As my readers will know, I recently missed my first Greater Michigan APBA Baseball Tournament this year, something that I thought would never happen...
But there will be no missing next March's 5th edition of the tournament, as next year's theme will be any team in either league between 1940-1968 (pitchers will hit). Once I found out the theme, I glanced over the APBA teams that I own from that period, which is really not many for me, but probably more than other APBA owners.
Here is a list of those teams...
- 1940 Detroit Tigers
- 1940 Cincinnati Reds
- 1942 St. Louis Cardinals
- 1944 St. Louis Browns
- 1946 Boston Red Sox
- 1948 Cleveland Indians
- 1948 Boston Braves
- 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers
- 1953 New York Yankees
- 1954 Cleveland Indians
- 1957 Milwaukee Braves
- 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates
- 1962 Los Angeles Dodgers
- 1962 San Francisco Giants
- 1963 Los Angeles Dodgers
I have created the following teams via Baseball for Windows, although legit card numbers & information on the cards, the teams at certain tournaments may or may not be accepted...
- 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers
- 1965 Minnesota Twins
- 1966 Baltimore Orioles
When I first found out the theme, my first two thoughts were the 1946 Boston Red Sox (that I play really well with & were Runners-Up during my Tournament II / 64 teams) and the 1957 Milwaukee Braves... both were taken. I thought really hard about the 1948 Boston Braves, who were available at the time, but was undecided while trying to pick between them and the 1940 Detroit Tigers.
I eventually chose the Tigers, and quickly... because it is a Michigan tournament, and the guys (like myself) love the Tigers, so within 10 minutes of learning the theme, I messaged Rich, and the 1940 Tigers became my official selection.
The Detroit Tigers have a strong lineup led by Hank Greenberg, Charlie Gehringer, Rudy York & Barney McCosky. I believe the team's On-Base + Slugging [OPS] was .806, which is excellent. I decided I will take an APBA-ball approach by moving Dick Bartell out of the lead-off spot to 9th, with his low .665 OPS.
The lineup will be as follows...
- Barney McCosky - CF (.340 BA, 4 HR, 57 RBI & 13 SB / .899 OPS)
- Charlie Gehringer - 2B (.313 BA, 10 HR, 81 RBI & 10 SB / .875 OPS)
- Hank Greenberg - LF (.340 BA, 41 HR, 150 RBI / 1.103 OPS)
- Rudy York - 1B (.316 BA, 33 HR, 134 RBI / .993 OPS)
- Billy Sullivan - C (.309 BA, 3 HR, 41 RBI / .849 OPS)
- Bruce Campbell - RF (.283 BA, 8 HR, 44 RBI / .829 OPS)
- Pinky Higgins - 3B (.271 BA, 13 HR, 76 RBI / .771 OPS)
- Dick Bartell - SS (.233 BA, 7 HR, 53 RBI & 12 SB / .665 OPS)
- (Pitcher)
Schoolboy Rowe will bat 8th, when he pitches... He batted .269 with a HR & 18 RBI in 67 at-bats.
I decided to bat Billy Sullivan 5th over Bruce Campbell (although Campbell has more power), due to better batting average & the fact that Campbell hits into much more double plays. I also like the idea of guaranteeing Greenberg a 1st inning appearance.
McCosky is a triples machine (19), and that sets up Greenberg nicely, in case Gehringer strikes out or doesn't advance the runner... all Greenberg would have to roll is a 11, 22, 33, 44 & 66 to send it over the fence.
I have an excellent top 4 hitters up at the top, with 2 other players over .800 OPS, while at the same time my bottom three hitters drop off, so I have to make sure I continue to roll hot with the top 4-6 hitters. I will not be doing any pinch-hitting for the most part, because I will simply not want to go to my pen, which is awful for the most part. I will have to rely heavily on my 1-2-3 B-Rotation, roll hot, and stick with a consistent lineup.
I am also playing APBA-Ball (as some call it) where you go with the best hitters at top regardless of where they actually hit; Dick Bartell was the actual lead-off hitter for the 1940 Tigers, but I am going with Barney McCosky instead.
I won the 2nd Greater Michigan APBA Baseball Tournament by sticking with a consistent lineup, all B-Rotation & strong pen. I did lousy my 1st GMABT with the 1917 Chicago White Sox by juggling the lineup too often.
I have an excellent top 4 hitters up at the top, with 2 other players over .800 OPS, while at the same time my bottom three hitters drop off, so I have to make sure I continue to roll hot with the top 4-6 hitters. I will not be doing any pinch-hitting for the most part, because I will simply not want to go to my pen, which is awful for the most part. I will have to rely heavily on my 1-2-3 B-Rotation, roll hot, and stick with a consistent lineup.
I am also playing APBA-Ball (as some call it) where you go with the best hitters at top regardless of where they actually hit; Dick Bartell was the actual lead-off hitter for the 1940 Tigers, but I am going with Barney McCosky instead.
I won the 2nd Greater Michigan APBA Baseball Tournament by sticking with a consistent lineup, all B-Rotation & strong pen. I did lousy my 1st GMABT with the 1917 Chicago White Sox by juggling the lineup too often.
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