We again held a face-to-face Season Ticket Baseball tournament during the recent Digital to Dice 2026 Convention in Preston, Connecticut, hosted by Dave Gardner and Mike Canestrari. The theme of the tournament was "Lovable Losers?", with any team from the Season Ticket catalogue which lost at least 100 games eligible to participate. There were 142 teams available in the pool, and a record sixteen managers selected a squad and then faced off for bragging rights and a place in tabletop baseball immortality as the second D2D Con STB Tournament Champion . . .
The intent of the tournament was to provide a fun-first setting in which people would have a chance to both play STB face-to-face, and to perhaps learn the game better by playing with more experienced gamers. The field shaped up like this, with teams spanning nine different decades vying for 'supremacy':
| Manager | Team |
|---|---|
| Bruce Berkowitz | 1953 St. Louis Browns (54-100) |
| Joe Cards | 1967 New York Mets (61-101) |
| Joe Costa | 1993 New York Mets (59-103) |
| Clay Dreslough | 1987 Cleveland Indians (61-101) |
| John Heckel | 2002 Milwaukee Brewers (56-106) |
| Todd Heidenreich | 1954 Pittsburgh Pirates (53-101) |
| Rob Hinkle | 1930 Philadelphia Phillies (52-102) |
| Scott Johnson | 2012 Chicago Cubs (61-101) |
| George Kaldis | 1970 Chicago White Sox (56-106) |
| Tad Ludes | 1965 Boston Red Sox (62-100) |
| Bob Militello | 1976 Montreal Expos (55-107) |
| Jim Ready | 1966 Chicago Cubs (59-103) |
| Andrew Sexton | 2021 Arizona Diamondbacks (52-110) |
| Tom Tift | 1974 San Diego Padres (60-102) |
| Jerome Weisen | 1969 Montreal Expos (52-110) |
| John Wise | 1930 Boston Red Sox (52-102) |
1993 Mets (Dwight Gooden) at 1965 Red Sox (Bill Monbouquette): Tony Conigilaro hit two home runs and racked up ten total bases as Boston brushed aside New York. It was the visitors that got on the board first, when Joe Orsulak started the game with a double and scored on Jeff Kent’s two-out RBI single, but from that point forward it was all BoSox. The home club tied the game in the 2nd on Tony C’s leadoff homer, took the lead with two runs in the 4th when he went deep again with Yaz aboard, and made it 5-1 in the 6th when Conigliaro doubled with one man gone and Tony Horton followed with a two-run shot. Meanwhile, Boston starter Monbouquette was utterly dominant - after allowing three hits and a run in the 1st, he retired the next seventeen Mets in succession and didn’t allow another hit until Eddie Murray singled with two outs in the top of the 9th. Monbouquette struck out seven and walked just one in a complete-game four-hit masterpiece. 1965 Boston (A) 6-11-1, 1993 New York (N) 1-4-0. [scoresheet]
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| Bill Monbouquette pitched seven consecutive no-hit innings against the Mets |
1966 Cubs (Dick Ellsworth) at 1930 Phillies (Phil Collins): Spud Davis’ solo shot in the bottom of the 8th inning was the deciding blow in a tight game as Philadelphia squeaked past Chicago at the Baker Bowl. The clubs traded 1st-inning runs - Ernie Banks’ tripled with two gone in the Cubs half of the inning and Billy Williams singled him home, but the Phils answered immediately when singles by their first two batters in the bottom half set up Chuck Klein’s sacrifice fly. The home team took the lead in the 5th when Davis homered with no one aboard, but that edge lasted only until Chicago’s next at-bat when Byron Browne doubled to start things off, went to third on a sacrifice bunt and a passed ball, and trotted home on a base hit by Don Kessinger. The game remained knotted up at two runs apiece through seven frames, with both starters still pitching well, but Davis hit his second long ball of the game with two outs in the bottom of the 8th and Collins pitched around a two-out pinch-hit single by Lee Thomas in the 9th to close it out for the Phillies. 1930 Philadelphia (N) 3-10-1, 1966 Chicago (N) 2-7-1. [scoresheet]
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| Virgil "Spud" Davis cracked two homers to doom the Cubs |
2002 Brewers (Ben Sheets) at 1976 Expos (Steve Rogers): Milwaukee erupted for five runs in the top of the 9th inning to break open a close game and then hung on for dear life in the bottom half to outlast the Expos. It was a scoreless game until three straight singles got Montreal on the scoresheet in the 5th, but the Brewers cobbled together the tying run in the 6th on a single, two walks, and a run-scoring error by Montreal third sacker Pete Mackanin. It was Milwaukee’s turn to take the lead in the 7th when Sheets drew a walk and singles by Richie Sexson and Jose Hernandez got him across the plate, but Les Expos came back with one of their own in the bottom of the 8th when Eric Young’s bobble at second base set the table for a game-tying single off the bat of Barry Foote. To the 9th we went, and Wayne Granger (who had pitched a quick and scoreless 8th) got into immediate hot water. Alex Ochoa singled and PH Matt Stairs drew a walk before Young bounced out to third for the first out, moving the runners to second and third. Sexson singled home a pair, Hernandez tripled him home, and Geoff Jenkins followed with a single that made the score 6-2; a walk ended Granger’s appearance, but Tyler Houston welcomed Joe Kerrigan to the bump with an RBI single that made it a five-run lead for the Brew Crew. Takahito Nomura took the ball with the big lead and three outs left to get, and he could only get two of them - the first two Expos went down, but three straight walks loaded the bases, and Del Unser and Tom Foli each singled home one run to make it a 7-4 game with the tying runs on base. That was sayonara for Nomura and Mike Buddie was asked to get the final out, which he did as Foote bounced into a force play that ended the game with the Brewers on top. Houston reached base five times (three singles, HBP, reached on error) for the winners. 2002 Milwaukee 7-12-0, 1976 Montreal 4-9-2. [scoresheet]
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| Tyler Houston was omnipresent on the basepaths for the Brewers |
1953 Browns (Harry Brecheen) at 1974 Padres (Dave Friesleben): It was a quick affair in the early going at San Diego Stadium, as neither side could manage even a hit over the first three frames, but St. Louis broke the ice in the 4th on three straight singles with Vic Wertz knocking in the game’s first run. A Dick Kryhoski solo shot leading off the 6th doubled the Brownies’ advantage and Kryhoski singled home Don Lenhardt in the 8th to make it 3-0. The Friars could do nothing with Harry Brecheen in response, collecting only two hits across his seven innings of work, and Bob Turley and Satchel Paige each tossed a hitless inning of relief to lock up the win for the visitors. 1953 St. Louis (A) 3-9-0, 1974 San Diego 0-2-0. [scoresheet]
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| Dick Kryhoksi was the hitting star of the day for St. Louis |
Roger Connor Bracket - Second Round
1966 Cubs (Bill Hands) at 1993 Mets (Sid Fernandez): New York rode a pair of two-run homers and seven fine innings from Sid Fernandez to a win over Chicago at Shea Stadium. The game was scoreless through four inning, although the Metropolitans had left four men on base as Hands wriggled free of a couple of two-on, one-out jams, but the home team took the lead in the 5th. Joe Orsulak singled with one away, took second when Hands’ pickoff throw sailed over the head of Ernie Banks at first, and scored when Jeromy Burnitz followed by tagging the rattled Hands with a deep drive into the right-field seats. Banks belted one out of the park with the bases empty in the top of the 6th to cut the Cub’s deficit in half, but Cal Koonce replaced Hands to start the bottom of the 6th, and he got a rude welcome from the Mets - Eddie Murray lined a single to right, and Ryan Thompson popped a two-run home run to straightaway center to make the score 4-1. A lead-off double by Byron Browne in the 7th turned into a run when pinch-hitter John Boccabella doubled and even though Fernandez got out of further trouble by coaxing a groundout from Don Kessinger, the Cubs had gotten themselves within striking distance with two innings to play. It was up the bullpens now, and Billy Hoeft and Bill Faul kept the Mets in check for six outs, but Chicago couldn’t do anything productive with Anthony Young and Mike Maddux; they got one-out singles in both the 8th and 9th but couldn’t muster the big hit with the tying run at the plate. 1993 New York (N) 4-9-0, 1966 Chicago (N) 2-7-1. [scoresheet]
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| Sid Fernandez held Chicago to two runs over seven innings |
1974 Padres (Randy Jones) at 1976 Expos (Woodie Fryman): San Diego treated Montreal starter Fryman roughly while the Expos offense couldn’t find an answer to the varied off-speed deliveries of Jones as the Padres won convincingly. Fryman’s trouble started in the 2nd, when Nate Colbert drew a lead-off walk, Fred Kendall singled, and Fryman walked Dave Hilton to fill the sacks with no outs. After a flyout and a force play at the plate had given the impression that the Expos would get off scot-free, Johnny Grubb stroked a two-out, two-run single to put San Diego on top. This was just a taste of things to come, though, as it all went pear-shaped for Fryman and the ‘Spos in the 5th. Fryman again walked the lead-off hitter, and Hilton again to follow, before Enzo Hernandez sacrificed the runners into scoring position. With Jones at the plate and the slow-footed Kendall on third, San Diego elected to put the sacrifice play on again and Jones pushed the squeeze bunt to Fryman’s glove side; the pitcher scooped the ball and flipped it home, but Kendall carried the piano on his back to home plate just quickly enough to slide under the tag for the third San Diego run. That was the beginning of the end for Woodie - Grubb singled home a run, Derrel Thomas doubled across two more, and two more base hits produced the fifth run of the inning to make it a 7-0 game. And that was all she wrote - the home team would spoil the shutout with a run in the 9th on Pepe Mangual’s lead-off home run but Jones went the distance, striking out eleven while scattering eight hits and one walk. 1974 San Diego 7-8-0, 1976 Montreal 1-8-1. [scoresheet]
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| Randy Jones spun a complete-game eleven-strikeout performance against Montreal |
1965 Red Sox (Earl Wilson) at 1930 Phillies (Ray Benge): Tony Conigliaro continued his hot start to the tournament by reaching base five times and hitting his third home run to lead Boston to an easy win over Philadelphia. A Tommy Thevenow error (his second in two innings) gave the Sox the chance to score twice in the 3rd, and Wilson aided his own cause by yanking Benge out of the yard to start the 3rd for a 3-0 Boston lead. Conigliaro started the 4th with another circuit clout, and doubles by Felix Mantilla and Carl Yastrzemski in the 6th keyed a three-run rally that more or less put the game out of the reach of the Phils. They mustered a little bit of resistance in the 8th, though, finally getting to Wilson after being held to three hits over the first seven innings; after the first two hitters singled Wilson was lifted in favor of Arnold Earley, and three of the next five batters stroked hits as the home team put three runs on the board. But Dick Radatz came on in the 9th and “The Monster” struck out the first two men before getting into a second-and-third pickle which he escaped by getting PH Tripp Sigman to fly routinely to Conigliaro in right field. 1965 Boston 7-13-1, 1930 Philadelphia (N) 3-9-2. [scoresheet]
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| Tony Conigliaro hit another homer, in addition to two singles and two walks |
2002 Brewers (Glendon Rusch) at 1953 Browns (Don Larsen): St. Louis pitching once again had the upper hand, and an early three-run homer from an unlikely source turned out to be enough o win a close game for the home-standing Browns. Johnny Groth doubled with one away in the bottom of the 2nd for St. Louis, and Clint Courtney followed with a single; that brought up the very-light-hitting shortstop Billy Hunter (with a .259 real-life slugging percentage and a single HR in 600 plate appearances) and he hit a fly ball to left field that kept drifting back until Geoff Jenkins could only sag against the LF wall in despair as he watched the ball drop into the second row of the stands for three runs. Milwaukee began to chip away in the 5th as a walk and two singles scored a run, pinch-hitter Jeffrey Hammonds doing the RBI honors, to make it a 3-1 ballgame. But Vic Wertz’s run-plating double restored the three-run cushion in the 7th and Don Larsen pitched into the 9th before Bob Turley came on to finish off the game, striking out Mark Loretta for the final out after the Brewers had scored an unearned run to bring the tying run to plate. 1953 St. Louis (A) 4-9-1, 2002 Milwaukee 2-5-1. [scoresheet]
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| Billy Hunter surprised everyone at Sportsman's Park with his 2nd-inning homer |
Roger Connor Bracket - Third Round
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| Larry Parrish homered twice and drove in four runs |
1993 Mets (Bret Saberhagen) at 1974 Padres (Dan Spillner): The two teams were both looking to end their tournament with a winning ledger, and New York made a good start when Jeromy Burnitz tripled with one out in the 1st and scored on Bobby Bonilla's grounder to short. San Diego was ready to rumble, though, and tied the game in the bottom half on Johnny Grubb's lead-off double and a Derrel Thomas single, and then grabbed the lead on three straight two-out hits in the 3rd with Willie McCovey driving the run in on a double that also saw Thomas cut down (crucially, it turned out) at the plate by Burnitz and Jeff Kent. San Diego went up by two runs in the 6th when Thomas singled, went second on a walk, to third on Dave Winfield's deep fly and scored on Bobby Tolan's bounder to second base. Spillner seemed to have it on cruise control, retiring seven of eight through the top of the 6th, but he finally ran out of gas in the 7th. Eddie Murray led off with a base hit then, two outs later, Tim Bogar drove him home from second with a single and PH Chico Walker singled as well. Dave Tomlin came on in relief and was met by Joe Orsulak's RBI single to tie the game once more before getting out of the inning. The bullpens tightened things up from there, with no real threats until San Diego got a two-out double by Winfield in the 11th and an error by Bonilla to put the potential winning run 90 feet away, but Mike Maddux (3 ip, 1 h, 4 k) got Fred Kendall to ground out to short. The game went to the 12th, with zombie runners now in force, and the Mets got to work straightaway. Todd Hundley singled to move runner Ryan Thompson to third, and Tim Bogar singled him home - it looked like a big NY inning was brewing, but pinch-hitter Vince Coleman whacked a line drive at Enzo Hernandez and Bogar was doubled off of first to kill the remaining threat. Anthony (1 win, 16 losses) Young came on to protect the one-run lead with the pinch-runner Matty Alou pre-positioned at second, and induced two pop flies to keep Alou pinned to the bag and PH Cito Gaston swung over the top of a 3-2 sinker to end the game. Bogar and Thomas had three hits apiece. 1993 New York (N) 4-8-1, 1974 San Diego 3-8-1. [scoresheet]
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| Tim Bogar's three hits included the game-winning blow in the 12th |
1930 Phillies (Lee Sweetland) at 2002 Brewers (Jamey Wright): Philadelphia jumped on Jamey Wright for four runs before the first out of the game was recorded, and three Phillie pitchers combined to make the early advantage hold up. Lefty O'Doul walked to start the game, Fresco Thompson singled, and Chuck Klein doubled to score a run . . . all before Don Hurst crushed a Wright offering into the right-field stands for a three-run homer that made it 4-0 Phillies after four batters. The remainder of the game was pretty tightly played, but Milwaukee had already dug its own grave - they got a run in the 3rd on Richie Sexson's homer, but Lefty O'Doul matched him in the 5th; they got a run in the 7th on Robert Machado's dinger, but only after the Phils had scored in the top half of the inning. Pete Alexander came on in the 9th to close it out for Philadelphia, with the help of both a ground-ball double play and a caught stealing. O'Doul reached base three times from the lead-off spot, while Machado had a triple and a home run. 1930 Philadelphia (N) 6-8-2, 2002 Milwaukee 3-9-0. [scoresheet]
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| Don Hurst's three-run blast in the 1st keyed the Phillies win |
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| Neil Berry laced a late two-run triple to snatch the title for St. Louis |
Jim O'Rourke Bracket - First Round
2012 Cubs (Travis Wood) at 1987 Indians (Phil Niekro): A pair of 4th-inning homers gave Cleveland a cushion which Niekro and Dan Gordon guarded jealously, surviving a 9th-inning scare to hold on for the win. Niekro had three one-hit innings under his belt when his teammates got him the lead in the bottom of the 3rd; Tony Bernazard reached on a Luis Valbuena fumble to start the inning and was immediately doubled home by Brett Butler, before Brook Jacoby singled him home two outs later to make the score 2-0. The Cubs took advantage of a defensive miscue by the Tribe in the next half-inning, when two singles and Bernazard's bobble cut the Cleveland lead in half. But that dent was quickly hammered out - quite literally - by the Indians in the bottom half of the inning when Mel Hall and Bernazard went deep in the space of three batters to make it a 4-2 game. That was it for the scoring through the 8th, before Chicago made a last-gasp rally in their final at-bat. With one out and Gordon in his third inning of relief, the Cubs got two singles after one man was out, and a third with two outs, to load the bases and put the potential tying run in scoring position. David DeJesus had the chance to be the hero, but his ground ball to the left side was fielded cleanly by Brook Jacoby, whose throw to first put an end to the proceedings. 1987 Cleveland 4-6-1, 2012 Chicago (N) 1-8-1. [scoresheet]
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| Phil Niekro knuckled down to pitch 6.1 innings of five-hit, one-walk baseball |
1970 White Sox (Tommy John) at 2021 Diamondbacks (Merrill Kelly): Four extra-base hits in a span of eight batters led an Arizona charge back from a 3-1 deficit, and that power carried them past Chicago at Chase Field. Arizona led 1-0 after three innings, thanks to Nick Ahmed's triple and Pavin Smith's single in the bottom of the 3rd, but the ChiSox took advantage of some desert hospitality to take the lead in the 4th. Luis Aparicio doubled to start the inning, and a walk and hit batsman loaded the bases with one away. Gail Hopkins flied out to left, and it appeared that Ken Berry had done likewise to end the inning before David Peralta misplayed the medium-deep fly ball into a three-base error which cleared the bases to put the South Siders up by a 3-1 score. In the last of the 5th, however, the D-Backs dialed up the power - Carson Kelly and Ahmed doubled for one run, PH Tim Locastro grounded across the tying run, and the home team took the lead on Ketel Marte's two-out single. In the next inning, Peralta and Kelly belted back-to-back bombs off of John to give Arizona a three-run lead and the Snakes' pen worked four scoreless innings to preserve the victory. Kelly had six total bases, and Ahmed five, to lead the Arizona attack. 2021 Arizona 7-9-1, 2012 Chicago (A) 3-5-0. [scoresheet]
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| Nick Ahmed had a double and a triple to spark Arizona's comeback from an early deficit |
1930 Red Sox (Milt Gaston) at 1967 Mets (Tom Seaver): The Red Sox made the most of its very limited opportunities while New York stranded twelve baserunners during a tense extra-innings tussle in Queens. There had been no score through the first three innings when the 22-year-old Seaver suffered a bout of wildness in the 4th - with one out, he walked three straight men to load the bases and Bill Regan lofted a fly to center which was deep enough to score Phil Todt from third for the opening run. Cleon Jones' lead-off homer in the 5th tied the game at one run apiece, and it stayed that way into the 8th, when both teams made a bid to win. The Sox got a lead-off long ball from catcher Charlie Berry and the Mets came right back with three singles in the bottom half, Ed Charles driving home Ed Kranepool with two outs to tie the game once again. The visitors got a two-out double in the 9th from Cedric Durst, but could not move him along and the game went into extra frames. The 10th passed quickly and quietly, and the first two BoSox went down in the 11th. But Todt and Tom Oliver singled off of Ron Taylor and Durst came through with the clutch base hit that sent Todt across with the go-ahead run. Frank Bushey toed the rubber for Boston in the bottom half, pitching his fourth inning of relief, and he found himself underwater quickly through no fault of his own when Hal Rhyne and Regan booted ground balls in the first three batters. A fly ball for the second out was too shallow to allow the lead runner to advance from third, and Jones (3-for-4, HR, SB) was then intentionally walked to set up the force play at any base (but also put the potential winning run into scoring position). That left the New Yorkers' fate up to Bud Harrelson, who hit a three-hopper to Regan at second, who handled it cleanly this time for the game's 66th and final out. 1930 Boston (A) 3-7-4, 1967 New York (N) 2-9-0. [scoresheet]
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| Frank Bushey pitched 3.2 scoreless innings of one-hit relief for the win |
1969 Expos (Jerry Robertson) at 1954 Pirates (Max Surkont): Mack Jones gave the Expos a quick lead with a three-run 1st-inning homer and three pitchers combined to hold Pittsburgh down at Forbes Field. The visitors didn't wait long to put their stamp on the game, as Ron Brand singled and Rusty Staub walked with one away, and Jones then drove a Surkont pitch over the right-field wall for three runs as the Pittsburgh fans were still settling into their seats. The Pirates got one of those back in the home half of the 2nd, after Toby Atwell singled to start the inning, took second on Surkont's walk, and scored when Curtis Roberts singled up the middle. But the visitors put the game away in the 6th, again on the strength of the long ball - Staub knocked a lead-off single and, after Surkont had retired the next two on fly balls, Coco Laboy hit one deep down the LF line which stayed just fair as it dropped over the wall for a 5-1 Montreal lead. Robertson allowed one run in five innings, and Larry Jaster combined with Gary Waslewski to pitch four innings of two-hit, one-run relief. 1969 Montreal 5-6-1, 1954 Pittsburgh 2-9-2. [scoresheet]
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| Mack Jones' three-run 1st-inning blast put the Expos on the road to victory |
Jim O'Rourke Bracket - Second Round
2012 Cubs (Jeff Samardzija) at 1970 White Sox (Bart Johnson): Samardzija took a shutout into the 8th inning and the Cubs used three late runs to hold the Sox at arm's length. Alfonso Soriano's groundout with runners at second and third scored the opening run for the Cubs in the top of the 1st, but runs dried up for both clubs after that. Johnson whiffed five in the first five innings while Samardzija fanned six, and it was still a 1-0 game into the 6th inning. A leadoff walk to Anthony Rizzo proved costly to the ChiSox when singles by Soriano and Wellington Castillo were enough to bring him all the way around to score. Back-to-back RBI extra-base hits in the 8th - a triple by Darwin Barney and a double by Luis Valbuena - platted a pair more for the North Siders and the 5-0 edge appeared insurmountable. This turned out to be the case, even though Samradzija faltered slightly in the 8th, allowing a solo homer by Carlos May; the Cubs countered with one in the 9th while the White Sox also scored one, the first two men reaching safely before Carlos Marmol struck out the next three men in order to punctuate the finish of the game with an exclamation point. Valbuena and Rizzo each reached base three times for the Cubs, while Ed Herrmann singled three times for the Sox. 2012 Chicago (N) 5-12-1, 1970 Chicago (A) 2-7-0. [scoresheet]
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| Jeff Samardzija allowed one run in eight innings, striking out eight |
1954 Pirates (Bob Friend) at 1967 Mets (Don Cardwell): Jerry Buchek's two-run double ended a marathon affair in the bottom of the 13th inning as New York rallied from behind twice in extra innings to steal the victory. The game was dominated by the hurlers almost from the outset, as neither side could manage a hit for the first two innings, a stretch that shockingly broken by Cardwell's solo homer in the bottom of the 3rd. Pittsburgh got that back the next time the came to to the plate, but they had to scratch and claw their way to that one run via a hit batsman, single, error and bases-loaded walk. The offenses went into a long hibernation from that point, Pittsburgh getting only one runner to second over the next six innings while the Mets got four mean that but all of them after two were out. Friend pitched ten innings, while New York went to their bullpen in the 8th as the goose eggs continued. The game moved to the 12th inning and the zombie runner went into force, and that jumpstart got the offenses moving. The Pirates got a run in the 12th on a single and a sacrifice fly by Preston Ward, but NY answered with one of their own on a single and Cleon Jones' high chopping ground out to first base. On to the 13th, and the visitors got one on the board quickly when Toby Atwell led off by singling home the zombie, but Hal Reniff struck out two to strand two runners and the Mets got their chance in the bottom of the inning. Ed Kranepool walked to put two Mets on the basepaths and, after a fly out, Buchek ripped a Paul LaPalme pitch into the LCF gap that got all the way to the fence and sent Kranepool all of the way around to score the winning run. 1967 New York (N) 4-9-1, 1954 Pittsburgh 3-10-0. [scoresheet]
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| Jerry Buchek's 13th-inning double walked it off for New York |
2021 Diamondbacks (Madison Bumgarner) at 1987 Indians (Greg Swindell): Another extra-inning contest ended when Pat Tabler singled home Brett Butler in the bottom of the 10th. Cleveland chipped away incessantly at Bumgarner in the early innings, building a 3-0 lead after just four frames - Mel Hall homered for the second time in two days in the 2nd, Julio Franco singled home Andy Allanson in the 3rd and Cory Snyder's 4th-inning base hit scored Brook Jacoby. But Swindell, who had allowed only three hits in seven innings while striking out seven, was lifted to start the 8th and the Cleveland pen couldn't hold the lead. Jamie Easterly was hit by two-out lightning in the 8th (Eduardo Escobar single, Christian Walker RBI double, David Peralta RBI single) and then walked the first two men he faced, and Doug Jones allowed a PH single by Josh Reddick to fill the sacks before being victimized by a Julio Franco error that scored the tying run. Butler drew a bases on balls off Caleb Smith with one gone in the home half of the 10th, and took second when Franco (2-for-4, BB, SB, CS) tapped back to the box on a hit-and-run play. Tabler than looped a single to left and the speedy leadoff hitter raced home with the run that gave the Tribe their second straight win. 1987 Cleveland 4-7-3, 2021 Arizona 3-6-1. [scoresheet]
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| Pat Tabler singles home the winning run in the 10th |
1969 Expos (Steve Renko) at 1930 Red Sox (Danny MacFayden): Someone forget to tell the Red Sox that they were playing their second-round game by their own native 1930s rules, and Montreal capitalized by pounding out 22 hits, ten for extra bases, on their way to a lopsided win at Fenway Park. The assault began quietly, with one run on a couple of singles in the 1st, but began in earnest in the 3rd when Expo hitters battered four straight two-base hits to produce three more runs. A brief intermission to allow Boston to score a singleton was then followed by two Montreal doubles in the 6th and six hits and six runs in the 7th. The hits kept coming with three more extra-base hits and four runs over the final two innings as the Sox just could not find a way to stop the bleeding. Ron Fairly went 6-for-6 with three doubles, four runs scored and four RBI while Mack Jones had "only" five hits, three runs scored and two RBI. 1969 Montreal 17-22-2, 1930 Boston (A) 1-7-1. [scoresheet]
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| Ron Fairly had himself a day - six hits, four runs, four RBI - in Montreal's rout of Boston |
Jim O'Rourke Bracket - Third Round
1954 Pirates (Dick Littlefield) at 1970 White Sox (Joe Horlen): Pittsburgh got off to a quick start against Horlen, scoring four times in the first three innings, and then held off Chicago as three pitchers combined to stifle the White Sox on five singles. Curtis Roberts' (3-for-5) double on the first pitch of the game resulted in a run when Frank Thomas also hit for two bases with two men out, and the Bucs added three runs in the 3rd on RBI from Thomas, Toby Atwell and Jerry Lynch. But the game wasn't over, as the Chicagos responded with one in their half of the 3rd (two walks and a Luis Aparicio run-scoring single) and two in the 6th (two walks, and RBI base hits by Gail Hopkins and Ken Berry) to make it a one-run game. But, after Horlen's departure, the ChiSox relief corps could not hold the line as Don Eddy surrendered two hits, two walks and a sacrifice fly in a two-run 8th that put the visitors ahead by three and George O'Donnell tossed two innings of one-hit relief to slam the door shut on the home team. 1954 Pittsburgh 6-11-0, 1970 Chicago (A) 3-5-0. [scoresheet]
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| Curt Roberts had three hits and scored the Pirates' first two runs |
1967 Mets (Bob Shaw) at 2012 Cubs (Paul Maholm): Chicago scored ten straight runs over a four-inning span to overturn a small early deficit and steamroll New York in front of an appreciative crowd at Wrigley Field. The visitors scored first after Jerry Buchek doubled in the 4th and Amos Otis singled him home, but from that point forward it was all Cubs. They tied the score in the 4th when Bud Harrelson's two-out error opened the door for an RBI single off the stick of Wellington Castillo, and took the lead in the 5th behind back-to-back RBI doubles by Alfonso Soriano and Darwin Barney. Things fell apart completely for the Mets in the 6th as Chicago scored five times, largely thanks to wildness from the NY pitching staff - four walks and a passed ball set the table for two hits, once of which was a three-run homer from Anthony Rizzo, as the home team put the game into its back pocket. They scored twice more in the 7th for good measure when David DeJesus doubled with runners at second and third, and James Russell and Manny Corpas completed an effective, if inefficient (12 baserunners stranded), day for Cubs pitching. 2012 Chicago (N) 10-10-3, 1967 New York (N) 2-11-1. [scoresheet]
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| Anthony Rizzo's three-run homer broke the game apart |
1930 Red Sox (Danny MacFayden) at 2021 Diamondbacks (Zac Gallen): Arizona took the early lead on a pair of walks, a single and a Hal Rhyne error in the 3rd, but Boston answered immediately, and loudly, in the 4th when Earl Webb led off with a homer and Phil Todt followed that with a triple. Cedric Durst's sacrifice fly then gave the Sox the 2-1 lead. The game quieted down from there, and it was still 2-1 when Boston got doubles from Rhyne and Otis Miller in the 7th to tack on a third run. David Peralta led off the home 7th with a double, and the first two Arizona batters in the 8th singled, but in neither case could the Snakes advance the runners any further and Ed Durham came on in the 9th for Boston to protect the two-run lead. Eduardo Escobar singled to start the inning to bring the tying run to the plate, but Peralta skied out to right field for the first out. Christian Walker, who had doubled in the 3rd, was next man up and he hit the ball hard but right at second baseman Bill Regan on one hop and the game ended on the 463 double play. Webb reached base three times while the ninth spot in the Diamondbacks order went 2-for-2 with two walks. 1930 Boston (A) 3-6-3, 2021 Arizona 2-8-0. [scoresheet]
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| Earl Webb homered and singled at the top of the Sox lineup |
1987 Indians (Tom Candiotti) at 1969 Expos (Mike Wegener): Pursuit of the O'Rourke Bracket crown and a spot in the final got off to a rapid start when Mack Jones forced Candiotti to come in with a fastball on a 3-1 count, with a man on first in the bottom of the 1st, and drilled the pitch over the fence for a 2-0 Montreal lead. Cleveland got one of those back in the second when Wegener plunked #9 hitter Tony Bernazard to move a runner into scoring position with two outs and Brett Butler followed with an RBI single, but the Expos kept on swinging for the fences. In the last of the 4th, Tony Cline drew a leadoff walk and Coco Laboy followed him with another Expo homer to give the home team a three-run lead. Wegener was nails for six innings, allowing five hits (and only one in his last three innings) and then Montreal handed it over to the bullpen. Roy Face allowed a one-out solo homer to Mel Hall (his third straight game with a long ball) in the 8th and was replaced by Carroll Sembera, but Bobby Wine mishandled Cory Snyder's grounder and the seams were starting to turn into cracks for the Expos. Andy Allanson singled and Sembera then uncorked a wild pitch before drilling Bernazard between the shoulder blades; this lead to a benches-clearing incident in which Sembera was ejected and Claude Raymond had to be summoned from the bullpen without warning to attempt to put out the fire. The bases were now loaded with one out, the tying runs were in scoring position and the top of the order was due for the Indians. "Frenchy" got Butler to pop to shallow right for the second out and the runners were forced to hold, but Julio Franco laced a single to center which scored two runs to tie the game and sent Bernazard around to third base. Pat Tabler was next up for the Tribe and he singled in Bernazard as the go-ahead run before Raymond could finally put an end to the destruction. Candiotti got the first out of the Montreal 8th and was then replaced by Jamie Easterly for the next two outs, and Doug Jones was asked to pitch the 9th despite some lingering fatigue from the previous days' game. He struck out Laboy and PH Jose Herrera, but Bobby Wine touched him for a double and Manny Mota coaxed a pinch-hit walk. It was up to Ron Fairly, coming off of a six-hit game yesterday, but 0-for-3 so far today, and he could only hit the ball in the air to medium center where the bracket title settled into Butler's glove. 1987 Cleveland 5-10-0, 1969 Montreal 4-6-2. [scoresheet]
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| Julio Franco's two-run single was the key strike in Cleveland's late comeback |
1987 Indians (Scott Bailes) at 1953 Browns (Dick Littlefield): It all came down to this, and Cleveland came out running when Brett Butler drew a lead-ff walk and immediately stole second. After he moved to third on a groundout, Joe Carter singled for the game's first run and then he stole second; when Clint Courtney's throw down to second skipped into centerfield Carter move on to third base, and then scored the Indians' second run when Brook Jacoby grounded out to second. Bailes retired the first eight Browns before Littlefield doubled with two outs in the 3rd, and St. Louis finally got to him the following inning. Dick Kryhoski led off the 4th with a base hit into the left center gap, but was gunned out by Carter trying to stretch the hit into a double. After Vern Stephens grounded out, though, Vic Wertz homered and the Browns were on the board. But the clubs were playing all-hands-on-deck baseball on the mound, and the scoring dried up as Steve Carlton, Virgil Trucks and Bob Turley each tossed multiple innings of scoreless relief. Satchel Paige came on for STL in the top of the 9th and worked around a two-out Pat Tabler single, and Doug Jones took the pill for CLE in the bottom of the 9th after tossing a 1-2-3 8th with two whiffs. His second inning would not go so smoothly, however, as Les Moss led off with a base hit and after Don Lenhardt struck out, Kryhoski lined a double down the left-field line that put the winning runs in scoring position with one away. The Indians had seen enough of the gassed Jones and Jamie Easterly came into the game to face Vern Stephens despite the platoon disadvantage, an edge which became all too real when Stephens tomahawked a high fastball over the left-field wall to end the game and the tournament in spectacular walk-off fashion. After twenty-five games, the 1953 Browns were the second D2D Con Season Ticket Baseball Champion! 1953 St. Louis (A) 4-7-1, 1987 Cleveland 2-5-0. [scoresheet]
The tournament was again loads of fun, and I'm again very grateful to everyone for participating in the spirit in which the event was intended. There were six one-run games, four of which went to extra innings (and two to the zombie runner) and, for the third time in three convention tournaments the title was decided in the final inning of the tournament. Home cooking went only 10-15, including 1-2 in the bracket and tournament finals. The games were fairly low-scoring, with the 8.2 runs per game slightly inflated by the seventeen runs put up in one game by the 1969 Expos; this was a little surprising given the pretty poor pitching on these clubs, but there were also a lot of weak spots in these batting orders.
Final Results
| Team | W | L | PCT | GB | RDiff | Home | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 St. Louis Browns | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | 0.0 | 8 | 2-0 | 2-0 |
| 1987 Cleveland Indians | 3 | 1 | 0.750 | 1.0 | 3 | 2-0 | 1-1 |
| 1969 Montreal Expos | 2 | 1 | 0.667 | 1.5 | 18 | 0-1 | 2-0 |
| 1965 Boston Red Sox | 2 | 1 | 0.667 | 1.5 | 8 | 1-1 | 1-0 |
| 2012 Chicago Cubs | 2 | 1 | 0.667 | 1.5 | 8 | 1-0 | 1-1 |
| 1930 Philadelphia Phillies | 2 | 1 | 0.667 | 1.5 | 0 | 1-1 | 1-0 |
| 1993 New York Mets | 2 | 1 | 0.667 | 1.5 | -2 | 1-0 | 1-1 |
| 1930 Boston Red Sox | 2 | 1 | 0.667 | 1.5 | -14 | 0-1 | 2-0 |
| 2021 Arizona Diamondbacks | 1 | 2 | 0.333 | 2.5 | 2 | 1-0 | 0-2 |
| 1974 San Diego Padres | 1 | 2 | 0.333 | 2.5 | 2 | 0-2 | 1-0 |
| 1954 Pittsburgh Pirates | 1 | 2 | 0.333 | 2.5 | -1 | 0-1 | 1-1 |
| 2002 Milwaukee Brewers | 1 | 2 | 0.333 | 2.5 | -2 | 0-1 | 1-1 |
| 1976 Montreal Expos | 1 | 2 | 0.333 | 2.5 | -4 | 0-2 | 1-0 |
| 1967 New York Mets | 1 | 2 | 0.333 | 2.5 | -8 | 1-1 | 0-1 |
| 1966 Chicago Cubs | 0 | 3 | 0.000 | 3.5 | -8 | 0-2 | 0-1 |
| 1970 Chicago White Sox | 0 | 3 | 0.000 | 3.5 | -10 | 0-2 | 0-1 |
While much of their title run was built on pitching and defense, the 1953 Browns scored when they needed to, and the man usually in the middle of this was 1B Dick Kryhoski. In the three games for which complete records survive (someone call Retrosheet!), the 28 year-old lefty swinger raked at a .545/.583/.909 clip, with two RBI and three runs scored, out of the three hole in the St. Louis lineup.
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