Roberto Alomar, No HOF’er???

Despite posting Hall of Fame statistics over his 17 year Illowa APBA League career with the Northside Hitmen, Roberto Alomar has failed for the second consecutive year to get the votes needed to get in, and there can only be one reason for keeping him out.  The Northside Hitmen finished in first place nine times, won four titles, and won 100+ games five times, with Roberto playing secondbase.  Alomar wasn’t just on the field, he was a major contributor to his team’s success, scoring more than 100 runs 6 times (including 134 in 1997), three times he hit more than 20 homers, and six times his batting average was above .300.  All of these offensive accomplishments were achieved while being the best fielding secondbaseman.

Robby ranks right up there with the IAL All Time greats in several categories.  He has 8,982 at bats (5th in IAL History), 1,503 runs scored (4th in IAL History), 2,455 hits (6th in IAL History), and 488 doubles (7th in IAL History).

The incident, which I believe, has kept Alomar out of the IAL Hall of Fame occurred, in real life, September 27, 1996.  Roberto was called out on a pitch, he alleges, was out of the strike zone, by umpire John Hirschbeck.  The two of them got into a heated argument, in which lip readers contend, Hirschbeck called Alomar a faggot.  Roberto lost his cool and spit into the face of Hirschbeck.

Alomar, and other players, contend that Hirschbeck had been on edge since losing his son to ALD and learning that another son also had it.  Roberto was suspended five games and required to donate $50,000 to ALD research, the two shook hands April 22, 1997, when Alomar apologized.  Both Hirschbeck & Alomar took the unfortunate incident as an opportunity to raise awareness and funds to research the disease, and came to regard each other as friends.  Roberto later donated an additional $252,000 to fund ALD research.

On January 5, 2011 Roberto Alomar received 90 percent of the vote required to elect him into the MLB Hall of Fame, it was his second try, after failing to get in one year ago.  It is my hope that the next time Alomar is up for vote into the IAL Hall of Fame that he gets in, he deserves to be there, he’s earned it.

Chuck Remembers

Manager Lucas brought his Northside Hitmen over to Crackerjack Park adding another chapter in the ongoing battle of APBA that has been going on for decades.  Being a History Major, Luke remembered one of the first times he came to my place to play shum APBA, it was circa 1977, the Midwest Monarchs hosted his River Park Solons, and Ed Figueroa tossed a perfect game against us.  My lineup included the likes of “Disco” Danny Ford, John “The Hammer” Milner, Rick Manning, George Brett, Jerry Remy, & Tim Foli.  But that was a lifetime ago, seems surreal, almost like a dream, who were those people, were they really us???

On this day it would be a nine game set featuring the explosive Chicago Champions taking on the Hitmen of the Northside.  The Hitmen wasted no time jumping out to an early lead when Alexei Ramirez hit the 1st pitch of game one off Tim Lincecum over the leftfield wall.  Interesting fact pointed out by Chuck: much maligned Alexei is batting .293, with power numbers of 24, 1, 14, while the highly regarded Hanley is batting .286, 23, 2, 16, I’m not sayin’, I’m just sayin’.  In the bottom of the first AROD bit the hand that once fed him, giving the Freak a one run lead when he launched a two run shot, then hit another two run dinger in the 3rd, giving Chicago a three run advantage, which was upped by another when Justin Morneau, aka Jason Monroe, left the yard.  Lincecum left the game after seven, despite never having to pitch from the stretch, allowing only Alexei’s first pitch bomb.  Hidecki Okajima allowed a leadoff pinch double in the top of the 9th, followed by a one out walk, before giving way to “AK-47” “Papa Grande” Jose Valverde.  AROD booted a ball, filling the bases for Manny Ramirez, who took care of business, just Manny being Manny, as he belted a game tying grand salami.  Ryan Perry pitching in the 10th allowed two runs to give the Hitmen a hard fought game one win, despite AROD hitting a solo in the bottom of the 10th off closer Joakim Soria to make the final 7-6 Northside.

Dualing homers were the second game’s theme as the game was knotted at four thru four, courtesy of Chase Utley & Brian McCann two run homers for them and an RBI double by “Paul Bunyan” and solo shots by AROD & 2 by Grady Sizemore for us.  McCann can, thank you sir, may I have another?, did it again in the 6th off Josh Beckett was the difference as the Northsiders, behind former Champ Jake Peavy, took game 2, 5-4, series two to zip Hitmen.

Matt “Raisin’” Cain held the Hitmen to one unearned run over six as “El Caballo”, Carlos Lee, put it on the board, YES!, in the 4th, a two run tater, which put Chicago up 4-1, Champs scored two more in the 7th, and cruised to a 6-1 victory.  Still down in the series, 2-1.

Mark Buehrle lossed his shutout bid with one out in the 9th, but the Champions showed their power, scoring all eight of the runs playing long ball, two three run pokes, one by Victory “Hulk” Martinez, the other by “Lumberjack” Morneau, to go along with solos by G-Size & Jeff “Frenchy” Fracoeur. Series all tied up at two.

Did you ever not know what was going on until it was over, till it was too late???  This is a common phenomenon in my life, nothing unusual there for me, but in game five I switched my lineup around to take advantage of walks versus Wildman Micah Owings, who would earn another nickname after this game was through.  Jason Marquis, the leader in wins took the mound for the Champs opposing Owings.  The Hitmen loaded the bases against Marquis in the first, but the crafty veteran pitched out of trouble, allowing only one run.  Then they nicked Jason for another in the third when Manny hit into a doubleplay with runners on 1st & 3rd.  The Champs had a golden opportunity to get back into this thing in the bottom of the 5th, when Owings walked Ian “Stewie” Stewart, Miguel “Bombon’” Olivo, & Jason Marquis, but with two outs, Micah got Felipe “FILO” Lopez to ground to first.  Northside batters scored another run in the 7th when Miguel Cabrera doubled home Utley.  The Champions only managed two other bases on balls against Owings, outside of the 5th inning, so when Bombon’ bounced to 1st in the 9th, it was official, put it in the books, and give him a new nickname, Micah “No-No” Owings.  I had no idea a no-hitter had been thrown until Chuck told me, guess that’s called focus or called, lost in a fog.  A no-hitter for Owings, I can’t roll no friggin’ dice!!!  I think PaPa Bunchie will be rolling better dice next year for Josh Hamilton, Evan Longoria, Adam Dunn, & Delmon Young, funny how good dice rolls seem to be pretty much aligned with having good players to roll numbers on.  Now I needed to regroup, grab some water, guzzle it down, and get ready for the four games left to be played on the road in this series, trailing in the series 3-2.

“The Freak”, Tim Lincecum took the mound for the Champs, in an effort to right the ship, in a first game rematch against rookie lefthander Brett Anderson.  JROLL took Anderson deep to start the game and V-Mart also went yard in the 1st, 2-0 after one.  A 2nd inning sac-fly cut the lead in half.  Frenchy came through with a two out RBI single to plate AROD from 2nd base in the 4th, to put us up again by a deuce.  El Caballo put icing on the cake with a 7th inning big fly.  Lincecum went the distance for the complete game win.  Now the series was back to even with three games to be played.

Again the Champs played long ball, knocking four balls out, to pace a 10-2 win.  The four amigos doing yard work for Chicago were AROD, JROLL, Lopez (2-run), & Lee (2-run).  Josh Beckett hardly broke a sweat, allowing only one hit over 5+ innings, and was relieved by Dice-K, who worked the final four for a save.  Hitmen’s Hurler Hiroki Kuroda was hit hard & hit often, and it could have been worse had there not been an official scorer giving him the benefit on a couple of errors where it was questionable as to whether or not RBI’s should have been denied or awarded.  Advantage, Good Guys, 4-3.

Things looked bleak when things unraveled for Matt Cain in the 5th, a walk, a double, another walk, a couple of base knocks, and a 1-0 lead turned into a 3-1 deficit.  Manager Luke turned the game over to his team’s best asset, his pen.  With 2-outs & one on, MO, Olivo cracked one long gone, high & deep, off the leftfield foul pole off Joakim Soria, to tie this one up at three in the 8th.  Two batters later, a single by C-Lee & two basehit by Stewie, and it was 4-3 Champs.  Chicago’s pen was outstanding over the last four innings, making that lead hold up.  But not feeling all that confident, AROD gave up a day of rest in an effort to extend the lead, pinch-hitting in the 9th, when nothing came of that decision, a one run lead would have to do.  Colby Rasmus greeted Papa Grande with a basehit up the box and with 2 outs, Chase Utley walked after fouling off a dozen pitches, bringing up Cabrera.  Valverde dropped to a knee, pointed to the sky, screamed in delight, after getting Cabrera to swing at a slider in the dirt for strike three, ending the game, giving Chicago a 5-3 series lead, heading into the finale.

Miguel Cabrera hit a three run 5th inning bomb off Buehrle, then Manny being Manny knocked one out himself, to put the Hitmen up four.  Brad Penny held us in check, before surrendering a meaningless two out run in the 9th, when El Caballo’s ribbie double scored Morneau to end Penny’s bid for a shutout.  There was some controversy when Ian Stewart, with 2nd column 11’s, appeared to steal second, on a H & R 35, but was called out.  Manager Mallasch came sprinting out of the dugout, arguing the call, but to no avail.  Neither the president nor the vice president could be reached during the contest.  Interestingly, the vice president called after the game to say, he’d have ruled him out.  While the president said, he was safe, because the board states, the runner must have a 10 or 11 on his card, not necessarily in the 1st column, to be considered safe on a 35 Hit & Run.  Reading it’s such an important, necessary, skill, which is so often under utilized.  Final score 4-1 Northside.  But the Champions held on to capture the series 5-4.

Season Spotlight: 1981 Illowa APBA League

IAL Champions: Northside Hitmen

Mike Bunch congratulates Chuck Lucas after the Hitmen win the IAL title in 1981

Rock Raines Deserves His Place in the IAL HOF

I don’t know how it happened, but somehow Tim Raines is not in the IAL Hall of Fame.  He is very deserving, his statistics clearly show, and it is a travesty that he is not a member.  In his eighteen seasons Rock scored stole 854 bases (the all-time high) & scored 1,473 runs, that’s what his game was all about, getting on, stealing a base (or two) & scoring.  He has a lifetime batting average of .291, 2,256 base hits, 405 doubles, 1,061 walks, and an OBP of .377.  From 1984 to 1988 Tim scored 113, 101, 124, 151, & 125, for a five year average of nearly 123 runs scored per season.  As a rookie in 1982 with the Davenport Fire Raines stole 104 bases, two years later he topped that with the Mercenaries stealing 109 times.

The best was yet to come, with the Phoenix in 1984, he arguably had his best season, batting .386, 224 hits in 580 at bats, 43 doubles, 8 triples, 9 homers, and 151 runs scored, he also walked 73 times, had 89 stolen bases, & had an amazing OBP of .455.  Of course Raines was a member of the 1985 Mercenaries, who lost 136 games, and was a member of three last place teams with over 100 losses.  But you can’t hold that against him, as he also was a member of four teams which finished in first place, three with 100+ wins, including the 1998 IAL Champion Gamblers.  Interestingly the Gamblers & the Mercenaries are the same franchise, where he experienced the ultimate agony of defeat and the highest pinnacle of the thrill of victory.

Larry Walker and Dennis Eckersley Voted Into IAL HoF

Larry Walker played for 3 teams over his 16-year IAL career, hitting .291 with a .377 OBA and .554 SLG.   The only player who played longer and slugged higher was Barry Bonds, and only 4 players played longer and had a better on-base.  He hit 407 homer, drove in 1,343 runs, and scored 1,364 times.  He also stole 233 bases and played Gold Glove caliber defense in the outfield.  Walker’s most impressive year was 1998 with the Aurora Gamblers, when he hit .343 with 52 homer, 157 RBI, 156 runs, and 40 steals; this probably ranks as one of the best overall seasons in IAL history.  He topped 40 HR 3 times, 100 RBI 6 times, and 100 runs scored 6 times.  His struggles with injuries kept him to only 2,044 hits.

Dennis Eckersley pitched for 24 seasons, splitting time between starting and relieving; he won 168 games (versus 183 losses) and saved 208 games as a closer.  He played for 10 different teams (made all the more amazing for the fact that for most of his career in the IAL was an 8-team league) which couldn’t have hurt his voting drive!  Eck was a good but not great starter, winning 16 games twice, but it as a closer that he made his mark, mostly with the Dreamteam.  From 1989 through 1993 he saved 154 games, with ERA’s of 2.13, 2.35, 2.45, 2.49, and, in 1993, 1.12!  That year he saved 35 games in 52 appearances, throwing 80.2 innings with a 6-4 record and allowed only 40 hits and 10 earned runs all year

IAL Hall of Fame: Barry Bonds

At the time of his induction, Barry Bonds was the IAL alltime leader in HRs, runs scored, and walks.  Bonds was second only to Cal Ripken in games played, was third in RBIs, doubles, and OBP.  Barry was 4th in alltime at bats and 5th in base hits.  He was the Hitman for the Northside Hitmen clubs that finished in first place nine times (five of those teams won more than 100 games) and won four straight IAL Championships from 2000-03.  He was named league MVP in 1994 & 2003.  In addition to his outstanding offensive numbers, he was a Gold Glove caliber outfielder in his prime.

IAL Hall of Fame: Dale Murphy

A Hitmen throughout his career, Murphy hit more than 30 home runs and 100 rbis for 6 straight years (1983-1988) and ended up with 339 for his career.  In 1981 Dale, with 127 RBIs, was the driving force behind the Northside team that won the IAL Championship.

IAL Hall of Fame: Andre Dawson

Dawson was traded 6 times throughout his career, but managed to put together an awesome 20-year career.  At the time of his induction, he was 7th all time with 428 homeruns and 5th in RBIs with 1,446.  Andre was an all-around player, he even stole 298 bases.  The Hawk was a member of four Championship ballclubs.

Bonds Becomes New IAL Homerun King!

Over the summer, Northside Hitmen outfielder Barry Bonds made history by hitting surpassing Mark McGwire as the all-time homerun leader.  Bonds currently has 597 career IAL homeruns.  McGwire retired with 591 round-trippers.

Barry "Sledgehammer" Bonds was drafted in 1987 and has played a big part of the Hitmen’s traditionally tough offense.  He has hit over 30 homers 11 times and is sure to do it again this year.  He hit highs in 1995 and 2002 when he hit 52 and 50 respectively.  He scored more than 100 runs twelve times and drove in 100 nine times.Career-wise, Bonds finds himself on a lot of all-time lists.  In addition to being numero uno in home runs, his 2345 hits puts him 7th all-time among all Illowa batsmen.  He has 1906 runs which puts him first on the list and 1588 rbis which is 3rd.  He is also first in walks (1622), third in doubles (521), 7th in stolen bases (509) and ninth in slugging percentage (.563).

Most importantly, Bonds has helped the Hitmen win.  During his 17-year tenure with the team, the Northside crew have garnered 4 World Championships and 8 first place finishes.

This year is no different as the Hitmen are in first place by a sizable margin and Barry has a lot to with it.  He currently is hitting .316 with 28 homeruns.

originally published Summer 2004