The "APBA Frenzy" Story

It was an ordinary day. Monday, February 3, 1986 and the new APBA cards are coming out today. And what exactly is that, you wonder. APBA is a board game developed by J. Richard Seitz from Lancaster, PA. He was a master statistician who enjoyed baseball tremendously and used the stats from his favorite baseball players and teams to make a game that he played in his garage with his neighborhood friends. They told him that he ought to develop it more and market it. He did and it became a best selling product. He called it APBA or American Professional Baseball Association. The cards are about the size of playing cards and contain numbers from 11 to 66. They relate to the rolling of two dice, hence these numbers. Each player in the major leagues receives a card based on his stats from the previous year. They were quite accurate. If you played a 162 game schedule like they do in the major leagues, the results from your rolling would just about match what the player actually did. Except if you were a terrible dice roller or a pro at rolling the dice. This time of year people from all over the East coast travel to 1001 Millersville Road in Millersville, PA to get their new card set. My wife bought me a set for Christmas in 1976 and I was hooked. Of course, baseball is a passion of mine. I played the game for a year then decided to start a league of APBA fans. I asked my cousin's husband Lance, who also played APBA, and he said he would be interested. I invited one of my students, Tim, to join. A fellow teacher, Mike and a guy from church, Jack. Before long I had eight members. We held a draft of the cards at my house and began play the following week. We had a schedule of 42 games. You played everyone in the league twice with each meeting featuring three games. In 1977 "The Red Rose APBA League" was born. The league grew to 12 members the following year and we increased the amount of games we played to 96 games. We naturally had the playoffs and APBA World Series. Ages of our players ranged from 17 to 58. Shortly thereafter I found there was a national publication called "The APBA Journal" which was devoted exclusively to the APBA fan. I subscribed and shortly was asked to write articles for it since I lived close to the game store. Since I am teaching today, my wife has volunteered to travel to Millersville for the introduction of the 1987 set of cards. Could have called in sick, but probably would have been caught at the game store. She will purchase a set for me and write a story for the Journal in my absence. On her arrival and the APBA Game Co., she encounters the following: a guy from Ephrata, PA and his mother who both enjoy the game; a minister on his way to work from Lancaster who originally purchased the cards directly from Mr. Seitz's garage; two fellows from New Jersey who have been on the road since 6:00 AM and who bought 22 sets of cards - they play in the North-East League in NJ; a father from Mountville who is trying to get his five-year old son interested in the game; two young fellows from Nashville, Tennessee who play in the eight team "Out of their League" and have always wanted to drive to Lancaster to see where they were made; from Philadelphia came two guys who have played since 1957. The APBA Game Company closes it's doors from noon to 1:00 PM for lunch and by the time they re-open a TV crew from Philadelphia was on hand to interview game buyers. The mayor of Philadelphia and David Eisenhower as well as many other celebrities either make their way to Lancaster or order by mail. My wife couldn't believe what happened that day at the APBA Game Company. All these people purchasing their cards that would give them a "high" that nothing else could match. And she thought I was nuts!! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.