL League Opening - The DBL has the 1931 Philadelphia Phillies available. They are just starting the season. If interested, please contact Gene Knauber at
meaner53965@hotmail.com for more information.
NORTHEAST APBA LEAGUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT - During the recent APBA Convention, Woody Studenmund was inducted into the APBA Hall of Fame. Woody is an APBA Historian for sure but he is also the Father of APBA Mail League play and has played in the Northeast League for 59 years. I wanted to feature the Northeast League in the newsletter in honor of Woody and his many contributions to our hobby.
The Northeast APBA League, in its 59th season, is - and the claim never has been disputed - the oldest play-by-mail league in the world and the blueprint for hundreds of the league's.
They NEL has blended no-holds-barred competition and profound friendship, perpetuating a league that most of the hope to belong to until they die. Of the league's current 12 managers, eight have been in the league for 22 years or more. "We all share a love of baseball, but we've all made lasting friendships that go beyond a game," says Ed Linenthal, an Indiana University professor who is the former editor-in-chief of the Journal of American History.
Woody Studenmund, the sole charter member left in the league, is their Abner Doubleday. It was in Woody's basement that a naval-warfare club turned into the NEL. And Woody was born in Cooperstown and spent boyhood summers playing baseball on Doubleday Field.
"The NEL plays the 1986 basic game version of APBA as it comes out of the box, so unrealistic results aren't impossible. You have to understand that it's a game," says Men Meyer, a former league president. "We don't try to legislate reality." Meyer is infamous for playing all 162 of his games in the 1975 season head-to-head, traveling from New Jersey to Detroit, Toronto, Pittsburgh, Boston, Vermont, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara.
Says Ed Thayer, a former league member who has played in other leagues, "The integrity is one of the things that impresses me the most about the NEL."
"The league's annual convention is one of the reasons that it has lasted," says Linenthal. "The convention is the highlight of the year. For four days, everything g but baseball and friendship is excluded." At the 2019 NEL convention in California, 10 of the 12 teams were represented even though a majority of the managers live in the East or Midwest.
Mark Featherstone, the current NEL president, is the son of former manager and League president Dennis Featherstone. Other league members include Bob Frazer (APBA general manager), Tom Heiderscheidt (APBA Journal editor), Jim Lafargue (TCBA founder), and Bill Linn (long-time author of the APBA Journal's "Linn on Leagues" column).
In closing, APBA extends their congratulations to Woody Studenmund on his induction into the APBA Hall of Fame Class of 2019 and on the NEL's 59th season of league play.
I trust this column is continuing to bring many APBA players together be it through regional tournaments or league play. I am glad that we can continue to provide this service to the APBA community and further promote brotherhood within our beloved hobby.