Season Spotlight: 1979 Illowa APBA League

IAL Champions: Chicago Champions

1979 was a year in which the Chicago Champions, largely helped by outfielder Jim Rice, took it all.  They garnered first place missing the century mark by one win and won the World Series.  MVP Rice quite simply dominated the league.  He belted 66 homeruns, an IAL record that would stand for 17 years.  He also led the league in runs (129), rbis (125), and slugging pct (.622), batting leadoff much of the year, incredibly he had nearly 40 at bats left unused.  The Maquoketa Cardinals’ Al Oliver won the batting title with a .326 mark.  Cardinal Bob Knepper won Cy Young honors due to his 1.97 ERA and 21 wins, including nine shutouts.

Take a look a couple of articles from 1979 newsletters (below, click to enlarge).  I wish I could include them all.  I have Tedd’s because after all, he won it all.  I also included Don Smith’s since not only does he have a penchant for writing well, his article also includes a lot of history of the IAL from that time.

Champions’ article page 1	Champions article page 2
Davenport Fire page1	Davenport Fire page 2