The APBA Blog mailbag: Season set compatibility

I received some good questions from new APBA fan Brian so I thought I would share them along with my answers.

Hello, my name is Brian, and last year I bought APBA Baseball on a whim at age 50.  I probably was attempting to recapture my Baseball Card collecting youth, as well as my brief 70’s fling as a Statis Pro baseball player. Anyway, I really enjoy the game!  I am, however, confused on occasion by the many opinions I read regarding boards, cards, etc. I feel as though I will ask an expert, which I consider you…

First of all, welcome to the APBA community!  I’m glad you’re enjoying it so far.  It’s a great game and has a friendly and helpful fan base.  You can find many APBA fans on the APBA Baseball Facebook group and on the APBA-Between the Lines forum.

1- If I buy a 1974 Season (original) and use it with my current APBA Book, am I  getting accurate results?  There are so many opinions but I just play the basic game.

In short, yes.  While the newer cards have slightly more features and are geared more for the newer boards/booklets, there is no reason that you can use a card set from the 1970s (or even older) with the current game.

2- Would there be any advantage to buying the newest 1974 set from APBA, or would my results be nearly identical?

I actually have the 1974 original baseball set buried somewhere in my basement office so I know what you are referring.  Your stats would be very similar.  The differences worth mentioning are these:

• Those pitchers who RARELY walked a batter and would be awarded a ZZ rating (that began in 1990)
• Those pitchers who struck out a high rate of batters would be awarded a K rating (2006)
• Those pitchers who struck out a low rate of batters would be awarded an R rating (also 2006)
• Those hitters who stole bases at a higher rate were awarded a 14* (1975)
• Those hitters who were hit by a pitch at a high rate were awarded a 42 (1972, we’re going back in time now)

Overall, these are minor differences in the scope of the game.  If you ignored the ZZ, K and R, the stats would be similar.  If you wished, you could dig into the stats for that year and determine which cards were worthy of each rating.  Looking at your 1974 example, I’ll bet Nolan Ryan would warrant a K rating.

There may be two reasons you might want to buy the new set of a particular season.

1. Most seasons include more players per set (my 1966 season included every player that made an appearance.  Some APBA fans don’t care about this but those who do full replays find it useful (see Bob Watson to the right… I’m still working on getting his one AB in my 1966 replay)
2. Also, new card sets will include Master Game symbols on each card (again, see Watson’s card).

You can check how many cards are in each set and if they come with the MG symbols on the APBA web site.  This page on APBA’s site also allows you to view the rosters for each season set.

3- I have BATS3 (Brand new) and wondered if I could play any of those vs my original 1919-1974-1976 cards? Would having R and K mess with results? Again, I know these are probably beginners questions, but  am noticing that so many of the APBA faithful speak amongst themselves at a level that is somewhat over my head, which makes it a little hard to find basic answers like these.

The easy answer is that you can do what you want as long as you are having fun with the game.  Part of the fun of games like APBA is that it allows us to play teams from the past against current teams.  Or perhaps, make up an All-Star team that spans all the decades.  If you aren’t a stickler for statistical anomalies, it can be fun.

That’s the rub though.  It’s not so much a fault of the game so much as it is as comparing players from one decade to another.  For example, there is no argument that Babe Ruth was a revolutionary hitter who changed the game of baseball.  Yet, this past year, there were three hitters who had a 33-1.  It’s not so much an APBA thing as it is a baseball thing.

Would playing a deadball team against a team from 1930 give you realistic or accurate results?  Probably not.  But it still might be fun.

It’s also worth noting that APBA cardmakers have adjusted cards due to the season stats.  The most pronounced example is the 1968 season.  Due to the extraordinary low ERA of the pitchers that year, APBA reportedly added a ‘7’ to each card.  Playing that set against another year would skew the season stats slightly.

4- I really appreciate any light you can shine on this subject, as I have a 1919 original, 1974 Original, and a 1976 original Season. Plus  have the New APBA game and book, as well as BATS3  pre expansion.

Honestly, you would not have any issue between set close together like 1974 and 1976.  I have not seen the new BATS so maybe someone who has could chime in on that.  I will say that I have participated in many tournaments which included teams that run the gamut and the teams are compatible.  Tournaments are a very different beast than full seasons, however.

One last thing… I encourage you to check out the APBA Baseball Card 12 List.  In particular, scroll to the bottom.  There it lists each rating (e.g. ‘Z’) and what year it began to be used for APBA Baseball.

Wrapping up, I encourage you to check back in and let us know if this answers your questions.  Definitely, become a part of the APBA Baseball group on Facebook or Between the Lines.  There are some great people in the APBA community who are always willing to help!