APBA (pronounced "APP-bah") is a game company founded in

Lancaster, Pennsylvania Lancaster, ( ; pdc, Lengeschder) is a city in and the county seat of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is one of the oldest inland cities in the United States. With a population at the 2020 census of 58,039, it ranks 11th in population amon ...

. It was created in 1951 by trucking firm purchaser J. Richard Seitz (1915-1992). The acronym stands for "American Professional Baseball Association", the name of a board game league Seitz devised in 1931 with eight high school classmates. After World War II, he formed APBA Game Co., working out of his living room. In 2011, after 60 years in Pennsylvania, the company headquarters was moved to

Alpharetta, Georgia Alpharetta is a city in northern Fulton County, Georgia, United States, and is a part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. As of the 2020 US Census, Alpharetta's population was 65,818 The population in 2010 was 57,551. History In the 1830s, the Ch ...

. The company's first offering was a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

simulation A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of Conceptual model, models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or proc ...

table game using cards to represent each major league player, boards to represent different on-base scenarios (e.g. "Bases Empty", "Runners on First and Third," "Bases Loaded"), and

dice Dice (singular die or dice) are small, throwable objects with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. They are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, role-playing g ...

to generate random numbers. Seitz's mail-order product derived from the game National Pastime, invented and patented by Clifford Van Beek in 1925, a game that Seitz played in his youth. The game can be played against another person or solitaire. Devoted fans keep track of the results and assess how players' performances compare to their real-life statistics. The game company later produced

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, and saddle racing games modeled after the baseball game (cards, boards, and dice). In the 1980s and 1990s, computer adaptations of some of these games were produced. APBA enthusiasts have included Presidents

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

and

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

; presidential son-in-law

David Eisenhower Dwight David Eisenhower II (born March 31, 1948) is an American author, public policy fellow, professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and eponym of the U.S. presidential retreat Camp David. He is the grandson of President Dwight D. Eisenhow ...

; New York mayor

Ed Koch Edward Irving Koch ( ; December 12, 1924February 1, 2013) was an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, film critic, and television personality. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and was may ...

; actor

Jeff Daniels Jeffrey Warren Daniels (born February 19, 1955) is an American actor, comedian, musician, and playwright, known for his work on stage and screen playing diverse characters switching between comedy and drama. He is the recipient of several accol ...

; ballplayers

Bump Wills Elliott Taylor "Bump" Wills (born July 27, 1952) is an American former professional baseball player, a second baseman in the major leagues for the Texas Rangers (1977–1981) and Chicago Cubs (1982). He also played two seasons in Japan for the ...

Jim Sundberg James Howard Sundberg (born May 18, 1951) is an American former professional baseball player, television sports analyst and executive. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from 1974 to 1989. A three-time All-Star player, Sundberg estab ...

and

Dave Magadan Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...

; sports agent and

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at Li ...

vice chairman

Arn Tellem Arn Herschel Tellem

; and journalist and memoirist

Franz Lidz Franz Lidz (born September 24, 1951) is an American writer, journalist and pro basketball executive. A ''New York Times'' archaeology, science and film essayist, he's a former ''Sports Illustrated'' senior writer,

. For much of its history APBA's main competitor has been Strat-O-Matic. Other rivals include, or have included,

Replay Publishing Replay Publishing is a game company based in Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania, that develops and publishes sports simulation games for the tabletop and computer. They currently produce Replay Baseball, Replay Basketball, and PC Replay Baseball. Competitors p ...

Statis Pro Baseball Statis Pro Baseball was a strategic baseball simulation board game. It was created by Jim Barnes in 1970, named after a daily newspaper column he wrote for an Iowa morning newspaper, and published by Avalon Hill in 1978, and new player cards were m ...

MLB Showdown ''MLB Showdown'' (colloq. ''Showdown'') is an out-of-print collectible card game made by Wizards of the Coast that ran from April 2000 to 2005. The game was introduced to the public in 2000, featuring Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones on ...

and, in APBA's early years, Big League Manager. In 2000 APBA redesigned the packaging of its baseball game and for a brief time expanded its marketing approach to include hobby shops and sport card dealers, with limited success.

Computer versions of the baseball game

In 1984, the game company authorized a computer version of an advanced "master" version of their baseball game. It was published by

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

in 1985, first for PC computers and later for Apple.

McGraw-Hill McGraw Hill is an American educational publishing company and one of the "big three" educational publishers that publishes educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education. The company also publishes referenc ...

became the publisher after the company acquired Random House's software division in 1989, and the original game developers, Miller Associates, took over publishing and sales in 1990. In 1993, Miller and APBA announced a version of the game for the Windows platform, and it came out that summer. It received a perfect 10 out of 10 score from ''

Electronic Entertainment Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedback ...

''. Titled APBA Presents Baseball for Windows (with the first two words in small print), Miller continued to update and publish the game software; their final version, 5.5, came out in the summer of 1999. Late in 2000, APBA announced that it had agreed to take over sales and service for the game; Miller Associates disbanded. In February 2007 the APBA Game Company announced that they had acquired the rights to the Baseball for Windows code, and planned an upgrade to be released in the fall of 2008, featuring the voice of

Pete Van Wieren Peter Dirk Van Wieren (October 7, 1944 – August 2, 2014) was an American sportscaster best known for his long career calling play-by-play for Major League Baseball's Atlanta Braves. Early career Van Wieren was born in Rochester, New York and ...

, replacing the earlier editions'

Ernie Harwell William Earnest Harwell (January 25, 1918 – May 4, 2010) was an American sportscaster, known for his long career calling play-by-play of Major League Baseball games. For 55 seasons, 42 of them with the Detroit Tigers, Harwell called the actio ...

. Complications in game development, as well as errors in the code that had gone long unrepaired, delayed the release. As of November 2011, the current release schedule has not been announced. The current version of the game runs on Windows 7 in 32-bit mode. For 64 bit versions of Windows 7, it requires Virtual Mode software. Some APBA players maintain computers with older versions of Windows solely for running the APBA software. In August 2012, APBA released an updated version of Baseball for Windows 5.5, called APBA Computer Baseball version 5.75. The game came with 3 complete major league seasons(1921, 1961, and 2011). This release was updated again in 2015 with the seasons included changed to 1957, 1976, and 2014. Game players can order additional disks individually for all major league seasons from 1901 through the present, with other special disks also available.

Reception

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through ...

'' in 1992 criticized aspects of version 1.5's interface, but praised the sophistication of the MicroManager module's BaseballTalk language for creating custom managers for simulated games. The magazine called APBA "a work in progress, an impressive baseball park under construction ... but for what it delivers today, at the price asked, ''APBA Baseball'' would not be my first choice". ''Computer Gaming World'' in 1993 approved of the "gorgeous" ballparks, sophisticated drafting and statistical options, and "easy-to-use interface" of ''APBA Presents: Baseball for Windows''. The magazine concluded that the developers should "be congratulated for making a true ''Windows'' product", with "realistic representation of baseball". ''APBA Baseball for Windows'' was a finalist for ''Computer Gaming World''s Sports Game of the Year award, losing to ''

Front Page Sports Football Pro ''Front Page Sports Football Pro'' is a DOS video game developed and published by Dynamix and released in 1993, and is part of the ''Front Page Sports Football'' video game series. Gameplay The second version of the game. ''Front Page Sports: Foo ...

''. The editors wrote that despite new graphics "it is still the statistical model and replay accuracy of this new game, like its venerable ancestor, that command's everyone's attention".

Conventions and tournaments

APBA continues to have a devoted following, with conventions now held every year under the game company's sponsorship. The highlight of the convention is a tournament played by the attendees. APBA conventions go back as far as June 1973, when more than 300 fans got together at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

for a convention sponsored by the game's independent publication, the APBA Journal. David Eisenhower was among the attendees. The convention tournament was won by Robert Weeks. A record 650 got together in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in June 1975, with Barry Koopersmith the tournament winner. The third and final APBA Journal convention was held in June 1976 in Philadelphia, with Richard Beggs winning the tournament. The tournament structure for those conventions allowed participants to construct a team from all the cards they owned. (The Journal continued to be published under different management until 2002, but never held another convention.) Conventions resumed in Lancaster in July 1995 under game company sponsorship. The tournament was limited to stock teams that finished with percentages between .480 and .515. Chris Dineen's 1982 Expos prevailed. The June 1998 tournament, held in nearby Millersville, was limited to teams with percentages below .550. Ten-year-old Devin Flawd won, using the 1995 Mariners. Conventions have been held annually beginning in 2001. All except 2003 were sponsored by the game company. The limits on team winning percentages were dropped after 2002. The 2013 convention was held near the new corporate offices in Georgia; it was unique in that it produced the first back-to-back tournament winner. In addition, Brian Wells, a two-time winner himself, was inducted into the APBA Hall of Fame along with his father, Greg Wells.

Convention tournament results

Year - Location - Winner - Team * 1973 - Philadelphia PA - Bob Weeks (All Star Teams were used) * 1975 - New York City - Barry Koopersmith (All Star Teams were used) * 1973 - New York City - Richard Beggs (All Star Teams were used) * 1999 - Lancaster, PA - Mini-Camp - Karl Hasselbarth - 1978 Texas Rangers def Ted Knorr - 1978 Pittsburgh Pirates * 2001 -

Lancaster, PA Lancaster, ( ; pdc, Lengeschder) is a city in and the county seat of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is one of the oldest inland cities in the United States. With a population at the 2020 census of 58,039, it ranks 11th in population amon ...

- Paul Cunningham - 1976 Athletics def Sam Adams - 1970 Boston Red Sox * 2002 - Lancaster, PA - Brian Wells#* - 2000 Diamondbacks def Art Carter - 1992 St Louis Cardinals * 2003 - Lancaster, PA - Todd Davis - 1977 Royals** def. Devin Flawd - 1982 Phillies * 2004 -

Las Vegas, NV Las Vegas (; Spanish language, Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the List of United States cities by population, 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the U.S. state, state of Neva ...

- Eric Naftaly - 1957 Braves def. Joe Krakowski - 1969 Orioles * 2005 - Lancaster, PA - John Hunt - 1975 Reds def. Frank Welsh - 1957 Braves * 2006 - Las Vegas, NV - Bob King - 1977 Phillies def. Jackson Chapman - 1930 Athletics * 2007 - Frazer, PA - John Duke* - 1927 Yankees def. Dan Trout - 1970 Orioles * 2008 - Las Vegas, NV - Brian Wells* - 2001 Mariners def. Mike Harlow - 1956 Dodgers * 2009 - Lancaster, PA - John Duke* - 1909 Pirates def. Walt Husted - 1930 Cardinals * 2010 - Lancaster, PA - Ron Seamans - 1969 Orioles def. Brian Wells - 2004 Cardinals * 2011 - Lancaster, PA - Chris Sorce - 1930 Cardinals def. Ray Ouellette 1911 Giants * 2012 - Lancaster, PA - Steve Skoff* - 1912 Giants def. Charlie Sorce - 1910 A's * 2013 - Alpharetta, GA - Steve Skoff§* - 1911 Giants def. Pat McGregor - 1995 Indians * 2013 - Canton, OH - (Football) - Greg Wells 1984 Forty-Niners def. Greg Barath - 1999 St. Louis Rams * 2014 - Alpharetta, GA - Paul Trinkle - 1916 Dodgers def. Leroy "Skeet" Carr - 2011 Rangers * 2015 - Alpharetta, GA - Kevin Cluff - 1998 Yankees def. Billy Bell - 2013 Tigers * 2016 - Alpharetta, GA - Roy Langhans - 1985 Cardinals def. Steve Ryan - 1998 Braves * 2017 - Alpharetta, GA - Dave Sweeley - 1972 Pirates def. Bill Lilly - 1968 Tigers * 2018 - Alpharetta, GA - Greg Wells - 1905 New York Giants def. Steve Ryan - 1998 Atlanta Braves * 2019 - Alpharetta, GA - Amy Wyks° - 2017 Washington Nationals def. Mike Kehrer - 2017 Washington Nationals * 2021 - Alpharetta, GA - Steve Skoff@ - 2019 Los Angeles Dodgers def. Kevin Cluff - 2019 Los Angeles Dodgers * 2022 - Alpharetta, GA - Mike Kehrer - 2021 Atlanta Braves def. Greg Wells 2019 Houston Astros Key: * @Three-time Champion * *Two-time champions * #Youngest champion (Age 9 in 2002) * §First Back-to-Back Champion * °First female champion * **The 2003 Tournament was held in Lancaster, PA, but was not officially sponsored by the APBA Game Company. Todd Davis was the champion.

Face-to-face and mail leagues

A large part of the APBA world is players competing against one another in a wide variety of draft leagues, where players assemble teams and play against other competitors. Some leagues have lasted over four decades, and FTF (face-to-face) leagues are centered in

, Greater New York and

Washington, D.C ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website

* ttp://forums.delphiforums.com/apbabtl/start APBA Between the Lines Delphi Discussion Forum
APBA Baseball Game

APBA, A Yahoo discussion group on APBA baseball

Game manufacturers Sports board games Manufacturing companies established in 1951 Companies based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania 1951 establishments in Pennsylvania Design companies established in 1951 Baseball board games