1903 World Series (Game 7)

Actual 1903 World Series ticket.

A series recap of how this special 1903 World Series has gone between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Boston Americans.

• Game 1 (at Boston) - Cy Young shuts down the Pirates in a 4-0 shutout performance that allowed only 5 hits, with 7 strikeouts.

• Buck Freeman's three-run HR off of Pirates' starter Deacon Phillipe during the bottom of the 7th of Game 2, is the difference, as Boston wins 5-2 to take a 2-0 series lead in front of their home crowd.

• Jimmy Sebring's clutch two-run double in Game 3 capped off a 5-run second inning to help the Pirates beat Tom Hughes & the Boston Americans, 6-2.

• Big moment in Game 4 sets up heroics for Duke Farrell. Pittsburgh tries to avoid Buck Freeman's dangerous bat by intentionally walking Freeman -- which set up Farrell's clutch two-run double (off of Deacon Phillippe) in the top of the 6th. Boston forces extras, as Boston wins 4-3 through 10 innings; Boston leads series, 3-1.

• Down 3-0 in Game 5, and down 3-1 in the series -- The Pirates call on pinch-hitter Joe Marshall who belts a two-run HR over the center field wall off of Bill Dinneen, cutting the Boston lead down to 3-2. Boston calls on invincible Cy Young, to watch Young give up a two-run HR to Fred Clarke, over the left field wall. The Pirates call on Sam Leever, who locks down the game with a two-inning Save. Ed Doheny (Pirates starter) gets the victory -- winning 4-3 over Boston.

• The Pirates call on Irvin Wilhelm (who only won 5 games all season) to start the important & crucial Game 6, facing off against Tom Hughes (who got rocked in Game 3) -- while both Cy Young of Boston & Pittsburgh's Sam Leever are not available. Pirates' catcher Ed Phelps (who had no hits through 13 at-bats) hits a two-run HR off of Hughes in the second; Tommy Leach tacks on an insurance RBI single -- while Deacon Phillippe comes in for the save. Pirates win 3-1, and even up the series; A series that Boston appeared to have locked up.

Now it all comes down to this, Game 7 in Boston (at Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds) -- a match-up between Pittsburgh's Sam Leever & Boston's Cy Young.

GAME 7 (at Boston (A))

Sam Leever of the Bucs.

What is quickly becoming evident of a pitcher's duel, the Boston Americans put a lead-off man on in the bottom of the 4th in Patsy Dougherty, who drew a walk from Pittsburgh starter Sam Leever. Freddy Parent bunts Dougherty over to second. Leever facing Jimmy Collins with one out, gets Collins to ground out to first, failing to move over the runner to third -- two outs. Leever decides to intentionally walk the dangerous Buck Freeman (batting .350) to face Chick Stahl (.048) instead. Leever delivers, chopper back to the mound. Leever is up with it, fires to first, and that retires the side.

Top of the 5th - The Bucs' Claude Ritchey delivers the very first hit for either team, with a lead-off double to the right-center gap. Now it will be Kitty Bransfield to face Cy Young -- Young delivers, and it's popped up behind third, one away. Jimmy Sebring who has had some luck against Young, steps in with a .278 batting average, a HR & 6 ribbies; The pitch from Young, checked swing, the ump rings him up, two down. Ed Phelps (last game's hero) hits an easy bouncer to Hobe Ferris at second, he's up with it, to first, out number three.

George LaChance collects the Boston Americans' first hit, a grounder up the middle that splits Honus Wagner & Claude Ritchey. Lou Criger flies out to left, two outs. Cy Young can't help his cause, as he pops up to Honus at short -- three away. No runs, one hit for each team -- heading into the 6th Inning.

The Americans' Cy Young.

Top of the 6th - With two outs, Buck Freeman in left for Boston tries to make a sliding catch, but the ball gets by him, as Fred Clarke rolls into third with a triple -- bringing up Honus Wagner to face off against Cy Young, as the entire stadium is on its feet. The unfortunate thing is, Wagner is struggling, batting .100 in 20 at-bats; Wagner laces a liner to left, Freeman is on the run, he slides for the possible catch - CAUGHT! He made sure he got this one, as Young pumps his fist in excitement!

Patsy Dougherty gave Ginger Beaumont a run for his money & to the wall, as Beaumont chases it down and catches the ball right up against the fence -- The Pirates dugout quickly went quiet on that one. Another fly to the track, this one to right, as Beaumont catches Freddy Parent's fly to right-center. Jimmy Collins dribbles a roller to the left of the mound, Sam Leever can't reach it, Honus Wagner races in, grabs & throws it in one motion -- not in time! Collins beats the two-out throw, bringing up Buck Freeman. Decisions, decisions... and once again, an intentional walk to Freeman, as they elect to pitch to Chick Stahl (1-for-22), moving the speedy Collins to second, in scoring position. Boston will go down it's bench -- it will be Charley "Duke" Farrell, who is 2-for-2, with a double, triple, 4 RBI & a walk. Leever decides to face him, delivers, it's hit hard, but right at Wagner, Wagner flips to second for the force -- out! They strand the runners, still anyone's game after 6 innings.

7th Inning stretch - Boston 0, Pittsburgh 0 (2 hits a piece); Cy Young has 5 K's & 2 BB's -- while Sam Leever has only one strikeout, with three walks allowed (two intentional walks to Buck Freeman). Young (3-1) entered the game with a 1.52 ERA through 23.2 innings this series, with 17 K's; Leever (1-2) entered at a 2.25 ERA through 20 innings, 7 K's. Both are pitching a masterpiece, we'll see who comes out on top.

A two-out double for Boston in the bottom of the 8th for Freddy Parent (off of Sam Leever). Leever to face the struggling Jimmy Collins (batting .192) -- belts it over Ginger Beaumont's head in center, off the base of the wall, Parent will score easily, Collins is racing to third, the tag & he's safe! Boston has taken a crucial 1-0 lead here in the bottom-half of the 8th inning! Leever will intentionally walk Buck Freeman for the third time, all they need is one out, Leever to face Jake Stahl (who came in on defense for Chick Stahl) will come to the plate... or maybe not, Boston will go to the bench for Aleck Smith; Smith batted ,303 during the season in 33 at-bats for the Americans -- he is 1-for-1 this series, with a double. Leever to the plate, Smith flies it to right, Sebring is over and catches it, final out of the 8th. Boston 1, Pittsburgh 0

A big hit for Jimmy Collins.

It's up to the dangerous part of the Pirates' batting order in the top of the 9th, in Ginger Beaumont (.192), Fred Clarke (.308) & Honus Wagner (.095) to get at least one run against Cy Young, who has had an epic series -- Young's ERA is down to 1.14 through 31.2 innings! Jack O'Brien is in right for Boston, as George Stone takes over in left. The lefty Beaumont flies to center for the first out, bringing up Clarke, who has a HR & 3 RBI this series, with a double & triple. Young delivers to Clarke, fly ball, center field, should be no trouble, Patsy Dougherty brings it down, two away. It's all up to Honus Wagner, the pitch from Young, it's hopped to the right side, LaChance behind first fields it on the big bounce, the throw to Young running to first -- OUT! BOSTON WINS IT! The Boston Americans foil the Pirates' bid for a repeat! 

Cy Young has pitched a series for the ages, that will likely be talked for ages! 4 victories, all by Young! He is named the World Series MVP, as if there was any doubt, as Boston holds off a surge by the Pirates -- the Pirates trailing 3-1, came back, tied the series up, and Game 7 went to the bottom of the 8th scoreless, until Jimmy Collins' RBI triple (following Freddy Parent's lead-off double). Sam Leever is credited with the loss, his 3rd for the series, as he went 1-3 in the 1903 World Series. People will be talking though, about how Honus Wagner failed to show up this series.

The Pirates have now gone to three consecutive World Series with mixed results:

• 1901 World Series: Chicago White Sox defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3.
• 1902 World Series: Pittsburgh Pirates defeat the Philadelphia Athletics, 4-0.
• 1903 World Series: Boston Americans defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3.

It would have been interesting to see what could have been, if they were able to bring back Jack Chesbro & Jesse Tannehill (who both departed for greener pastures). None the less, the Pirates made a historic run from 1901-1903.

Now can the Boston Americans go back to the series in 1904, for a chance to become the first to repeat?

1903 World Series (Game 6)

Game 6 will be an interesting one. At one point, it appeared that Boston was on its way to a 4-1, series victory -- then came the bottom of the 7th in Game 5, a four-run inning that would be huge for Pittsburgh; The inning featured a surprise two-run homer off the bench by Joe Marshall and a two-run homer by player/manager Fred Clarke -- two plays that made Clarke look brilliant. Both Cy Young (Boston) and Sam Leever (Pittsburgh) will not be available for Game 6; Leever got hurt in Game 5, Young is being held over for a possible Game 7.

GAME 6 (at Boston (A))

Bucs' Wilhelm: Unlikely starter for Game 6.

The Pirates will have to ask a miracle performance from emergency starter Irvin Wilhelm (5-3, 3.24 ERA in 9 starts), as he will face off against Boston's Tom Hughes (20-7, 2.57 ERA); There's hope though, Hughes' last outing, lasted only two innings.

Bottom of the 1st - Jimmy Collins scores off a two-out single to left by Chick Stahl for Boston.

Top of the 2nd - Kitty Bransfield hits a one-out double to left-center, Jimmy Sebring bunts Bransfield down to third. Boston pitcher Tom Hughes would give up a mistake pitch to catcher Ed Phelps for his first hit of the series, a two-run blast to center. Pittsburgh 2, Boston 1

Ed Doheny comes in to relief Irvin Wilhelm, did exactly what was asked of him, holding the Americans to one run on six hits, he had one K, plus a walk. Doheny knocks down the Boston threat in the 5th Inning.

During the top of the 9th, Tommy Leach tacks on an insurance run, scoring in Honus Wagner from second on a single to left off of Bill Dinneen. Pittsburgh 3, Boston 1

With two outs during the bottom of the 9th, Hobe Ferris singles to right. The Pirates go to the pen for Deacon Phillippe to face switch-hitting George LaChance of Boston. LaChance with the checked swing, he went around!

The Pirates have forced a Game 7, after trailing the series, 3-1! But it won't come easy, as the man on the mound will be Boston's Cy Young (who has 3 wins this series)!

BoS League Leaders

(Through 6 weeks / 34-35 games)

Bruce has been having a big 2014 season for Buffalo.

A.L. Leaders

The Swatara Eliminators feature 3 of the American League's top 4 hitters, with Yadier Molina who has been consistently at the top. Victor Martinez missed all of last season due to injury.

Miguel Cabrera of the Buffalo Yankees (who fell short of the Triple Crown last season) is heating up, lifting his batting average up to .297, while moving up the HR ladder with 10 for the season.

Miguel is not the only Yankee making some noise this season, Jay Bruce leads the A.L. with 11 HR's and 32 RBI.

Shin-Soo Choo of the South Shore Fighting Imps finds himself ranking good in the Triple Crown categories -- He's hitting .307 (5th), with 7 HRs (5th) & 23 RBI (tied for second).

Jacoby Ellsbury is making a mockery on the base paths, having three times the amount of steals than his Chicago Nine teammate Carlos Gomez.

Thank goodness we don't have a Comeback Player of the Year Award! It would be tough to decide between "V-Mart" (mentioned above) of Swatara & South Shore's John Lackey. Manager Bill Gillam's choice of drafting last season's uncard in Lackey is looking like a genius move, while drafting Hyun-Jin Ryu to go along with Doug Fister.

The Brooklyn Mets' Clay Buchholz currently leads the league with a 1.50 ERA & 4-1 record.

The Fairgrove Tigers' Madison Bumgarner leads the league in strikeouts (60), while tied with 6 victories.

Joe Nathan (Fairgrove) and Koji Uehara (Buffalo) lead a list of recognizable names, and some newcomers to the Saves list in Drew Smyly (Chicago) and David Carpenter (Brooklyn)

N.L. Leaders

Micheal Cuddyer of the King Road Kings leads the National League in batting average, also among the leaders are Martin Prado (of Holland) and Donaldson (of Traverse City) who have been consistent factors this 2014 BoS Season.

The Holland Hitchhikers' Evan Gattis is off to a great start his rookie year, pacing the league with 11 home runs. Nelson Cruz & Chris Davis of the San Diego Heroes, trail with 9 HRs.

Josh Donaldson who was leading the league for awhile in batting average, has been among most offensive categories in the N.L. for the Traverse City Panthers.

The Traverse City Panthers are off-and-running, blowing away the competition in the steals department, Jean Segura leads the N.L. with 20, trailed by his teammates Jarrod Dyson (who has mostly come off the bench) and Hunter Pence.

We already know of Julio Teheran's season, but lets bring some attention to the season that Cliff Lee of the Portland Microbrewers is having so far -- 5-0, 1.86 ERA with 53 K's in 53.1 innings.

The young Cuban rookie Jose Fernandez is making a huge impact for Holland, with 62 K's in 51 innings, his K numbers are sandwiched between Teheran (71) and Matt Harvey (60) of T.C. 

Greg Holland leads the league with his 9 Saves for Holland.

*** This concludes the BoS League Leaders for both A.L. & N.L. ***

BoS Week 5 & Week 6 (Condensed)

The latest news in the Boys of Summer APBA Baseball League (BoS)

"DERAILED!"

The Urbana Locomotives find themselves in unfamiliar territory as they go from N.L. East Champions (104-58) to cellar-dwellers, a short off-season later at 8-27. The rest of the division improved immensely (particularly, Traverse City & Holland). Also part of this has to do with the improving of players on other teams in the divisions, while Urbana decreased in practically all the positions among starters on their team.

As you will witness below, the lineup in total of OPS (On Base + Slugging) practically lost the equivalent of a last season's version of Adrian Beltre (a .920 difference in OPS; Beltre had a .921 MLB OPS) & 19 total grade points in the rotation, just slightly more of that of a last season's version of David Price (who was a 18-X). Funny thing, Beltre outperformed his MLB counterpart with a monster season for Urbana, with a .990 OPS! Beltre is still playing well for Urbana in 2014, while Price's grade is notably different at 11-YZ.

The most notable difference is in players such as Carlos "Chooch" Ruiz, dropping from a steroid-induced .935 OPS to his suspension year that produced a .688 OPS for the Phils in 2013 -- Welington Castillo is winning more playing time with his .746 OPS; Ruiz is actually out-performing his MLB counterpart, with a .766 OPS for Urbana.

The first base position is down .096 with Mitch Moreland taking over for Garrett Jones, Jones appeared to have been playing most of the DH until Urbana's recent trade for Yoenis Cespedes (from Seattle, in exchange for Christian Yelich). The team was unable to replace the DH production of last season in Tyler Colvin.

Nick Markakis is probably the next biggest drop in production, going from a .834 OPS to .685!

We'll have to see if there are more trades & changes on the horizon for the Locomotives, although it's early, it does not appear that Urbana will repeat as division champs or even make the playoffs. Plus when will we see some of their future stars in Tanner Roark & Jedd Gyorko make their debuts?

We'll have to wait and see...

"INTO THE WILD"

The Traverse City Panthers have to be excited about their start, they recently put together a 11-game winning streak (from April 14th to April 25th), while owning a 4.5 game lead over second-place Hannibal. A big part of it has a lot to do with the improvement to their lineup with the emergence of players such as Josh Donaldson, Matt Carpenter & Brandon Belt -- but their leader has been the young pitching phenom Julio Teheran.

Teheran is 6-1, with a spectacular ERA of only 1.26! He has thrown for 71 K's in 50.1 innings (leading league with 12.9 K's per nine innings) & holding opponents to a .128 batting average -- plus three shutouts (including a one-hit*, 16 K dominant performance of offensive power San Diego)!

* - The possible no-hitter was broken up in Game 4 of the series by Edwin Encarnacion in the Top of the 7th inning.

Teheran has been on a roll -- since his bad first outing of 7 hits allowed in 1.1 innings on April 2nd.

Teheran is among the early favorites for N.L. Cy Young in 2014. He has pitched three one-hit shutouts for the season. We'll have to see if he can keep this early-season intensity throughout the season, the Panthers will have to watch the youngster's innings though.

BoS Series RE-CAPs (Series record) of last two weeks

AMERICAN LEAGUE

SOUTH SHORE (7 - 5): 
5-1 series win over Boston; 2-4 series loss to Buffalo.

SWATARA (6 - 6):
4-2 series win over Bronx; 2-4 series loss to Brooklyn.

BRONX (6 - 6):
2-4 series loss to Swatara; 4-2 series win over Chicago.

BOSTON (1 - 11): 
1-5 series loss to South Shore; 0-6 series loss to Fairgrove.

FAIRGROVE (9 - 3):
3-3 series split with Chicago; 6-0 series sweep of Boston.

BROOKLYN (9 - 3):
5-1 series win over Buffalo; 4-2 series win over Swatara.

BUFFALO (5 - 7):
1-5 series loss to Brooklyn; 4-2 series win over South Shore.

CHICAGO (5 - 7):
3-3 series split with Fairgove; 2-4 series loss to Bronx.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

TRAVERSE CITY (8 - 4):
4-2 series win over Holland; 4-2 series win over San Diego.

HANNIBAL (9 - 3):
6-0 series sweep over Urbana; 3-3 series split with Seattle.

HOLLAND (5 - 7):
2-4 series loss to Traverse City; 3-3 series split with King Road.

URBANA (0 - 12):
0-6 series loss to Hannibal; 0-6 series loss to Portland.

PORTLAND (9 - 3):
3-3 series split with Seattle; 6-0 series sweep of Urbana.

SAN DIEGO (6 - 6):
4-2 series win over King Road; 2-4 series loss to Traverse City.

KING ROAD (5 - 7):
2-4 series loss to San Diego; 3-3 series split with Holland.

SEATTLE (6 - 6):
3-3 series split with Portland; 3-3 series split with Hannibal.

"THE STARS WILL SHINE IN SEATTLE"

The BoS has just announced that this season's 2nd Annual BoS All-Star Game will take place in Seattle, Washington, home of the Seattle Rainiers. The National League won last season's All-Star Game in Washington, D.C. as they won 7-1. Carlos Beltran (of the Washington Filibusters) hit a Grand Slam to help drive the American League in front of the home crowd to win MVP honors, who will be this year's hero?

Seattle's All-Star Game Logo.

"PORTLAND IS ON FIRE!"

Mike Trout & Portland is off & running!

Brad Stark has his Portland tearing it up, they were already heating up from going a combined 9-3 during Weeks 5 & 6, while we just got word from out west that they now swept the Kings, for Portland's second consecutive sweep in Week 7. The Portland Microbrewers have now won 14 straight & have a chance in Week 8 to tie the BoS League Record of 15 consecutive wins, set by the Boston Bravos last season, during the team's second-half.

*** This concludes the BoS Highlights of Weeks 5 & 6 (and a little sneak peak of Week 7) ***

1903 World Series (Game 5)

Ed Doheny gets his first start for Bucs.

The Pittsburgh Pirates on a quest to become the first repeat champions of Major League Baseball, finds themselves in a 3-1 hole to the Boston Americans, thanks mostly to Cy Young and his 3 wins this series (two earned from 2 starts, one due to relief appearance). Young will not be available for Boston, even so... Pittsburgh has its work cut out for them.

GAME 5 (at Pittsburgh)

Ed Doheny gets the start for Pittsburgh (he had one inning of relief), as Bill Dinneen (no decisions, one start, 2.57 ERA over 7 innings) gets the nod for Boston.

Top of the 1st - Patsy Dougherty smacks a single to right, Freddy Parent hits into a fielder's choice (getting the lead runner). Jimmy Collins hits a grounder deep to short, Honus Wagner momentarily bobbles it, and tries to throw it quickly to first, throwing it past Kitty Bransfield at first, Parent makes third on the error (E-6). Runners on the corners, one out for Buck Freeman, who has a HR this series (13 during the regular season); the pitch, it's a single up the middle, Parent scores easily, as Collins holds second. Chick Stahl flies to right, as Collins tags up & reaches third -- two outs. Hobe Ferris flies to right for final out. Boston 1, Pittsburgh 0

Bottom of the 3rd - Back-to-back singles with two outs by Ginger Beaumont & Fred Clarke, bringing up Honus Wagner to the plate, who has been horrible this series -- batting .067 (1-for-15); The Pirates need Wagner to start coming through if they want to turn this series around. Wagner forces a walk, bringing up Tommy Leach; Dinneen sets & delivers, and Leach pops it up behind the plate, slams his bat in disgust as the threat falls short.

Top of the 5th - Patsy Dougherty collects his second hit of the game, as Freddy Parent moves him up to third on a double to center. No outs, Jimmy Collins flies to center, no one tags up. Buck Freeman ends up grounding out for the second out, moves up the runners, as Dougherty tacks on an insurance run. Ed Doheny throws it past the catcher, and Parent scores! The bullpen is up & getting ready as some disgusted Pittsburgh fans start to get restless. Doheny strikes out Chick Stahl for final out. Boston 3, Pittsburgh 0

7th Inning Stretch - Ed Doheny gets through two quick innings for the Pirates, as Pittsburgh still trails Boston 3-0; The Bucs' lineup is not helping Doheny, managing only four hits.

Bottom of the 7th - Kitty Bransfield leads off the bottom-half with a single to right -- that's Bransfield's 22nd career World Series hit. Jimmy Sebring bunts Bransfield over to second. Trying to create a spark, the Bucs call on pinch-hitting outfielder Joe Marshall (pinch-hitting for Ed Phelps) to face Bill Dinneen. The pitch, this one's lifted, it's still carrying, GONE! Over the center-field wall, he did not have a home run all season, and yet here he is delivering a big blast to center. The Pirates now trail 3-2, with one out. The Pirates will go to their bench once more & call on Otto Krueger (backup shortstop); The pitch from Dinneen, checked swing, ball... ball four -- Krueger is on first, with one out. The Americans have seen enough, and could it be?! Big, bad, Cy Young is coming out to the mound, he is already having a legendary series, and will have to face Ginger Beaumont, who is only batting .211 this series; Beaumont flies to center for out number two. Fred Clarke is the next batter, Young with the pitch, this one is hit to left, going, going, GONE! Young for the moment appears to be human after all, the Pirates have took the lead! The blast has lifted Young's series ERA up to 1.61. Honus Wagner comes to the plate, and strikes out. Pittsburgh 4, Boston 3

Top of the 8th - Sam Leever enters the game with a 1-2 record, 2.37 ERA this series (19 innings), it will be up to him for the Pirates to get out of this game with a victory. Harry Smith takes over the catching duties for the Bucs. One-out walk to Buck Freeman. The Americans go to the bench, and bring up nemesis Charley Farrell, who is 2-for-2 in pinch-hitter brilliance (double, triple) with 4 RBI! The Pirates' manager comes out to the mound & has a long discussion with Leever, if they intentionally walk Farrell, it will move the tying run up to second, they'll have to hope for a double play here. Farrell proved big last game, will it be deja vu? The pitcher sets, catcher shakes off the call, calls time, comes up half-way to mound, Leever nods, goes to the mound, it appears at the last second that the Pirates will intentionally walk Farrell; Farrell batted .404 during the regular season in 52 at-bats, with a 1.004 OPS. He'll take his chance with Hobe Ferris (batting .111) & possibly LaChance after that. Boston sends in a pinch-runner for Farrell at first, in George Stone. Leever sets, delivers, Ferris lines it to second baseman Claude Ritchey -- caught! Two down, George LaChance flies to right for the final out of the inning, the threat has been avoided. Pittsburgh 4, Boston 3

Bottom of the 8th - Cy Young sends the Pirates down 1-2-3.

Top of the 9th - Sam Leever will try to close it out, he will face Lou Criger. Leever, with the pitch, and Oh! What's this? Leever is walking off the mound, the trainers are out -- he'll try to stay in, does a practice pitch, Nope -- he is coming out. The Pirates are calling on Deacon Phillippe, who has a 4.80 ERA (15 innings, 3 appearances) this series. Criger grounds out. The Americans call on pinch-hitter Jake Stahl to hit for Cy Young, you have to think that the Pirates are a bit relieved after the series Young has put on them. Phillippe strikes out Stahl for out number two. It's all up to Patsy Dougherty (2-for-4) to keep it alive for Boston, it's flied to center for the final out.

Pittsburgh narrows the series gap to a 3-2 Boston advantage, but now must win out on the road to win the World Series -- which you can imagine that Boston will be saving Cy Young for Game 7.

FINAL SCORE: PITTSBURGH 4, BOSTON 3

The odd thing about our unlikely hero Joe Marshall (Pirates), there is no reference of him existing in Baseball-Reference.com, but there is a file on him in Wikipedia . Plus this lone picture. He was born (1876) in Audubon, Minnesota & died in Santa Monica, CA (Age 55). In real life, he never got to play in the series, in the dugout the whole time. He got a reputation in 1904 & 1905 as "Home Run" Joe Marshall in the Pacific Coast League, for his 10 HRs (2nd in the league) -- had 7 HR's the next year. Got the nickname "Home Run" from The Sporting Life magazine.

Then he just walked away from the game, saying he was "done with baseball".

25,000

Thanks to everyone for dropping in from time to time to check out my blog. I love Baseball, I love APBA & I love to write about both. I have (through APBA Facebook Group) been blessed to share my love for the game, and meet many wonderful friends in the Facebook group that share the same passions for the game as I do. I'm real thankful for their friendships, in fact I would consider a small handful of these friendships, to be close friends of mine -- My APBA brothers.

I have been fortunate to meet these friends in person during the APBA Chicagoland Tournament in Woodstock, IL & hope to eventually meet some of the other friends in person one day.

25,000 have now visited this site that truly started in March 2013. My biggest month was July 2013 (1,643 people visited that month). I am also closing on 400 published posts. It was my time on the APBA Facebook Group that made this blog possible, and it's the people that happen to love reading my stuff -- that made this a success. Success is not about numbers, overall numbers don't matter to me, if it was just 5 people tuning in, I would be cool with that, because there is no containing my love for baseball, and I definitely needed an outlet to do so. I live, breathe, talk APBA & Baseball, so for it me it's all natural.

For some people, it's a morning jog, or working on the car, or painting -- an outlet that they do everyday. For me, it was that, plus a whole lot more, more than I could have ever dreamed of.

Thanks,
Shawn

APBA Products

I have noticed many posts on our APBA Facebook Group that seemed surprise on the products that are out there. I decided to make this post to raise awareness on all the cool stuff that you can purchase on APBA Games via Cafe Press. The APBA site doesn't exactly make it a quick route to the APBA clothing & merchandise -- so I decided to help.

Go to APBA Games (www.apbagames.com) - Click on Shop > Now you are on the APBA Stadium Shop via Yahoo. Left hand column, go down and click on Apparel

You'll see a shirt to the right, in the small paragraph,  you'll see the words click here (underlined) --
Click that, and BOOM! APBA stuff brought to you by Cafe Press...

Let's go to the new logo stuff & see what they have shall we -- on that middle icon >>>

Let's go see what they have for shirts with the new logo>>>

A shirt with the new APBA Logo -- and you have the choice of like 20 different colors, this example shows off the shirt with the color Army.

There is other cool things all across the site -- I couldn't find the custom-made APBA Card shirts or mugs, but I did find a few on certain players they had -- I'm pretty sure that my friend Kenneth Heard (of "Love, Life and APBA Baseball") will dig this mug below...

What better way to re-watch Game 6 of the 1991 World Series, than sipping on a Hot Cocoa during a cold & blustery Minnesota day?

Now I'm not a huge fan of iPhones, or cellphones in general -- call me old school, but if you are going to wait in mile-longs lines for an iPhone, than you need to decorate it in this bad boy below...

APBA on your iPhone -- How sweet is this?! 

They still sell the bumper stickers fellas...

There is so much on this site, it's not even funny. You and your significant can celebrate a baby on the way, by making it official with this shirt. If you buy this shirt for your wife or girlfriend, you will make the APBA Gods bless your child as a future gamer -- all you have to do is buy this shirt...

Want to have a shirt showing off the APBA BASEBALL Playing Board? Look no further...

By the way, I love the sleeves on this shirt, kind of old school feel to it.

Can't sleep, Doug Schuyler? Because Craig Christian's dice tower keeps giving you nightmares? Then look no further my friend, than your very own APBA Pillow Case! Let the pillow case ease your mind, get a good night sleep & start rolling 66's at your next APBA tournament.

WARNING: The APBA Pillow Case cannot guarantee that you will roll 66's -- let's face it, it just looks cool.

You can also take a shower in style....

Seriously, they have everything...

These items of course are only a few of many, many items that are on the site -- they have added many of these more clever ones in the last few years.

FINALLY, I may have saved the best one for last, or at least most fitting towards this time of year, but what better way to say MERRY CHRISTMAS with this APBA Stocking filled with... maybe... some APBA teams you bought on eBay or on the site? Your kids what go nuts -- I know I would.

I hope this post was some big help for everyone, God bless, be careful, and Happy Holidays from my family to your own. 

BoS Power Rankings (End of April)

The above was taken from last year's example of how I came up with the Power Rankings formula, in time I may eventually add bullpen & stolen base aspects to the rankings. This is how it will work for this year though.

The 2013 BoS World Champion South Shore Fighting Imps lead the end of April BoS Rankings, followed by the Traverse City Panthers, Swatara Eliminators & Portland Microbrewers. We are playing the 2014 BoS Baseball Regular Season (2013 MLB stats).

The A.L. Central - MLB Off-Season (So Far...)

Lorenzo Cain & the Royals, ready to that next step?

A.L. Central

At the end of last season, with Detroit getting knocked off in the first-round (as expected) and the Kansas City Royals moving on to the World Series, I made a statement of some sort that the torch has been passed in the A.L. Central (from Detroit to Kansas City) -- not really sure about that at the moment, and to be honest not sure who's division it actually belongs to. In writing and for the record books, the Detroit Tigers are the defending A.L. Central Division Champions, then again the Royals are the defending American League Champions.

The Royals finally made that jump to the playoffs last season, and once they did -- what an exciting team to watch in the post-season, personally it was one of the more exciting playoff runs that I have seen in some time; Royal fans should be excited & they need to stay excited and show off their Royal blue in the stands all year around (something that was legitimately questioned by Manager Ned Yost). With a constant heavy attendance, these players who play off momentum should keep their winning ways. The team has not made any major additions this off-season to this point, and really are not expected to -- they kept Luke Hochevar by signing him to a two-year deal; Hochevar excelled in his relief role in 2013 with a 5-2 record, 1.92 ERA & 82 K's in 70.1 innings -- but missed all of 2014 due to injuries. Traded Aaron Crow to Miami in exchange for pitchers Brian Flynn and Reid Redman. Baseball analysts believe that Lorenzo Cain is ready to make that next step & that he is starting to realize his power potential, as Cain showed off his excellent skills in the post-season. The Royals are not expected to pursue resigning free agent pitcher James Shields, expect them to go cheaper routes, going to the bargain bin for a starter or two. Moving Brandon Finnegan to the rotation I believe will be a mistake possibly, like his stuff in the bullpen; if they do send him to rotation, he will have to get used to starting again with plenty of work in the minors, it was truly amazing to watch him go from College World Series to the MLB World Series in the same year! The team still has the best bullpen in the Majors, Crow was the only departure & Hochevar rejoins it. I believe K.C. will be in the playoff contention mix once again, their chances of winning the division for the first time since 1985, depends on the Tigers resigning Scherzer or not.

How much of a difference a hop to another paragraph makes, sorry K.C. fans, but I still believe the Detroit Tigers own the division after today's flurry of deals. Now let me make the record show that I don't really love or like the idea of trading a starting pitcher for a corner outfielder usually, the reason that the Tigers did trade Rick Porcello to Boston in exchange for Yoenis Cespedes, is due to the fact that Porcello's salary was going to be hiked up through arbitration -- and that it will help the team in its quest for resigning Max Scherzer, which will likely be in the ballpark of $200 million; Plus you add a big bat like Cespedes (even though his OBP can be frustrating). The Tigers took care of their void left by Porcello, in acquiring Alfredo Simon from the Reds -- which YES, did cost another first rounder being traded away from our organization in Jonathon Crawford; Crawford was traded along with Eugenio Suarez to the Reds. The Tigers in recent years, have now traded first-round picks in Porcello, Jacob Turner & Crawford. We added Shane Greene from that three-way deal with the New York Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Tigers rotation at the moment appears to be:

1) David Price

2) Justin Verlander

3) Anibal Sanchez

4) Alfredo Simon

5) Shane Greene

If the Tigers are able to resign Max Scherzer, the Tigers will still have the best rotation in baseball, even if they don't they still have a good rotation (most teams would not scoff at having such a rotation).

The Tigers' rotation - IF they resigned Max Scherzer, appears as this:

1) Max Scherzer

2) David Price

3) Justin Verlander

4) Anibal Sanchez

5) Shane Greene

Scherzer: To sign or not to sign? That is the question.

Max signing the biggest contract for a pitcher, will also be awarded the ace slot, David Price would be great as the second slot, while Justin Verlander regains his confidence facing off against other #3 starters (or lower rotation pitchers). Anibal Sanchez is used to be in the 3rd/4th slot at this point. Greene over Simon, for a few reasons, Dave Dombrowski planned to put Greene in rotation & Simon out of the two would be a more valuable weapon coming out of the bullpen as a long reliever (using him a couple innings at a time) -- not really sure Greene would be able to come out of pen. Of course, Simon loved being a starter for the Reds. It's still early in the off-season, maybe now that we have Simon, we ship Greene off somewhere -- maybe get backups in places like at catcher, more SS depth in case Jose Iglesias gets hurt again.

The White Sox before this past week at the Winter Meetings, I had them at 4th place (at best). After all their recent moves? Possibly as good as second! This division has went from the weakest to possibly the best division in the A.L. -- it's close with the West, the East has meanwhile plummeted. The White Sox added Adam LaRoche, David Robertson (a closer), and Jeff Samardzija to their rotation; A rotation that includes Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, and prospect Carlos Rodon -- Rodon is going to be a beast! Plus you get LaRoche to help protect Jose Abreu in the order, plus it will be another big plus if Avisail Garcia breaks out. It appears at the time of this post, they also signed Melky Cabrera, Kansas City inks one-year deal with Alex Rios.

A week ago, I had Cleveland in the mix for second, they had no major losses, and their starting rotation was the 2nd best in the entire American League that had a bad defense behind them -- that is why Corey Kluber won the A.L. Cy Young people, he had a bad defense behind him, in a hitter's park compared to Felix Hernandez's advantage of a pitcher's park. Kluber earned it fair & square, I loved watching this guy pitch, but was not thrilled when the Tigers had to play him. Trevor Bauer looks like he's turning that corner, and can be counted on as a solid rotation arm for the tribe. Carlos Carrasco and a bounced-back Danny Salazar will be a formidable pair, while 5th slot is manned down by T.J. House. The team acquired Brandon Moss in a trade from Oakland, at this point, he has been their only real addition.

Minnesota will likely be in last place, but they have a interesting mix of arms in Phil Hughes, Ricky Nolasco (if he bounces back from horrific 2014), and new addition in free agent signee Ervin Santana. The team had setbacks in their future stars Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano (due to untimely injuries), they did learn more about their team along the way, plus a strong rookie year from Danny Santana. Torii Hunter returns to Minnesota, to possible finish his career, he will be a huge mentor to the young Twinkies on the roster. HOF'er Paul Molitor takes over for Rod Gardenhire.

A.L. West is on deck...

BoS Week 4 (National League)

Donaldson leads the N.L. in batting average & a few other categories.

"Black Streak"

The Traverse City Panthers (16-6) find themselves in unfamiliar territory, they now have won 9 straight games, sweeping Seattle in six games -- to put it in perspective, Traverse City's longest winning streak in 2013 was 4 games (tied for worst with the Washington Filibusters). Only 6 teams last season won at least 9 straight last season, Boston had the league's longest at 15 games. T.C's chance of matching that is highly unlikely, since they have to host a 6-game series against tough division rival Holland this upcoming week (Holland owns a career 13-9 record over the Panthers). The team has vastly improved in the pitching department this last week, and now ranks 3rd in ERA (3.30), while the Panthers lead the league in strikeouts (237) -- an astounding 10.8 K's per game. They are 2nd in hitting & led by Josh Donaldson. Donaldson (1.016 OPS) has finally put some home runs on the board to go with his great stats for 2014, he now is batting .359 (leads league) with 3 HR's & 20 RBI. Ryan Raburn has been lethal off the bench (.323, 4, 10 in 31 AB's) with a 1.150 OPS. Julio Teheran continues to make opposing hitters look like fools, sporting a 4-1 record, 1.62 ERA, with 47 K's in 33.1 innings (opponents are batting only .161 against him).

The Holland Hitchhikers (2nd place in N.L. East) meanwhile, split 3-3 with a tough Portland ball-club -- they trail Panthers by 3.5 games & get their chance to make some ground back; They are 5-1 on the road this season. Mike Minor keeps improving for Holland is now topping the rotation with a 2.77 ERA & perfect 3-0 record, while Jose Fernandez (3-1, 3.35) is 2nd in the National League with 49 strikeouts. Greg Holland has been a perfect 6-for-6 in the Saves department for Holland, with a 1-0 record, no runs (only 2 hits) allowed, with 10 K's in 8.1 innings; In fact the bullpen is rocking with a 1.82 ERA. Eric Hosmer and Evan Gattis are tied for the team lead with 16, while Gattis continues to lead the league in HR's (8) as a rookie. Bryce Harper has the power - 7 HR's (2nd) with 14 RBI & 20 runs scored... but lacks average at the moment (.197). The team still needs improvement in their rotation by Stephen Strasburg, Matt Moore & Zack Wheeler, if they want to win this division -- they are definitely a team in the mix, as the N.L. is starting to show some separation.

The Hannibal Cavemen (11-12) held off the powerful offense of San Diego, to pull off a tough 3-3 split, they also improved to 3-0 in extra-inning games with their 4-3 victory in Game 3. The team still ranks among the best in pitching (2nd in ERA - 3.24), but have a negative Run Differential of 7. The team finds itself in 3rd place at the moment, as their lineup is still struggling (.227) with the 2nd lowest scoring average (3.3) in the N.L. -- It does not help that the team is next to the bottom in fielding. Jon Lester leads the team with a 3-0 record & 2.01 ERA (30 K's in 31 innings) while Travis Wood keeps winning the bad luck award (going 1-3) despite a 3.00 ERA in 5 starts (2 CG). Gio Gonzalez (2-3) has slowed down of late, with a 3.34 ERA & 27 K's. Buster Posey has woke up & is now batting .271, with 4 HR's & 11 RBI -- which is a good sign; James Loney (.295) has been the only consistent bat in their lineup for the most part. Good news, Hannibal hosts struggling Urbana.

The Urbana Locomotives are at the bottom of their division, and are already 8.5 games out (T.C's streak didn't help matters), while they have a 2-5 record in one-run games. They are last in hitting (.216) and are only average 3.0 runs a game (with a -16 Run Differential); 53% of their opponents' runs came off them in the first four innings, this season -- leaving them in many situations of playing from behind. The team is 6th in ERA (3.49), while they can at least hang their hat on the defense that ranks 3rd behind Traverse City & Seattle. Their bullpen has been the stronger element of their staff (2.17 ERA), although playing mostly mop-up. David Price (25 career wins) & Cole Hamels continue to put up good numbers, while Hiroki Kuroda is only 1-4, with a 4.04 ERA -- a year after winning 21 games. The two starters (Jeff Samardzija & Ubaldo Jimenez) acquired from Chicago during the 2014 BoS Draft (to help with pitching depth) are a combined 1-6, 5.48 ERA. Urbana has not had much time to take any deep breaths, as they prepare for a road trip to inner-state Hannibal.

In many ways, the Portland Microbrewers (14-8) are still the team to beat in the National League. They have the rotation & they are the defending National League Champions. They also have the best player in the game in Mike Trout, who really hasn't got rolling yet (then again, he started slow last season as well); Trout has improved to .262, with 3 HR & 11 RBI, drawing 13 walks, with 3 steals; He also is currently on a 12-game hitting-streak. The team has three starting pitchers under 3,00 ERA in Cliff Lee (2.17), Anibal Sanchez (2.60) & Hisashi Iwakuma (2.95). Juan Uribe (.364, 4, 8) and Brad Miller (.333, 2, 9) have batted well in limited play, while the team hopes that Carlos Gonzalez's bat (.204 BA) heats up to go along with his 6 HR's & 13 RBI. Portland visits the Rainiers, their northwestern division rival, next.

The San Diego Heroes (13-10) keep getting it done with its power -- to the point that they should add "Super" to Heroes, they have 39 HR's in 23 games, good enough to be on pace for 275 HR's! They have 3 players (Edwin Encarnacion, Chris Davis & Nelson Cruz) with 6 HR's each (that's a pace for 42 HR's -- imagine three players on one club with that many homers?!) They have a .799 OPS & got done with a 3-3 split against Hannibal's tough starting pitching. Their pitching was somewhat of a surprise in the first 3 weeks, this past week, some of their starters are coming back down to Earth -- while their bullpen (2.35 ERA) continues to go strong, led by Kenley Jansen's 5 Saves. Tyson Ross continues to have a good year, 2-0, 2.63 ERA, with 37 K's in 27.1 innings -- along with A.J. Griffin's 4-0 start, featuring an ERA of 2.80 & 30 K's in 35.1 IP. The Heroes currently look like Portland's biggest threat in the west, they host the 10-13 Kings next.

The King Road Kings hope that Chris Sale can rebound from a rough start & join Clayton Kershaw for the best one-two left-handed punch in baseball -- meanwhile, it's been a different sort of 1-2 combo for the Kings in Kershaw & Ervin Santana; Both pitchers have a ERA below 2.00 (Kershaw 1.93, Santana 1.98 - 4 starts each). Both have a shutout this season, while Kershaw has recorded a Save. Daniel Murphy has been the King of Kings on offense, batting .293, with 2 HR & 13 RBI, to go along with his team-leading 9 doubles & 15 runs. Michael Cuddyer (.282, 3, 14) is batting good as well. The team is still waiting on Josh Hamilton to lift that .182 batting average, he does have 3 HR & 13 RBI though; Chase Headley & Billy Butler have been getting on base (drawing plenty of walks), but could hit for better also. The Kings will have their work cut out for them as they face San Diego's powerful lineup, who has no problem scoring runs -- while the Kings enter the series at a -8 Run Differential, which does not spell out to be a successful series.

The Seattle Rainiers ran into a red-hot team in Traverse City & their red-hot pitcher Julio Teheran (2 wins, 19 K's in 14 innings, 3 runs & 10 hits allowed); They also lost a 16-inning 1-0 game, against a tough Matt Harvey (14 K's in 9.2 IP) -- a game that Max Scherzer was absolutely on, allowing only 3 hits in 9 innings, with 10 K's. Scherzer has been showing signs of turning it around, as he is now 1-2, with a 3.72 ERA, while leading the National League with 50 strikeouts. The team still has the worst pitching in the league (4.72 ERA), which they need Justin Masterson, Jason Vargas & Kyle Kendrick to step it up. Wil Myers (.368 BA/.905 OPS in 38 AB's), Mike Carp (.289, 3, 12) & Brett Gardner (.270 BA, 20 H & 4 steals) have been the team's bright spots in the lineup, while Evan Longoria (who had a great season in MLB) has been disappointing so far, with his .202 batting average. The Rainiers have been outscored by 35 runs so far, and it doesn't get easier with Portland coming into town.

*** This concludes the N.L. Highlights for Week 4 ***