ZSABL Dictionapedia

Terms,phrases and idioms of the ZSABL

340 Club

It was the birth place of the ZSABL although the seeds of the APBA league were discussed at Cassidy's Tavern (Now the Alley Kat) prior to the inaugural draft.

The 340 was a six bedroom "mansion" located at 340 West King Street in Lancaster.

It was the setting one winter evening in 1978 when John Walton, Ron Metzger, Dave Bauman, John Valori, Tom Doran, Woody Kleinhaus,

Phil Zangari, Mike Showalter and Dave Buller sat down on the living room floor before the APBA cards even came out armed with just the Sporting News final statistics.

A draft was held with dice determining the selection order and the division alignment.

It also marked the birth of the Uncarded Player (UC) as Hartford drafted the then Atlanta Brave catcher, Dale Murphy who was

not issued a card when APBA finally released the 1977 set.

A,B or C nothing

Any pitcher of said grade without the control letter "Z"

Baseball Today and Tomorrow (BT&T)

A yearly publication from Memphis Manger Ed Kachnoskie.

He critiques the draft and offers insights and predictions

Behind the Piano

When the league played at Zangari's South Bar, Chip Ream built a custom standings board with

interchangable teams and numbers. It hung on the wall above the jukebox

If you sat at a table in the back, the two last place teams in the East were not visible

unless you walked up to the jukebox. When former ZSABL member John Valori's

team would drop down to either of these positions he would remark," I am behind the piano"

Boothian Split

A five game series in which a member of the Booth (Dave Buller,John Valori and Tom Doran)

would lose a five game series by a 3-2 score

BRIB (Renamed the Scott L.Fisher Best Record in Baseball Award)

The best record in baseball

A plaque is rewarded annually for having the BRIB in the ZSABL

Bulls-Eye

A publication by the Dallas Texans (1978-1994, Now Union Station), Manager Dave Buller

Although promised as an monthly news letter it only came out once and that was in March of 1985

It was billed as "The Official Publication of the ZSABL"

One of the featured articles was titled "Bulls Bets" which offered predictions for the 1985 season

Its sign off was "The Bulls-Eye often imitated but never duplicated".

It is preserved on the league's web site under the Misc tab

Chique's Rock

It is the most notable feature in Chickies Rock County Park, it towers 100 feet above the Susquehanna River.

The Norfolk Neptunes skipper, Billy Groff, often threatens to drive his vehicle off the precipice of the cliff after a series loss

It has a become such a symbol of APBA depression that other managers in the ZSABL have voiced their intentions of

following through in Norfolk's foot steps

Come from down under

The act of bringing your shaker down and then up from the floor level, sometimes even tapping the floor

before rolling

Cookie Jar

Any young un-carded player in the draft is considered in the jar.. Norfolk was the first team accused of "reaching for the cookie jar"

CrawfordGram

Billed as the official organ of the Pittsburgh Crawfords Baseball Club (1985-2004),published by their Manager,Ted Knorr

It ran from 1985 to 1997 (All issues are available on the League's web site under the Misc tab)

Defenders of the Faith

A group of bench players known for their defensive abilities who were inserted late into games by the Pittsburgh Crawfords (1985-2004)

whenever they had the lead. Their Captain in years when he did not start was Bret Butler OF-3 (1985-1991)

He was the last of the expansion Crawford original members before being dealt to Baton Rouge in 1992

Dispersal Draft

Happened only once in ZSABL history. The 2006 Cyrus Panzers. If a team is "dispersed" there are two rounds.

In the first round the players from the dispersed team are selected (one pick each) according to the reverse order of the standings.

The 2nd round starts with the League Champion followed by the World Series loser on down in reverse of the first round

After both rounds are complete the remaining players go into the free agent draft

Don't walk the outs

The usual lament of a manager when he walks a player without a decent hitting card

Hartford's Mickey Tettleton was the prime recipient of this phrase

Everyone has one

The play result number 12 is now in a permanent place at dice roll 23.

Whenever that number is rolled this phrase is usually uttered ad nauseum

Funky Board (Sometimes just Funky)

Any play result number which results in using the Unusual Play Board

Used exclusively in the Eastern Division

Getting ScottFished

A reference to the usual trading ploy of Scott Fisher, who opened potential

deals with a one sided offer that greatly benefited his team. The proposed trade would then

be modified. The East still refers to "Getting ScottFished" when a ridiculous offer is initially made

The term was derived from a movie about a fake girl on the internet called Catfish

Gloat

A smug look on a managers face after he had won a series or a come from behind win.

The usual phrase was  "The GLOAT is out". John Valori was the master of this technique.

Going as far as the hit

A common phrase meaning the baserunner(s) will advance one base on a single and two bases on a double

Hatchet Card

Refers to a great hitting APBA card with the player having few at bats.

Heavy Lumber

Hartford's custom made shaker, outlawed for a period in the ZSABL when APBA shakers were mandatory

Made by Zangari's South bar patron Bill Trites in a machine shop. It is very weighty and would cause muscle

damage if used for an entire series. The Hurricanes save it for clutch situations but it usually fails

Holier than thou

Refers to the Western Division of the ZSABL,coined by Eastern Division member

John Valori who claimed the West could do no wrong.

How do you ever lose

Former ZSABL manager Jon Gerber's typical response after losing a game

Just sittin here like this

The usual opening greeting by Scott Fisher when he would call proposing a trade

The East still uses this when they start negotiating a deal within the division

K Column

A reference to a APBA Football card which has three columns, Run (R),Pass (P) and Kick (K)

The "K" was the outermost column, Las Vegas's Billy Bell calls any 2nd column roll in baseball as the "K" column

Let it be said, let it be written

Back in the days the league played their games at the Zangari's South Bar, Mel Smith would deliver beer

and invariably have a trade written down on a piece of paper. After putting the delivery away, the bartering would go back and forth with the changes made on the

on that same paper. If the deal would be consummated, he would say the aforementioned phrase. He still says it occasionally after a telephone

or e-mail trade

Lottery Mistress

Also known as Cindy Doran, the wife of the San Diego 76er Manager,she has set up the Lottery and the Scheduling

drawings for over two decades. Her duties include laying out the buttons in the proper order prior to the Lottery Draft and

depositing them into the cannister and then coordinating the order they are drawn. She has been aided by the Assistant Lottery Mistress,

Tammy Brown, the last few years

Merry go round

With runners on 1st and third, result numbers 8's and 9's are hits

unstopped by the mostly Grade B pitching of the ZSABL

No Harm, No Foul

Before rolling for the unusual play result, Norfolk would utter this phrase hoping

for no Neptune error on the play

Not Stealing

A strategy announced at the begining of a series where the team declares they will never attempt a steal

despite what the boards state. Conversely "I will call my own" means that a manager will use his own discretion

on when to steal. Sometimes in certain situations the manager will say "If they want to steal they can"

Number of Chances

On a players card, these numbers were added together;

0's

1 thru 6

7's

10's

11's

14's

42's

The total represented the number of chances a player has with the bases empty

to reach safely against a Grade A Pitcher.

The Eastern Division adds the number of 9's to the total to compute chances versus a Grade B pitcher

Off the Wall for a Single

Refers to any second column single

O.J.

When an Eastern Division member rolls a 54, the play result number, except in some rare cases, is a 32.

Since O.J.Simpson wore number 32 during his NFL career, instead of saying a fly ball to right field, the normal

result of the 32, they simply say, "O.J."

One

Nearly every ZSABL'er has their own homerun call when they roll play result number "1", some of them are "gone", "out of here",

"into the upper deck",some make just a clicking sound, they all are very animated. Rochester's Sammy Schall simply says without

any emotion "one", the same monotone without intonation of any other play result number

Outside Column

Used exclusively by the Eastern Division, refers to the second colum on a hitters card

Poking

Predominantly used in the Western Division, the term describes the method of releasing the dice that are stuck in the shaker.

A pen was inserted into the shaker to loosen the stuck objects, former Manager John Franze made accusations that this

gave his opponent an unfair advantage because he could manipulate the dice to come out for a favorable roll

The actual art of poking is rarely seen anymore as managers just bang the shaker on the table until the dice are released

Rally Clause Single

Play result "40" with the bases empty which according to ZSABL rules is an automatic base hit, later modified to only be a base hit

when you were in the 2nd column of the unusual play board

Salunga Single

Rolling a play result number of an "8" against a Grade C Pitcher

Snag

Refers to a manager who is far behind the rest of the league/division in actual games played

or is holding up the schedule for others until they play a certain series

Spins

Former ZSABL member Steve Graybill referred to dice rolls as spins, he used to say "I can really spin for this guy"

Squeeze

In our early years Seattle would always call "squeeze", no matter where the runners were

when they used the sacrifice booklet

The Side, The Side

Former ZSABL Manager John Franze's expression

whenever his pitcher struck out three consecutive hitters to end an inning

The Booth

Early ZSABL members (Tom Doran,Dave Buller and John Valori)

Representing the Phillies broadcasting crew of Harry Kalas, Rich Asburn and Andy Musser respectively

Dave Boas, a non member of the ZSABL was added later to represent Chris Wheeler

Thirty Second Lead

When Baton Rouge's John Valori would see an opponent retake the lead from his Bombers

He would remark that was a "thirty second lead"

Triumvirate

Alternate name of the trio of "Booth" members

Uncarded (UC)

Any player that has never had an APBA card is considered an (UC). They are eligible for the Free Agent Draft

This includes foreign, high school and college leagues among others. This is different than a player who has had a card in a previous year but does not

receive a card for a given season due to an injury or some other factor. These players are designated as non-cards (NC)

Up the Pooper

Whenever a 65 is rolled just missing the 66, this is one of the usual responses of USMC's Mel Smith

Wild Cat

Refers to the opening up of the schedule where the order of games played is not followed

Woody Ball

Whenever the Sacrifice Booklet was used it is sometimes called this because of the Seattle Scouts

Woody Kleinhaus's frequent application of this strategy

WRIB

The worst record in baseball

A dubious honor with no reward other than picking first in every round after the Lottery

You can never have enough arms

When a team drafts an inordinate amount of pitchers, someone usually responds with this phrase

It originated early on in ZSABL history with the quote attributed to Original member Dave "Frenchy" Bauman

When Hartford drafted a bunch of uncarded players (5 being the league limit), Frenchy claimed that the

Hurricanes borrowed the phrase changing it to "You can never have enough players who don't have cards"

ZSABL

Zangari's South APBA Baseball League