APBA Baseball has been the number one game on my table the last few years, but the hundreds and hundreds of games that I have played have been entirely solo at this point. That finally changed this past week when I took part in the 2025 Vegas APBA Baseball Championship.
I have enjoyed watching others’ convention experiences on YouTube, and I was looking forward to meeting and playing against likeminded people who have the same hobby and interests. It did not disappoint!
The criteria for picking a team was that it had to be from 1949-1999, and have a winning percentage between .600 and .625. I went through the eligible teams in my Great Teams of the Past sets and finally settled on the 1985 Toronto Blue Jays – excellent pitching, great defense, a solid lineup from 1 to 9. Plus, it was a team from the height of my baseball-loving youth, and I have family ties to Toronto. The 1985 Blue Jays won 99 games but lost in the ALCS to Kansas City.
When I got to Las Vegas, a lot of the other competitors told me I had picked a great team. I hoped so. I was afraid I’d lose them all and wouldn’t be able to show my face at future tournaments.
I didn’t need to worry. My pitching was incredible the first day (or at least, my competitors’ dice rolls somehow went my way practically the entire day), and I had just enough hitting. I had a pair of three-game winning streaks and finished Monday in first place with a 7-1 record (6-1 head-to-head with one forfeit).
I knew that my luck would eventually run out, and my pitching started getting clobbered as I began Tuesday with a three-game losing streak. But, we bounced back and won the next three before losing the finale of day two.
Being one of the eight teams to make the playoffs and getting to continue on Wednesday was the goal, and while I was very close to earning the #1 seed, I instead landed the #5 seed with my overall record of 10-5.
I had an epic best-of-three quarterfinal series against the 1977 Philadelphia Phillies. The Blue Jays came up short, but each game came down to the final at-bat (and I got my first walk-off win of the tournament).
Since I chronicle everything I play, here’s a full recap of what happened at the tournament, held at the Rio Hotel & Casino:
DAY ONE RECAPS:
BLUE JAYS 2, 1960 PITTSBURGH PIRATES 1
PIT 000-001-000—1-4-0
TOR 010-001-00x—2-3-1
Friend and Smith; Stieb and Whitt.
WP – Stieb (1-0); LP – Friend.
TOR HR – Bell.
George Bell got me going with a solo homer in the first inning. Dave Stieb was cruising along and had pitched to the minimum number of batters through five, but the Pirates tied it in the sixth on Dick Groat’s RBI single. The Blue Jays came right back in the bottom of the sixth as Tony Fernandez led off with a triple and scored on a wild pitch. Only three hits for Toronto, but it was enough.
BLUE JAYS 3, 1949 ST. LOUIS CARDINALS 2
TOR 010-001-010—3-6-3
STL 010-010-000—2-4-1
Alexander, Henke (9) and Whitt; Brecheen, Staley (7), Wilks (9), Martin (9) and Rice, Garagiola (7).
WP – Alexander (1-0); LP – Staley; SV – Henke (1)
TOR HR – Whitt, Barfield; STL HR – Kazak.
We traded solo home runs in the second inning, Ernie Whitt for the Blue Jays and Eddie Kazak for the Cardinals. St. Louis went ahead 2-1 in the fifth, but then it turned into the Jesse Barfield show. He tied it in the sixth with a solo homer. He then threw out the potential go-ahead run at the plate in the seventh inning. In the eighth, he drove in the winning run with his third extra-base hit of the game (in fact, all six Blue Jay hits in this one went for extra bases).
BLUE JAYS 6, 1998 SAN DIEGO PADRES 1
TOR 000-003-030—6-11-0
SD 000-000-100—1-4-0
Stieb and Whitt; Ashby, Miceli (8) and Hernandez.
WP – Stieb (2-0); LP – Ashby.
Both pitchers kept it scoreless through five innings. Toronto jumped in front with a three-run sixth thanks to an RBI single from Garth Iorg and a two-run double from Willie Upshaw. The Padres got one back in the seventh when Ken Caminiti doubled and later scored on a wild pitch. The Blue Jays put it away with three more runs in the eighth, which included Upshaw’s second two-run double and an RBI single from Tony Fernandez. Dave Stieb was excellent again with a four-hit performance.
1977 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES 2, BLUE JAYS 0
TOR 000-000-000—0-2-0
PHI 002-000-000—2-8-1
Alexander, Henke (8) and Whitt; Christenson, Brusstar (6), McGraw (6), Garber (8) and Boone.
WP – Christenson; LP – Alexander (1-1).
The Blue Jays couldn’t do anything in this one and lost for the first time in our fourth game of the day. Lloyd Moseby’s two singles were the only offensive output. Five walks gave Toronto chances, but there was no clutch hitting in this one. The Phillies got two in the third on Ted Sizemore’s RBI double and Mike Schmidt’s RBI triple, and that was all they would need.
BLUE JAYS 3, 1964 NEW YORK YANKEES 1
NYY 001-000-000—1-3-2
TOR 001-000-02x—3-6-0
Bouton, Hamilton (7) and Howard; Key, Lamp (8), Henke (9) and Whitt.
WP – Lamp (1-0); LP – Hamilton; SV – Henke (2).
Jimmy Key shined in his first outing. After the Yankees got their only run in the third inning on Bobby Richardson’s RBI double, Key retired the next 16 hitters, and gave up just two hits in 7.2 innings. He didn’t get the win, though. George Bell tied it in the bottom of the third with an RBI single, but it stayed 1-1 until the bottom of the eighth. After two walks and an error loaded the bases, Garth Iorg came through with a two-run single.
BLUE JAYS 2, 1962 LOS ANGELES DODGERS 1
LA 001-000-000—1-2-1
TOR 000-002-00x—2-5-1
Drysdale and Roseboro; Stieb, Henke (9) and Whitt.
WP – Stieb (3-0); L- Drysdale; SV – Henke (3).
Dave Stieb was amazing again, giving up two hits in eight innings. An unearned run gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead in the third inning, however, and it stayed that way until the sixth. George Bell and Garth Iorg had back-to-back doubles to tie it. Iorg then stole third base and scored on the catcher’s throwing error. Stieb and Tom Henke retired the final 11 Dodger hitters.
BLUE JAYS 5, 1954 NEW YORK GIANTS 3
TOR 001-200-110—5-11-2
NYG 100-000-002—3-8-0
Alexander, Henke (9) and Whitt; Maglie, Liddle (4), McCall (6), Grissom (8) and Garagiola.
WP – Alexander (2-1); LP – Maglie; SV – Henke (4).
NY HR – Dark.
It wasn’t a great start, as the Giants’ Alvin Dark homered in the bottom of the first. But Doyle Alexander kept the Giants from scoring again until the bottom of the ninth. The Blue Jays tied it on Jesse Barfield’s RBI single in the third, then went ahead on Damaso Garcia’s two-run single in the fourth. RBI singles by Lloyd Moseby and Garcia in the seventh and eighth, respectively, increased the lead to 5-1. Garcia went 4-for-4 in this one. The Giants opened the bottom of the ninth with three straight hits, scoring twice, to bring the tying run to the plate, but Tom Henke struck out the final two hitters.
DAY ONE SUMMARY:
I went 6-1 and only scored more than three runs twice. Five of the six wins were by one or two runs. I only scored 21 runs, but only gave up 11. It didn’t matter which all-time great I was facing – Roberto Clemente, Stan Musial, Tony Gwynn, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Duke Snider – they all went hitless at the plate. As mentioned before, I ended the day in first place with a 7-1 record after adding a forfeit victory over a player that didn’t show up.
DAY TWO RECAPS:
1954 CHICAGO WHITE SOX 3, BLUE JAYS 0
TOR 000-000-000—0-2-1
CWS 000-001-02x—3-3-1
Stieb and Whitt; Trucks and Lollar.
WP – Trucks; LP – Stieb (3-1).
Our second loss of the tournament was just like the first one, a two-hit shutout. The Jays almost got no-hit, not getting a hit until one out in the eighth inning. Dave Stieb pitched well in the loss. The first run was unearned in the sixth, but then the White Sox plated two more in the eighth to put it away. The Blue Jays only got two baserunners to second base against Virgil Trucks.
1962 SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS 7, BLUE JAYS 2
TOR 010-100-000—2-4-0
SF 013-201-00x—7-9-0
Alexander, Lamp (6), Caudill (8) and Whitt; Marichal and Haller.
WP – Marichal; LP – Alexander (2-2).
TOR HR – Iorg; SF HR – Mays, Haller.
Garth Iorg got us going with a solo homer in the second inning, and he also had an RBI single in the fourth. But the Giants kept putting together some big hits. Willie McCovey had a two-run double in the third and Willie Mays hit a two-run homer in the fourth. Toronto had just four hits, including one in the final five innings off Juan Marichal.
1957 MILWAUKEE BRAVES 12, BLUE JAYS 7
MIL 030-330-300—12-14-0
TOR 031-210-000—7-8-0
Buhl, McMahon (8) and Crandall; Key, Lamp (6), Henke (8), Caudill (9) and Whitt.
WP – Buhl; LP – Key (0-1).
TOR HR – Barfield 2; MIL HR – Aaron, Covington, Pafko.
Our highest-scoring game of the tournament thus far was for naught as the Braves couldn’t be stopped, extending our losing streak to three. We fell behind 3-0, then went up 4-3 after Jesse Barfield’s first solo homer of the game in the third inning. But the Brewers had three more three-run innings, which included three-run homers from both Wes Covington and Andy Pafko. Barfield had another solo homer in the fifth inning and Tony Fernandez had three hits.
BLUE JAYS 8, 1970 MINNESOTA TWINS 5
MIN 001-200-200—5-8-1
TOR 000-300-32x—8-11-0
Blyleven, Perranoski (6), Zepp (7), Williams (8) and Mitterwald; Stieb, Henke (9) and Whitt.
WP – Stieb (4-1); LP – Perranoski; SV – Henke (5).
MIN HR – Renick 2, Alyea.
The Blue Jays fell behind 3-0 in the fourth and 5-3 in the seventh, but fought back both times to end the losing streak. Back-to-back RBI doubles from Damaso Garcia and Rance Mulliniks tied it in the bottom of the seventh, and an RBI groundout by Garth Iorg made it 6-5. Jesse Barfield drove in two insurance runs in the eighth with a single. Tony Fernandez had his second straight three-hit game. All five Twins runs came via three home runs.
BLUE JAYS 6, 1950 BOSTON RED SOX 4
BOS 100-021-000—4-9-0
TOR 210-002-01x—6-10-0
Dobson and Tebbets; Alexander, Henke (9) and Whitt.
WP – Alexander (3-2); LP – Dobson; SV – Henke (6).
TOR HR – Moseby 2; BOS HR – Doerr.
Lloyd Moseby had a big game, hitting solo home runs in both the first and second innings to get the Blue Jays off to a good start, and he also led off the eighth with a double and scored Toronto’s final run. The Red Sox went from down 3-1 to up 4-3 after Bobby Doerr led off the sixth with a home run. Toronto went back in front in the bottom of the sixth on Jesse Barfield’s two-run single. Garth Iorg drove in Moseby in the eighth with a hit for the sixth run.
BLUE JAYS 10, 1961 DETROIT TIGERS 6
TOR 001-140-310—10-14-0
DET 000-002-040—6-10-0
Key, Lamp (8), Henke (9) and Whitt; Mossi, Aguirre (7), Fox (9) and Brown.
WP – Key (1-1); LP – Mossi.
TOR HR – Whitt 2, Bell; DET HR – Bruton.
The three-game losing streak from the morning was forgotten as the Blue Jays posted a third straight win (our third three-game winning streak of the tournament). This one looked like it might be an easy victory as the Blue Jays built a 6-0 lead after three, and 10-2 heading to the bottom of the eighth. Ernie Whitt hit a pair of homers and drove in three runs. George Bell had a home run and also drove in three runs. The Tigers made things interesting with four in the bottom of the eighth, but Toronto’s relievers got the job done.
1962 SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS 4, BLUE JAYS 1
SF 000-001-030—4-4-1
TOR 010-000-000—1-2-0
Sanford and Haller; Key, Henke (9) and Whitt.
WP – Sanford; LP – Key (1-2).
TOR HR – Upshaw; SF HR – Haller 2, Kuenn.
The last game of the day, our second outing against the 1962 Giants, turned into another loss. This one was costly (more on that later). Jack Sanford and Jimmy Key had a good pitchers’ duel going through seven innings. Each had only given up one hit to that point, both being solo home runs by the Blue Jays’ Willie Upshaw and the Giants’ Tom Haller. The Giants finally broke it open in the eighth when Harvey Kuenn hit a two-run homer, followed immediately by Haller’s second solo shot. The Blue Jays tried to counter and put runners on first and second in the bottom of the eighth, but couldn’t find a hit (and only finished with two).
DAY TWO RECAP:
As I feared, the great pitching couldn’t continue. My hurlers held opposing batters to a .156 average on day one, but that skyrocketed to a .246 clip on day two. We were outscored 41-34 as we won just three of the seven games. As so-so as my hitting was, I couldn’t believe when I went back and added up the numbers and saw that Tony Fernandez batted .500 (12-for-24) on the day.
We caught a little bit of bad luck in the way the schedule shook out. I was supposed to play the 1978 Boston Red Sox in the first game of day two, but they had to withdraw overnight. To balance the schedule, I had to play the 1962 San Francisco Giants for a second time at the end of the day. So, instead of playing a Red Sox team that went 2-6 on day one, I had to play the eventual champion for a second time (and got beat handily in both of them). I think if I had finished 11-4 instead of 10-5 I would have won the tiebreaker that would have given me the #1 seed.
But, it didn’t really matter. The goal was to make the playoffs and no matter the seeding, all of the teams would be pretty closely matched. It would come down to the dice. I lost both tiebreakers to the other two 10-5 teams and ended up with the #5 seed, and would play the #4-seed 1977 Philadelphia Phillies, a team I had lost to 2-0 on day one.
QUARTERFINALS:
1977 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES 4, BLUE JAYS 2
TOR 101-000-000—2-6-0
PHI 000-310-00x—4-7-0
Stieb and Whitt; Carlton and Boone.
WP – Carlton; LP – Stieb (4-2).
PHI HR – Luzinski.
Things looked good for the Blue Jays thanks to a great start. With two outs in the first, Garth Iorg doubled and George Bell singled him home. With two outs in the third, Jesse Barfield singled, stole second and scored on Iorg’s single. And just like that, it was 2-0 Blue Jays. But, the excitement of an early lead wouldn’t last. Toronto would only get two more baserunners the rest of the way off of Steve Carlton. The Phillies’ Greg Luzinski hit a two-run homer in the fourth to tie it, and three batters later, Ted Sizemore put Philadelphia ahead with an RBI double. Bake McBride led off the fifth with a triple and scored on Tim McCarver’s sacrifice fly to make it 4-2. And that’s how it ended, putting the Blue Jays’ backs against the wall.
BLUE JAYS 3, 1977 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES 2
PHI 001-000-100—2-7-1
TOR 001-000-002—3-8-2
Christenson, McGraw (7), Garber (7), Brusstar (9), Reed (9) and Boone, Foote (9); Alexander, Lamp (7), Henke (9) and Whitt.
WP – Henke (1-0); LP – Garber.
TOR HR – Garcia; PHI HR – Bowa, Johnson.
A couple of unlikely home runs got this one started, Larry Bowa for the Phillies and Damaso Garcia for the Blue Jays, both of which were solo shots in the third inning. Philadephia’s Davey Johnson broke the tie with a solo homer in the seventh. Meanwhile, the Blue Jay offense refused to make a clutch play. A Blue Jay runner was thrown out at home in the fourth. Runners were left on first and second in the fifth. Tony Fernandez tripled with one out in the seventh but the next two batters struck out. Jesse Barfield doubled with one out in the eighth but couldn’t advance. Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth, the dice finally went the Blue Jays’ way against a series of A-rated pitchers. Pinch-hitter Cecil Fielder led off with a walk and was replaced by pinch-runner Manuel Lee. Ernie Whitt’s double allowed the speedy Lee to score from first base and tie the game. Two outs were made, but Whitt advanced to third base. Rance Mulliniks walked to put runners on the corners. Philadelphia went to the bullpen again, and on Ron Reed’s first pitch, a balk was called! Whitt scored the game-winning run on the walk-off balk, and the Blue Jays were still alive thanks to the ninth-inning comeback.
1977 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES 5, BLUE JAYS 4
TOR 000-000-031—4-8-0
PHI 000-121-10x—5-15-0
Key, Lamp (8) and Whitt; Lonborg, Garber (8) and Boone, Foote (9).
WP – Lonborg; LP – Key (1-3).
TOR HR – Moseby; PHI HR – Johnson.
The Blue Jays couldn’t pull off the storybook ending, but it was still quite a finish. Nothing went Toronto’s way for seven innings, other than a few double plays that helped keep the game from getting out of hand, and the score was 5-0 after five innings. But once again, the Blue Jays managed to get something going late against A-rated pitchers. In the top of the eighth, Rance Mulliniks had an RBI double, followed by a two-run home run from Lloyd Moseby that made it 5-3. In the top of the ninth, Ernie Whitt and Tony Fernandez had back-to-back doubles to make it 5-4 with one out. After a strikeout, the Blue Jays were down to their last out. Mulliniks walked, and pinch-hitter Cecil Fielder was called on to be the hero. But he struck out, ending the Blue Jays’ rally and our stay at the tournament.
PLAYOFF RESULTS:
For those interested, the playoffs went like this:
QUARTERFINALS
(1) 1950 Red Sox def. (8) 1960 Pirates, 2-0
(4) 1977 Phillies def. (5) 1985 Blue Jays, 2-1
(3) 1962 Giants def. (6) 1962 Dodgers, 2-0
(2) 1949 Cardinals def. (7) 1964 Yankees, 2-1
SEMIFINALS
(1) 1950 Red Sox def. (4) 1977 Phillies, 2-0
(3) 1962 Giants def. (2) 1949 Cardinals, 2-0
FINALS
(3) 1962 Giants def. 1950 Red Sox, 2-1
FINAL TORONTO STATS:
| AVG | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| .214 | 548 | 64 | 117 | 31 | 3 | 14 | 59 | 57 | 12 |
| W-L | ERA | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | OPP AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10-7 | 3.65 | 6 | 148.0 | 119 | 63 | 60 | 43 | 69 | 19 | .220 |
| Batters | AVG | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T. Fernandez | .351 | 57 | 6 | 20 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| J. Barfield | .288 | 66 | 9 | 19 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 7 | 1 |
| E. Whitt | .226 | 62 | 8 | 14 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 0 |
| D. Garcia | .220 | 50 | 7 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 1 |
| G. Iorg | .215 | 65 | 9 | 14 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 0 |
| G. Bell | .182 | 66 | 5 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 1 |
| L. Moseby | .172 | 64 | 9 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 7 |
| W. Upshaw | .161 | 56 | 6 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 9 | 1 |
| R. Mulliniks | .149 | 47 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 0 |
| C. Fielder | .000 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| D. Alexander | .000 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Johnson | .000 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| M. Lee | .000 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pitchers | W-L | ERA | APP | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T. Henke | 1-0 | 0.00 | 11 | 6 | 11.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| B. Caudill | 0-0 | 0.00 | 2 | 0 | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D. Stieb | 4-2 | 2.34 | 6 | 0 | 50.0 | 28 | 15 | 13 | 17 | 29 |
| D. Alexander | 3-2 | 3.83 | 6 | 0 | 42.1 | 39 | 19 | 18 | 12 | 16 |
| D. Lamp | 1-0 | 4.91 | 6 | 0 | 7.1 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| J. Key | 1-3 | 6.41 | 5 | 0 | 35.1 | 42 | 25 | 25 | 11 | 15 |
FINAL THOUGHTS:
I think next time, it’s going to be important to find a team that can manufacture a lot of runs. Toronto’s pitching and defense kept me in games when the dice rolls went my way, but the offense just wasn’t good enough most of the time. I’m not 100 percent sure, but based on the finalists, it looks like the teams that were built to outscore their opponents fared the best.
I had a blast and hope to make it to more tournaments in the future. I really enjoyed meeting the guys who were there (a couple of whom I already knew of from their YouTube channels) and appreciated how welcoming everyone was to the new guy. My MLB knowledge isn’t what it used to be, but a lot of these guys were true savants.
Many thanks to Chris White, the host and tournament organizer, who put on a great event.
I hope to return to Las Vegas next year, but in the meantime it would be great if we had some opportunities to play head-to-head here in Southern California.
ROGER SPORTS & GAMES 