The "Unchallenged King Of Tabletop Sports!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Downsizing!  Yeah, I'm preparing for a move sometime in my future. But then, aren't we all?  Not sure where I'm moving to or when, but I thought I should prepare for something, sometime.  Now I have to tell my wife about the move.  Starting my downsizing by cleaning out my green metal filing cabinet that holds close to 100 file folders that I have in alphabetical order telling what's inside the folder; you know...Air Purifier, Airplane Tickets, APBA Journals, etc.  

APBA was played with cards the size of a playing card.
Here are different year sets of APBA cards held in boxes.

Wait!  I haven't looked through that last folder for ages, so I pulled out the APBA Journal folder and started to go through it.  Gonna be tough to get rid of this, I thought to myself.  For those reading this that have no idea what the APBA Journal might be, it is, or should I say was, a 16-page newsletter that was published in Durham, North Carolina and tells about people who play APBA.  

Mr. J. Richard Seitz began to sell his game this year.

APBA dates back to the 1930s when a bunch of high-school buddies in Lancaster, PA played a simulation baseball table-top game invented by one of them, J. Richard Seitz.  His game was loosely based on an old tabletop baseball game called National Pastime.  But, unlike any previous board game, it combined the randomness of dice with the on-field performances of individual players.  The guys called themselves the American Professional Baseball Association; thus APBA.  

The cover of the APBA Journal.  This issue
features a story about Mr. Seitz who is seen
on the cover of the Journal.  The three-page
story was written by none other than me.

When Dick Seitz entered the Army in the 1940s he took the game with him.  He played his game with his comrades in the barracks at Fort Eustis, Virginia.  After the war Mr Seitz had a variety of jobs, but still continued to improve his game.  Then in 1951 he decided to share his creation with the world.  He offered his game, which he had playing cards for each member of the 16 major league teams, plus playing charts, for $10.  Sales were so brisk that in 1957, after making more money the year before selling games than working elsewhere, he began his career in APBA.  I discovered the game in the late 1960s and just loved it.  I started my own league with 7 other guys in Lancaster County, PA which eventually grew to 12 guys.  

A full-page advertisement for my miniature
stadium that I made and sold.  I called my
company WBBB which was Woods Baseball
Boards.  I sold close to 20 before I stopped
production of them fearing someone might
electrocute themselves while playing on it,
and sue me.  Click on page to enlarge.

In the early 1970s I discovered the APBA Journal and in no time was writing stories for it.  Wasn't long before I made my own miniature baseball stadium onto which I rolled my dice while playing.  A few guys liked it and said I should make them and sell them.....so I did.  Wood framework with a green felt field on which I silkscreened base-paths and bases.  The bases were miniature lights which I could turn on when there were players on base.  Had a scoreboard in center field that I used my kids lite-bright pegs to keep score.  Stadium was about 24 inches square and about 10 inches tall.  Advertised them in the APBA Journal and they were a success.  The editor of the APBA Journal asked me, since I lived in Lancaster where Mr. Seitz had built his game company, to visit the company and do an interview with J. Richard Seitz.  

This photo shows the game board, dice, playing
pieces and the boards that told you what happened
to the player after you rolled the dice.  My stadium
was more fun to play on that the game board seen here.

I placed the call and made an appointment with the President of APBA.  And, the APBA Journal that I pulled from my file folder as I was downsizing holds that interview.  It covered almost 3 pages of the 12 page newsletter with a large photo I took of the President on the cover.  I'm positive that you aren't interesting in reading it, but I'm not sure I can get rid of it; or any of the other 30 or so old APBA Journals.  So, I decided to put the folder back in the metal filing cabinet and begin my downsizing another day.  Heavens, I'm not moving tomorrow so what's the rush. And, I still haven't told my wife my plans of where we might be moving yet! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.