Correcting the Record

A recent development has swept the nation, and I can hold my tongue no longer.  I am of course speaking of the newly released documentary series called "The Mandalorian", which is rife with misleading information and outright lies.

This documentary seeks to paint the Yoder species in a positive light, while disparaging my brethren.  The so called “Baby Yoda” is depicted as an innocent baby with both naive and altruistic tendencies.  It is also represented that the Yoder is an endangered species to be treated with special care and amazement.  Meanwhile, my brethren are shown as vandals with fierce red eyes to try to emphasize their place in the world as the "evil adversary".  This couldn’t be farther from the truth.

I seek to shed some light on what actually happened, as I know this through my ancestors.  First, to some, the Baby Yoda is considered cute.  I can assure you this is the minority position amongst those I consider knowledgeable about the subject.  Second, unfortunately, the Yoder is far from extinct. They are a public nuisance.  Where I come from, we have to hunt them in season to keep their numbers in check.  You know that old saying "to breed like rabbits"?  Well, rabbits know that saying as "to breed like Yoder".

The truth is that the Yoder are a disgusting smelly species. Can you imagine the smell of 50-year old Baby Yoda's diapers?  Good thing this isn't a scratch and smell book.

Meanwhile, my brethren are shown as ransacking a bounty hunters spaceship for no apparent reason. Hello?  That bounty hunter was illegally parked on tribal lands!  They also neglected to show the viewer that we reached out multiple times to remedy this situation to no avail.

After we had to repossess the only items of value from his piece of junk spaceship (many thought he had just abandoned the ship), he maliciously attacked our tribe. Despite killing some of my brethren, we still allowed him to pay the fine and get his parts back. But we are the evil ones?  With fearsome red eyes?  No, we are yellow-eyed creatures.  I demand the makers of this documentary send a formal apology note to all Jawa-kind.

White Injured, will miss 6 months

Florida outfielder Gerald White Jr. suffered an undisclosed injury and will miss at least 6 months.  That would put him out of action until at least late May.

Rumors about the injury abound.  The Herman Sports has heard from sources that the injury was suffered in a bar in Jacksonville.  One unverified report says that before being removed in an ambulance, White was drinking shots of tequila while arm wrestling with a wookiee.

Signings

Chicago resigns closer Steve Kepler for 3 years, 39 million.  Kepler, 33, struck out 68 batters in 52 innings last year, saved 33 games and had a 2.92 ERA.

Miami extends ace Scott Elzy for 4 years and 89 million.  With the deal Elzy avoids his final trip through arbitration.  The 24 year old right hander won 17 games last season, including a perfect game.

St. Louis hires 38 year old former outfielder Adam Powers as their new General Manager. After retiring as a player in 2017, Powers has spent the last two years in scouting and player development.  He will be tasked with trying to build a championship team around 60 HR man Simon Burgos and 2 time MVP Bryce Parkman.

Springfield hires Ken Hall to be their new manager.  Hall, 60, was not resigned by the Detroit Devils after 3 years at the helm.  Most recently his team went 80-82.

New York Cobra signs Lee Thompson, the two time world series MVP, to a 5 year, 105 million extension.

The Louisville Sluggers sign Cole Werner to an 8 year, 231 million dollar extension.  Werner, 24, was the first overall pick in the 2015 draft.  He hit 25 homers last season while posting a .364 OBP and playing strong defense in right field.

Top defensive players, 2002-2014

Working on consolidating the defensive metrics from the APBA era.  At some point I would like to have these available on the team pages alongside the metrics from OOTP.  It will take a lot of work.

In any case, no defensive stats remain from the Microleague era, so the finest days of Lou Zamuda, Kermit Holmes, and Jose Ramirez will go unrecognized.  But at some point I think we can have defensive metrics from 1997 to the present easily available.

Top defenders, 2002-2014, by position

Chad White CF +189
Elvis Dixon 3B +129
Luciano Cedeno SS +122
Hank Crowell 3B +106
Kobe Jones SS +89
Mike Connor 3B +86
Hal Glover 1B +84
Brian Kaat CF +80
Jacen Solo 2B +78
Keith Lee RF +78

Nobody was as bad as these guys were good.  Part of that is a bad defender doesn't get to stay at a position, they get moved to an easier spot or benched.  The worst by run below average:

Jose Isales SS -70
Jason Gonzalez SS -53
Lou Jones CF -50

2019 Cy Young

The award for the top pitcher, alternately called the Cy Young or the Roger Chillingworth award, was announced today.

The Superior League's top honor went to Juan Francisco Hernandez, who won only 10 games but led the league with 258 strikeouts and posted a 3.41 ERA in 33 starts.  Hernandez took home 16 of the 30 first place votes.  Finishing second with 14 was Utah's Alex Bronkey, who had a 17-4 record and league leading 2.64 ERA.  Bronkey would have been the award favorite but an injury shortened his season to 170 innings and he is currently recovering from shoulder surgery.

Next on the list were Carlos Padron, Jorge Gallardo, Scott Elzy, and Chris Johnson.  The league's only 20 game winner, Kyle Bonderman, finished 7th.

In the major league the award went to New York's Silvanos Tonka, who went 16-4, led the league with a 1.97 ERA, and turned in another dominant postseason effort.  Buddy Dervish (14-3, 2.06) finished second, and Stephen Hamburg (20-5, 2.56, 279 strikeouts) finished 3rd.  Next on the list were Cristobal Rangel, Roger Blackwood, Jon Umber, and Snow Sox closer Cesar Cordero.

Awards 2019

George Kird, who led his team to a 3rd straight world championship, and Brian Kaat, who won over 100 games in his first year managing the Stars, were named managers of the year.

The Superior League Rookie of the year goes to Louisville's Jimmy Flannery.  Jimmy broke the all time rookie HR record set by HOF slugger Rob Block, hitting 52 while also manning center field and stealing 32 bases.  

Boston's Jamie Torres finished second.  The switch hitting catcher hit 38 homers. They were followed by Baltimore's Logan Best, Chicago's Yasuhiko Nishi (who had 25 postseason hits), and New York's Casey Robinson.

The Major League also had a star studded rookie class.  Shortstop Ren Qing Sun took the top honors after a 39 homer, 115 RBI season that ended with a world championship.  Denver's Edgardo Rodriguez (44 homers, 113 RBI) and George Sheppard (38 homers) finished second and third.  Fred Kelly finished 4th after a 2.35 ERA and 200 strikeout season.  Lost in the shuffle due to not being up for the full season were Portland's Michael Vaughn (38 homers in 97 games) and Hawaii's Anthony Parker (25 homers in 284 at bats).  Hawaii's Richie Jackson also had a fine season (25 HR, 95 RBI, 16 steals).

The 5th Baseman

This article was originally published on October 26, 2001, in The Herman Sports print edition


The Fifth Baseman, by Lyman L Solo.

If you have a copy of the APBA Access Encyclopedia, go ahead and take a minute to see the numbers Brad and Eddie, two Hall of Famers, put up in 1987.

Did you find it?  No? There's a reason those players have a gap there, and the reason is called Softball 1000.  This game was supposed to be the next great craze.  Brad and Eddie each poured their life savings into the game, as did several other investors. 

The game featured 1000 players on each side.  Many of these players were DH types who could hit the ball a mile but not run or field.  Incredibly complex rules made outs almost impossible, as multiple players on the defensive team had to touch the ball before a batter could be put out.  Innings could literally last for years.  (like the legendary 6th inning, 1993-97).   Fly balls were not automatically outs.  It all proved incomprehensible to the fans, as they saw a bunch of beer leaguers jogging around the bases, seemingly separate from the team in the field throwing the ball around to each other in strange patterns.  The players outnumbered the fans almost 100 to 1.

Eddie and Brad left the game after a year to return to MicroLeague.  Most of the players who started the game (There was only one game, it lasted from April 2, 1987 to August 4, 2001) were not the same as those who finished it.  In several cases, players on the finishing team were ancestors of the players who started it. 

One player who was there for all 9 innings was Joe McAllister.  Joe was drafted by the Denver Rabbits in 1986, but held out for more money.  Without a contract, He joined Softball 1000 and became the game's greatest 5th baseman, hitting 337 homeruns and driving in 1873 runs during the game.  He was a true athlete, at 6'4 and 225 pounds, he could run like Vince Henderson and throw like Brad.  Joe had power to all fields.  In the later innings, he would be scouted by APBA teams, but most concluded that he would be a misfit in our game, as fifth base is not part of the defensive spectrum.

Fifth base was believed to be located somewhere in shallow right field.  It was one of the optional bases.  Players were safe there, but they didn't have to go to it.  There were two main reasons a player might go to fifth base:

1) During a run down between first and second, he might run to fifth base to avoid a tag.

2) He's trying to set up the 5 run homer.

The Softball 1000 game allowed frequent substitutions.  For the players who stayed in the game, many would set up tents in the outfield, where they would sleep in shifts.  Joe stayed by 5th base through it all.  Sometimes he'd fall asleep there, and seemed to wake up just in time to make a play.  Once, he made a tag after jumping up from the outfield toilet, pants still around his ankles.  All told, Joe was responsible for 3 outs in the 14 year game.  No other player recorded more than one.

Joe is now 39 years old, and with no Softball 1000 games planned for the future, out of a job.  He hopes to someday coach in APBA.

(2019 note:  Joe never did catch on as a coach in APBA or OOTP.  Now 57 years old, he lives a quiet life on his farm in South Dakota.)

2019 Gold Gloves

Superior League

P Scott Elzy - Miami
C Jorge Guevara - Utah (3x winner)
1B Jake Riggs - SPR
2B Steve Sweeney - Baltimore (2x winner)
3B Bobby Barrios - Toledo
SS Oswipe Cabrera - Miami (3x winner)
RF Billy Bass - Miami (5x winner)
CF Peter Rabbitt - Miami (5x winner)
LF Roberto Gomez - Toledo

Major League

P George Taylor - HOL (3x winner)
C Patrick Waugh - DET (2x winner)
1B W. Gehrig Bear - NYC (3x winner)
2B Lee Thompson - NYC
3B Eddie Del Toro - HOL (2x winner)
SS Will Daugherty - HOL
RF Michael Stewart - DEN
CF Tim Hollingsworth - STL
LF Chris Hamilton - LA

Greatest Teams Ever

Every year a team wins the championship, but some teams are more legendary than others.  These are among the greatest to ever take the field.  One rule for the list is the teams will not be considered twice.  For example, the Utes won four championships from 1994 to 1998, but I will consider that the same team and pick their best season, the 1995 team.

Best of all is the 1995 Utes.  With 117 regular season wins, they won 12 more in the postseason and also won the all star game where Utes filled the majority of lineup positions.  For pitched they had Hall of Famers Mike Langford and Tom Groovine, each with 21 wins.

For batting they had Conan (57 homers, 183 RBI), Zamuda (.392) and Holmes (.360), but also so much more all through the lineup.

In chronological order, the other contenders for the greatest list:

1987 Shockers.  They mostly won with dominant pitching, as Sand Storm struck out 324 batters and every pitcher with more than 10 innings had an ERA below 3.00.  On offense they had power with Rod Prime, Shockwave, and Astrotrain all over 20 homers, speed with Blurr (83), Prime (46) and rookie of the year Jeffrey Lewis (30) stealing bases.  Their defense was strong all over the diamond, but especially up the middle with Lewis in center field, Hound at short, and Doc Ratchet behind the plate.

1992.1 Decepticons.  They held the record with 109 regular season wins until the Utes passed them, then won a thrilling 7 game world series against Mars, one of the greatest series ever.

Galvatron led the way 49 homers and 52 steals, barely missing the 50-50 club.  The lineup was strong from top to bottom with Skullgrin, Jose Ramirez, Sonic Russell, Link, and Chris Berman leading the way.  For pitching they had two of the greatest seasons ever with Chillingworth (26-3) and John Terry (25-2).  Leading the way out of the bullpen was Bernie Grayson, who pitched 120 innings and struck out 166 batters, a record for relief pitchers that stands to this day.

2011 Miami Stars.  They won 100 regular season games.  The Stars have passed 100 wins in several seasons since then, but this is their only team of the era to win a championship, which they did by sweeping the Denver Rabbits.  2011 was Mighty Joe Young's first season in Miami, and he won the MVP award with a .365 average and 35 homers.  Joining Young for the championship run was Bud McNamara (.303, 15 homers) at catcher, and holdover Brian Kaat (.318, 63 steals, gold glove defense in center.)

Tom Vercetti (18 wins) and Tim Sullivan (16) led the pitching staff, but were not as dominant as the aces of other teams on this list, so while Miami might make the cut, they are clearly the 5th best team of the group.

2019 Cobra

With 109 wins and a third consecutive championship, the Cobra put themselves on the list.  This is something the 2018 team could not have done, as their weak offense and reliance on pitching reminded people more of the 1988 Dodgers than the 1998 Yankees.

Stephen Hamburg won 20 and struck out 279 batters.  Silvanos Tonka went 16-4 with a 1.97 ERA.  On offense, 5 players passed the 30 homer mark and the team hit 285 in total, breaking a record set by the 1990 Hawaii Cubs (current New York owner Brad hit 47 for that team.)

In Summary, the 1995 Utes are the greatest, with the 2011 Stars earning 5th spot on the list.  Spots 2-4 are very much up for debate, but it is some combination of the 1987 Shockers, 1992.1 Decepticons, and this year's Cobra.

2019 World Series Game 6

Silveran Kanan Bonis took the ball once more and hit in the cleanup spot, with New York going to 20 game winner and strikeout champion Stephen Hamburg as the OOTP schedule reached into November.

Bonis found himself in trouble quickly as Thompson doubled to start the game and Sun singled him to third.  Bonis got Bear to pop up, Ken Jones struck out, and Sandusky grounded to second.

In the second Chicago put runners at 2nd and 3rd with one out, but Hamburg got Ross to pop up and struck out Minion.  Hamburg pitched out of a similar jam in the 3rd, striking out Bonis and Clegane.

In the 3rd, Thompson doubled again and came around to score on a 2 out single by Bear, barely beating the throw home from Clegane.  Ken Jones followed with a homer, putting New York up 3-0.

Neither pitcher allowed more runs to score until the 6th, when Byron Jones hit a solo homer.  Bonis pitched into the 7th.  After a one out single Phil Pepsi came in to relieve him, with Bonis moving to left field and Jones to the bench.

Bryan Avila and Steven Jiannetti handled the 7th and 8th innings. With the score still 3-1 in the 9th, it was time for Papelbrad to finish things.  Pinch hitter Ryan Freeman struck out, followed by a Tommy Ross walk.  Batting for Minion, Max Thomas flew out to left.

One more out to go, Yasuhiko Nishi stood in.  With 25 playoff hits, he had tied Darin Erstad's 2002 mark and was one away from Pablo Sandoval in 2014.  Nishi lifted a high fly ball to medium right field.  Victor Jacobs, in the game as a defensive replacement, settled under it.  The ball came down, and popped out of his glove.  That sent Ross to third and put the tying run on second.  Jacobs was looking at Nelson Cruz style infamy.

John Hafner took strike one.  He swung through strike two.  Then hit the ball right back to the mound.  Papelbrad fielded it, threw to first, and New York retained the trophy.

With this win, New York has achieved the 3-peat, only the second team in league history to do so, after the 1990s Utes.  With strong pitching and an overpowering offense, they put themselves on a short list of the greatest teams to ever take the field.

2019 World Series Game 5

It looked like a mismatch going in, with second year lefty Matthew Smith taking on playoff legend Silvanos Tonka.

Smith was up to the challenge, striking out 6 in the first 2 innings.  The two pitchers matched zeroes through 5.  In the 6th, Smith got the first 2 outs before Ken Jones singled.  That brought up Cristobal Guillen, a savage against left handed pitching.  Guillen homered to left, Sandusky doubled, and that was it for Smith.  New York scored 2 more that inning off the bullpen, and in the 7th loaded the bases for Jones, who hit a grand slam, putting the game out of reach.

New York went on for an 8-1 win.  Tonka pitched 7 innings, striking out 8 while walking nobody.  His playoff record since 2015 is now 15-1, with a 1.21 ERA in 133 innings.

2019 World Series game 4

Luis Harris put the first run on the board with a solo homer off Kyle Bonderman.  Clegane doubled in Nishi to tie the game in the 3rd.

In the 5th inning, a single, walk, and hit by pitch loaded the bases against Bonderman with nobody out.  After a conference at the mound, Kyle pulled off an amazing escape.  He snared a hard hit ground ball back to the mound off the bat of speedy Daniel Klein, threw home for one, and back to first for a double play.  Lee Thompson then flew out to left.

In the bottom of the inning, Clegane came to the plate with 2 on and two out.  His double into the right field corner scored one easily, and Silveran Kanan Bonis raced around from first to score the second run, barely beating the throw home.

Ren Qing Sun homered in the 6th, pulling New York within one, and Phil Pepsi got the last 2 out to hold the lead.  Pepsi struck out the side in the 7th, and struck out Thompson to start the 8th before leaving the game to Steve Kepler.  After a walk, Kepler got Bear to line out to left and struck out Ken Jones. 

Still 3-2 in the 9th, Kepler pitched a 1-2-3 inning to tie the series at 2 games.

2019 World Series Game 3

Chicago put 2 runners on in the first inning and Silveran Kanan Bonis hit a 3 run bomb off Jon Umber.  The ball flew over the center field fence and landed 437 from the plate.

The Winds added another in the second, while Ruben Ramirez handled the New York lineup, leading 4-0 through 4 innings on a cold (38 degrees) rainy day.  The rain picked up in the 5th inning, and with one out the players came off the field for a 50 minute delay.

Ramirez came back out and tried to finish the inning, but the long delay had thrown off his rhythm.  After getting Jeff Bowman to fly out, Ramirez walked David Jackson, and Chicago went to the bullpen for Phil Pepsi.  Lee Thompson homered making it 2-0 before the inning ended.

In the 6th, New York erupted for 8 runs.  It took 5 pitchers for Chicago to get out of the inning.  There were no homers, just hit after hit after hit as New York ran the bases loaded offense.

Chicago pulled as close as 10-7 on a Byron Jones homer in the 7th, but ultimately fell 11-7.  Yasuhiko Nishi was a bright spot for the winds, picking up 5 hits in the game.

2019 World Series Game 2

Game 2 was a matchup of strikeout artists Stephen Hamburg and Silveran Kanan Bonis, with a twist:  Bonis would also bat cleanup.

In the 5th inning the score was tied at 1, each pitcher allowing a solo homer.  After 2 singles to start the inning, John Hafner took Hamburg deep to put Chicago up 4-1.  One out later, Bonis homered.  Chicago added 2 more runs the next inning to give Bonis a 7-1 lead.

In the 6th Alex Williams hit a 2 run homer off Bonis.  With 99 pitches thrown, Bonis's day on the mound would soon end but his game was not over.  Chicago brought in Bart Riley to pitch, let him hit in Byron Jones' spot, and send Bonis out to left field.

With 2 on and one out in the inning, Brienne of Tarth crushed a line drive to deep left field, with an exit velocity of 106 MPH.  Bonis sprinted back and made a sensational catch near the wall.  Lee Thompson grounded out, and the 7-3 lead was intact.

In the 7th, Sun led off with a hit down the left field line.  As he rounded first and headed for second, Bonis showed he still had one more good throw left in his arm, gunning down Sun at second base.  The Winds went to Scott Cole in the 8th and Steve Kepler for the 9th, and closed out the 7-3 win.

Bonis became the first player to ever start and win a World Series game as a pitcher while also homering and recording an outfield assist.

2019 World Series Game 1

Yasuhiko Nishi started the world series off with a homerun agains Sylvanos Tonka, giving Chicago a 1-0 lead.  It didn't last long, as the Cobra second baseman Lee Thompson homered off Matt Smith to start the bottom of the inning.

David Jackson put New York up 2-1 with a 4th inning homer, and Thompson singled in another in the 6th.  Tonka pitched 8 innings, allowing 3 hits, 2 walks, and 8 strikeouts.  Papelbrad pitched the 9th, allowing one hit and striking out Bonis to end the game.

Matt Smith pitched a decent game, allowing 2 runs and striking out 5, but Tonka was once again tough to beat.  In his playoff career, he is now 14-1 with a 1.21 ERA through 126 innings.  He may be the greatest playoff pitcher of all time.

MLCS 2019, Games 5-6

Game 5:

Portland scored in each of the first three innings off Jon Umber to take a 3-0 lead.  Yoda Moreno and Pete Craig had homers.  Ace lefty Joseph Langford was dominant through 4, not allowing a hit.  In the 5th Guillen singled to break up the no-hitter and Luis Harris homered to break up the shutout.

An inning later Bear hit a 2 run homer and Langford was losing 4-3, despite a 3 hit, 11 strikeout performance over 6 innings.

Brian Ohman pitched a scoreless 7th in relief of Umber, and in the 8th had 2 outs and a runner on second when Greg Jackson hit a grounder to third.  Adrian Sandusky threw the ball past first for an error, allowing the tying run to score.

Kevin Ribaudo held New York scoreless in the 9th.  With the New York bullpen taxed, Ohman started his third inning of work.  He struck out Gerald Evans.  He got 2 strikes on Jek Lewis, then hung a slider.  Jek hit the ball 419 feet to right center, giving his team the walk off win.

Game 6:

Ramon Escobar walked 2 batters in the bottom of the first, and with 2 outs Adrian Sandusky brought them home.  Luis Harris followed with a 2 run homer and it was 4-0 New York.  Ren Qing Sun homered in the second to make it 5-0.

Mark Stevens pitched a strong game for Cobra, with 7 innings of shutout ball, allowing 4 hits.  Bryan Avila pitched scoreless 8th.  Portland's bullpen allowed no more runs, but George Kird was able to hand a 5-0 lead over to his closer.  Papelbrad came in to strike out Tyrion Lannister, Michael Vaughn, and Pete Craig, sending Cobra to their third straight world series.

SLCS 2019 Games 5-7

Game 5:

Miami got off to a quick start as Sergio Perez walked to lead off the game and Billy bass followed with a homer.  Silveran Kanan Bonis got into further trouble, walking the bases loaded, but struck out the side to get out of it.

That would be all the runs Scott Elzy needed.  The Miami ace pitched into the 9th, allowing 3 hits and one run while striking out 3. 

Bonis had to leave the game after the second inning with neck and back pain. 

Game 6:

Bonis was able to recover quickly and make his usual start as the DH for Chicago.  He singled in the first run off Pedro Lewis, and later came around to score as the Winds had 5 hits in the opening frame.  They chased Lewis with runs in the 2nd and 3rd, and opened a 7-0 lead in the 5th.  Ruben Ramirez pitched 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball and Chicago held on for a 7-3 win to force game 7.

Game 7:

Starters Kyle Bonderman and Carlos Padron started the game strong.  Miami struck first, scoring a run in the third inning thanks to back to back doubles by Oswipe Cabrera and Cal Mathis.  In the top of the 4th, Bonis and Clegane singled, and Vogler doubled to tie the game.  Nishi singled in Chicago's second run, and one out later Kevin Minion lifted a sac fly to center, scoring Vogler.

Miami went to the bullpen after the 4th and held the Winds to 3 runs.  In the 5th, Peter Rabbitt led off with a double, then moved to third and finally scored on two groundouts.  Sergio Perez tied the game with a 6th inning homer.  With 2 on and one out, Bart Riley came on in relief and pitched out of the jam.

Scott Arroyo and Ervin Russell combined to keep the Winds off the board for the 5th through 7th.  In the 8th, doubled with 2 outs, sending Vogler to 3rd,  Tommy Ross struck out to strand the runners.

After a one out double by Bass, Chicago went to the closer, Steve Kepler.  He got Arceneaux on a ground out, walked Luke Ford, and struck out Burton.  Neither team threatened in the 9th.

Javier Soto led off the top of the 10th with an opposite field off Tom Knight.  Kepler came back out to protect the 4-3 lead in the bottom of the inning.  With one out, Perez drew a walk, and Miami sent in the speedy Roberto Gonzales to run for him.  Brian Kaat wanted faster wheels in case of an extra base hit, but declined to order a steal with Bass and Arceneaux due up next.  Meanwhile, Kepler was out of gas and Sylvanos Wong brought in Pat Jones to close the game.

Bass grounded to third, sending Gonzales to second.  Arceneaux was intentionally walked, bringing up Luke Ford.  The ghost of former Miami pitching coach Obi Wan Kenobi told Luke to use the force.  He would oblige, but maybe not in the way Kenobi wanted.  Jones threw a 2-0 slider, Ford hit a hard ground ball towards shortstop.  Vogler picked it up and flipped the ball to Nishi for the force at second.

Chicago will head to the world series for the first time in team history.