WOODSTOCK, IL – With
limited success in creating new APBA fans in his own family, Carter decided to
reach out to those in the music industry and share his love of the baseball
game. Seen here, Carter met with Country
Music superstar, Dolly Parton, and discussed the fine qualities of the
game. Parton said she often suffers from
back and shoulder pain while performing. Carter
assured her that rolling a few games was just the thing to help relieve the
strain of the heavy load she was carrying on tour.
Dolly was invited to the Chicagoland World Series in
beautiful downtown Woodstock,
Illinois to get her feet
wet. This was appealing to the country music
legend who had not seen her feet in many years.
Prior to the event, Dolly contacted event coordinator and our APBA friend,
Doug Schuyler, to go over the tournament rules and ask for an equipment
waiver. Parton had commissioned two
extra large dice shakers just for the event and asked if they were legal for
tournament play. With a well documented dislike
of dice towers and other dice paraphernalia, Schuyler informed Parton that he
would have to personally inspect her shakers before they could be used in the
tournament.
Being the perfectionist that he is, Doug painstakingly
inspected Parton’s shakers before finally giving his two thumbs up
approval. “It was a big job, but I
stayed with it until it was complete”, said Schuyler. “I’ve honestly never had my hands on shakers
that size before, but aside from obstructing the view of the boards some, I do
not believe they offer any unfair advantage in game play.” This ruling was exciting news throughout the
APBA community.
Schuyler was given some tips and exercises he could do by
the tournament director to prepare for inspection of shakers this large. “I used the techniques Carter suggested, and
they helped. It’s just hard to get your
hands wrapped around things that big”, said Schuyler. With the equipment inspection over, Dolly
chose to play with the 1932 Philadelphia Athletics. Parton made this choice, as many APBA players
do, because it reminded her of her childhood.
“32 A’s remind me of a simpler time, when I was just a little girl, a very
long, long time ago”, said Parton.
Things started out well for the East
Tennessee native, but quickly came to an abrupt end. Every time Parton would shake her big
shakers, play at all of other tables would stop as the other participants watched. Parton was finally asked to leave because of
the constant interruptions to the tournament.
“All I said was her shakers didn’t provide any unfair advantage in game
play. I never said they wouldn’t be a
distraction”, added Schuyler regarding the commotion.
“Adjusting to the passage of time, I think,
is a key to success and to life: just being able to roll with the punches.”
– Dolly Parton. We agree. Roll on Dolly, roll on!
NEW YORK - In Game 1 the 1976 Mets put Tom Terriffic
(A-XZ) on the mound against the 1979 Cardinals and Pete Vuckovich (B-YZ). St.
Louis scored 1 in the 2nd inning, but from
that point on, Seaver would allow only one Cardinal hit for the remainder of
the game. Vuckovich dominated the Mets
hitters. After a Bruce Boisclair double
to start the game, the Cardinal ace retired 18 of the next 19 Mets. In the bottom of the 7th, trailing
1-0, Dave Kingman put the Mets ahead with a 2 run homer. Seaver and company cheered from the dugout
believing two runs would be enough. But
Ed Kranepool followed Kong with a 66-0, 44-1 homer of his own to give Seaver
some breathing room. #41 dominated, and New York won,
3-1.
ST. LOUIS – St. Louis tried to even the series with Bob
Forsch (C-Z) against the Mets and Jon Matlack (B-YZ). New
York got on top in the first with 3 runs, highlighted
by Ed Kranepool’s second home run in as many games. The Cardinals answered with two of their own,
but the Mets pulled away slowly, scratching out runs in the 3rd and
4th, before Dave Kingman matched Kranepool with his 2nd
home run (11-1) in as many games in the 5th, giving New York a 6-2
lead. Ted Simmons reached the seats with
a 2 run blast in the 8th, but Bob Apodaca and Skip Lockwood finished
off St. Louis and New York advanced into the Quarter Finals to
face the 1976 Cincinnati Reds with a 7-5 final score.
The clash between the Mets and Reds will set up a battle
between Seaver and his future teammates.
It also will be a rematch of the 1973 NLCS and the Reds will be looking
for some retribution.
MONTREAL – The
Expos came into the tourney with high expectations. While everyone was looking at the ’76 Reds
and ’79 Pirates as favorites on this side of the bracket, the dark horse was
the ’79 Expos. Good starting pitching, a
deep bull pen and explosive offense made this a team that no one wanted to
face.
The Cubs punched the higher seed in the mouth right out of
the gate scoring 4 runs in the top of the 1st and never looked
back. Larry Parrish cut the lead in half
with a 2 run homer in the 2nd inning, but Montreal could not pose a threat against Rick
Reuschel. Sutter locked things down in
the 9th and the Cubs take Game 1, 5-2.
CHICAGO – Outside of Dave Cash (4 for 8: 2
doubles and a triple), the Expos bats never showed up. Cromartie, Dawson and Carter were a combined 1
for 23 (.043) in the 2 games. The Cubs
starters go 8 innings each and hand the ball off to Bruce Sutter who picks up 2
easy saves. The Cubs advance to play the
’79 Pirates. Mr. Cub was jumping for joy.
MICHIGAN / OHIO – Between January 25th and 27th,
1978, the Cleveland Superbomb (also known as the Great Blizzard of 1978)
pummeled the mid-west. The Michigan
State Police pronounced Traverse City,
Michigan, unofficially closed and
told everyone to stay home. The Traverse
City Panthers continued league play. The
Major General of the Ohio National Guard described the devastation to Ohio’s transportation
system as being comparable to a nuclear attack.
It was not immediately clear just how many nuclear attacks the Ohio
National Guard had participated in, but it was confirmed that the Major General
had been to Cleveland
before. About 100,000 cars were
abandoned on Michigan’s
highways. Most of them were abandoned in
the southeast part of the state. Most were
Fords, and most were left because of the catastrophic snow fall. However, many were just abandoned because
they were Fords and that’s where they quit.
The subsequent snow fall was coincidental.
But in sunny California
it was 1978. There was no snow, and a
First Round matchup saw the 1978 Giants take on the 1978 Padres. This ’78 Padres club was the first team I
ever saw play in a live game. Riverfront
Stadium, August 5, 1978. A little known switch-hitting
rookie named Ozzie Smith played shortstop.
A guy behind us spilled beer down the back of my shirt, the smell of the
freshly cut Astroturf, the animation of the monochrome scoreboard. Pete Rose was thrown out twice on the bases,
and the Reds won! I was hooked!
SAN FRANCISCO –
Youngster Bob Knepper (A-YZ) took the hill for the Giants against former Giant
and former youngster, Gaylord Perry (B-YZ) for the Padres. Both pitchers held the other side hitless
through three innings, but McCovey doubled home Darrell Evans in the 4th,
the Giants picked up another in the 5th, and Evans smashed a solo
shot in the 6th, as San
Francisco eased away from the Friars. Knepper tried to record the complete game,
but needed a little help from Gary LaVelle to get the final out. The Padres
threaten, but the Giants hang on for the 3-2 win.
 |
Winfield only had one hit,
but made it count |
SAN DIEGO – Two
great lefties Randy Jones and Vida Blue squared off in Game 2. In APBA, as in real life, good defense is
important. The 1978 Padres do not have
it. With only a 34 team defense number,
Jack Clark’s 36-12, in the first inning, resulted in a 4-6 fielders choice
rather than an inning ending 4-6-3 double play.
Darrell Evans took advantage of the opportunity with a 66-1 to put the
Giants up 2-0. Clark
would get his own 2 run homer in the 3rd, but those two Giant hits
were about all they generate. In the
last 6 innings, San Francisco
managed only 2 singles. The Padres
doubled the Giants hit production and win Game 2, 5-4.
SAN FRANCISCO – The
series moved back to the bay where the Giants jumped out early, but could not
hold off the Friars. With the score tied
in the 7th, Dave Winfield picked up his only hit of the series with
a 66-1 to break the tie. The Giants tied
it back up in the bottom of the inning, but in the 8th, Darrel
Thomas doubled and scored on an Ozzie Smith single. With Game 3 having no rest restrictions,
Rollie Fingers went for the 2 inning save, picking up 3 strike outs and
allowing no hits. The 10 seed Padres
move on to face #2 seed ’76 Phillies in the Quarter Finals.
HOUSTON – The
tournament moves from 1978 to 1980 as the division winning ’80 Astros face the
tournament directors favorite, ’80 Braves.
Game 1 saw the Niekro brothers face off against each other. Older brother Phil goes 6 innings allowing
only 1 run to get the win, while younger brother Joe lasts 8, but gives up 5
runs and is saddled with the loss. After
the game, to add insult to injury, the older brother held down the little
brother and gave him a noogie for old time sake.
ATLANTA – The
tournament director told everyone he had never thrown out a first pitch at a
game before. Afterwards, no one doubted
him. The tournament directors have had
no luck in cheering for their teams in the tournaments. George H.W. Bush’s 1986 Texas Rangers and
1986 Houston Astros both lost in their first series. Likewise, Ronald Reagan’s 1985 Los Angeles
Dodgers lost their opening series to the 1982 Pirates. Jimmy Carter is a Braves fan, and his
intelligence team had assured him the 1980 team would break the cycle. Of course this was the same intelligence team
responsible for Operation Eagle Claw.
The Astros’ bullpen was too strong for the Braves to manage any late
inning offense. J.R. Richard, Dave Smith
and Joe Sambito gave Atlanta
no chance in the late innings and Carter’s hope of a Braves sweep was lost.
HOUSTON – Back in Houston,
the Astros pitching was as strong as it had been in Atlanta.
Forsch and Richard combined for 4 innings each, while Sambito closed out
the 9th. Jose Cruz and Cesar
Cedeno capitalized on RBI opportunities in the 5th and 6th
innings and the Astros advanced. In the
Quarterfinals, the Astros will face the 1977 Los Angeles Dodgers in a rematch
of the 1980 tie breaker game. "I just couldn't win anything in 1980", said Carter.
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