One summer when he was a camp counselor, he decided to play APBA his entire day off. Once he started, Woody played APBA with a vengeance. In APBA Baseball, the effect of the pitcher depends on how his characteristics (defined by the pitching grade) interact with those of the batter (defined by his batting card).

The Strat-O-Matic model, in terms of consistency, is an improvement over the APBA model… On the other hand, something is lost as well: the interaction between pitcher and batter is not taken into account. In their book “ Curve Ball,” Jim Albert and Jay Bennett review the history of baseball simulation games. Plus, there are game boards for each of the eight base situations (empty, runner on first, etc.) and the interpretation of the roll can differ by situation as well.Ī little history: APBA was invented in 1951, about 10 years before Strat-O-Matic. A “BXYZ” is one heck of a good pitcher, and the actual interpretation of the batter’s card depends on the pitcher he is facing and the quality of the fielders.

In addition to the batting cards, APBA grades fielders and pitchers. Of course, once you’ve played for awhile, the games go really fast. It sounds complicated, but it’s the complication of baseball. Next, you interpret the number according to the pitcher and game board. When you play a game, you roll two die as your “chance” mechanism, then you look up the number on the player’s card. No computer simulation game, with its hidden code and logic, can impart so much understanding. Needless to say, Woody took to APBA like a duck to water.ĪPBA cards are the essence of baseball they are baseball logic made explicit, there for the eye to see and the mind to comprehend. In APBA, you play a simulated baseball game based on dice rolls and specific player, pitcher and situation cards. In 1958, Woody began playing a game called APBA, or American Professional Baseball Association. Each failed try was, of course, a strike. In Sunday School, he invented a game with the other kids called “Bible Baseball,” in which you had to open the Bible to a specific book within three tries. Woody was born in Cooperstown, NY at the end of the second World War (my Mom was raised in Cooperstown, and we spent our summers there as kids) and he’s been thinking and breathing baseball ever since.

My brother Woody, who’s 10 years older than me, had already set the bar pretty high by the time I was even born. In my family, I’m known as the “other” baseball fan.

Apba baseball pitching grades