New APBA Quest

I'm a big fan of APBA Baseball. By printing sets of cards for every baseball season since 1901, the possibilities are endless. But where does one start? I know some who have started a replay of the entire history of baseball since 1901. Others replay seasons here and there, in no particular order, or will replay the season for one particular team. I knew I wanted to do something, but couldn't decide what.

Then Stan Musial died.

Stan "The Man" Musial was indeed one of the greatest players of all-time and the best player to ever don the redbirds uniform. What does this have to do with APBA? Well, while I've never met Musial, I did send him an APBA box score to autograph for me back in the early 1990s, which he did and at no cost. I can't remember the details of the game, only that it was between the Cardinals "Original Franchise All-Stars" team and some other team. I believe he went 3-4 with 2 HRs and several RBIs. I figured it fitting that he sign it, which he did. It was my prized autograph until I was forced to sell it for financial reasons. Think Curt Schilling's "Bloody Sock." Still, it is one of my fondest memories and my "Stan Musial" story.
 
While reflecting on this man's career, his contributions to baseball, and his connection to APBA in my mind and in my heart, it dawned on me -- why not replay his entire career? I'm a Cardinals fan, so it's not like I'd be replaying a team I didn't like and frankly, they had some good years in the 40s. The 50s were a dark time in Cardinal history but maybe with me at the helm things will turn out differently?

Then I got to thinking...who else was a great player of that same time? Ted Williams of course! And since the Red Sox are another of my favorite teams I figured it I was going to replay Musial's career, I might as replay Williams's too! So that's what I decided to do: replay the careers of two baseball greats: Ted Williams and Stan Musial. Here are my guidelines:

1) I will start with 1939 (Ted Williams's rookie year) and replay the Red Sox. All 162 games. From there I'll play 1940 (Sox) again, and for 1941 I'll pick up both teams. However, since I currently have a few years in their careers, I probably won't necessarily play them in chronological order. I know. Bad, huh? And I think I'll start with 1944. Williams was off to war, but Musial was home and that was the year the Cardinals played the Browns in the World Series.

2) Unlike some fans (or fanatics), I am not going to look up the details of every game. Instead, I'll just use the lineups provided by APBA. I will, however, limit Williams and Musial to the number of games they played during the regular year--or at least come close. As for the war years, if they did not play during that season, I won't do a replay. Also, I'll probably play all the games against each team at the same time, instead of trying to follow the regular season schedule.

3) As for the playoffs and World Series, I plan to implement a playoff system. The 2nd place team will play the 3rd place team in a best-of-three series and the winner of that will play the pennant winner in a best-of-five series. World Series will be a best-of-seven affair. I will use the regular season records for all teams other than those I am replaying. For those I'm replaying (and I will replay even the non-Williams and non-Musial games) I will substitute my record for their actual season record and see where they would place.
 

So, that's it. We'll see how far I get :).

Happy gaming! Roll well and live!

Al