16
June

Entire collection of APBA Journals up for bid

ajebay

Francis Rose is selling the complete collection of APBA Journals on Ebay.  The issues start in AJ’s first year of 1967 all the way to 2002, 363 in all. 

Interesting to note that the early ones aren’t distribution issues but rather Len Gaydos’ original copies.

From the Ebay description:

 

It is widely known that the early AJs were mimeographed, and the few that survived are usually found in difficult-to-read condition, since the mimeographed pages often run or blur over the years.  Len’s archive, however, has stayed in pristine condition, and since they are original archive editions, they don’t even have address labels on the backs from the initial issue in 1967 until Tom Heiderscheit took over in 1977.

 

Rose’s “Buy It Now” price is $1600 but the collection is up for auction for anyone who wants to put up a bid.

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6
June

Media Watch: APBA mentioned in book review

Bob D’Angelo aka “The Sports Bookie”, interjects his preference for tabletop baseball games in his review of The Underground Baseball Encyclopedia: The Stuff You Never Needed to Know and Can Certainly Live Without on TBO.com:

 

What I enjoyed most about this book were some of the obscure entries. For example, Steve Hamilton’s Folly Floater, Strat-O-Matic Baseball (but where, oh where, is APBA Baseball, the best baseball dice board/strategy game ever invented? Sorry, Strat fans …).

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9
August

NYT coverage of the APBA Convention

The New York Times ran a nice piece called The Crack of the Dice on the game of APBA and the recent Convention in Lancaster.

John Duke took this year’s tournament using the 1909 Pittsburgh Pirates.  It’s his second title in two years.  He won in 2007 with the 1927 Yankees.

Congrats John!

The NYT focused a lot on Brian Wells, a 16-year old.

“This is a really nerdy place,” said Brian Wells, the spiky-haired teenager whom nobody in the tournament wants to face. “It’s fun, but it’s nerdy.”

Haha, I remember from the last time I went to an APBA convention.  Brian was a tad younger then.  I’m glad he’s still coming despite the nerdiness. This year, he made it as far as the semi-finals.

The Times even devoted a page on The Basics of APBA, a short tutorial on the game of APBA.

Update: Wow, there are TWO articles about APBA in the New York Times on the same day:  Where Puccinelli is as good as Bonds

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25
June

Keeping an eye on Lancaster

Not really APBA related but this article in the LA Times reports that Lancaster, Pa, home of the APBA Co, is probably the closely watched community.  The town of 55,000 has some 165 closed-circuit TV cameras monitoring public areas purportedly looking for crime.

 

Some 165 closed-circuit TV cameras soon will provide live, round-the-clock scrutiny of nearly every street, park and other public space used by the 55,000 residents and the town’s many tourists. That’s more outdoor cameras than are used by many major cities, including San Francisco and Boston.

Unlike anywhere else, cash-strapped Lancaster outsourced its surveillance to a private nonprofit group that hires civilians to tilt, pan and zoom the cameras — and to call police if they spot suspicious activity. No government agency is directly involved.

 

So if you go to the Company to pick up your cards in person, Smile!, you might be on camera!

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11
June

USA Today piece on APBA, Strat-O-Matic

There’s a pretty awesome article depicting the fun of APBA (and Strat-O-Matic) baseball in USA Today.  They interview a couple members of the Washington APBA Baseball League.

 

…But they’re not at the ballpark. For that matter, they’re not watching on TV, either. It’s 10 a.m. on a Sunday morning and they are huddled around McDonald’s tiny kitchen table in College Park, Md., focused on dice, charts and "players" depicted on tiny white cards with red numbers.

"Another strikeout. Are you kidding me?" McDonald exclaims as he hurls a yellow dice shaker across the room, causing it to slam into a wall 15 feet away and land behind his refrigerator. He turns to Haller, who is surprisingly nonchalant, and tells him, "I swear, I am going to call the cops and have them tow your car away."

 

haha, stuff like that used to happen in our league, too.  Seriously, it’s a pretty decent article even hitting on the rivalry/respect between the two games.  They were even able to get a hold of Marc Rinaldi for a quote.

thanks to Chuck for passing this on. 

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9
January

Some past APBA mentions in the press

Opening Day won’t be here for another three months but since the 2008 cards and disks are out, APBA league play and replays can now commence. 

In that spirit, here are links to some past (dare I call them historical?) articles on the game of APBA in the mainstream press.  Thanks to Teddy Ballgame (who must have been busy on Google) who passed them on to me.

 

APBA’s Baseball Game Keeps Getting Better

by H.P. Rosenberg of metbaseball.com.  From September 2007, published on the Flushing University website and includes an interview with APBA Game Company’s Marc Rinaldi and Veryl Lincoln

 

Take Me Out To the Board Game:  For APBA and Strat-O-Matic, the combination of baseball and statistics is one of the sweetest things on Earth

from August 2001 by Bob Herzog of New York Newsday and republished on APBA’s website.

 

and this one goes waaay back:

 

Apba Is The Name, Baseball Is The Game, And Obsession Is The Result

from 1980 by Franz Lidz of Sports Illustrated.  Yes, this is from the Seitz era.

 

Seitz, who originated the formulas used to make up the player cards, is a fallible god. “Customers write in to argue about performance ratings,” he says. “They take it personally. They think they know more about the game than I do.” The letters go unanswered.

 

Enjoy!

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9
November

Famous People who have played APBA

I’m starting this running thread of famous people who play or have played APBA.  If you know of anyone who isn’t already on the list, please comment and I’ll put them on the list. 

I’ll start with a couple:

 

george_bush George Bush former part owner of the Texas Rangers
davideisenhower David Eisenhower grandson of President Dwight Eisenhower, inspiration for CCR’s “Fortunate Son”
VXzZEelw[1] Walt Jocketty Cincinnati Reds General Manager
curt-schilling-760339 Curt Schilling MLB Pitcher
torre66card Joe Torre former player, currently Los Angeles Dodgers Manager

 

I know there are more.  Leave a comment if you know of anyone famous who rolled the bones and I’ll update the list.  If you have a web page reference, cite it and I’ll link it. 

thanks!

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17
October

APBA in the Wild

I always enjoy seeing APBA mentioned in the news media even if it’s just briefly.  First, any PR for the game is good, in my opinion.  Second, it’s interesting to see which sportswriters/athletes have played or encountered the game. 

This time it’s Tim Griffin who interestingly covers college football for ESPN.  His article about nicknames which ran a couple weeks ago invoked his childhood memory of playing APBA baseball.  The nicknames on the top of many of the cards seemed to stick with him. 

Says Griffin:

 

I love nicknames and always have. I think it started when I was a kid playing APBA baseball and football and found the occasional nickname found on a player card. It always seemed to give a player a little more color and pizzazz back in those pre-cable television days when I’d be lucky to watch one or two games a week.

 

I admit, nicknames do add a bit of "color" to the APBA cards. 

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