Face-To-Face APBA Baseball: Five Years In The Making

Another 4th of July has come and gone, and chalk up another memorable weekend for the family.  Since 1998, I’ve spent every 4th of July with many family and friends of my inlaws on a semi-remote lake called South Twin Lake (and yes, just to the north, there is a North Twin Lake). The lake in the heart of the White Earth Indian Reservation in northwestern Minnesota where my inlaws have congregated for generations. The lake is about 50 minutes from the front door of our home, so we try to venture out there several times a summer, but the 4th is incredible.  My mother in law is the 8th child of a total of 15! Most of her siblings, their spouses, kids, and grandkids all gather on a generous lake plot of land with a modest cabin, campers, and tents galore to enjoy all there is to do. It gets to be quite a mass of people! Swimming, fishing, games, stories, food, drink, and memories are shared. The pinnacle of the big gathering is lunch on the 4th as we indulge on flatbread tacos all made right by the lake outside.  Being from Minnesota, we call them OOF-DA Tacos. I had no trouble pounding down three of ’em. Another annual event is the family bean bag/cornhole tournament.  Typically, 80-90 people will play on teams of two in this single elimination event and teams and placement in the bracket are all done at random. Last year, I was paired up with my father-in-law Lloyd and we won it.  This year, though, I bowed out in the opening round.  Win or lose, it’s entertaining to say the least. The night culminated with watching fireworks being shot off all around the lake with my six year old son Jonathan on my lap, and later we retired to the camper watching The Great Outdoors for the umpteenth time. The three day weekend then came to a close, as we said many goodbyes to relatives we don’t see enough, and meandered our way through the Minnesota forest and prairie roads back to our front door, tired yet happy to be back home.

One humongous highlight this during year’s holiday was finally being able to experience something five years in the waiting.  Whenever all of the day’s work is complete, chores at home are done, the kids are in bed, and if there’s any gumption left in me, I try to squeeze in a little APBA baseball.  As a present-day 34 year old, I grew up in the crossroads of the board game being overcome by the video game era.  I spent the greater part of my mid-teens and 20’s playing Super Nintendo, PlayStations 1, 2, 3 and the like until my I saw my wife’s uncle, 61 year old Doug Flicek (FLEA-check) had this weird baseball boardgame tucked away in his camper at the lake back in 2009 (see my first blogs about the whole story). Lo and behold, it was APBA Baseball, and later, because he’d heard of my curiosity of the game, he gave me the basic and master versions of the game plus the 1987 and 2008 season card sets free of charge! Talk about generous! I began playing in 2010, and have been hooked ever since.  Flash forward to 2015, Doug and I see each other about 3-4 times a year, and we have always talked a great deal about APBA, but had never played each other face to face.  That changed last Sunday as I finally was able to play a human opponent after playing 516 master games solitaire style.  Doug is also a master game game player, so I was eagerly awaiting to play someone who really gets the intricate details and realism the game provides, particularly with the master version.  We played today in his popup camper as my wife and my three boys slipped away for a little afternoon nap.

In preparation for this first-time life event, I struggled with which team I should bring to play. I had no idea which team Doug would bring, but since he replays a lot of teams from the 70’s, I had my bets on him using one of the Reds, Pirates, A’s, or Orioles teams. I’ve replayed the 1987 & 88 A’s seasons, and I’m in the middle of the 89 season.  I’ve also played a 1985 AL Double Elimination Tournament.  Since I’ve played with A’s teams for the most part in my relatively short APBA playing career, I thought this might be a golden opportunity to play with a totally different team — 82 Brewers, 85 Blue Jays, 86 Angels, 92 Pirates, 94 Expos, 95 Mariners, and 2009 Twins were teams that came to mind as some of my favorites. But…..who was I kidding? I’ve vested all this time replaying all these A’s seasons…..and now I have the chance to play face to face, I HAD to play with an Oakland team, so I brought my 89 A’s to the table. With an 85-42 record in my replay, this would be the perfect late-season exhibition of sorts to prep them for the final five weeks of the season, hopefully to clinch the AL West and beyond.

Before we play, Doug finally reveals his team to do battle with…..and it catches me somewhat off guard. The 1976 A’s.  What?? If you’re going to pick an A’s team from the 70’s, aren’t there like five other Oakland teams that were better (71-75)?? Priding myself as an A’s fan, I assumed that the A’s 1970’s downfall began in ’76, but after a quick lookup of the team on baseball reference before we rolled, I saw they placed 2nd in the AL West behind KC, just 2.5 games back.  Some of the A’s old guard were still there – Rudi, Tenace, Fingers, Bando, Campaneris, etc. Don Baylor and Billiy Williams were also on the team, as was a young Claudell Washington. Bando and Tenace were the only hitters to slug more than 20 HRs while no batter his over .300, as Bill North led the squad with a .276 average. Their offense on the surface didn’t scare me.  Looking further, though, I realized this ’76 team wasn’t too bad either. Vida Blue had a solid season that year, going 18-13 with 20 CG, 6 shutouts, a 2.35 ERA, and allowing just 9 home runs in 298+ innings!! Mike Torrez, who came over from Baltimore with Baylor for Reggie Jackson and  Ken Holtzman (something else I learned), was 16-12 with a 2.50 ERA. Coupled with Rollie Fingers in the bullpen, I knew it our upcoming game would likely mean runs could be at a premium. A little closer look at their offense got me worked up even more. This ’76 Oakland squad stole a ton of bases, 341 to be exact, which made my ’89 A’s total of 157 look weak and insignificant! 8 players overall stole 20 or more. North led the way with 75, Campaneris had 54, and I almost fainted when I saw Baylor stole 52! The player, however, that really caught my eye was Larry Lintz.  

 He appeared in 68 games in 1976, yet had just four plate appearances!! He managed, though, to swipe 31 bases as a pinch runner, which I thought was pretty interesting!  I’d never heard of Larry Lintz before in my life, but all of the sudden, he was a player that could impact my first face to face APBA encounter! With this running game that Doug’s team possessed, along with the likelihood that Blue would be toeing the rubber, I was now quite nervous of what was to come!

Doug and I exchange pleasantries in his camper while we get out each other’s arsenal.  We decided to, of course, play the master game, and we used the boards he gave me, which were copyrighted 2003.  It was so darn fun to play another soul in this game…..difficult to put to words, but I was soaking it in.

 We laid out the cards from our starting lineups on the table. That was fun, yet tense as we pondered the cards for a moment in sheer silence! His 1976 set was a reissue set from 2013 while, as you can see, mine were originals from 1990. I will say, though, that I bought my 89 set on eBay and they were brand new, untouched! Anyway, we rolled dice to see who’d be home and away. Doug grabbed the red die and said, “odd or even.” I replied, “odd.” He rolled a six, and declared to be the home team.  I volunteered to do the scorebook and he would use the boards and find the results.  After doing hundreds of games by the iPad using the iScore app, I was excited to get back to basics.  We left the cards as shown for the entire game, and I’d never rolled a game with the cards lined up like that.  Let’s just say I’ll be trying it this way from now on as I simply liked being able to see all the cards at all times versus having them stacked in the deck.  Here were the starting lineups for both teams in this battle of Oakand being played on an Indian Reservation over 1,800 miles away from the Oakland Coliseum:

Visitors – 1989 Oakland A’s

R.Henderson-LF

C.Lansford-3B

J.Canseco-RF

D.Parker-DH

M.McGwire-1B

D.Henderson-CF

T.Steinbach-C

M.Gallego-2B

W.Weiss-SS

Starting Pitcher – D. Stewart (MG 15, BYZ)

Home – 1976 Oakland A’s

B.North-CF

B.Campaneris-SS

J.Rudi-LF

D.Baylor-1B

S.Bando-3B

G.Tenace-C

C.Washington-RF

B.Williams-DH

P.Garner-2B

Starting Pitcher – Vida Blue (MG 16, AYZ)

My only hesitation was leaving Dave Parker in to face a lefty.  The main reason I left Parker in was his ability to hit the long ball with his 66-1.  I thought about inserting Tony Phillips or Billy Beane, but elected to give the savvy veteran his due. As I rolled the first roll to open the game, it was rewarding because here I was with the guy who introduced me to this release from life we call APBA, and now five years later, we’re finally playing each other…..in a pop up camper…..in the middle of nowhere! That first roll was a 45-14 a lead off walk to Rickey Henderson.  Rickey stole second and advanced to third with one out, but was stranded there thanks to a Dave Parker strikeout. The 89 A’s were knocking on the door in the top of the 2nd when Terry Steinbach reached on a fielder’s choice and Mike Gallego singled to left with two outs. Walt Weiss hit a deep flyball to left, but Joe Rudi made a stellar catch in the corner to save Vida Blue from potential disaster. Sal Bando reached on a Walt Weiss error with one out.  Gene Tenace’s 3-6-3 double play ended the 76’s half inning.  Both pitchers settled in nicely as Doug and I bantered back and forth not only about the game we were rolling, but sharing other APBA stories as well. It was terrific! Through five innings, both Blue and Stewart were hurling two-hit shutouts. We joked about how we might be rolling a 15 inning game. I really was curious as to what would really happen…..I was content because I was limiting those ’76 A’s and their running ability as a Claudell Washington swipe of second was it through five.

The top of the 6th proved to be the pivotal inning, and those darn dice can be the lifeblood or the dagger to a team at a moment’s notice.  With one out and Jose Canseco up, an 11 was rolled…..11-1…..homerun! The first run of the game! Doug and I immediately suggested to test the dice and card for PEDs, but we continued on. Parker was up next, and presto! 66-1…solo shot for The Cobra! Boy, I was pleased because I’ve always been a huge Parker fan! After a walk to Mark McGwire, Blue retired Henderson and Steinbach to end the inning. The ’76 A’s caught a break in the latter half of the 7th, and was in position to get on the board. Bando reached on an error again, this time by Steinbach, to start things off. Following a Tenace strikeout, Washington singled to shallow right to reach safely for the third time on the night. Stewart zoned in, and retired Billy Williams and Phil Garner to get out of trouble. I was hanging on……barely!

Doug summoned the bullpen in the 8th as Rollie Fingers entered the game.  Fingers issued a one out walk to Lansford, but Lansford was gunned down by Tenace trying to steal. With two outs on the bottom of the 8th, Rudi doubled to right center.  With the shutout still intact, I didn’t have the stomach to remove Stewart so I let him face  cleanup hitter Don Baylor, who graciously hit into a 3-1 groundout to end the 8th. Fingers kept my 89 squad off the board in the top of the 9th, so I needed to either leave Stewart in, who now had a master grade of 20 because he hadn’t allowed a run, or do I put Eckersley in – MG 21, AXZ? I stayed with Stewart because he’s been my horse throughout my 87, 88, and 89 replays, and I wasn’t about to relinquish the chance for him to toss a shutout. Bando led off, and his pop out to Steinbach was a critical out.  Next up, Tenace. Stewart ended his night by striking him out for the third time in a row. Doug was down to his final out, but Washington was up and he’d reached all three previous appearances. With the game still in the balance, Stewart was dialed in and a 26-13 was rolled…strikeout! Game over!

Line Score

R   H   E

1989 A’s — 000 002 000       2   4   2
1976 A’s — 000 000 000       0   4   0

WP-Stewart

LP-Blue

HR-Canseco, Parker

Win or lose, this experience was definitely the high water mark for me since I’d been introduced to APBA by Doug. Throughout the entire game, Doug told me current replays he is doing (77 Phillies and Orioles), and like he usually does, he talked about the ’72 season with a passion.  After learning about the ’76 A’s, they have shot up my replay totem poll and are definitely on my radar! Doug was very interested in my 80’s A’s replays and it was rewarding to share with him what I’ve been up to. We shook hands and praised each other for our collective efforts. As if he hasn’t been generous enough, right when I’m about to leave his camper, Doug says, “Oh Beau, I have something for ya.” I had no clue what it was…..since he’s the only person I know that drinks Red Dog beer, maybe he was going to offer me a victory brew or two. NOPE….it was much better than that. He gave me a newer copy of the Master Game Addition boards! I couldn’t believe it!  

   He told me over and over that I needed to have these because they’re better than the other ones he gave me. I was really floored by his generosity! What a memory.  I exited Doug’s camper as a light sprinkle began to fall, but a greater appreciation of family and personal experiences.

As I wrap up this entry, I will say that a majority of people in my life have no clue what APBA is, and those that do are just kind of like, “whatever.” But that’s just fine with me, because it keeps me “busy” if I have free time when the family is all in bed, and I do know there are people out there just like me that share our extreme passion of baseball through this very unique and intricate baseball game. Two goals for me now lie ahead.  I’d like to play Doug more often (he lives 3.5 hours away) because I believe we could even learn more about the game and each other. I’d also like to be in a tournament. The Twin Cities Tourney is coming up October 3rd, and my first face to face encounter playing APBA maybe the thing that gets me down there to play.  Hopefully that’s the case. Enjoy APBA any way you like it! The game will always be there when life settles down enough for you. Thanks for reading!