Replay Digest 1908 APBA No.1

 Well, it has been a slow start, but that is fine. I'm in no real hurry. I plan on playing the entire season, every game, every team. That is 1120 games, not including the World Series. The first thing was to align rosters for opening day. When the set came in I had to go to Restrosheet and search out ML transactions.  I was amazed at the amount of transactions. The best thing is that teams didn't trade across leagues. Most players were either sold or traded within their own league.

I'm still trying to figure out a way to incorporate my game recaps. I may just pick a game of the day and include the rest of the box scores. It is a bit daunting, but that’s the fun, right? I'm using this replay to practice writing. Ever since I left school last winter I haven’t done much writing. My skills have slacked. I need a reason to write. I've always had a love hate relationship with writing. It has been the hardest thing for me to continue since I left school.

My biggest chore during the early stages are the line-ups. I wanted to stay true to the managers by using their line-ups. I know APBA supplies ideal line-ups but when you are trying to play a detailed replay you have to rely on Retrosheet. Well, guess what Retrosheet does not have the line-ups for the 1908 season. I have a Deadball era book that has ideal line-ups similar to what APBA supplies, but that is not what I'm looking for. SABR has several resources including The New York Evening Telegram for the entire 1908 season. However, that only supplied me with the New York teams and their opponents on that day. G.H. Fleming's book The Unforgettable Season doesn't include line-ups, but it offers something of a tenor of the time. The American league was not a focus to the mainstream fans. You can find information on the Cubs, Giants, Superbas. The Highlanders were starting to catch on, but what about the majority of the American League? Truly a junior circuit in the eyes of most Americans. So I thought I will never find a valid resource for line-ups in the American League.

The other day, I stumbled on golden nugget through the SABR research website through a link for Baseball Magazine. After searching many pages of Baseball Magazine, it was apparent that Baseball Magazine was more interested in Football in 1908. However, I saw a listing for Sporting Life. I found every issue 1883 to 1917, and round about page 8 in each issue is box scores for the week. The Sporting Life includes daily line-ups and game recaps for every game both American and National Leagues. So now we can load up the coal and get the trains rolling. I hope to have an Opening Day recap in the next digest.


Onward!!!