Volume 1, Issue 19 - March 20, 2018

[APBA GO Jeremy]

Good evening,

Congratulations to the UMBC men’s basketball team. I love it when underdogs beat the Power 5 teams. I think its great for the tournament. A team starting five transfers makes the Sweet Sixteen. Another great weekend of hoops.

Opening day is next Thursday March 29th with all 30 teams in action. First time since 1968, that all of the MLB teams played on opening day. Better yet, no teams will be playing exhibition games while other teams are playing regular season games.

The Masters is in two weeks with a competitive Tiger Woods.

Three weeks until playoff hockey starts!

Looking for 2017 Baseball transactions?
You can get a membership to the ATMgr yahoogroup (it’s free). That group has files for many past seasons along with the current season. The software is normally used with Baseball for Windows, but the files, including lineups are just comma delimited files that can fairly easily be pulled up in Excel. Thanks John Kalous for sharing these files.

2018 WGC-Dell Match Play
For those of you who want to pre-play the WGC-Dell Match Play this weekend, we have carded those players not included in the 2017 Mens Golf set. You can download these additional golfers here under the golf section of the downloads.

2018 Convention Hockey Tournament update.
The registration period has been extended until Monday March 26th, 8 am eastern time. These eight teams are not available: 1955-56 Montreal, 1981-82 New York Islanders, 1985-86 Edmonton, 1988-89 Calgary, 1992-93 New York Islanders, 1993-94 Detroit , 2015-16 Pittsburgh and 2015-16 San Jose. Several coaches have not yet selected their teams. The remaining teams are available on a first come first serve basis.

I was overly optimistic last week on TWIA. The college football game set did not come in today from the printer. I’m waiting for an update. Once we get the cards, we will convert the football game over to the 2017 teams. Here is the roster for the four teams in the 2017 football game set.

The 2017 College football teams will have fifty players per team.

New items:
Register for the 2018 APBA Convention here. Please include your shirt size on your order.

The 2017 Super Bowl card set is now available. Get these two teams here!

The 1992 BBW baseball season file now has every player that played this year. Buy this file here.
Purchase the 1992 BBW season disk with every player here.

The GTOP 4 season disk will be available later this week. Check the store.

NEW MEMBERS TO THE APBA COMMUNITY

Please welcome the following new members to the APBA community. New members are folks who have recently made their first purchase of APBA products. If you know them or live in the same area, please reach out to them:

KEN PARKER PRINCETON, KY
BILL MCMULLEN MURRIETA, CA
RONALD KLOETY STOCKHOLM, WI
MAUREEN BUNN LEEDS, AL
JOE MURATORE ROSELAND, NJ
DAVID HUTTO THIELLS, NY

Several of you have asked for the new members contact info. In this day and age, we can’t do that. But we will send your contact information to them if you ask us to. Please identify the name of the person you want us to send your contact info.

THIS WEEK IN APBA (“TWIA”) RADIO SHOW
APBA has began to sponsor a weekly broadcast offering insights into the game of APBA and players within the APBA community. The host is John Asalon who offers a extremely professional broadcast. Please join John Asalon and his guests every Thursday night at 8:00 pm (Eastern) for THIS WEEK IN APBA radio show.
John’s guests this week are: Steve Skoff, 2018 Convention Hockey tournament director, Jeremy Buehler, with an APBA GO update.

Listen to the Thursday March 15th show here.

Here is the tentative TWIA schedule for March:

March 29th - Scott Lehotsky, creator of the “Of Dice and Men” documentary about APBA.

April 5th - Woody Studenmund, long time APBA player owner of Dick Seitz’s 1950 APBA card set among other items in an extensive APBA collection.

Check the archives below the large screen on the first page of the above link for earlier broadcasts.
We are exploring podcast options for TWIA.

APBA GO
APBA GO NOW HAS A SOLITAIRE PLAY FEATURE.
Check APBA GO out here. Its free!

Every season from 1901 through 2017, except 1988, and 1883 are now available.

Now you have the teams, you can manage both teams or challenge your long time APBA buddy cross country.

Check out Lyle and Larry Ball’s BATS replay using APBA GO on the APBA Baseball group Facebook page.

TOURNAMENT AND LEAGUE NEWS
REGIONAL TOURNAMENT REPORT

We are in a three week lull in the Spring 2018 tournament schedule. Next up is The Twin Cities APBA Baseball Tournament in Maple Grove, Minnesota on Saturday April 7th. This week I would also like to open up our schedule to include tournaments from August through December 2018.

The 2018 APBA Regional Tournament schedule is as follows. Please Mark your calendars accordingly and be sure to attend and participate in one of these fine events. You will not regret the experience of brotherhood and gaming experience.

Saturday April 7, 2018 - The Twin Cities APBA Baseball Tournament, Maple Grove, Minnesota. Contact Jim Fraasch at jwfraasch@mchsi.com.

Saturday April 14, 2018 - The Old Dominion APBA Baseball Tournament, Richmond, Virginia. Contact Jim Saska atjamessaska@gmail.com.

Saturday April 14, 2018 - Florida’s Spring Break From Reality APBA Baseball Tournament, Davenport, Florida (Denny’s in Davenport). The theme is Happy Days … teams from the 1950s and 1960s. Contact Tony Stevens at (352) 600-0974 or at AandTStevens@gmail.com

Saturday April 28, 2018 - The Prairieland III APBA Baseball Tournament, Springfield, Illinois (Ramada Inn, 3281 Northfield Drive). The theme is The Golden Years 1920-1960’s (No W.S. teams or 1941 Red Sox). Contact Tom Nelshoppen atnelshopp@gmail.com or register on-line at www.apbablog.com.

Saturday July 7, 2018 - The 4th Annual Linda B. Schulz Memorial APBA Baseball Tournament, Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania. Contact Ken Schulz at schulzka02@gmail.com.

Saturday, July 14, 2018 - The Chicagoland Summer APBA Baseball Tournament, Des Plainies, Illinois (at the Comfort Inn O’Hare in Des Plainies, IL). Contact Rob Spatz at robspatz@gmaill.com.

Saturday, July 21, 2018 - The Second Annual Lancaster World Series , Landisville , Pennsylvania. Contact Dale Shreiner atdashreiner@gmail.com.

Saturday October 6, 2018 - The Twin Cities APBA Baseball Tournament, Maple Grove, Minnesota. Contact Jim Fraasch at jwfraasch@mchsi.com.

If your tournament is not mentioned above and you are planning a Regional APBA Tournament in 2018 please forward me your tournament and contact information at apba66nyslp@yahoo.com and I will be sure to promote your event in APBA’s company electronic newsletter. Remember all APBA game tournaments are welcome.

THIS WEEK IN APBA RADIO SHOW

APBA has began to sponsor a weekly broadcast offering insights into the game of APBA and players within the APBA community. The host is John Asalon who offers a extremely professional broadcast. Please join John Asalon and his guests every Thursday night at 8:00 pm (Eastern) for THIS WEEK IN APBA radio show. This past weeks guests were Ray Dunlap and John Herson talking about the APBA National Convention in Alpharetta, Georgia from June 21-24, 2018.

John’s first guest was Ray Dunlap, a long-time football player, APBA Hall of Famer, and past Head Statistician for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Ray Dunlap will be serving as the APBA Football Tournament Director for the convention. Ray stated that although the baseball tournament is the cornerstone of the national convention, other sport tournaments like football, hockey, and soccer have been growing over the past few years. This growth and APBA’s desire to expose convention participants to other games, including golf and horse racing, has resulted an earlier convention start date of Thursday June 21st. Ray then highlighted this year’s football tournament format. The tournament will use the basic game format with one-half of play. Ray said they hope to get 16 team entries. To register contact Ray at ray@raydunlap.com. Remember it is important to select a team that is compatible with the current version of the APBA Football Game.

John’s second guest needs no introduction, John Herson President and CEO of The APBA Game Company. John provided the audience with details of the APBA National Convention to be held at the Hilton Garden Inn, 4025 Windward Plaza, Alpharetta, Georgia 30005 from June 21-24, 2018. The cost to attend the convention is $140 ($110 for first time attendees). A block of limited hotel rooms are available at a cost of $109 per night. There is also an option to only attend the Friday night dinner for $40 ($20 for kids 15 and under). John then overviewed the convention schedule:

Thursday AM - Re-launch of APBA website, Negro League baseball tournament Thursday PM - Game demonstration sessions Thursday Evening - Horse Racing card of races Friday AM - Innovation sessions, all day Golf tournament Friday PM - Homerun Derby contest, all day Golf tournament Friday Evening - Dinner, Q&A session, APBA Hall of Fame inductions, baseball tournament rules Saturday AM/PM - Baseball tournament and quarter-final series Saturday Evening - Annual Group Dinner at local restaurant or free to make your own arrangements Sunday AM - Baseball tournament semi-finals and championship series

John also spoke on the scheduled release (next week) of the Football Game (with 2017 New England, Philadelphia, Alabama, and Georgia teams). Also to be released is the 2017 Jumbo (all players) and Regular (ball handling players with ratings for others) football card sets. Also scheduled to be released is college football conference teams (50 players per team). For example, the Big 10, ACC, and SEC were mentioned. John also mentioned that with the release of the 1988 baseball season, APBA will have released all seasons for APBA Go. John’s also spoke of the upcoming release of the Bats II baseball set for both the 16 pre-expansion teams and 30 post-expansion teams (with 1960 being the cutoff year). John’s last announcement was to watch for the forthcoming offer of a World Cup Soccer set and the release of the 2017-2018 NHL season following completion of the Stanley Cup. I want to thank John for this update and all his hard work and dedication in continuing to expand APBA’s offerings.

John’s Asalon’s scheduled discussion for the March 22nd live show is the APBA National Convention Hockey (Steve Skoff-Director) and Soccer (Jack Dolan - Director) tournaments. Be sure to tune in for this discussion on the APBA National Convention tournaments and other current APBA topics.

APBA LEAGUE INFORMATION

I am pleased to report that this column continues to assist leagues in finding new managers and pairing individuals looking for leagues. Beginning in January 2018 and to better manager newsletter volume, I will run any of your league opening or requests to join leagues for a period of four or five weeks. I will be glad to run them longer if you contact me at apba66nyslp@yahoo.com. Openings or individuals looking to join leagues are as follows this week:

March 18th Openings

No openings this week.

March 11th Openings

No opening this week.

March 4th Openings

O.Z. League Opening - The O.Z. League, an APBA Baseball group created in 1982, is looking for a N.J. addition to their league. They currently have 12 teams of which 3 hail from Jersey so getting another would give them the opportunity to create a N.J. Division. They play a mixture of BBW, MG, and the hybrid Paul Marino Boards. They were featured in the N.Y. Daily News in 1988 and play 162 games from February to October. Their draft is held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Ronkonkoma every February. If you are interested send an e-mail to Dom at NYAPBA@yahoo.com.

Louisiana/Mississippi League Formation - David is interested in reaching out to all members in Southeast Louisiana, Southern Mississippi to arrange a face to face conference for the purpose of exchanging ideas and perhaps forming a league or tournament in the area or possibly even forming an online league. If interested contact David Carry at dcarry1@cox.net.

ABL League Opening - The American Baseball League (ABL) is looking to add one or two managers for their 2018 season. The ABL has been in existence since 1982. It is a face-to-face basic game (w/ modifications) league. If you live in the Butler County, Ohio area and are interested, send an e-mail to gregsch4867@gmail.com.

League Openings - The Cal Ripken Junior League which is AIM playing the 2015 season and The Kirby Puckett Memorial League playing 2014 season has openings. If interested contact Gene at apbagene@yahoo.com.

Roger Lawson Memorial League - The RLML, a well-run 20 team BBW AIM league, has two openings. Both teams are in pretty decent shape, unlike most orphaned teams. The league draft is starting next week, so email commish Rick at rdmull_33@yahoo.com if interested.

February 25th Openings

APBA MLB Opening - APBA MLB (BBW, 14 teams, continuous ownership, currently 2017 disk) is looking for a manager in their 13th season. They play from April through October. The Annual Draft also includes players who changed leagues in the previous major league season, such as J.D. Martinez and Yu Darvish this past season. They limit position players to actual games played and pitchers to innings and starts. The league plays a 162 game season with DH, 40 man rosters, 7 team American League, 7 team National League, and interleague play. Please e-mail Duane at cub23@comcast.net for a rules page or questions. The league is very well organized and operated and has very good people involved, some of them friends for 35+ years.

Canadian Player Expressing Tournament Interest - Alan Lipman from Toronto, Ontario, Canada has been playing APBA Baseball for over 40 years and would be interested in playing in a local tournament. If any area tournament offerings please contact Alan at alanb.lipman@yahoo.com.

February 18th Openings

The International Master APBA League Opening - The IMAL, in it’s 7thseason, is looking for a manager of their 2017 Championship winning team. The league is a C&D based league, there are only 8 teams in the league. Most of the members are living in Southern California and play some of their games FTF. The IMAL uses the Master Game with modifications and the CMBA Pitching System. They have a 108 game schedule. This year’s draft starts in March and the season around the beginning of April. They only use the 30-man National League rosters from the current APBA season. There is a 3-tier draft, Auction (player’s coming from the AL), Free Agent, and finally a Waiver Draft. If interested or for more information, please contact David Breeden at davidbreeden13@yahoo.com.

February 11th Openings

BBW League Openings - This BBW league has two manager openings in their 14 team, continuous ownership BBW league that is in it’s 13th year. One of the teams has the first overall pick in the draft on Saturday, February 17. Great league, great members, and great rules. Some of the members have been together in leagues since 1980. Please contact Duane at cub23@comcast.net with interest and/or questions and he will send you a copy of their league rules.

February 4th Openings

Mid-West Winter League Opening - The Mid-West Winter League is looking for a replacement expansion owner. The MWWL is finishing up the 1993 season and will have an Expansion Draft prior to our 1994 Season in early March. The MWWL will be adding 4 franchises to a now 20 team League - to bring us up to 24 Teams total. One of the expansion owners had some life commitments arise. If interested contact Stray Corrado at straycorrado@gmail.com.

The Internet Computer Baseball League Opening - The ICBL has openings for two (2) managers. The ICBL, established in 1989, is an in-season, 24 team league divided into the National League (NO DH) and the American League (DH) using BBW 5.75 and AIM. Team roster size is limited to 34 carded players and 6 prospects. At this time both openings are in the American League. If interested, please contact Brian Devine at brianrdevine23@gmail.com with your league/game experience and general knowledge of the game.

I trust this column is continuing to bring many APBA players together be it in regional tournaments or league play. Everyone have a great week.

2018 APBA CONVENTION SCHEDULE
This is the tentative schedule for the 2018 APBA Convention at Alpharetta Georgia starting on Thursday June 21st ending on Sunday June 24th.

Before the actual convention starts, the opening rounds of the football, hockey and soccer tournaments will be played. In addition, the opening rounds of the Negro League Baseball APBA GO tournament will be played. Rules for the Negro League tournament will be forthcoming. This tournament is limited to 20 (twenty managers) Teams will be randomly assigned. It is not a requirement but I would like to have the managers of the teams in the semi-finals in Alpharetta for the semis and finals.

You can registered by sending an email to custsupp@apbagames.com expressing your interest to manage a team. The first twenty emails received get a team.

Thursday June 21st (all activities are the Hilton Garden hotel unless indicated otherwise)
MORNING
10:00 am Unveiling of the new APBA Games website

11:00 am Finals of the Negro League Baseball APBA GO tournament.

AFTERNOON 1:30 - 5:00 Game demonstrations (small group demonstrations on how to play APBA Football, Soccer, Golf, Hockey and APBA GO). These sessions will repeat at 2:45 and 4:00. Each session is one hour. Get an up-close tutorial on these other games. Expand your APBA experience.

EVENING
7:00 A NIGHT AT THE RACES.
Using the APBA Horse Racing game, we are having a night at the races. This will a multi-race card with the final race - a race of the evenings winners.
Sometime on Thursday we will record an APBA Roundtable discussion for This Week in APBA (TWIA).

Friday June 22nd
MORNING
9:00 Opening welcome
9:30 to 11:30 Innovation sessions
11:30 to 1:30 last chance to register at the APBA offices and purchase product.

AFTERNOON
1:30 to 3:30 FIFTH ANNUAL APBA HOME RUN DERBY

4:00 to 5:00 Questions and answers

The par three golf tournament runs from 9 am to 4 pm on Friday. Golfers will be provided for you. I encourage everyone to play in this tournament.

EVENING
6:30-8:00 Dinner including awards ceremony hosted by Greg Wells.
Discussion of the baseball tournament rules.
Submit teams and rosters to tournament director by 9:00

The restrictions on pre-1950 teams has been lifted for this year. Thank you Paul.

Saturday June 23rd
9:00 am to ? APBA Baseball tournament. Completion of pool play and best of three quarterfinals. Each team plays ten games of pool play. Teams are assigned to a team randomly.

Saturday lunch is included in your convention fee.

Sunday June 24th Morning Semi-finals and Finals.
Trophy presentation
Safe travels home.

How much is all this fun going to cost? Don’t know yet. I’m still waiting for the hotel to finalize its cost. They have promised me it will be this week. Check the store for more information. Your fee includes the convention T-shirt, Friday dinner and Saturday lunch and four days of conference rooms for us.

If you have never been to a convention, check us out. You can come just for Thursday for the tutorials at no charge.

You can also attended the Friday sessions. We will offer a Friday night dinner only option. That price will be announced at the same time as the convention price.

People tell me I don’t know if I’m good enough. All these folks are better players than me. Nonsense. One of the managers, last year only owned the four teams that came with the basic game. He is coming back.

There were several young boys, pre-teens, the defending home run champ is ten years old.

There are women managers. One made it to the semi-finals last year. One manager’s new wife played her first APBA baseball game at the tournament last year.

If you have an interest in APBA, come to Alpharetta. Renew old friendships. Make new friends. This is a family reunion with people you like. You will not be sorry that you came.