Volume 1, Issue 20 - March 27, 2018

[APBA GO Jeremy]

Good afternoon,
Opening day Thursday! Good luck for you and your team.

2018 Convention Hockey Tournament update.
Registration is closed! The tournament has 13 teams this year. There will be four divisions. More details will be forthcoming.

The football game now includes the 2017 Super Bowl teams and the National Championship teams. Here is the roster for the four teams in the 2017 football game set.

The 2017 College football have fifty players per team.

New items:
Bring home the 2017 Alabama and Georgia teams here.

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.

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.

JEFF STOOKSBURY KNOXVILLE, TN
MARK DAAK HUTCHINSON, MN
DAVID SOBEL SPRING VALLEY, NY
JOHN LARA MADERA, CA
JEREMY ZOLLMAN EUGENE, OR
ROY KISSEL LA GRANGE, IL
MICHAEL FITZGERALD BROCKTON, MA
DALE HUFFINE SURPRISE, AZ
JACK GLAVOSEK ALPHARETTA, GA
Mike Koscal, Las Vegas
CARL BRAUER PRINCETON, NJ
JAMES KILEY WAKEFIELD, MA

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: Scott Lehotsky, creator of the “Of Dice and Men” documentary about APBA .

Listen to the Thursday March 15th show here.

Here is the tentative TWIA schedule for March:

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.

April 12th - Fritz Light.

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, and 1883 are now available.

Last Thursday APBA GO Upgrade 1.8 was released.
Here are the highlights.

TOURNAMENT AND LEAGUE NEWS
REGIONAL TOURNAMENT REPORT

This week we are proud to add two additional tournaments to our 2018 tournament schedule. The Las Vegas APBA Baseball Tournament on August 17-19, 2018 and the Toledo Glass City Baseball Tournament on August 25, 2018. The next scheduled tournament is The Twin Cities APBA Baseball Tournament in Maple Grove, Minnesota on Saturday April 7th.

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 at jamessaska@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 at nelshopp@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 at dashreiner@gmail.com.

Friday through Sunday August 17-19, 2018 - Las Vegas APBA Tournament, Las Vegas, Nevada. The site will be the Flamingo Hotel. Contact Chris White at CWHITESPORTS@YAHOO.COM.

Saturday August 25, 2018 - 4th Toledo Glass City APBA Baseball Tournament, Toledo, Ohio. Contact Ron Emch at rjce@emcher.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 Steve Skoff and Jeremy Buehler. Steve spoke on the APBA Hockey Tournament while Jeremy updated us on APBA Go.

Steve Skoff, an APBA Hall of Famer, 2-time National Convention Champion, and Director of the APBA Hockey Tournament, joined John to update us on this year’s APBA Hockey Tournament. Since the age of seven Steve has laced up his skates to play hockey but as years have pasted his focus is now coaching youth hockey and playing APBA Hockey. Steve will again serve as this year’s APBA Hockey Tournament Director. This is the third year of the tournament which this year will expand to hopefully 16 teams. As of press time 13 teams have registered with the deadline of Monday March 26th at 8:00 am. To register contact the game company at custsupp@apbagames.com leaving your name and two team selections. The past two championship teams, the 1983-1984 Edmonton Oilers and the 1976-1977 Montreal Canadians are ineligible. The finals will be played at the National Convention in Alpharetta, Georgia on June 21st through 24th. I want to thank Steve for his commitment to APBA and the community and will see he and his wife Jennifer (who plays APBA Bowling) in Alpharetta. Great job as always Steve!

John’s second guest was Jeremy Buehler. Jeremy updated us on APBA Go. Jeremy stated that they received a couple hundred responses to the December survey. The survey identified a need for a more efficient customer support and custom line-ups. A custom line-up feature has been added to the game (2 per customer per team). The team have also improved the efficiency of customer support as this is information lifeline to communicate issues, concerns, and desires. Jeremy also stated that the APBA GO forum application launched on Tuesday March 20th. This application is looking to expand and improve communications in the APBA community. Jeremy also noted improvements have been made in the crediting of saves, pitcher grade changes, internet explorer versus Edge, and server optimization enhancements. Jeremy closed by stressing that they cannot improve the game unless users REPORT, REPORT, REPORT. Communication and patience is key to improving and expanding features in the application. I want to thank Jeremy for providing us an update on APBA Go and the improvements being made. Please remember to try APBA GO as it is free with a couple of teams to wet your APBAtite. Great job on the APBA Go update Jeremy!

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 11th, 18th, and 25th Openings

No openings these weeks.

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 7th season, 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 APBA week.

This author (Randy Coryer) is also extremely excited, and a bit uneasy, this week as I retire on Friday March 30th after working 34 years for Bechtel Plant Machinery Incorporated in the defense of our great country the United States of America; the greatest nation in the world. I look forward to my continued communications with all of you in the APBA community and with John Herson CEO and President of the APBA Game Company; but also the increased time that I will have for APBA gaming. May all your rolls be 66’s. (Editor Well Done Randy. Enjoy this new chapter in your life. You are always welcome at Alpharetta.)

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.