This is an ongoing series of posts documenting my online baseball simulation team, the Northside G-Force, on their quest to win the 1969 GAPL Championship, along with the successes and struggles of my all-time favorite player, Bobby Murcer.
The 2-1 G-Force take on another inter-division opponent the Brew City Barons. Formerly the Missouri Rivermen, this team has won 3 GAPL Championships, and generally beats the tar out of me every season. GM Jim C. completely gutted his team at the end of the 1968 season, so I’m hoping to reap the benefits of playing against a sub par Barons team.
GAME #1
G-Force starter Dave Leonhard gave up a 2 run home run to the perfectly coiffed Joe Pepitone in the 3rd inning, but not much else, as he pitched in and out of trouble for 8 innings. The G-Force scored 5 runs in the 4th as the 1st 7 batters reached base, which included a hit batsman, 5 singles and a Don Mincher double. Bobby Murcer singled in 5 plate appearances.
4/8/2013, Nor69-BCB69, Busch Stadium
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
1969 G-Force 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 1 6 8 1 5 2
1969 Barons 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 12 1 10 1
G-Force AB R H BI AVG Barons AB R H BI AVG
Piniella lf 4 1 1 1 .294 Flood cf 5 1 1 0 .278
Murcer 3b 5 1 1 0 .200 Adair 2b 3 0 1 0 .222
Smith cf 4 1 1 1 .333 Stewart ph 2 0 1 0 .600
Jackson rf 2 1 1 1 .267 Pepitone 1b 5 1 2 2 .412
Mincher 1b 4 1 1 1 .154 Conigliaro,T rf 5 1 1 0 .294
Helms ss 4 0 1 1 .444 Cater lf 3 0 1 0 .188
Alomar 2b 4 1 1 1 .375 Kelley p 0 0 0 0 .000
Rodriguez c 4 0 1 0 .111 Hart ph 1 0 0 0 .000
Leonhard p 2 0 0 0 .000 Santorini p 0 0 0 0 .000
Thomas ph 1 0 0 0 .250 McCarver c 3 0 1 0 .333
Drabowsky p 0 0 0 0 .000 Laboy 3b 4 0 2 1 .231
34 6 8 6 Jackson ss 3 0 0 0 .100
Horlen p 1 0 1 0 1.000
Washburn p 0 0 0 0 .000
Gabrielson lf 2 0 1 0 .250
37 3 12 3
G-Force INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Leonhard W 1-0 8.0 10 3 2 3 1 113 72 2.25
Drabowsky S 1 1.0 2 0 0 0 1 12 8 14.73
9.0 12 3 2 3 2 125 80
Barons INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Horlen L 0-1 3.0 4 5 5 0 1 40 26 15.00
Washburn 2.0 2 0 0 0 0 16 9 9.64
Kelley 3.0 1 0 0 1 2 44 22 0.00
Santorini 1.0 1 1 0 0 0 17 13 2.70
9.0 8 6 5 1 3 117 70
Nor: Thomas batted for Leonhard in the 9th
BCB: Gabrielson inserted at lf in the 6th
Stewart batted for Adair in the 7th
Stewart moved to 2b in the 8th
Hart batted for Kelley in the 8th
E-Jackson, Laboy. 2B-Mincher(1), Pepitone(1), McCarver(1). HR-Pepitone(2).
RBI-Piniella(3), Smith(7), Jackson(2), Mincher(1), Helms(4), Alomar(2),
Pepitone 2(3), Laboy(2). SB-Jackson(1). K-Jackson, Mincher, Alomar,
Conigliaro,T, Laboy. BB-Jackson, McCarver, Jackson, Washburn. SH-Leonhard.
HBP-Piniella, Jackson. HB-Horlen, Kelley.
GWRBI: Mincher
Temperature: 60, Sky: partly cloudy, Wind: right to left at 16 MPH.
GAME #2
A tough loss for the G-Force. Despite getting just 4 hits, they coaxed 9 walks in the 1st 7 innings, while scoring just 3 runs against a wild Barons’ pitching staff. Tim McCarver’s solo home run in the 7th finally put the Barons on the scoreboard. With the score 3-2 in the last of the 9th, Bobby Murcer booted a groundball at 3rd putting 2 runners on. Curt Flood singled to center to tie the score and Reggie Smith misplayed the ball for an error allowing the winning run to score.
A terrible game. Murcer continues not to hit, although he did draw 3 walks, while his 1st error of the year virtually handed the game to the Barons. As a 10 year old rabid Yankee fan in 1969, this game would have bugged me for days. As a middle-aged fantasy baseball GM, this game will bug me for days.
4/9/2013, Nor69-BCB69, Busch Stadium
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
1969 G-Force 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 3 4 2 9 0
1969 Barons 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 4 9 0 9 1
G-Force AB R H BI AVG Barons AB R H BI AVG
Piniella lf 5 0 0 1 .227 Flood cf 5 0 1 1 .261
Murcer 3b 2 1 0 0 .182 Adair 2b 3 0 1 0 .250
Smith cf 5 0 2 1 .348 Stewart ph 1 0 0 0 .500
Jackson rf 2 0 0 1 .235 Pepitone 1b 4 1 1 0 .381
Mincher 1b 2 0 0 0 .133 Conigliaro,T rf 3 0 1 0 .300
Helms ss 4 0 1 0 .409 Cater lf 3 0 0 0 .158
Alomar 2b 3 1 0 0 .316 Culver p 0 0 0 0 .000
Rodriguez c 3 1 1 0 .167 Arrigo p 0 0 0 0 .000
Gentry p 2 0 0 0 .167 Hart ph 0 0 0 0 .000
Granger p 0 0 0 0 .000 O’Donoghue p 0 0 0 0 .000
28 3 4 3 McCarver c 4 1 3 2 .421
Laboy 3b 4 0 1 0 .235
Jackson ss 3 1 1 0 .154
Hannan p 2 0 0 0 .000
Gabrielson lf 2 1 0 0 .167
34 4 9 3
G-Force INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Gentry 7.1 5 1 1 1 1 91 58 3.60
Granger BS 2, L 0-1 0.2 4 3 1 2 1 45 24 9.00
8.0 9 4 2 3 2 136 82
Barons INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Hannan 6.0 1 2 2 7 2 110 57 3.00
Culver 1.0 2 1 1 2 0 28 16 9.00
Arrigo 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 21 13 0.00
O’Donoghue W 1-0 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 16 10 0.00
9.0 4 3 3 9 2 175 96
BCB: Gabrielson inserted at lf in the 7th
Stewart batted for Adair in the 8th
Hart batted for Arrigo in the 8th
Stewart moved to 2b in the 9th
E-Murcer, Smith. 2B-Smith(1). HR-McCarver(1). RBI-Piniella(4), Smith(8),
Jackson(3), Flood(3), McCarver 2(3). K-Piniella, Jackson, Hannan, Stewart.
BB-Murcer 3, Jackson 2, Mincher 2, Alomar, Rodriguez, Conigliaro,T, Jackson,
Hart. SH-Gentry 2. PB-Rodriguez.
Gary Gentry was injured for this game only
Temperature: 59, Sky: clear, Wind: out to left at 14 MPH.
GAME #3
Good news and good news for the G-Force, bad news for the kid in me. The G-Force beat an always formidable Bob Gibson scoring 6 unearned runs. With the score tied at one in the 7th, Tim McCarver threw away a tapper in front of the plate off the bat of Bobby Murcer allowing the go ahead run to score. Gibson took his frustrations out on Reggie Smith and plunked him in the back to load the bases. Reggie Jackson then deposited a 2-2 pitch into the right field stands for a game winning Grand Slam. Bobby Murcer continues to struggle, committing another error, while going hitless, lowering his average to a pitiful .148
4/10/2013, Nor69-BCB69, Busch Stadium
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
1969 G-Force 0 1 0 0 0 0 5 1 0 7 8 1 8 0
1969 Barons 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 6 2 7 0
G-Force AB R H BI AVG Barons AB R H BI AVG
Piniella lf 4 0 0 0 .192 Flood cf 4 1 1 0 .259
Murcer 3b 5 1 0 0 .148 Adair 2b 4 0 0 0 .188
Smith cf 4 1 0 0 .296 Pepitone 1b 4 1 2 1 .400
Jackson rf 5 1 1 4 .227 Conigliaro,T rf 4 0 1 1 .292
Mincher 1b 5 1 3 0 .250 Cater lf 3 0 0 0 .136
Helms ss 4 0 0 0 .346 McCarver c 4 0 0 0 .348
Alomar 2b 4 0 1 0 .304 Laboy 3b 4 0 2 0 .286
Rodriguez c 1 0 0 0 .154 Jackson ss 2 0 0 0 .133
Salmon ph 1 1 1 0 .500 Hart ph 1 0 0 0 .000
Drabowsky p 0 0 0 0 .000 Gibson p 2 0 0 0 .250
Pagan ph 1 1 1 1 .333 Arrigo p 0 0 0 0 .000
Grzenda p 0 0 0 0 .000 Gabrielson ph 1 0 0 0 .143
Bunker p 2 0 0 1 .000 Culver p 0 0 0 0 .000
Thomas ph 1 1 1 0 .400 Stewart ph 1 0 0 0 .429
37 7 8 6 34 2 6 2
G-Force INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Bunker W 1-1 6.0 3 1 1 1 5 72 48 3.75
Drabowsky H 2 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 21 13 11.57
Grzenda 2.0 2 1 1 1 1 37 20 1.93
9.0 6 2 2 2 7 130 81
Barons INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Gibson L 0-1 6.2 6 6 0 1 6 110 71 0.66
Arrigo 0.1 1 0 0 1 0 12 6 0.00
Culver 2.0 1 1 1 0 2 21 13 6.00
9.0 8 7 1 2 8 143 90
Nor: Salmon batted for Rodriguez in the 7th
Thomas batted for Bunker in the 7th
Thomas moved to c in the 7th
Pagan batted for Drabowsky in the 8th
BCB: Gabrielson batted for Arrigo in the 7th
Hart batted for Jackson in the 9th
Stewart batted for Culver in the 9th
E-Murcer, McCarver 2. 2B-Flood(1), Laboy(1). HR-Jackson(2), Pagan(1),
Pepitone(3). RBI-Jackson 4(7), Bunker(1), Pagan(1), Pepitone(4),
Conigliaro,T(1). K-Piniella, Murcer, Smith, Jackson 2, Helms, Rodriguez,
Bunker, Flood 2, Conigliaro,T, Laboy, Jackson, Gibson 2. BB-Helms, Rodriguez,
Cater, Jackson. HBP-Piniella, Smith, Thomas. PB-Thomas. HB-Gibson 2, Culver.
BALK-Gibson.
Temperature: 84, Field: wet, Sky: threatening, Wind: in from right at 8 MPH,
Rain Delays: 56 minutes.
Another series victory puts the G-Force at 4-2, 1 game behind the always tough Muskies. Next up a 3 game series against the Greenville Catfish. Let’s hope Murcer gets out of his early season funk.
Great American Pastime League
Year Team W L Pct GB L10 Strk
Julian Bailey Divis
1969 Minnesota Muskies 5 1 .833 - 5-1 W3
1969 Northside G-Force 4 2 .667 1 4-2 W1
1969 Greenville Catfish 4 2 .667 1 4-2 W1
1969 River City Rhinos 3 3 .500 2 3-3 W1
1969 East Kenosha Lakers 3 3 .500 2 3-3 L1
1969 Brew City Barons 2 4 .333 3 2-4 L1
1969 Mayan Knights 2 4 .333 3 2-4 L1
1969 Walford Wallabies 1 5 .167 4 1-5 L3
Larry Schilling Div
1969 Panama Mad Hatters 6 0 1.000 - 6-0 W6
1969 San Francisco Gold Coast 4 2 .667 2 4-2 W1
1969 Reservoir Dogs 4 2 .667 2 4-2 L1
1969 Crosstown Crackers 2 4 .333 4 2-4 W2
1969 Gotham City Ghosts 2 4 .333 4 2-4 L2
1969 Wapwallopen Wolfpack 2 4 .333 4 2-4 W1
1969 Nashville River Cats 2 4 .333 4 2-4 L1
1969 Ottawa Senators 2 4 .333 4 2-4 L3
Meanwhile, if Panama sweeps the next series, they could put the Schilling Division to bed early without so much as a glass of warm milk. I’m sure Bobby M. will be just fine.
I’m hoping for around .280 with 25-30 home runs from Bobby. Still a long way to go.