|
INDEX
Seasons
1902 1903 1904
1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910
1911 1912 1913
1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1920
1921 1922 1923
1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930 1931 1932
1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938
1939
1940 1941 1942
1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948
1949
1950 1951 1952
1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958
1959
1960 1961 1962
1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968
1969
1970 1971 1972
1973 1974 1975
1976 1977 1978
1979
1980 1981 1982
1983 1984 1985 1986
1987 1988
1989
1990 1991 1992
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
1999
2000 2001 2002
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
2009
2010 2011 2012
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
2019
2020 2021 2022
2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028
2029
Miscellaneous
Foreword 1
Foreword II
Introduction
The Ad
The Letter
The Test
First
Newsletter
Yesterday
Gold
Origins
TCBA Almanac
|
|
Robert L. Wood
Charter Member
44 year old Computer Software Geek
Married 8/10/74 to Jean Marie Duzek
Daughter Mary Jo born 5/18/80, the day Mt. St. Helen’s erupted
Son John Andrew born 4/3/82 in a snow storm
Lansing, Illinois
Bradenton Buckeyes
It all began back in 1974 while I was working as a Resident Advisor in Stevenson
Towers at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, IL. I had a copy of
something called the APBA Journal and was intrigued about this idea of a
“mail league.” I responded to a few of the ads and received a questionnaire
back from some French fellow by the name of laFog,
or some such thing.
The questionnaire included a test, of all
things, to help La Pue, or whoever, make his
decisions about the abilities of the aspirants. Typical of a lawyer, the Frog
couldn’t make a cut, and so decided to expand the league before it ever
started.
We would be a double universe - a mirror image of
ourselves. But it was all new and interesting, so I prepared a draft list of
players that I would like on my team, not knowing how to spell The American
League, being a Reds/Cubs/Cardinals/Pirates/Braves fan of The National
League, and Yankee hater since diaper days.
Soon I had Catfish Hunter and Rusty Staub and
several others to fill the squad. Our first trade was made with the
Morgantown Raiders, who were being run by fill-in manager Glenn Fuller, while
his regular guy (?) Gerry Hobbs was in England or somewhere studying the
mathematical implications of dice-generated random numbers, or some other
quasi-intellectual pursuit on behalf of the Free World. We acquired Uncle
Wilbur Wood for surgically altered Tommy John and Downtown Ollie Brown.
Before the season began we had the opportunity to
travel to New York City to attend the second convention of APBA nuts. It was
one of the greatest things to ever happen to my marriage. After seeing all
the other nuts, imbeciles and dice throwers in attendance, my wife started to
look at me in a whole new light, something bordering on sanity by comparison.
While at the convention I was able to meet Jim
Lafargue, Mark Glim, and others involved in this insanity, and swapped some
old baseball cards for a set of the 1964 APBA cards.
In our first series we were scheduled to play Mt.
Prospect. Looking on a map, it wasn’t too far from DeKalb, and quick phone
call later, we were scheduled to play face-to-face against another TCBA freak
- John Gatto.
Now, while I was off to play a table game, my wife
took the opportunity to visit with her family in Lansing. I made an estimate
of how long it would take us to play the seven game series and figured up to
30 minutes a game, considering all the rules we had to learn from the lawyer
Lafargue, a new manager, competition and all.
But that was before I met John Gatto.
Johnny was a chain smoker and a high school principal that had a chart for
every ball player in every base situation against every grade of pitcher. Now
this was the basic game - the advanced version was still a dream. But seven
hours later, we finally finished the series with a 4-3 outcome for the
Buckeyes, highlighted by a triple by Paul Popovich.
Needless to say, my wife thought I’d been out
boozing by the time I got in. Fortunately, my mother-in-law confirmed that my
blood-shot eyes were only from the sting of tobacco smoke, and that I had no
liquor or lipstick to mar my appearance.
Later in that first year we would see Wilbur Wood
no-hit the Norfolk Pilots of Dan Warren. We would also play our only series
against Ed Peak aboard some ship in the Pacific Ocean. Old Eddie failed
to randomize the rare play results, a fact we were able to prove to Lawyer
Lafargue and his hanging jury, and three games were thrown out - the only
Bradenton protests in our twenty year history.
<<
Previous • Next >>
|