The APBA board game gives participants an opportunity to be the general manager, manager and player all in one. They also have little or no interest in baseball analytics, such as Wins Above Replacement (WAR). They shun the computer version of the game. League members, ranging in age from the 40s to the 70s, are old-school baseball fans. Each game takes about 30-40 minutes to play.

Old-school fans: Managers play two games face-to-face with an opponent each Wednesday evening at Silar's York City residence. 'This league gives you a chance to act like a kid for a couple hours,' said Garry Miller, a longtime member. The 12 managers include Silar, Leonard Vanoudenaren, Richard Mickley, Dave Mann, Brad Daugherty, John Chavez, Garry Miller, Terry Kottmyer, Jim Barnes, Rick Ashby, Don Bryant and Bill Kerr. The 12 managers: Teams boast names such as the Belvidere Bombers, Allen Field All-Stars, Cleveland Avenue Charlies and Shiloh Sharks. The schedule, which consists of 54 games, plus the playoffs, was originally designed to accommodate the members' softball and baseball schedules. He decided to ask several friends to join a league, which originally had six teams. The league, which now has 12 teams, starts play in September and continues through April. I ordered the game, played it and was immediately hooked on it.' The company's headquarters was in Millersville (Lancaster County) at the time. 'A friend of mine was reading a baseball magazine, and I saw an ad for the APBA board game. 'I belonged to the Eagle Fire Company on Jackson Street at the time,' he said. How it started: Silar recalled how he became interested in the game. Each player has an individual card with results for each dice combination. For example, a 6-6 is a home run and a 6-4 is a walk, for many players.

A three-foot traveling trophy displayed in his recreation room has the name engraved of every team that has won the league's World Series.ĪPBA, which was created in 1951, is a statistically accurate board game. Players are expected to perform similar to their major league stats. Starting in 1970: Dick Silar, a retired York Tech athletic director, started the local APBA league in 1970, the year the Baltimore Orioles beat the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series. The 49th season of the APBA Paul Goodnote Baseball League (named after a former member) is underway.

They can hear an occasional cheer or sigh of exasperation erupt from one of the tables. One rolls a pair of dice, moves his runners from base to base on the makeshift infield and keeps score of every play, while the other looks on, waiting for his turn.įour other men sit on bar stools, or a couch, and watch a baseball game on television, ready to play once a table becomes available. A miniature, wooden replica of a major league baseball stadium sits on each of three tables in Dick Silar's recreation room.

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