Face to Face with RiggoDrill

It is always good to play the board game face to face, especially with some of the guys here on the boards. Awhile back, I had the pleasure of playing two world series format face to face, with RiggoDrill when he came into town.

We used the 1956 cards, he took the Yankees, and I took the Braves.
The 56 Yankees have that killer Mantle card, an excellent Whitey Ford card, very good D, Yogi Berra and a decent pen. This was before Maris came along, so that 1-2 punch wasn't there yet. The other starters are good, not great.
The Braves had Spahn and Burdette, both with good cards, (that 56 card is the best Burdette card I have seen)-but after that it's pretty thin---though the 56 Braves had 2 very good lefty relievers in Taylor Phillips and Lew Sleater.
The Braves offense has some holes --- Schoendienst did not appear until the following year, and Danny O'Connell, at 2B, could not hit righties, and neither could Logan, the SS.---the only hitter who really destroyed righties was Mathews. Bruton and O-Connell at the top of the lineup had very low OBP.
In the first game it was Ford vs Spahn, and Ford was lights out, winning 4-1, with homers from Skowron and Martin. the lone Brave run came on an HR by Adcock.
In the second game, Burdette vs Larsen, Skowron homered again, and in the middle of the game, Aaron got injured for the remainder of the series and the Yankees won 5-3. Burdette only gave up 5 hits, but all of those runners scored.
In the 3rd game, it was Buhl vs Kucks, Mathews homered, but with Aaron gone, it was tough going, and the Yankees won 7-6, despite having only 1 Xtra base hit, a triple by Bob Cerv.
In the 4th game, it was Conley vs Stivurdant, Thompson homered for the Braves, Mantle for the Yankees, and the Yankees swept the series by winning 2-1.

In our second world series, we mixed it up a bit. We each combined two 1956 teams, Riggodrill took the Yankees and the White Sox, and I took the Braves and the Reds.
By adding that great middle infield of Fox and Aparcio, and being able to put Minoso in LF, and adding Billy Pierce, 20 game winner that year, and having a powerful duo behind the plate of Berra and Lollar, and with the addition of the excellent Sox pen, the Yankees-Sox combo was a very tough team.
For the Braves and Reds, things got interesting. The OF became Frank Robinson in LF, Gus Bell in CF, and Aaron in RF.
and the catcher platoon was Bailey and Crandall, two powerful hitters from either side. in the infield things did not improve much. MacMillan is a 1 as SS, but can't hit a lick, and Temple, though a slightly better hitter and defender then O'Connell, didn't walk near as much, so those 2 positions remained holes.
The starters remained all Braves, but the Reds added some good arms to the pen.

Game 1: The Braves/Reds pounded out 15 hits against the Yankees, and chased Ford early, which doesn't happen very often. Robinson homered, the rest came from singles and walks (the HR was the sole EXtra base hit). The Yankees/Sox chased Buhl early as well, and Mantle homered, but it wasn't enough, the NL won 12-9.

Game 2: Pierce vs Burdette. Pierce gives up just 8 hits, and only one xtra base hit, a double by Adcock, Burdette only gives up 5 hits (all singles), but he walked 7, and the AL wins 4-3.

Game 3: Spahn vs Sturdivant. Spahn is dealing, and pitches a 4 hitter, the only run coming on an error. Aaron goes 2 x 4 with a walk, and scores 3 times, Mathews homers and the NL wins 4-1.

Game 4: Larsen vs Conley. McDougal homers, but that's it for the junior circuit. The NL pounds out 12 hits, including homers by Mathews, Aaron and Adcock, and the Braves/Reds win 10-2. The AL has their backs up against the wall.

Game 5: The World Series ace does it when he has to, Whitey pitches a 4 hitter, Mantle homers and the AL wins 4-1, the sole NL run on a solo homer by Mathews.

Game 6: Burdette vs Pierce, both starters get chased early, as the lead goes back and forth. Berra goes 3x4 with HR and 3 runs scored, Minoso homers, Aparcio goes 2x3. But the NL'ers pull it out in a thriller, winning 8-7, and taking the series. The big damage was done by Frank Robinson, who homered twice, and Joe Adcock, who cleared the bases in the 6th, and Del Crandall, who homered in the first inning.

note--some of you may wonder why I did not start Spahn in the first game---it was because the NL was the home team (so the series started in County Stadium, I wanted Spahn, the lefty, to start in Yankee stadium for the 3rd game--as the 56 Yankee Stadium is very lefty weighted.

so we each won a series---It's great to play the board game, and playing with RiggoDrill, who knows his stuff, makes it all the better.
---holding runners, deciding to steal, bunt, pinch-hitting, warming up relievers in the pen---as a manager you get to do all those things and manage each AB and out. If you haven't done it, you should try it some time.
Any of you in the LA area, let me know, be great to play, I have over 100 different card teams (all prior to 1980.

michael b

(Some of you may remember me as MTHEB, which was my previous owner moniker. Due to a email snafu with my previous email, I started with a new email service and signed up with a new owner name, blineimages).

Great memories Michael. Can't believe you let me get away with taking the Yankees twice. ...and combining them with the White Sox who were AWESOME in the mid-fifties. That said, Braves + Reds would give you a pretty fearsome lineup...

Ca - Crandall / Bailey
1B - Adcock / Klu
2B - Temple
SS - Logan
3B - Mathews
RF - Aaron
CF - G.Bell
LF - F.Robinson

It is a blast selecting and combining 2 teams, and picking the 2nd team that best fills your gaps.

With that Yankee team, the gaps were LF, 3B and 2B and starting pitching after Ford. By adding the White Sox, RiggoDrill was able to fill those perfectly---Minoso in LF, Fox at 2B, Aparicio went to SS, which allowed McDougal to move to 3B---which fixed the infield defense and offense perfectly. Berra and Lollar at C were the ideal lefty/righty platoon. Adding Pierce to Ford, especially pitching in Yankee Stadium, was a big plus, and the strong Sox relievers helped the pen.

By adding the Reds to the Braves, I got the golden OF, with Frank Robinson replacing Thomson in LF, and Gus Bell (who in 1956 had real LH power and great D)--was a major improvement over the weak hitting Billy Bruton. And against lefties, Aaron could slide to CF, and Wally Post (another big time slugger) would step in in RF. The only real improvement in the INF was having Ed Bailey, the LH power hitting catcher, who was the ideal platoon with Crandall (who crushes lefties). Adcock and Mathews remained at the corner. Logan was a 2 that year at SS, and he destroyed lefties, but against RH pitching, he was worthless. MacMillan was a 1, but a weak hitter, so though there was a defense upgrade against RH pitching, there was not that much more at SS. At 2B, O'Connell, though he walked 76 times that year, was a 3 defensively, so Temple, who was a 2, was a defensive upgrade, and Johnny had a better BA as well, but his OBP was very light-----so the challenge with this combo team is who to bat 1 and 2 at the top of the lineup, especially against RH pitching. Once you get to the #3 slot, the big bats come in droves. The Reds starting pitching was nothing special, but the one Brave staff weakness was good RH relievers, which the Reds did have.
Playing the 56 Yankees is interesting in that you see how the upcoming additions (Kuebek at SS, Richardson at 2B, and Maris in RF, and starters like Terry and Bouton) greatly improved an already very good team and made the Yankees of the early 60's, a decade team.

So that was a great matchup all around. There were several very special cards that year---Mantle's 56 card is just a phenom, and Whitey Ford's card is killer. For the Braves, that 1956 Lew Burdette card is his best ever, I truly wish that card was in the ATG8 set, because the cards that are there do not reflect Burdette's effectiveness. The 56 Aaron card is light on power (rare for the Hammer), but Adcock, despite his iron glove, destroys fences left and right.
As per the Yankees future additions, using the 56 team, you can see how the addition of Scheondienst in 1957 at 2B, and Don McMahon in the pen, and the emergence of another LH bat in Covington, besides Mathews, filled 3 big time voids for the Tomahawk boys.

Well, its always fun to go back to the roots and play the board game, and it is interesting what you can learn by doing it.

Maybe next time RiggoDrill comes to town, we face off some of the Yankee and Braves teams from the 90's....

Of note, about the 1956 teams--
The Reds that year, despite mediocre starting pitching, had a big time array of power hitters, both left and right.

Catcher: Ed Bailey -lefty 28 HRs
First Base: Big Klu -lefty 35 HRs
Centerfield: Gus Bell -lefty 29 HRs
Left Field: Frank Robinson -righty 38 HRs
Right Field: Wally Post -Righty 36 HRs

and they had 3 other hitters with double digit HRs, the team hit a total of 221 HRs that year....