strat o matic apba baseball cards dice game pursue the pennant

However, the first game to really catch on with baseball enthusiasts was the Ethan Allen All-Star Baseball game, first distributed in 1941. National Pastime was the first game to use player statistics to determine game play. The first baseball simulation board game that gained popularity was National Pastime, a predecessor to APBA (American Professional Baseball Association). There were a number of baseball-themed board games that arrived on the market throughout baseball’s early years, but not many actually tried to simulate the real action of a game. Journalist Jonathan Tully wrote, “According to the Baseball Hall of Fame, in-home amusements based on baseball stretch back as far as 1866, when ‘fashionable people in New York City were playing Parlour Baseball.’” 1 Naturally, with the board game industry growing at the same time as the national pastime, there was a market for baseball board games. Even in a bad economy, board games often thrive as an affordable way to have fun. Board games were often looked to as a way to relax, a way to entertain, and a way to escape. Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley helped to popularize many board games like Monopoly, Risk, The Game of Life, and Clue throughout the first half of the twentieth century.

A generation of fans has enjoyed countless hours playing out these scenarios, and others, thanks to a few dedicated people who had a love for statistics and a dedication to accuracy.īoard games have long been a part of American culture. In baseball, dedicated fans are lucky enough to have some idea of how these situations would have played out. had not had so many injuries? What if the 1998 Yankees could have played against the 1927 Yankees? What if Shoeless Joe Jackson had not been banned from baseball? What if the Phillies never traded Ryne Sandberg? What if Ken Griffey Jr. What if the Mayflower had not sailed? What if Robert Kennedy had not been assassinated? What if the Watergate break-in had never been discovered?īaseball fans play out the same scenarios. What if? This is one of the most often asked questions of historians.

Strat o matic apba baseball cards dice game pursue the pennant