What Winter Stress?

Little did I know last Wednesday when I posted " Relieve Winter Stress with Baseball Board Games" that we were going to be hit with 18" of snow on Saturday.  I didn't even know that any snow was in the forecast.  Now, my friend Al had planned for some time to come visit this weekend--we were going to go rabbit hunting--but the snow storm did not keep us from entertaining ourselves.  Al has been playing (for several years now) an all-time-teams baseball tournament with his Sports Illustrated Superstar Baseball Game and naturally, he  brought that along.  Snow?  What snow?  We were so engrossed in the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers versus the 1957 Milwaukee Braves, the 1965 Minnesota Twins versus the 1965 Cleveland Indians, and the 1968 St. Louis Cardinals versus the 1968 Detroit Tigers that we hardly knew what day it was much less what the weather was like.

We have no idea how the '65 Indians got into the mix, but since their game information was available on the Internet, Al threw them into the tournament.  In typical short series fashion, Cleveland pulled off the upset and knocked off the '65 American League Champs 2 games to 1.  Vic Davilillo had a monster series, going 9/14 with 5 RBI and 4 runs scored from the leadoff spot.

The Tigers defeated the Cardinals 2 games to 1 in a shortened recreation of the 1968 World Series.  St. Louis won the opener behind Bob Gibson 3-2, but Detroit took the next two games, 11-3 behind Mickey Lolich, and 3-2 in a tension-filled finale.  Tiger second-sacker, Dick McAullife hit a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 8th of the final game to give Detroit the lead, the game, and the series.  McAullife had an even more impressive series than Davilillo, going 8/15 with 3 homers, 2 triples, 5 RBI, and 5 runs scored, also out of the leadoff spot.

Milwaukee swept Brooklyn in the best of three series.

Interestingly, relief pitcher Don McMahon pitched for the winning three teams which goes to prove that if you can get a few people out late in the game, you can have a nice long career.

Al has created four divisions, from the Dead Ball Division to the Modern Division and there is a loser's bracket which means that if it snows from now until next Christmas, we still won't finish this tournament.

With a blazing fire in the background and a Chuck Thompson talking bobble head ready to call the action, Al Smith awaits the ceremonial "Rolling of the First Dice" during this weekend's Superstar Baseball tournament.

Comments

[Al Smith]

Take note kids - you don't need computers and cell phones to have a great time stranded in a snow storm. Board games rule!

[Walt]

Nuts. Now I have to wander over to Amazon.com and see if SI's Superstar Baseball is still available (probably used). I'd forgotten this one. I think I played it in the late 70s.