 The Badlands
Baseball Circuit June 13, 2025
Among the scattered (some would say, scatter-brained)
articles I wrote in the Extra Innings
Notebooks listed below, is one titled, "Milestones." This article describes
the significance
of reaching certain points during a full season (154 + games per team these days...).
I'm
not saying go and read that article right now. I mention it because I reached the
first of
these points in the season, and in this particular project, a particularly
interesting bit of stat-
lore popped up. In 1980, the second year of a five team, 48 game per team project I
did
with the Veet, Roger Maris outdid his 1979 effort by smashing 20 home runs to lead
the
league. The previous year he hit 18, tying him with Jimmie Foxx. Soooo, now that I am
playing long seasons only, the question as game 48 nears is
will Maris' record be broken?
Cutting to the chase, it was broken in year two of my 5Y League project,
and I'll get to
that in a minute. In my '71 NL Hot Air League, Willie McCovey went berserk
and got close
with 16 homers at game 48. He finished the year with 28, ten more than he
actually hit. Last
year, I did the Top 8 1990, and Toronto's Kelly Gruber slugged 17 at game
45, but was still at
17 after game 48. In this BBC project, three players had 19 home runs after game 47:
Calico's Ollie Carnegie, and George Puccinelli and Ted Williams, who both play for
Pecos.
Unfortunately for the Pooch, he had reached his playing time limit, and is done for
the year.
In 1938, he hit 15 homers for the Baltimore Orioles of the International League, so
he did
better in the replay. Game 48 has come and gone, and Carnegie hit his
twentieth to catch
Maris. Williams went 1 for 3 in game 48, and walked in his last at-bat of
the game. Exciting
stuff for this old-timer!
But...Maris does not have the record. Hold the phone! In my
aforementioned 5Y League II,
Mark McGwire, playing in Division Two for Rhum, slugged 55 home runs in a 102 game
season (under the 5Y League structure, Division One teams played 140 games, and
Division Two teams played 102). McGwire cracked number twenty in game 34. By game
48, he had 34 homers. This is the real record. However, being the nostalgic fool that
I am,
I still hold Maris' count of 20 as the benchmark, and he is now joined by Ollie
Carnegie.
Standings Through Game 49
Yucca 31 18 .633 -
Paducah 30 19 .612 1
Calico 26 23 .531 5
Monclova 26 23 .531 5
Algona 24 25 .490 7
Pecos 22 27 .449 9
Sonora 20 29 .408 11
Seneca 17 32 .347 14
Games 1-8 | 9-16
| 17-24 | 25-31 | 32-37 | 38-43 | 44-46 | 47-49 |
The Badlands Baseball Circuit is an eight team,
154 game format with players drafted from
the 1938 American Association and International League.
Both leagues have been rated
for Extra Innings, and can be downloaded for free by clicking on the links
below.
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March 25, 2025
Rolling the Bones While Watching
Others Roll the Bones
Here's the deal. I am so baseball starved, that while I play,
more times than not I watch youtube videos of other guys playing.
And it really doesn't matter too much which game they play; Strat, APBA,
Replay, whichever. I'm just stoked that other people
enjoy this hobby. They enjoy it to the extent they produce some amazing content and
in some cases help to learn the games
they play. Too bad none of them play Extra Innings- I'd watch that
over and over...re-runs too! And no, I have no intention
of "broadcasting" any of my games. I don't have the video equipment, for
one. I also don't have the committment it takes to
put a video up with any type of frequency. I'm content to just play the games and try
to update this webpage every month.
The vids I tend to enjoy more are the ones in which the
scoresheet is displayed. As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts,
keeping score of a ball game is one of my favorite things to do. As you can see in
some of the photos at this site, my method
of scoring a game is pretty simple. I prefer notebook paper to printouts, and the
codes and symbols I use are sufficient for my
needs. I have always kept basic stats, and have no use for the newer metrics. But I
digress...Back to the vids!
Sometimes the guys doing these vids use pre-printed scoresheets,
and sometimes they use notebook paper, and the attraction
to me is the manner in which they keep score. I look at the symbols used, the style
of handwriting, and while doing that I'm
listening to the play by play commentary. Most of these vids have a chat going on to
the right of the screen, and some of the
comments that come up are very entertaining. By the way, I'm considering putting a
chat feature on this website once I figure
out all the technical mumbo-jumbo...
Mostly however, I play the vids to have dice baseball going on
in the background while I play my games. Sometimes the video
will be in progress, and I'll begin to roll a game, and I just know I'm working on
finishing my game before the youtube game is
done. Kind of like I'm competing against the broadcast, but what is really happening
is that these videos are actually helping me
get my games done quicker. I try to play four games a day, sometimes five, and having
another dice baseball game going on at
the same time is inspiring. If I had the attention span to do it, and I don't, I
would also have a minor league game broadcast going
on in a different window on my pc. I'm telling you- I'm starved for baseball!
Another thing I prefer when watching these youtubers roll is
that the game being broadcast is cards and dice. I won't watch any
computer based baseball replays. The sound of the dice smacking against the table, or
little box or tower is like the crack of the
bat, or the roar of the crowd. I also get a kick out of seeing the setup these guys
use on their table to play a ball game.
Lastly, when the youtuber says something like, "welcome to
an evening of Strat," or words to that effect, the idea that someone is
taking the time to not only enjoy rolling a game, but to record it on video for
others to experience helps to reinforce the popularity
of this hobby. I for one, tip my baseball cap to all those guys who produce these
vids. And hey, one of these days, play a game
using "Extra Innings," will ya?!!
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