Micro League Baseball

Vol. 5

There's an unknown curse that exists because of me. In October of 2001, I inadvertently put a curse on the New York Yankees. Before I explain, here are the answers to last week's Triple Crown TWIBia, which serve as a lead in to how this happened:

Oakland Invaders, 1989 World Micro Champs

1) .388 AVG, 14 HR, 100 RBI - Rod Carew 1977, 2B
2) .351 AVG, 23 HR, 89 RBI - Roberto Clemente 1961, RF
3) .317 AVG, 54 HR, 128 RBI - Mickey Mantle, 1961, CF
4) .317 AVG, 52 HR, 112 RBI - Willie Mays, 1965, LF
5) .322 AVG, 42 HR, 129 RBI - Billy Williams, 1970, DH
6) .311 AVG, 46 HR, 142 RBI - Orlando Cepeda, 1961, 1B
7) .317 AVG, 28 HR, 118 RBI - Brooks Robinson, 1964, 3B
8) .332 AVG, 18 HR, 100 RBI - Ted Simmons, 1975, C
9) .322 AVG, 8 HR, 79 RBI - Garry Templeton, 1977, SS

Of course, this collection of Hall of Famers and All-Stars never played together on a real ball field, and never donned an Oakland Invader cap or uniform. But they did exist as a Micro League Baseball team, drafted by me when I was 13 years old.

Micro League Baseball was played on the Commodore 64, and if you're familiar with that computer I'm sure you marvel at the advancements that have been made by silicone valley since then. Back then, you worked hard to play a game, first having to type in Load "*",8,1 (to this day I have no idea why) and pray that it could read the huge floppy disk that was shredded after multiple uses. If you got through that initial process, you'd wait about 15 to 20 minutes for the game to load up. Like some sort of Indian tracker, you had mastered all of the curious sounds that the disk drive made and knew which rattle was good and which rattle meant you had to reboot.

Once you had Micro loaded, the baseball world was your oyster. However, this was a different type of baseball game that didn't require you to time a Tommy Euler curve like in Hard Ball, or have you decide when to twirl a Roger McDowell flutter ball at Reggie Jackson in RBI Baseball. No taped up Atari 2600 joystick required - Micro League was a baseball game for the mind, a simulator in the tradition of Strat-O-Matic baseball that challenged you to draft and manage a group of players whose level of production was determined by their actual MLB stats. With Micro, you had the option to type in any player you wanted - just open up the Baseball Encyclopedia and field the team of your dreams. You could put fictitious players in there as well - I had Roy Hobbs, Sidd Finch and Crash Davis in there along with a young lefty phenom named James Potocki. Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige were allowed to play, too.

But the real fun was getting together with my Dad and two cousins as we held a draft of players from 1960 and on, which at the time ended with the 1986 season. The first round was:

1. Bob Gibson, 1968
2. Sandy Koufax, 1963
3. Rod Carew, 1977
4. George Brett, 1980

Brett's Toledo Mudhens were led by Hank Aaron, Harmon Killebrew, Dick Allen, Robin Yount and George Foster. Yet somehow they seemed destined to rule the basement of the league, and that's exactly what they did, even after Bryan quit following an Opening Day loss. After trades, trades, and more trades, I ended up with the lineup mentioned earlier and somehow had the following pitching staff:

1. Dwight Gooden 1985
2. Juan Marichal 1966
3. Ron Guidry 1978
4. Vida Blue 1971
5. Denny McLain 1968
6. Dave McNally 1968
7. Luis Tiant 1968
8. Sparky Lyle 1974
9. Tug McGraw 1971
10. Bruce Sutter 1977

The Oakland Invaders would win the division but had to face my dad's Slippery Rock Sliders in the World Series, who had:

1. Pete Rose 1969 2B
2. Wade Boggs 1985 DH
3. George Brett 1980 3B
4. Frank Robinson 1966 CF
5. Jim Rice 1978 LF
6. Roger Maris 1961 RF
7. Jim Gentile 1961 1B
8. Joe Torre 1971 C
9. Rico Petrocelli 1969 SS

Armed with Sandy Koufax and Steve Carlton in the rotation and Dick Radatz and Ted Abernathy in the pen, they were pretty tough, and I found my club down 3 games to 2 heading back to Oakland looking for a miracle. Luckily for me, Game 6 would go down in the books with as much drama as the real 1986 had. Trailing by 2 with nobody on and with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th, Dick Radatz was on the hill for Slippery Rock facing Oakland's Rod Carew. A .363 hitter in the 1989 season, Carew slashed a hard single to right field to keep my club alive. Roberto Clemente, who platooned in the #2 hole with Cecil Cooper, followed Carew with a blast to left-center that rattled the wall. Carew jogged home with Clemente cruising into third with a triple that reduced the lead to one. The scoreboard went into the monotone "charge" sound effect as the virtual crowd (which looks a mesh of shiny pixels) went crazy. That sent Mickey Mantle, the 1989 Micro MVP, to the plate. The command "swing aggressively" was given, and Mantle responded by rocketing a ball that clanged off the computer screen, only coming back into view as it landed onto the right field wall. He chugged around the bases, scoring Clemente with an unlikely back-to-back triple. Tie game. Out came the manager, Radatz was pulled for Abernathy, who ushered a free pass to Willie Mays. In stepped Billy Williams, who even though the manager had no idea what he looked like, became his favorite after hitting .340 on the game. The Sliders manager called for a changeup, Billy swung aggressively, and hit an arcing Texas leaguer down the right field line, driving in Mantle and winning the game. Game or no game, and even though he was playing his 13 year old son, it was a crushing blow that my Dad had to feel. Luis Tiant would then out-pitch Sandy Koufax in Game 7, winning the Series for Oakland and a new Micro fan for life.

22 years later, we're still playing the game. Although the C64 and the actual Micro program are long gone, it lives on in new versions that have enhanced play with upgraded information and speed of play. In APBA's Baseball for Windows, you can sim out a whole season in 10 minutes, print out in-depth draft sheets, and post results on the web. It's fueled a lifetime appreciation for the game of baseball and its wonderful history, and has gone a long way in keeping relationships going strong between family and friends. Right now we have a progressive league that's in its 16th season and takes up way too much of my time. Much like in fantasy baseball, Micro can make you a fan of players you've never seen play in person, or even a member of hometown team's biggest rival. You've scouted their statistics, and you have weighed in on what type of player they are for the present and future. You trade for them, or draft them high with hopes of winning the elusive championship. And when they bring your club the pennant, it doesn't matter who they play for in real life. They're playing for you. For that reason, I'll always take a Micro World Championship over my favorite MLB club winning the World Series. And this brings us back to 2001, when I put a horrible curse on my favorite team, the New York Yankees. Amidst their push for their 27th World Championship in October, I stated that wouldn't care if the Yankees never won another title if my Corpus Christi Crusaders won the World Series. In the Micro world of 2001, Corpus Christi pulled it out in 6. The Yankees - victimized by a Luis Gonzalez Texas Leaguer in Game 7 - lost their bid for a fourth straight title. They haven't won since. And I don't have a single regret.

No TWIBia this week, but send any comments or suggestions to me at twib@mlb.com.

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