2036 All-Star Game

[Board of the PEBA]

The 2036 All-Star Game will be held as part of Thursday's (9/8) sim and we will have a live broadcast of the game right here in this thread!! We will have a special 3:30pm PT cut-off for exports so that I can do all the grunt work of setting up the All-Star teams and do the broadcast. Game time is tentatively scheduled for 4:30pm PT/7:30pm ET - but I'll begin when I've got it ready to roll. Grab your tickets, a hard cider and a three pack of cider donuts! Our hosts for this year’s game, the Manchester Maulers, have Ol’ Whiten Field all sparkling and dressed up for the festivities. There's even talk of a pre-game 'Oyster Shucking Race' for the fans to enjoy!

[Board of the PEBA]

City Government leaders and the 73-year old GM of the Manchester Maulers, the legendary Morris Cooley – along with Maulers manager Abel Beaulieu and owner Jose Rodriguez, joined together at Victory Park in welcoming fans to the 30th PEBA All-Star Game! This year's game will be held at Whiten Field, the old, venerable home of the Maulers and will be the first hosted by Manchester and is the 5th PEBA Midsummer Classic hosted by a Seaboard-Pan Atlantic club – New Jersey hosted the Inaugural 2007 game (a SL 10-3 win, with Reno’s Jeff Patterson the MVP); Arlington hosted the 2014 game (an IL 6-5 win in 11-innings, with Canton’s Chris Wright, the MVP); Gloucester hosted the 2016 game (a SL 5-3, with Aurora’s Bob Keller, the MVP); and most recently, West Virginia hosted the 2031 game (a SL 5-1, with Manchester’s Vito Valkenburg the MVP). All-Time, the Sovereign League holds a 15-14 advantage as the IL have won the past two games.

Amongst the luminaries who attended the opening festivities, was PEBA Commissioner ‘Harry’ Castle, franchise career win leader, Yoritoki Ando , former-franchise home run leader, Louis Crocker , and Manchester’s own Adam Sandler .

[Board of the PEBA]

The Planetary Extreme Baseball Alliance
Announces
2036 Sovereign League
All-Star Team

Manager: Jiro Nakamura - Kalamazoo

Starters
C Claudio Perez, KAL
1B Javier ‘Pokey’ Aguilar, MAD
2B Joe Riley, NT
3B Antonio Santos, FAR
SS Rodrigo ‘El Cid’ Vasquez, TOY
LF Juan ‘Chief’ Velasquez, DUL
CF Angel ‘Otter’ Silva, AUR
RF Raull Ortega, SS
DH Tsuginori ‘Mustache ‘ Takahashi, Bak
SP Rene ‘Capuchin ‘ Padilla, DUL

C Mauro Mata, BAK
1B Alexander Craig, KAL
INF Jose Aleman, AUR
INF Stephan Inman, YUM
INF Marcos Sanchez, NT
INF Barry Wallace, CL
OF Steve Boyer, REN
OF *Pat Watson, FAR
OF Dan Bean, OKA
OF Tony Mireles, FAR
DH John Pulsifer, TOY
SP Alfredo Gonzales, TOY
SP Jose Ojeda, REN
SP **Jorge Castillo, SS
SP Owen Barse, FAR
SP Young-pil Pin,YUM
RP Scotty Shorland, TOY
RP Rudy Howard, PS
RP Chris Acevez, DUL
RP Earl Lucas, NII
RP Carlos Munoz, TEM
RP Noritada Akiyama, NII
RP Ryan Tate, AUR


*Takeeichi Kobayashi, TOY - elected but injured
**Brenden Clymo, KAL - elected, but pitched Sunday

[Board of the PEBA]

The Planetary Extreme Baseball Alliance
Announces
2036 Imperial League
All-Star Team

Manager: Felix Garza – Florida

Starters
C Antonio Mesegue, KEN
1B Vito van Wondel, FLA
2B Michael Roberts, FLA
3B Juan Ramos, SCO
SS Ricardo Mateo, HAV
LF Gordon Knoop, FLA
CF Alfredo Guzman, WV
RF Giampaolo Eremitani, LON
DH Bartolo Mora, FLA
SP Luis Jimenez, KEN

C Lee Ray, NJ
1B Ramon Francisco, HAV
INF Florian Antuofermo, SJ
INF Rien Leeuwenburgh, ARL
INF Tom May, HAR
INF Katsunan Ichihara, GLO
OF Raul Cuellar, MAN
OF Pedro Coronado, FLA
OF Zhao-dao Lew, WV
OF Shu-de Mu, KEN
DH Javier Drake, WV
SP *Carmelo Lambert, AMS
SP Chris Pate, NJ
SP Cheh Zhang, WV
SP **Sa-yoor Chang, ARL
SP Orlando Trujillo, NJ
RP Bob Burns, FLA
RP Shane Pereles, AMS
RP Gustavo Hernandez, WV
RP Kenji Honda, SCO
RP Dan McNeil, SA
RP Suketsune Okamoto, CST
RP Gary Walker, NO

*Raul Cruz, LON - elected, but pitched Sunday
**George Farleigh, GLO - elected, but pitched Sunday

[Board of the PEBA]

Manchester, New Hampshire is home to one of the excellent disk golf - AKA Frisbee Golf, courses in New England, and The Hollows, south of downtown Manchester and Whiten Field, is one of the most challenging. Nestled in a dense forested area, The Hollows features overlapping Championship and beginner tees and is host to Disk Golf tournaments yearly. This year, The Hollows, the City of Manchester and the Planetary Extreme Baseball Alliance All-Star committee will host an All-Star experience for the PEBA's 30th season that the entirety of All-Star rosters have chosen to compete in - a first: The PEBA Classic.

The players drew names out of the hat to determine the order of play, and grand laughter and serious cat-calls were had when the first player up - Florida Farstrider Gordon Knoop drew his own name. His teammates were not kind to the 3-time MVP as Vito van Wondel drew Kentucky catcher Antonio Mesegue, Bartolo Mora drew Alfredo Guzman of West Virginia and Bob Burns, with a certain amount of irony, drew Aurora reliever - and former-Florida farmhand, Ryan Tate. Straight off from the opening throws, group 1 was guaranteed to be a contentious one.

Knoop, the first player to throw a disk stepped up to the Championship tee - and with a snide look and sarcastic "This tee is only for Farstriders" wound up and heaved a massive throw whose distance along the course line was matched only by the distance the slice carried it through the air - until it struck an ash tree which deflected it further away, but towards the ground. Mesegue, Guzman and Tate all took notice - as did the rest of the All-Stars, and they were more cautious with their throws, with Ryan Tate and Guzman earning 1st hole pars, while Knoop struggled to hole out at 7.

As each foursome teed off, one that was a fan favorite was Havana's Ricardo Mateo, London's Giampaolo Eremitani, Yuma's young starter Young-pil Pin, and Fargo pitcher Owen Barse - four men who spoke primarily their native tongues of Spanish, Italian, Japanese and English. Yet this may have been the most entertaining group as their pantomiming and nodding and stereotypical loud speaking behavior was uproarious to the fans who were lucky to score one of the few tickets to the event. 'Clogger' seemed to be the most consistent of the group - reaching the turn, the 10th hole, with a +6, which was good enough for 3rd place - a +5 and 2nd place lost to a disk that did an 'in and out' on the chain linked hole.

Teeing off later in the day was Arlington's Rien Leeuwenburgh, who if not for his Dutch name would have been feeling a little bit of the luck of the Irish. His throws were wild. They clipped trees that redirected them into a clear sightline of the hole. On the 5th his approach shot struck a tree - ricocheted off a second and somehow managed to find the hole for a birdie 2 - one of only three on the day.

Frisbees flew to the left. Frisbees flew to the right. Frisbees skirted through the creeks. Frisbees got stuck in the canopies of the forest (a two-stroke penalty for those who may wonder). Scores soared over the course of the front 9 - players crouching and coaxing their disks into the chain linked holes, only to see them clank off the edge or skip off and sail further away. Bakersfield's Mauro Mata tried the brute force method for starters - heaving his disk as hard as he could, with predictable results, before realizing by hole 8 that a soft touch worked better - except for Mauro Mata, whose hard, fast paces straight throws were replaced by soft, delicate wobbles that looked like a dying quail.

Refreshments were found at the turn - traditional hot dogs and Moose Juice were enjoyed by everyone - some more than others. Steve Boyer was enjoying a strong showing along the first nine holes - a +4 for first place, but one Moose Juice was followed by a second Moose Juice on what was a muggy day in the forest, and a third Moose Juice became a fourth for the trail - and the Reno star's +4 became a +14 in a blink of an eye. Not everyone who struggled did so as a result of overconsumption of the local brew. Kenji Honda - who had the pleasure of playing with Scottish teammate Juan Ramos, found his tee shot on the 12th stick in a low hanging branch, but with a boost up from Ramos, he retrieved it - only to lose his balance on his next throw and plant it into the front portion of the tree's canopy - this time unreachable. With a new disk in hand and Ramos snickering and giggling and nearly rolling on the forest floor, Kenji let loose with a low screamer - a 'bug f*cker' in golf parlance, that was on line to the hole - until it struck a boulder with a high, glancing blow that caromed off and up and right into another tree! Honda took a 10 on the hole.

As groups began to finish - after Gordon Knoop, who was mercilessly heckled by Guzman and Mesegue throughout the day (followed each time by the excessively annoying 'Yup' from Ryan Tate) finished with a +36; and the quite, steady 'Otter' - who patrols the outfield for Aurora, saw his last throw land on the edge of the hole - requiring a disappointing tap-in to finish at +11; and the uproarious Boyer - working on finishing a 'six-pack' of Moose Juice - winging a long shot that capped a tree, struck the flag head on and fell into the hole to save par and finish at +24; it became apparent that the field was separated into one of two camps - those who saw their scores soar, with New Jersey's Chris Pate appropriately rolling a 'box cars' to finish dead last, and those who showed some skill at throwing the disk and keeping their scores low - like 'Clogger', who's +11 finished tied for second.

In the end it came down to the efforts of Leeuwenburgh, who despite wildness, kept Lady Luck on his side and as his group approached the 18th tee, his score of +10 had him in the lead - tied with group mate Angel Silva, and things looked good for the young, Mexican star from Cabo San Lucas. While Silva's tee shot was smooth and down the fair way, Rien's sailed behind a tree setting up Silva with a clear chance to win. Leeuwenburgh was not bothered - he dealt with adversity all day and with an unusual underhanded, slicing motion his second throw weaved through the trees and landed but a slam dunk away from the hole! Now it was Silva's turn and his neatly thrown shot down the fairway failed to travel as far as he'd have liked, landing 10-yards shy of the hole.

The two walked to their discs, quietly, as if they were approaching their balls on the 18th green at St. Andrews in the final pairing of the British Open. A large group of fans had lingered at the finish and cheered the pair on - and with Silva away, he picked up his disc and with a couple of practice wrist flicks he let his disc fly - softly, dead on the target, and... it skipped of the edge of the hole and fell to the side!! Silva would take a four on the hole and drop his score to +11. Gasps in the crowd turned to cheers as Rien picked up his disc and dropped it into the hole for a par 3 - keeping his score at +10; and with no one left on the course even close, Rien Leeuwenburgh of the Arlington Bureaucrats would be the 2036 PEBA All-Star Disc Golf Champion!

Afterwards, once the trophy ceremony was complete - Silva and 'Clogger' finishing second at +11 and Stephen Inman of Yuma finishing third at +15, Rien was asked what he attributed his technique to. "Growing up in Amsterdam, we used to play across the canals - avoiding stacks of bikes, planters hanging from lamp posts. We'd try to bounce the discs off the tops of house boats and not end up in the canal - or ricochet it off a house and onto a house boat. You just learned to be creative!"

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[Board of the PEBA]

The Office of the Commissioner and, Kalamazoo and Sovereign League All-Star manager Jiro Nakamura, are pleased to introduce the starting line-up for tonight’s 2036 All-Star Game:

1B Javier 'Pokey' Aguilar - MAD
SS Rodrigo 'El Cid' Vasquez - TOY
3B Antonio Santos - FAR
C Claudio Perez - KAL
DH Tsuginori 'Mustache' Takahashi - BAK
RF Raul Ortega - SS
LF Juan 'Chief' Velasquez - DUL
CF Angel 'Otter' Silva - AUR
2B Joe Riley - NT

Tonight’s starting pitcher is Rene 'Capuchin' Padilla of the Duluth Warriors.

Padilla is making his first All-Star appearance for Duluth, and currently is 9-3 with a 3.00 ERA over 18 GS. 'Capuchin' was a 2035 AAA All-Star and pitched in the last three Prospect’s games... 'Pokey', in his 4th season with Madison is making his first All-Star appearance after a 1st half with a .339 average that is just 2nd in the SL. He was previously a S A All-Star... 'El Cid', the highly regarded shortstop of the SL-leading Wind Dancers, is making his 4th appearance in the All-Star game in 5-years. Rodrigo was 2nd in the voting for Royal Raker in 2033 and had a well decorated minor league career... In his third year with the Dinosaurs, Antonio Santos will be making his 3rd All-Star game - his first for Fargo. Last years SL HR champ is hitting .281 and is on pace to shatter last season's leading 37 homers and his personal best of 44, hit in 2031 with Shin Seiki...Kalamazoo backstop, Claudio Perez is making his first trip to the All-Star game after a first hall .294 with 17 HR while throwing out 37% of would be base stealers. He finished 3rd in the 2031 Wunderkind voting and was a 2-time minor league All-Star... 'Mustache', also making his first PEBA All-Star team was the 5th overall pick in 2030 and has played in three Prospect's games and was a 2031 All-Star in the Surf and Snow... Raul Ortega of Shin Seiki is the leading hitter in the SL (.340) and is making his 5th All-Star team - after making it twice for San Antonio and twice for Bakersfield... 'Chief' is in his 3rd season with the Warriors and is leading the 1st place Warriors with .328 average and .975 OPS. After winning a pair of minor league Platinum Sticks, this is his first All-Star game... Aurora's young CF, 'Otter' is making his first appearance with a .311 average. He was the Outstanding Hitter in the RML last year as well as the Platinum Stick winner in CF... Neo-Tokyo 2B Joe Riley, in his 5th season with the Akira is making his first All-Star appearance with a .310 average and 21 HR - on pace to top his personal high.

There are 7-starters making their All-Star debut for the SL in this year's game.

[Board of the PEBA]

The Office of the Commissioner and, Florida and Imperial League All-Star manager Félix Garza, are pleased to introduce the starting line-up for tonight’s 2036 All-Star Game:

CF Alfredo ‘El Jaguar’ Guzman - WV
SS Ricardo ‘Ogre’ Mateo - HAV
RF Gordon ‘Strum’ Knopp - FLA
DH Bartolo Mora - FLA
1B Vito 'Drang' van Wondel - FLA
LF Giampaolo ‘Clogger’ Eremitani - LON
2B Michael ‘XXX’ Roberts - FLA
3B Juan Ramos - SCO
C Antonio Mesegue - KEN

Tonight’s starting pitcher is Luis Jimenez of the Kentucky Thoroughbreds.

Luis Jimenez, in his first full season with the Thoroughbreds has had an outstanding 1st half – 10-3, and a 2.05 ERA. The former-1st round pick was a three-time minor league All-Star… ‘El Jaguar’ is a two-time All-Star and the 2034 Wunderkind for the Alleghenies. Guzman is hitting .354 for the year – 3rd best in the IL… ‘Ogre’ is playing in his 7th straight All-Star game and 8th overall for the long-time Havana star. Mateo’s .303 average puts him on pace to possible surpass his career high (.306)… ‘Strum’ is participating in his fourth straight All-Star game as a 3-time Royal Raker and looks like a possible 4th as he is 2nd in the IL with a .362 average… Bartolo Mora is participating in his 7th All-Star game in his 12-seasons – four of which were with Kentucky, for whom he won the 2028 Royal Raker… 'Drang' is the leading hitter in the IL with a .374 average as he make his 2nd All-Star appearance – missing out last year with an early season Achilles tear… Giampaolo Eremitani, London’s high-priced international free agent from last year, will be making his first appearance after following up a snooze of a rookie campaign with a gang-buster sophomore year – hitting .314 with 22 HR, three shy of his rookie high… Florida’s high-flying 2B, ‘XXX’ will be in his 3rd All-Star game in as many seasons, hitting .305 and already matching his career high in HR (12)… The young Scottish 3B Juan Ramos will be making his All-Star debut, getting the nod with a .290 average and 21 HR. He was a NAFTA All-Star in 2032 and played in the 2033 Prospect’s game… Catcher Antonio Mesegue of Kentucky is having an outstanding season for the surging Thoroughbreds who refuse to give up on the Dixie crown. Making his first All-Star appearance, Mesegue is 4th in the IL with a .347 average and was a 2-time minor league All-Star.

[Board of the PEBA]

Fans who choose to stay around downtown Manchester, before wandering down to Whiten Field for the Home Run Derby and Prospect's Game, were treated to a variety of music and food truck offerings – a mixture of ‘down home’ New Hampshire vittles and international favorites – reflecting the ‘planetary extreme’ nature of the PEBA. Long-time star Mandy Moore was the headliner on the stage along the waterfront, but fans also enjoyed the banjo licks of Franz Nicolay and the operatic chops of Patricia Lynn Racette - amongst other performers.

The most exciting and popular event was the extension of the Laconia Motorcycle Week – the oldest motorcycle rally in the country – bikes of every shape and bikers of every flavor – bikes riding up and down the specified routes with engines revving, and bikes parked for people to gawk at and even learn about bikes, bike safety and bike culture.

[Hitmen]

Just going to throw in how much I love these Mike, you always do a great job with them!

[Ghosts]

Looking forward to seeing my all-star relievers shut down the IL reservists!

[Board of the PEBA]

While some fans enjoyed the action along the riverfront, Whiten Field was packed for the prospects game - and there was fireworks early for the Imperial League and late for the Sovereign League.

Aurora's Victorio Guerra was the starter and he was not very solid as he allowed 5 singles and a HBP in the first inning as the IL took a 3-1 lead - Reno's Ricardo Losa leading the game off with a homer for the SL. The Leagues traded 2nd inning runs as Yeijiro Sano of Yuma tripled and scored and West Virginia's Elton Williams homered - making it 4-2. The SL made it three runs in 3-innings with Masami Sanu of Crystal Lake homering and cutting the deficit to one. The IL would add a pair of solo runs in the 5th and 7th - and with the hometown prospect on the mound - Bartolo Munoz, the SL would strike for three runs - doubles by Katsuhito Kato (TOY), Bill Johnson (PS) and Yeijiro Sano - the last driving in what would be the winning run.

Jose Mendoz (BAK) would get the win and Munoz the loss, with Yuma's Yeijiro Sano earning MVP honors with a 3-4 game.

[Ghosts]

Foreshadowing the SL's inevitable triumph, nice!

[Board of the PEBA]

The Home Run Derby featured some old and new faces - and some interesting match-ups to begin with.

Right out of the gate it was Antonio Santos and John Pulsifer squaring off with Toyama's DH homering on his last pitch - leading to an anticipation of things to come. 'Clogger' would take down the Floridian 'King', New Jersey's Denis 'The Don' Johnson would eek by Niihama's young Ian Vader, and Bartolo Mora took out Okinawa's Kyoichi Nagata.

The second round saw Pulsifer on fire - sending London's star Eremitani home with a 5 homer differential, while New Jersey's 'Don' took out Mora, setting up a showdown between a Hitman and a Wind Dancer.

In the end, it would be Pulsifer who would take home the trophy with an 11-8 victory and a total of 37 HR in the competition!

[Board of the PEBA]

Apples are the theme at this years All-Star Game – Apple Cider – hard and otherwise, Apple Donuts, candy and caramel apples and as everyone settled in and the players were introduced, lining the baselines, the National Anthem was sung by Tracy Dell’Era, a fan who won a Manchester area drawing for the right to sing on this warm night.

[Board of the PEBA]

The Line-ups have been exchanged, the first pitch has been thrown and the Imperial League has taken the field to the cheers of the predominantly Manchester crowd.

Luis Jimenez is on the mound for the IL - 10-3 with a 2.05 ERA. Digging in to start this one is Madison's Javier Aguiler.

Aguilar swings at the first pitch and bounces one out to second - Michael Roberts picks it up and fires to first - OUT! And that's how this game begins.

'El Cid', Toyama's not so young shortstop is up next. He works Jimenez for a full count before lashing a liner to right for the game's first hit - he rounds the bag hard, but decides to hold on at first.

That brings up the powerful Antonio Santos, who has 29 homers on the year. And it would by 30 if All-Star stats count as he crushes a 2-2 pitch 400' over the high right-center wall giving the SL the early 2-0 lead.

Claudio Perez is hitting cleanup for the SL and on a 1-2 pitch he rolls one to Ramos at third, who takes his time and makes the throw - 2-out.

DH Tsuginori 'Mustache' Takahashi from Bakersfield is up next and he swings and misses on a full count to end the inning.

A Great start for the SL... after half an inning...

SL - 2
IL - coming up