All the Right Moves

The Coronavirus Pandemic has altered our lives in many ways, and has interfered with the things that we loved to do, while effecting the things that we take for granted in everyday life.

The virus has no boundaries, and neither does the ripple effect have any boundaries, preventing us from going to summer activities such as fairs, concerts, festivals, beaches, sporting events... you name it! 

So it came as no surprise when my friend Ron Emch came out with an announcement that the Glass City APBA Baseball Tournament was cancelled for 2020. When I heard the news, I was relieved, I wanted to go so badly but I did not want to put my wife and travel companion to the event at risk. It was weighing on my mind, especially when we are expecting a second wave of the virus this fall, and the tournament happens just prior to Labor Day weekend.

Ron's announcement came weeks after the announcement of the cancellation of the 2020 Chicagoland APBA Baseball Tournament -- Cancelled by my friend Rob Spatz. These are two of the good guys in the APBA Baseball community, and it came as no surprise that these guys would look out for our health over fun & games. I completely back their decisions, while backing the decisions of all the other tournament cancellations around the country. Rob's decision was also documented in Chicago's Daily Herald, which is a good read by the way.

The article was shared on the APBA Facebook Group, which caught the attention of two childish grown men who wanted to take shots at my friend, Rob. This was not the first time these two took shots at him, and other people in the group. That problem then was dealt swiftly by our friend, Pastor Rich Zawadzki, who booted them out of the group.

This type of behavior is not to be tolerated in the group ever, especially during a time such as this. This is a time when we should have each other's backs, not a time for people to make horrible remarks. My brother Rob has a heart of gold, and the fact that these idiots had nothing better to do, makes me sick, to be honest.

All these decisions by my friends proved to be the right moves, and I pray that all of you make the right moves when it comes to dealing with this pandemic. The threat of the virus is very real, while practicing your faiths, please put more faith into the doctors and scientists who happen to know what they are talking about. Keep your loved ones safe, while practicing proper social distancing measures.

Use common sense blended with love, and we can do no wrong.

1955 World Series (Games 4 & 5)

Due to time restraints we fast forward through the original broadcast...

Game 4
Saturday, October 1st
Ebbets Field
Attendance: 36,242
Day Game

NYY: Don Larsen - Grade B-Y
BRO: Carl Erskine - Grade C

Gil Hodges batted 3-for-4 with 2 doubles and a solo home run, his solo home run tied the game 2-2 during the 5th inning.

The game appeared to be over when the Yankees scored 3 runs during the top of the ninth. Elston Howard who made a crucial error earlier in the game, makes up for it with his solo home run that kicks off the 9th. Howard batted 4-for-5 with a HR & triple, 2 RBI. Irv Noren (RBI double) and Gil McDougald (RBI single) gave the Yankees a 5-3 lead entering the bottom of the ninth.

Bottom of the 9th, with two outs, Frank Kellert keeps his great pinch-hitting success rolling by hitting a pinch-hit two-run homer that tied the game for the Dodgers, 5-5.

Top of the 12th, the banged-up superstar Mickey Mantle launches a solo home run off Don Newcombe (who came in to relief) -- winning the game, 6-5.

Johnny Kucks (2 IP, 1 H) is credited with the win, while Don Newcombe (3 IP, 1 ER, 2 K) gets the loss.


Game 5
Sunday, October 2nd
Ebbets Field
Attendance: 36,796
Day Game

NYY: Bob Grim - Grade D-X
BRO: Roger Craig - Grade B-Y

Both teams catchers played a significant role in Game 5. Yogi Berra gets the New York Yankees off to a 2-0 start with a two-run homer. Jackie Robinson's RBI single and Sandy Amoros' RBI single during the bottom of the 2nd, trimming the Yankees' lead down to 3-2.

The Yankees score 4 runs during the top of the 5th to give them a commanding 7-2 lead during the 5th inning. Yogi Berra would add another big homer, hitting a three-run homer during the 7th, which would be the death nail for the Dodgers this game.

The Yankees win 10-6, while Berra now has 3 home runs in this series already.

The Yankees now own a 3-2 series lead, after trailing 2-1.

Living in a Pod while Listening to Podcasts

Many of us are finding ways to get through this pandemic. Many of us that love playing APBA have found time or in my case extra time to roll some games. I have found myself listening to more podcasts, or I should say found myself listening to podcasts. I was never a podcast guy before this whole thing went down.

Before the pandemic, and shortly before my wife had her surgery to remove a cancerous tumor back in October, I accidentally dropped my basic bottom-of-the-line non-smart phone onto the cement at work, and the screen was all shattered. We found out through our phone plan that updating myself to a Samsung 8 Smartphone was not going to bump my monthly payment by much, not much at all... So it was a no-brainer.

Once we got a tax return, I finally got myself a portable speaker for work. I work overnights, and I work alone, so having a smartphone now allowed myself to do bluetooth, which allowed myself to purchase Spotify Premium. Having unlimited access to all of the music out there, was a great release for me, and it's been great to play at home as well, while the wife has also benefited with Spotify as well.

She was always listening to podcasts. I jumped on board the podcast train, and wanted to listen to something other than music one night at work. So I fell upon Bill Simmons' Podcast, which I have to say he does an amazing job, and is really easy to listen to. I usually don't care for homers, and I will admit before listening to his free-flowing podcasts, I unfairly judged him in a negative light based on short spurts such as his work on the NBA Playoffs Pregame show or some of his 30 on 30 work.

His work on The Ringer, The Rewatchables & Bill Simmons Podcast is for the most part podcast gold. I really enjoy Simmons the most when he's working with Ryen Russillo.

Before I move on to other podcasts, his work and The Ringer's work on the Michael Jordan 'The Last Dance' documentaries have been amazing to listen to, and I wanted share my thoughts and memories on Jordan before I move on

If you have not watched 'The Last Dance' ESPN & Netflix documentary (although it's not on Netflix at the moment), you need to. Even if you were not a die-hard Jordan fan or even a fan of his, but love basketball, you need to watch this 10-part documentary... It's that good!

If there was any doubt that Micheal Jordan was the greatest player in NBA history before this documentary, it has all been erased with this documentary. In fact some fans who were living on Camp LeBron have crossed over the line in Jordan's defense. Let's face it, the LeBron James era and his young fans had no idea how big Jordan was on-and-off the court. Now with everyone stuck in their homes (or at least the people that properly followed through with social distancing) and looking for things to do, decided to watch the documentary and see what all the fuss is about.

The documentary just recently passed The Tiger King as the most watched documentary of 2020, and seems to be taking the sports world (and possibly the world) by storm... It's as if Jordan came out of retirement yet again.

Growing up in Michigan, naturally I am a Detroit Pistons fan, while my brother Jared, two years younger than me loved Jordan. I remember we were shopping at a Dunham's and we saw the first Air Jordan shirts, and my dad ended up buying us those. My 4th grade teacher Mr. Walton ended up calling me Air Baier because of the shirt, and my brother Jared, Little Air Baier. I also drew a picture of Michael Jordan from the Sports Illustrated issue where Jordan hit the game-winning shot against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The drawing was so good, that my teacher decided to make copies of the drawing and then had everybody do a coloring contest... which was cool, because copies of my drawing were literally decorating the hallway.

I remember when the Bulls and Pistons were going head-to-head, and the Pistons knocking them out for three consecutive years. I did momentarily forgot that Chicago actually had the Pistons on the ropes during the 1988-89 (2nd straight attempt) with the Bulls up 2-1, but the Pistons focused completely on Jordan, and won three straight to finish out the series. The Bulls felt they had a legit shot during 1990 Eastern Conference Finals, after winning Game 6 and forcing a Game 7, in which then Scottie Pippen would suffer the migraine game. The last NBA game that I was ever in attendance for was Game 4 of the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals, in which the Bulls would finally past the Pistons, sweeping them. I was there when the Pistons ducked out and didn't shake hands with the Bulls.

Now as a Pistons fan, do I get the whole everyone hates us thing? Sure, I do... I feel unlike most sports fans, that I can think in a unbiased way and put myself in an opposing fans' shoes. Was it cool, what the Pistons did, looking back at it? No.

This is the thing though, the city of Detroit has a history of being stepped all over from the world in general to the sports world, and the "Bad Boys" carried the determined attitude that no team is going to come onto the court and embarrass us, we are going to show you up! This outside attitude continues to this day, the fact that some of our 1980's Detroit Tigers had to wait so long to get into the Hall of Fame (while we are still waiting on Lou Whitaker) and the flat-out disrespect that the 2004 Detroit Pistons got for being a dysfunctional Los Angeles Lakers team that in all honesty never had a shot at that great defensive team. I remember when the Pistons and Pacers would play in the playoffs in the 2004 & 2005 NBA Seasons, and fans would cry all over the internet about how it was ugly basketball.

So reliving the Jordan-Bulls vs Pistons stuff was a lot of fun, but I have to say Jordan calling Isiah Thomas an asshole is funny, true, and let's be honest... totally hypocritical of Jordan. While the documentary has captured Jordan to be human, to be the ultimate competitor, to be addicted to gambling (contrary to belief, he had a problem), to be the greatest thing and player to happen to the NBA... it captured another thing, that Jordan was also an asshole... Let's be honest, he was a dick to even his teammates, so I had to chuckle when Jordan called Thomas that. And as much as Isiah still wants to downplay the non-shaking hands things, Jordan does the same with Isiah and Joe Dumars, downplaying the fact that the two stars were blacklisted from the Dream Team.

I was happy to hear the credit that Simmons gives the Bad Boys team, and I know that they said that Isiah's problem is that he feels that the team has been persecuted and that Isiah feels that their place in history is lost. I don't believe its lost. You might remember earlier in this post that I first had a negative light on Simmons, that was because of a Boston Celtics special that really painted the Pistons team as nothing but a rough-and-tough tumble team, but am enlightened since that people like Simmons came around, and did their research and realize that this Pistons team is among the very best in NBA history. You will never find a better backcourt with Isiah, Dumars, Mark Aguirre & Vinnie 'The Microwave' Johnson, and the team is one of the best ever defensively. I also want to note that in DK Sports and NBA2K Basketball had only one team really better than the "Bad Boys" and that was the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls.

Now do I believe that the Pistons were the #2 team of all-time? No, do I think they can make that a series? Oh, hell yeah... although I used to believe the 95-96' Bulls to be the best of all-time, I think I will agree with Simmons that the best Bulls team of all-time is actually their 1991-92' team. Looking back, the 1995-96 team benefited a lot due to recent expansion, so maybe with that we go to the earlier 90's teams as the best, or one of the great Celtics or Lakers teams.

One last note on Jordan, I agree with Ryen Russillo on the whole tearing down heroes segment during one of Bill Simmon's podcasts. They were in discussion over The Last Dance Episode where the media was turning on Jordan for primarily the gambling and other factors in his life, and how the media will always build someone up just to tear them down. It reminded of the situation with Tiger Woods as well, you can't tell me that no one in the media knew of his other women, but once his domestic dispute came out to the press, they all decided to bury him. Not saying that Jordan or Woods are saints, but I really hate that part of the press.

Anyways, I have also been listening to The Daily, another pod cast called 'Still Processing' done by two New York Times writers, and the Rewatchables podcasts -- Their take on "The Karate Kid", "Scream" and "Beverly Hills Cop" were among the best, with hilarious valid points that we can all relate to.

Podcasts have been a great escape from all the bad things going on in the world, plus its great to listen to while plugging out stats or blogs even (which I am doing right now). Hope all is well in your world, and keep rolling 66's.

1976 A.L. Championship Series (Games 3 & 4)

Plenty of scoring in this series after 11-6 & 16-4 results during Games 1 & 2. Both teams entering Game 3 tied 1-1, playing Games 3 & 4 at Fenway Park, in a best-of-five American League Championship Series.

Oakland sends out Ken Holtzman (11-12, 2.95 ERA) who has pitched great down the stretch, while Boston will send out Rick Wise (14-12, 4.62 ERA). Holtzman has allowed only 4 earned runs during his last 37.2 innings (0.96 ERA), dating back to September 10th.

Wise would end up handcuffing the Athletics, pitching a complete game shutout, allowing 7 hits, while striking out 7 Oakland hitters. Boston's Duane Kuiper, Ralph Garr and Mike Rex each had 2 RBI during the 7-0 victory, while for Rex, it included a 7th inning home run.

The Athletics down 2-1 in the series, jumped out to a 3-0 lead in Game 4. Hal McRae and Doug DeCinces had back-to-back RBI singles in the 1st, while Rick Dempsey had a RBI single in the 3rd inning... but the Red Sox came battling back.

Jim Rice hit a solo home run off Vida Blue in the 4th inning to start off the charge, while it was Rice's second homer of the day, a two-run homer that tied the game. Carl Yastrzemski later hit the go-ahead RBI single that inning, as the Red Sox would go on to win 4-3. Red Sox closer Jim Willoughby pitched 3 shutout innings to secure the save.

The Boston Red Sox will face the Cincinnati Reds, who won their series against the St.Louis Cardinals 3-1. Boston and Cincinnati is a rematch of the real-life 1975 World Series, but these two teams in this alternate reality did not play each other in 75'. The Baltimore Orioles won it all in 1975 over the Pittsburgh Pirates, meaning the "Big Red Machine" still seeks their first title.

* * * I didn't forget, more 1955 World Series Replay to come * * *