APBA
CONVENTION 2008
July 11 - July 13
Las Vegas, Nevada
The
APBA devotees representing sixteen states and Canada, plus some spouses, were called to order by APBA President Marc Rinaldi at approximately 7 P. M., Friday, July 11 th marking the beginning of the Company’s third Las Vegas Convention / Tournament since 2004. California had the largest contingent with 16 fans.
As part of his opening remarks, Rinaldi requested that the few first-time participants rise and be recognized. The “few” turned out to be the surprising number of eighteen, and as the weekend progressed, it was once again great for the APBA Staff to meet so many more fans who, until Friday night, were only known by a voice on the telephone or by a hand-written letter or e-mail.
Friday’s format followed that of past conventions, but this time with an added feature, a Quizzo competition to close out the evening. Three rounds of APBA-related questions, some serious, some not, were posed to the crowd with prizes for each round awarded and a grand prize given for the best overall score.
First, Rinaldi concluded his opening remarks, which included the announcement about APBA Convention 2009 to be held in Lancaster the weekend of July 24-26 at the Heritage Hotel west of the city. By Sunday, THIRTY fans had already signed up!
Next, APBA Hall of Fame inductions for two very deserving APBA fans, both of whom went beyond just playing APBA, from anything to providing research information to the APBA Community, privately and through contributions to the APBA JOURNAL, and/or simply promoting APBA Baseball and the Company through personal contacts.
APBA staffer Veryl Lincoln had the privilege of announcing the posthumous selection of long-time APBA fan and APBA JOURNAL staff member Bob Levy ( Portland, OR) to a thunderous ovation, and APBA’s Skeet Carr had the equal pleasure of recognizing Jim Sce ( Burbank, California).
Next, a question and answer session conducted by Marc, then review of the Tournament Rules by Veryl, who also made his segment a Q & A session. A few Convention records would be set this weekend, the first of which was the number of times someone asked, “Are we allowed to use Great Teams of the Past in the Tournament.” Veryl lost count at 20.
Then came Quizzo, with Marc posing the questions. APBA t-shirts, McFarlane figurines and publications donated by Baseball America comprised the prizes, and the Grand Prize, a Cooperstown Collection Pirates’ Jersey #21, was won by APBA Hall of Famer Pete Simonelli ( Kinnelon, NJ). Some of the items were also door prizes, the raffle capably handled by APBA Convention Secretary Sandi Rinaldi. (Apologies here by this writer for spelling her name wrong on her nametag.)
Saturday morning at nine o’clock, the serious business of the weekend commenced: fifty-two APBA managers, including 16 “new guys,” began play in each of the eight round-robin divisions. Two divisions contained eight players and six contained six entrants. Divisional play consisted of ten games with the winners advancing to the Championship Bracket.
As mentioned, records were set this weekend. For the first time ever, four managers posted 9-1 records to advance: Jim Stam (Encinitas, CA) with the 1984 Tigers; Roy Langhans (Cockeysville, MD) with the 1957 Braves; Frank “Dusty” Welsh (Rosemont, PA) using the 1953 Dodgers and Mike Harlow (Cedar Park, TX) guiding the 1956 Dodgers. However, none would capture the top prize Sunday morning. That honor went to another record-setter…..fifteen year-old Brian Wells (Wyomissing, PA), who became the first two-time APBA Tournament Champion, his first title come at age 9 at the 2002 affair in Lancaster. Brian’s 2001 Mariners defeated Harlow’s ’56 Dodgers 3 games to 1 to earn the Championship Trophy.
By noon it was over, and as every year, it seemed like it went too fast. Good-byes were exchanged; the room gradually emptied; the APBA staff packed up and the countdown to Convention 2009 was begun. See you there?
Results
of the Divisional play and the Championship Bracket
View
pictures from the 2008 APBA Convention & Tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada
