Paul Dylan from One for Five brings up a poignant matter. It was twenty years ago today when Dick Seitz, founder of the APBA Game Company, passed on. Maybe it’s me being old but it seems so much longer ago.
Some of us hard core APBA fans probably give Dick Seitz a larger than life image because we though we didn’t know him personally, we are most intimately aware of his legacy. Maybe that’s not fair to Seitz the man but that’s only natural. His game which has been around officially since 1951, defined tabletop sports.
Seitz is revered by many long time APBA fans similar to how we Americans revere our “Founding Fathers”. Indeed, Dick Seitz was the founding father of APBA. He grew the business before the days of marketing, focus groups and modern technology. He did things like using his bar drinking buddy as a t-shirt model and marketed the game the way that he probably would want it marketed to him (YOU be the Manager!).
For those interested in more information on Dick Seitz, you can find a good bio of him on the APBA website.
In 1979, Seitz sent one of the managers in the mail league I was in (DUBL) his box set tickets to the Phillies/Pirates (I think Pirates) when the league held a small convention in Philly that summer. There were four tickets and we all split time watching the game from those first and second row seats.
He would always respond to mail (I would send him clippings from the local papers if they included player nicknames because Seitz liked to use those).
Thank you Mr Seitz……..for giving me a game that allowed me to have countless friends. I am honored to have them in my life.