2023-07-10 01:58
If APBA baseball game
players replay any of the seasons of when they were alive, chances are they’ll come
across games on a date that had some significance in their own lives.
Maybe i… Read More
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Love, Life And Apba Baseball Blog
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train status julie
2023-05-01 01:36
Last April, one of the stray cats who would come to our
house each evening for the bowl of food we’d leave out slinked into the garage
in very apparent distress.
He was having difficu… Read More
2023-04-24 01:16
Today, April 23, would have been my mother’s birthday and as
I roll the games in my 1972 ABPA baseball replay, I have her to thank for
getting me into this game.
She passed away in ea… Read More
2023-02-26 21:36
I’ve reached June 1 in my 1972 APBA baseball replay and, as the case with any replay done of a season during which I was alive, I think about where I was at that time. As I’ve sa… Read More
2023-02-02 19:00
I was turned down for a job recently because I didn’t have enough technical skills. The job was a marketing and public relations director for a local business and it sounded interestin… Read More
2023-01-24 20:23
During the first month’s games of my 1972 APBA baseball replay, it seemed like the teams were replicating the bell curve of statistics. There were a few teams on the winning end &ndash&hell…Read More
2022-12-11 20:46
I’m only about 25 percent through my APBA replay of the 1972 baseball season. Although there are many games left to play, if the first quarter is any indication of how the season will… Read More
2022-11-24 22:37
I’ve spent a lot of Thanksgiving days in different places over the years, but there’s always been a tradition that made the holiday seem, as unsettling as it was, somewhat normal… Read More
2022-11-21 02:38
I’ve had pretty bad cell phone service at my home for the past year or so and, because we have no cable or internet hookup either, it impairs our ability to get online as well. That&rs&hell…Read More
2022-09-18 20:59
I came across one of the dates that is significant to me while rolling the 1972 APBA baseball replay. It’s something that occurs when we do replays of seasons that we were alive for. I… Read More
2022-09-05 23:05
Starting an APBA baseball replay takes some work. I write each team’s 162-game schedule on lined paper; for my 1972 replay I just began, it takes 24 pages. Then, I create pages for bat… Read More
2022-07-31 22:53
The only thing that covered up the incessant whine of 500 mosquitoes in our car at 3:30 a.m. at the Walnut Ridge, Ark., Amtrak station was the roar of the freight trains that blasted through… Read More
2022-07-25 00:34
Even for an old guy like me, it’s hard to grasp that 1972 was 50 years ago. It was a busy year in news and culture then and as a child destined for a career in journalism, I paid atten… Read More
2022-07-10 21:19
Over the years, I’ve purchased each of the Minnesota Twins’ World Series APBA card seasons in hopes of replicating the real feat and guiding my favorite team to the championship… Read More
2022-07-08 01:07
I’ve learned to expect the unexpected while doing my APBA replay of the 1965 baseball season and I wasn’t disappointed in the three-game playoff for the National League pennant t… Read More
2022-07-04 18:03
Going into the last three days of the 1965 baseball season I am replaying with APBA, there was a chance for a four-way tie for first place in the National League. Cincinnati led with a… Read More
2022-06-20 03:01
As I near the end of the 1965 APBA baseball replay, rolling games for the last five days of the season, there’s a chance there could be a four-way tie for the National League. Break ou… Read More
2022-06-13 01:10
It would have been my father’s birthday last week had he been alive. But even though he’s been gone more than half my life, I still think of him and his influences on me. And now… Read More
2022-05-15 21:41
It’s the first day of Fall 1965 in my APBA baseball replay, if you consider the traditional date for the changing of seasons. If you’re more into the meteorological calendar, the… Read More
2022-05-07 21:55
Streaks seem to have more of an impact in baseball. Say the number “56” and baseball fans immediately know that’s the number of games of Joe DiMaggio’s hitting streak… Read More
2022-04-17 19:58
It was Opening Day recently, a time when all teams were tied for first place for at least a day and when you felt maybe this year your team had a chance. It’s when hope springs eternal… Read More
2022-04-04 00:15
Just when it looks like a team is going to take a commanding lead in my 1965 APBA baseball replay season, the team either falters or another team gets suddenly hot and creates a close pennan… Read More
2022-03-20 20:05
Based on their record, my APBA 1965 replay New York Mets are bad. Really bad. In the 24 years I’ve been doing APBA games, rolling the dice for 11 full baseball season replays (and a ha… Read More
2022-03-13 20:31
No, this isn’t a recap of LeBron James’ televised event in 2010 when he announced he was leaving Cleveland to play basketball in Miami. This is bigger. Much bigger. After playing… Read More
2022-02-27 00:00
I have reached Sept. 1 in my 1965 APBA baseball replay; the teams have only 30 or so games left to play and while the American League is down to two teams in the pennant race, the Nati… Read More
2022-02-20 18:36
I’m back. I think. After a three-month leave, Love, Life and APBA has returned. And all it took was my cell phone being run over in the parking lot at work. I don’t have internet… Read More
2021-10-26 17:23
I had three comeback games in a row while rolling the 1965 APBA baseball season replay I’m doing the other night, and there could be a fourth if you consider the hapless New York Mets… Read More
2021-10-25 04:11
This has been a week of anniversaries for me that haven’t provided the best memories. Four years ago today, Oct. 24, 2017, I was laid off from the newspaper where I worked as a reporte… Read More
2021-09-13 17:40
I’ve reached that point in a replay where I look forward and think about what the next replay I’ll do. It’s not that I’m bored with the current project, but instead l… Read More
2021-08-19 17:46
I’ve reached July 1 in my 1965 APBA baseball replay, nearing the halfway point of the season and, as is the case in most replays, there are some surprises. The St. Louis Cardinals cont… Read More
2021-08-15 23:38
Play enough APBA baseball replay games and you’re bound to roll a game on a date on which you lived. That’s unless you roll more games from the early eras. If you&rsq&hell…Read More
2021-07-11 19:51
Of the four favorite television shows I have, I sure don’t fit the demographic targets of one them. "Columbo," the 1970s detective show starring Peter Falk, is one that does fit. He, l… Read More
2021-07-04 19:43
Fifty years ago my aunt bought me Jim Bouton’s classic “Ball Four,” and everything changed. Bouton’s book chronicled his 1969 season with the expansion Seattle Pilots… Read More
2021-06-17 18:19
APBA players who replay a full baseball season know it takes a long time to complete one, rolling game by game and ensuring each team plays 162 games, or 154 in the earlier seasons before 19… Read More
2021-06-01 00:02
I haven’t updated the 1965 APBA baseball replay I’m doing in a while. I haven’t posted any blog in a while for that matter. I’ve been busy cranking out four stories f… Read More
2021-04-13 17:45
The other day while at work in Arkansas, I listened to the Minnesota Twins play the Detroit Tigers by tuning into an online feed of the Crookston, Minn., radio station and watching the Gamed… Read More
2021-04-05 22:23
As much as I drink Pepsi while rolling APBA games, I should do an advertisement for the syrupy, caramel, burp-inducing pop. I’ll generally buy a 1.2-liter bottle of the elixir under th… Read More
2021-03-28 23:03
Looking at baseball cards issued for the 1965 season, I noticed a lot of players wore glasses and while most of the spectacled looked like accountants from a large 1950s firm, at least they… Read More
2021-03-15 17:37
My wife is quite the sports fan, knowing teams and players and understanding the nuances of the games, but there are some limitations and that’s what makes watching them with her an in… Read More
2021-03-08 01:18
I don’t like interleague play in baseball and I’m not a big fan of the designated hitter. I still consider Henry Aaron the home run king and I liked the era when relief pit… Read More
2021-02-19 23:28
(Note: I wrote this a week ago, but we had freezing rain and two snow "events" that kept me housebound and unable to drive to the nearby Marriott parking lot to use their wi-fi to send this… Read More
2021-02-07 23:32
I didn’t know I had a real APBA cat until my wife found the red game dice I thought I lost a week earlier in a pretty peculiar place. There were some hints before that our cat was an A… Read More
2021-01-31 23:56
Betting officials, whoever they may be, estimate $6.8 billion will be wagered on next week’s Super Bowl. One guy bet more than $2 million on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to beat Kansas Cit… Read More
2021-01-24 03:49
The crack of the bats and the sounds of baseballs slapping into worn leather gloves will be more predominant in the mythical Field of Dreams this spring. They say the field, an actual baseba… Read More
2021-01-18 03:55
Between 1963 and 1968, strikeouts were at a premium in Major League Baseball and my 1965 APBA baseball replay is reflecting that. Obviously, strikeout counts were increased by some of the gr… Read More
2021-01-11 00:31
It was a weird, dismal year and as it came to a close, Holly and I decided to end it on a nice, albeit more weird, note. We got married on New Year’s Eve. During a rain storm. In a lum… Read More
2020-12-28 00:29
I was about to turn 5 in the summer of 1965 and I was just getting a hint of the legends and mythical figures of those who played baseball for a living. My parents had moved to Madison, Wisc… Read More
2020-12-25 03:17
Another Christmas has arrived and for most of us, I’m guessing, the magic of it all, the excitement of the times, has somewhat passed by. I’m not being a curmudgeon saying &ldquo&hell…Read More
2020-12-20 21:30
Amidst the backdrop of uncertainty and bizarre times, I recently completed the 1947 APBA replay that I began in August 2019. Other than a brief stop in daily play when I got somewhat burned… Read More
2020-12-10 01:41
The plan was to finish my 1947 APBA baseball replay during the Thanksgiving break. For only the second time in more than 20 years, I had both Thursday and Friday off since I’ve been ou… Read More
2020-11-12 18:28
The Brooklyn Dodgers were struggling in a pennant race in my 1947 APBA baseball replay. With only seven games remaining, they were trailing the St. Louis Cardinals by 5.5 games. Basically, t… Read More
2020-10-19 04:13
I had planned to begin the World Series in my 1947 APBA baseball replay today. It wasn’t that I was on any set schedule; the pace I had been playing during the past several months just… Read More
2020-08-02 20:31
When June ended in my 1947 APBA baseball replay, the Boston Red Sox had a five-game lead over the New York Yankees and it seemed they were a lock to represent the American League in the Worl… Read More
2020-07-13 01:33
If I was a car, I’d either be in a classic car show, gliding down some Main Street during a parade or heaped up with other cars in the junkyard.If I was piece of furniture, I’d… Read More
2020-06-22 02:26
With a last name that rhymes with a word for poop, at an early age I knew I was in a world of crap when it came time to dole out nicknames.Sure enough, on the first day of first grade, the f… Read More
2020-06-14 01:30
When I was a youngster playing driveway basketball at the home of my friend’s in northern Minnesota, I often emulated Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s skyhook. I should say I tried to emula… Read More
2020-06-08 03:18
It was the proverbial immovable object against the irresistible force when Brooklyn hosted St. Louis in a three-game series in mid-July of my 1947 APBA baseball season replay. The Dodgers we… Read More
2020-05-24 03:50
It was a fine chair, as chairs go. It served its purpose for nearly 30 years and it was the only chair I used when rolling games in every APBA replay I did at home.But like all things do, it… Read More
2020-05-17 21:03
It was raining earlier today but the sun is out now, shining through the window blinds in the “baseball room” where I write things and roll my APBA baseball replays.Outside, a s… Read More
2020-05-09 22:23
In the 1947 APBA baseball replay I’m a little over halfway through, Pittsburgh Pirates left fielder Ralph Kiner is Krushing the ball. At the All-Star break, he’s got 31 home runs… Read More
2020-05-07 18:48
A day before something crashed in Roswell, N.M., on July 7, 1947, sparking debate about the existence of UFOs and little green men, the baseball season rested for its All-Star break.I have r… Read More
2020-05-02 21:24
I failed to mention a couple of other reasons for choosing seasons to replay in the last blog, and both are evident in the 1947 APBA baseball season I am now replaying.The first is the use o… Read More
2020-04-26 22:49
When choosing seasons to replay with the APBA baseball game, what causes us to pick the years we do?I am always thinking about the next season replay, not because I am bored with whatever cu… Read More
2020-04-12 22:59
We were in the empty aisle of paper towels and cleaning products at our local grocery store when Holly spotted it. Hidden behind one of the shelf racks near a box was a lone package of toile… Read More
2020-03-22 00:10
Two long winning streaks have propelled the Boston Red Sox and the Brooklyn Dodgers into first place in the American and National League in my 1947 APBA baseball replay and have given me an… Read More
2020-03-15 23:50
The arenas and stadiums are all quiet today and the spring training parks are silent. The NCAA tournament brackets are empty and blank on what would have been the selection Sunday.It’s… Read More
2020-03-08 23:25
One reason why I've slowed down on writing blogs is that I'm also writing for an Arkansas monthly magazine. Here's a story I did for the March issue of About You on Babe Ruth's massive home… Read More
2020-03-08 22:53
Question: What’s slower than the 5 p.m. traffic on the Tri-State Tollway near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport?Answer: Nearly 40 percent of the players in the 1… Read More
2020-02-17 00:23
I had hoped my knee injury occurred due to doing something really heroic. Like carrying children from a burning orphanage or scoring the winning goal against the Russians in some World Cup h… Read More
2020-02-02 23:55
I don’t think there’s a closer group of people who share the kinship and bonding of community than those who play APBA. Sure, there’s probably other groups that have simila… Read More
2020-01-20 00:34
As I was reading Henry Aaron’s autobiography, “I Had a Hammer” recently, I found myself interested in getting out my 1957 APBA baseball cards and reliving that season… Read More
2020-01-13 00:55
I’ve reached June 1 in my 1947 APBA baseball replay and a few things are evident. The Yankees and Red Sox look like they’ll have a close battle to the end of the season, the St… Read More
2020-01-05 23:51
Ten years ago, as we entered a new decade, I was mired two years into a medical bankruptcy after the death of my wife with no real positive outlook in sight. I struggled to make bill payment… Read More
2019-12-23 00:50
I think I may have seen the true meaning of Christmas the other day, a meaning that shuns the commercialization and stress of the holidays and gets to the heart of its meaning. Those of us w… Read More
2019-12-22 00:47
Each team in my 1947 APBA baseball replay has reached 40, or nearly 40 games, played this season. With 25 percent of the games completed, teams are beginning to show what they are capable of… Read More
2019-12-16 00:26
The fitness center Holly and I are members of have a long-standing tradition of leaving scores of Tootsie Rolls in a bucket on the counter for customers. It seems kind of counter-productive… Read More
2019-12-09 00:53
I swore I’d never get another cat as I drove back from the veterinarian in January 2015. I was forced to put to sleep May, a cat I had for eight years, after she got sick. A grief coun… Read More
2019-12-02 00:36
It was going to rain all day Thursday and Friday, knocking out any chance for cutting limbs and doing any yard work. We only had a brief Thanksgiving lunch outing planned and Holly intended… Read More
2019-11-25 00:30
For the first time in nearly three decades, I’ll have two days off for Thanksgiving and I’ll be able to resume a tradition that I began when I first got involved in playing APBA… Read More
2019-11-17 23:18
For the past 20 years, I’ve been on, shall we say, the slightly heavy side. We can say that, but it’d be a lie.All right, I got large. The medical term, I believe, is lardassicus… Read More
2019-11-11 00:46
Game No. 195 of my 1947 APBA baseball replay didn’t size up to be much of a contest. The 9-14 Chicago Cubs were in Cincinnati to face the 9-17 Reds on May 9, 1947, It definitely wouldn… Read More
2019-10-27 22:14
Teams in two cities are making impacts during the first month of my 1947 APBA baseball replay. Boston and Philadelphia, two of the five cities then that featured teams in both leagues… Read More
2019-10-20 21:28
Other than Ralph Kiner, Johnny Mize and Ted Williams, the 1947 baseball season wasn’t really known for the long ball. In fact, only five players in the league that year hit more than 3… Read More
2019-10-13 23:43
The red and white die and the player cards are key parts of the APBA game. Actually, they are the most important aspects of the replay. Without them, for example, I’d never know if Ted… Read More
2019-10-06 23:20
After whining here yesterday about not having any time to roll games, I went home last night, tossed two and completed the first month of the 1947 APBA baseball replay I’m doing. Actua… Read More
2019-10-05 23:58
It’s hard to knock down many games in my 1947 APBA baseball replay while working seven days a week, but it’s a task I’m faced with. After I was laid off from my newspaper j… Read More
2019-09-21 23:19
I declared my lawn mower dead a few weeks ago when I attempted to start it and it mocked me.It did that slow “chug-chug-chug” noise like an evil chuckle before the engine quit. I… Read More
2019-09-15 22:31
Starting an APBA replay of a new season is always fun and interesting, and I think that’s why most of us do it. It takes dedication and determination to plow through an entire season… Read More
2019-09-07 23:30
A lot can happen in your life while you do an APBA season replay, especially if the replay takes nearly four years. While rolling the dice and recreating the past, playing game-by-game of so… Read More
2019-08-31 23:05
APBA friend Jim Caputo made a good point about the last post about the completion of my 1991 APBA baseball replay. I alluded to the winner of the World Series between Pittsburgh and Mi… Read More
2019-08-25 21:45
It took three years and 364 days to complete, but my 1991 APBA baseball replay is over and the four teams that made my playoffs were the same four teams that were in the post season in the r… Read More
2019-08-18 22:32
… Or at least I hope so.An observant APBA friend noticed it’s been nearly a year since I wrote anything on Love, Life and APBA Baseball (tomorrow will be the one-year anniversar… Read More
2018-08-19 23:24
Three years ago this past Thursday, I began the 1991 APBA baseball replay I'm currently rolling and will probably be involved with for a while. If I have time after work tonight, I'll roll g… Read More
2018-07-14 23:34
Finally, I have gotten around to doing an update for the 1991 APBA baseball replay I'm doing. This is the slowest seasonal replay I've ever done. Usually, I can knock out a full season in ab… Read More
2018-06-16 23:36
When I first entered the Arkansas school system I learned how impacting the written word was, and although it involved disciplinary action and the shame of my parents, it was an empowering m… Read More
2018-06-03 21:40
There are times during APBA baseball season replays when some players far exceed their actual statistical performance, clubbing more home runs, having a far better batting average, winning m… Read More
2018-05-20 21:32
A few years ago, I stumbled across an APBA message board that contained one of the more interesting debates about the game I have ever read. The site, Dephi Forums, contains hundreds of disc… Read More
2018-04-22 00:20
Maybe as you get older, small things remind you more of the past and a time when life was easier and more subdued. Little events, glimpses of moments, suddenly bring back memories.It happene… Read More
2018-04-07 22:20
There's been a lot of changes since last time I filed something on this blog. I no longer work as a hotel desk clerk. Don't ask for extra towels during the 3 p.m. to 11 p.m shift at one of t… Read More
2018-02-16 08:42
I am over halfway through the 1991 APBA baseball replay and I've only had one no-hitter so far during the season. For some, rolling a no-hit game is extremely rare, so having one after play… Read More
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