The Innocents are fiercely trying to keep their heads above water. Ok, trying to keep them close to the surface. A weak pitching staff has made this a long season. No player moves have been made and what looked like a promising 1998 pitching staff has slowly unraveled lately with the injury to Armando Reynoso and the second half plight of Bobby Jones. Dean Palmer is trying to salvage this season following his trade to KC. Injuries are the theme for the infield. Fernando Vina, Kevin Elster and now Kevin Young have or will spend considerable time on the DL. Even Mark Grace was sidelined this year!

Sandy Alomar has been a great story this year but his performance may make him too valuable to keep for a team that has a number of holes to fill. Time will tell and it should be a fun time at the winter meetings in Lancaster!

Introduction

I have been playing at least one of APBA's sport simulation games since 1979. I was introduced to the APBA baseball board game by a high school teacher (Larry Geib, where are you?) and have played in a baseball, football and/or basketball league ever since. My last experience with APBA baseball was through an online simulation league called CSN. (Mike Bravard, where are you?) I won the CSN Ruth-1 title in the 1990-91 season on the bat of Kevin Mitchell and the arms of Jim Deshaies and Mike Scott. TCBA-Today has allowed me to get involved in perpetual ownership baseball league again and TCBA-Yesterday is something totally new and exciting. It is like finding pieces to a puzzle to help you compete in the future, which is really the past. Got it?

The Allegheny Innocents were a predecessor to the Pittsburgh Pirates who played in the late 1890's. Their record was 23-113 in one season of league play. I figured I can do better than that.

Personal Info

I am a networking consultant who lives about 30 miles northeast of Boston. My wife and I are modern day nomads having lived in six different states (VA,GA, PA, NJ, NY and MA) since our marriage in 1990. My wife, Cathy, and I are both Penn State grads (Me - HR&IM/Acctg '89, Cath - Mktg '89) and Nittany Lion fan(atics).

Penn State Nittany Lions - National Champions 1982, 1986 and 1994(?)

I am originally from near Hershey, PA and yes, the streetlights are shaped like Kisses and the whole place smells like chocolate.

My favorite baseball player is/was Willie Mays. I was fortunate enough to see him play, although I was 8 years old and hardly remember it, for the Mets v. the Phillies in 1973 but he was not the player then that I have come to admire. I grew up watching Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton and the rest of the 70's Phillies dominate the NL from '76 - '80 albeit with only one world championship. I was really mad when the Phils dealt for Bake McBride which made Jay Johnstone expendable. My first realization of free agency. During college ('82-'89), which was essentially in Pittsburgh Pirates territory, I lost touch with baseball. Even after graduation, I moved to DC where baseball doesn't exist. Beside, I could never root for an AL team!!(the Orioles) My next move was to Atlanta in 1990. I went from last place in the NL East (the Phils) to last place in the NL West (the Braves). How was I to know how the team would improve from 1990 to '91. The comedian George Wallace commented on Braves baseball. "It used to be that if you went to a Braves game, you had a good chance of playing." That was true in '90. I have been a Braves fan ever since.

Tell me what you think of my web page or ask me about APBA or TCBA. Send mail to Craig Shifflett

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