A Good Day at the Park

My friend Jeff Tritthart had a great story to tell about his day, watching the Trenton Thunder (a New York Yankees minor league team) play -- Good story about how players can still be down to earth.

I enjoy hearing stories like this -- it really shows you a day in the life of a top prospect still being humble & loving the game they play, while making it a great fan experience such as this.

Madness at the Metrodome!

The (56-37) Detroit Tigers will now get to relax a bit, as they travel back home to Detroit to host the lowly Kansas City Royals (43-51).

Veryl

Veryl Lincoln, one of the original employees at APBA, just passed away this week. I think it's definitely good to know the names & faces that have helped made this game & company a success, thanks Veryl for doing your part, you obviously made an impact on people in the world of APBA.

Kevin Cluff from APBA - Between the Lines on Delphi Forums, also shared on June 17th.

VERYL LINCOLN (1945-2015)

"It is with great sadness that we learn longtime employee and APBA Legend Veryl Lincoln has passed away this morning. Many APBA fans' experiences were benefited by Veryl's dedication to the game he loved, and Veryl was inducted into the APBA Hall of Fame in 2002 for his immeasurable contributions. We will provide more details about his service as we receive them. Our condolences to his friends and loved ones; He will certainly be missed by the APBA Family"

Thanks Veryl, Let's roll some 66's for Veryl, gang! 

Baseball, Baseball & MORE Baseball...

Image courtesy of Thomas Nelshoppen, you can purchase at Zazzle.

Plenty to come over the next week or so...

• The conclusion of the 2014 Boys of Summer APBA Baseball World Series, between the Fairgrove Tigers and the Portland Microbrewers.

• More highlights on my 2007 Detroit Tigers Season Replay, their series results against the Minnesota Twins at the Metrodome & the visiting Kansas City Royals. After that the Tigers go to the windy city, Chicago to play the Chicago White Sox for a five-game series? Must have been a rescheduled rain out; going off the schedule on Baseball Reference. 

• The WHAT IF World Series of 1984 continues between the Chicago Cubs and Detroit Tigers...

• Latest on my Fantasy Baseball Team, the Gotham City Rogues, plenty of changes were done to the roster.

• Information on the Toledo - Glass City APBA Baseball Tournament, hosted by my friend, Ron Emch. 

• Plus the latest on the Crazy 48's Baseball League; Only 20 games left, plenty of updates, standings & league stats to come...

The WHAT IF World Series of 1984 (Cubs / Tigers)

Many have wondered what would have had Leon Durham fielded that ground ball, many Cubs fans for sure. Some wonder, would they have been better competition for the Detroit Tigers, could have anyone stopped those Tigers?!

The good thing is we can play out these scenarios through the amazing world of APBA Baseball. I decided to do that, by knocking out some games for a couple mornings.

In 1984, the National League hosted Games 1 & 2 (and would have hosted Games 6 & 7, if necessary). So the Tigers would have to start off the series at Wrigley

GAME 1

Sutcliffe: Dialed in.

The Chicago Cubs send their ace to the mound in Rick Sutcliffe (Grade B-XZ), he was tied for the Majors' lead, with 20 victories (20-6), going 16-1 (.941 winning percentage) with the Cubs after he was acquired from the Cleveland Indians; sporting a 2.69 ERA & 155 K's in 150.1 innings -- his numbers with the Indians were horrendous, leaving some Indians fans wondering if he just wanted out. He will face off against Jack Morris (Grade B-Y) of the Detroit Tigers, 19-11, with a 3.60 ERA, 148 K's in 240 innings; Sutcliffe's combined season ERA was 3.64 -- making this an equal match-up for Game 1.

Bottom of the 1st - After a one-out single by Ryne Sandberg, Leon Durham hits an RBI double to right to score in Sandberg. Ron Cey grounds out to move Durham to third. Keith Moreland's RBI single makes it 2-0 early for the Cubs.

The Tigers would go on to have trouble figuring out Sutcliffe, oddly, because Tigers have seen him aplenty in the A.L. East when he pitched for Cleveland. Sutcliffe records 5 K's in the first three innings, while the Tigers didn't record their first hit, until the 4th, a two-out single by Darrell Evans.

Durham had a huge game for Cubs.

Bottom of the 4th - The rain comes down, and the game is delayed for an hour -- We'll see if they are rusty... [the starting pitchers have been downgraded to Grade C's to make it interesting].

The Tigers would have men on from the 4th through the 6th inning, but failed to get the runners home, with two of the innings ending on double plays.

Bottom of the 7th -Leon Durham added a solo HR in the bottom of the 7th off of Juan Berenguer, who is being used as relief; Durham was already having an impressive day, he would finish going 3-for-5, HR, 2 doubles & 2 RBI.

Top of the 8th - Rick Sutcliffe cruised through 7 innings, before giving up a solo HR by pinch-hitter Rupert Jones, Cubs still leading 3-1.

Bottom of the 8th - Davey Lopes hits a two-out pinch-hit double off of Aurelio Lopez, it's been all Cubs in this one.

Top of the 9th -  Lee Smith comes in to attempt to close this one out, the Wrigley fans are excited. Smith's pitch gets away from him, brushing back the 9th inning lead-off man Kirk Gibson; Gibson didn't like that so much, and sent a fly ball over the right field fence -- even in APBA land Gibson lives for the dramatic! Chet Lemon comes up and singles to right, the Tigers are in business, tying run is at the plate in Darrell Evans.

As the Cubs manager, I decided to have the Tigers intentionally walk Evans, I have seen Evans with a man on, so many times cause trouble, his card seems to play better than its worth, and he already has a single, while Lance Parrish (batting 6th) has been quiet, 0-for-3 with a K -- plus I have seen Parrish many times hit into a double play. It turned out to be a mistake on the Cubs' part, Parrish hits a ball into the opposite corner, and races around to third, a two-run triple, the Tigers have now tied the game! Dave Bergman adds salt to the wounds, with a RBI single, to take the 5-4 lead! Wrigley is in shock, as if they saw a ghost, or better yet a billy goat. No outs, Rupert Jone would fly out, while Rusty Kuntz pinch-hitting for the reliever Lopez would hit into an inning-ending double play.

Sparky: Man & team on a mission "This is our year."

 Willie Hernandez who has been phenomenal -- shut down the Cubs (Sandberg, Durham & Cey),
1-2-3! Cubs fans leave sick to their stomachs, can they even recover after this.

Postgame rumors swirled of a few Tigers fans that happened to make the trip to Wrigley, were making "BAAAAHHHHH!!!" noises at Lee Smith before he headed out to save the game for the Cubs; nothing has been confirmed, Smith scoffed when asked such a question.

Kirk Gibson afterwards described the quick change of momentum as if the Cubs were hit by an un-expecting freight train. Sparky quickly made his rounds through the dugout, telling his team to not get too cocky, but to stay hungry.

He walked away and said "This is our year."


TO BE CONTINUED...