TSL HISTORY
The TSL officially started in 1976 when Tom Speer, and his brother Jeff, decided to set up an APBA league. They had played individual games off and on but decided that they wanted to play something more structured. The TSL initially consisted of just the two brothers. Each of them had four teams and they played each other and themselves. None of the games were head-to-head as Jeff was in the army and stationed in South Korea at the time. The first teams were established by Tom and Jeff each picking a National League team as a “base team” and an American league team as a “farm” team for each of their teams. For example, the Speerits base team was the Dodgers and the farm team was the White Sox. This meant that all Dodgers were automatically on the Speerits and not in the annual draft. All new White Sox players were also eligible to be on the Speerits, if Tom wanted them. Dodgers and White Sox players that were cut, to get to the roster limit, were put on the waiver list. The first World Series was between two of Tom’s teams.
The second year, additional managers were added. Don Hayashida (a friend of Tom’s from work) and Tom Sperber (a friend of Jeff’s from the Army JAG Corps) were the first added. Don stayed in the league for 10-12 years. Other managers were added by advertising in the APBA Journal and the league expanded to 12 teams.
The base team format was maintained for about eight years, without the farm team option. Then the format was changed to its current form whereby all non-rostered players went into the draft. Tom conducted the draft each year by putting together the draft list, mailing it to each manager, setting a firm draft date and then holding the draft by telephoning each individual manager when it was their pick. This made for a long day and big phone bills. This format continued until everyone had access to a computer.
For many years, Tom would have all the the TSL forms reproduced each year and he mailed them to each of the managers, along with a Yearbook containing all of the year’s stats and team write ups. The Yearbook went by the wayside about 20 years ago when Tom’s work load did not allow him the time to continue. There was a $30 per year membership fee for many years to cover the cost of reproduction, mailing and long-distance calls. The TSL was truly a “mail” league.
There has always been a TSL Newsletter and there have been a number of Editors. Tom and Jeff did it for a while, then there was Brian Gaskill, Al Bryce (for many wonderful years) and now Doug Triblehorn.
The most difficult, and probably most important, role in the TSL has been the Director of Player Personnel. Tom held this position for the first 15-20 years and then John Pendleton took over for a number of years. Dan Spangler took the mantle after John passed away and continues to this day.
MANAGER HIGHLIGHTS
There have been a number of managers pass through the league over the years, too numerous to mention them all, but there are a number that stand out.
• Jeff Speer - Jeff purchased the first APBA game in the family and got Tom interested. His primary team, the Yahgos, was named after something in South Korea. Jeff lived in South Korea, Germany and Washington, D.C. during his tenure in the TSL. He left the league when the computer game became readily available and he only wanted to play that version.
• Tom Speer - Tom has been President of the TSL during its entire history and handled many of the other TSL duties as well for many years. Tom worked or the State of California for 39 years, most as a manager over various organizations. This allowed him to host lunch hour head-to-head series’ with other managers that he had recruited that also worked for the State (Don Hayashida, Al Bryce, John Pendleton, Steve Ford, Frank Alarcon, Jay Aguas). Tom was also able to host the draft for several years with four to six managers present and the others participating on-line.
• Dan Spangler - Dan joined the TSL when he was just a teenager. Tom was a little skeptical at first, but as can be seen, Dan has been a long-time TSL manager and an excellent one. Dan has given a lot to the league and throughout the years working tirelessly to make the league better. He has also won a number of championships.
• Mitch Shelton - Mitch has been in the TSL for many years, but somewhat intermittently. He managed for a few years, dropped out, came back, left again and then returned, hopefully for good. It is believed that he cannot stay away because he feels the need to beat his best friend Dan. A great rivalry. Mitch has been a great help in the league, several times taking over teams that lost their manager mid-season. Mitch is known for always being ready to make a trade. He will trade anyone at any time and loves to pick up players for draft choices. Unfortunately, Mitch passed away in March 2022.
• John Pendleton - John was a long-time, and very dedicated manager. He was an avid A’s fan and just loved baseball. He was the Director of Player Personnel for several years, until his passing, and an active trader. John was known to bring a pair of baseball cleats with him when he played Tom. He would put them on the conference table, where they played, and maintained they were Rickey Henderson’s (or some other famous A’s) and believed they would bring him luck.
• Al Bryce - Al was in the TSL for over 30 years. He was always very active in the league and did much to support it. He and Tom played head-to-head games for about 20 of those 30 years. Al’s team, the Devils, could never quite get over the hump. They only made it to the World Series one time, where they lost, but Al was always “ready for next year”.
• Tom Bryce - Tom is Al’s son and started out in the TSL as a teenager. Tom has always been an intelligent and well prepared manager. His teams have won a couple of World Series and are always competitive.
• Chuck Hiber - Chuck was an early manager and was a printer by trade. He developed many of the forms that were used by the TSL before the advent of computers.
• Tom Kleek - Another long-time manager that has had teams win the World Series. However, he is best known for bringing the first woman into the TSL.
• Sandy Kleek - Sandy is Tom K’s daughter and managed for a few years winning a championship in the process. She was the only woman that ever managed and was a welcome addition.
• Don Hayashida - Don was a manager for a number of years in the early days of the league. Don was an excellent manager who won back-to-back championships and was always in the running for a championship. Don was also an outstanding softball player and played in tournaments all over California. Last heard from, around 2018, he was retired and still playing softball at a competitive level.
TSL WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS