earlier baseball games

[griffeyin98]

Started with Pursue The Pennant, had leagues with friends from like 5th grade on up, then moved to Diamond Mind when everyone else "moved on from fake baseball games"

[Tom the Fish]

Microleague Baseball. Man, that was so long ago.

Tom

[Questdog]

Originally Posted by 1998 Yankees

You and I root for different teams, but here we could be twins (not the ones from Minnesota, though) - exactly the same history as me. Those pictures of High Heat bring back especially fond memories . . . until I remember such flaws as, if you played out your games, triples and walks were practically non-existent. Maybe that's why I'm such an OOTP fanboy - I've experienced the evolution of baseball simulation games up to this point, warts and all.
.

Did any of you ever notice that in EVERY incantation of High Heat, intentional walks were double counted in the walk column?

For instance, if a player drew 10 unintentional walks and 5 intentional, instead of showing 15 walks with 5 intentional, it would show 20 walks with 5 intentional.

This drove me nuts. I even emailed the game and never got any response....

[Giants44]

Originally Posted by Beach23BoyP

Strat-O-Matic -- 1963

nice - beat me about 9 years.

did you read this book:

Amazon.com: Strat-O-Matic Fanatics: The Unlikely Success Story Of A Game That Became An American Passion (9780879462802): Glenn Guzzo: Books

very fun reminiscing for old school strat guys.

[Giants44]

the one I remember most fondly at least from the PC era was Tony LaRussa - there was a series of utilities that added a lot of front office functionality that wasn't in the game. I still remember enjoying playing the games (and amazingly still use the ballparks in OOTP) I would imagine if I looked at it now, it would look extremely dated, but at the time it was great.

[Giants44]

Originally Posted by 1998 Yankees

...Maybe that's why I'm such an OOTP fanboy - I've experienced the evolution of baseball simulation games up to this point, warts and all...

well put, I believe that is why I am such a fanboy as well - that and the fact that Markus never stops improving the game and listens to his customers and makes changes. Over the past 10 years I have made at least a dozen small suggestions that have found their way into the game - the thought that someday something like that would exists was so far beyond my imagination back when I was playing these games.

[golander40]

All-Star Baseball(Spinner)mostly made up my own --APBA middle 50's--either 1st edition or 2nd,never was sure. Action PC for baseball computer sims 1st edition---then found career based games and fell in love.
Gil The Ancient One

[TribeFanInNC]

Originally Posted by golander40

All-Star Baseball(Spinner)mostly made up my own --Gil The Ancient One

This was the first baseball game I ever played too. A distant cousin showed it to me when I was like 6. I got my own version and played it til the cards wore out. I think I still have it back at my mom's. The first video game baseball I really played a lot was the Tony Larussa series. In the summer when school was out, I'd play a couple games a day to finish the season by the end of the summer.

[Leo_The_Lip]

Originally Posted by Beach23BoyP

Strat-O-Matic -- 1963

Do you mean you first played in 1963 with the 1962 cards, or first played in 1964 with the 1963 cards?

I first played in 1964 with 1963 cards. Hand computed stats--lots of long division. The KC A's won that 20-game short season and WS. I also had Pedro Ramos toss a perfect game, something I never have had happen with Strat again.

[markprior22]

Started with Strat in '74, have played APBA, DMB, PTP, Avalon Hill, Mogul, High Heat, Hardball, Puresim, The Show and probably some others I'm forgetting. Speaking of Hardball on the Commodore (can't remember which version), does anyone remember Tommy Euler? Was a pitcher with tremendous power. Would put Babe Ruth to shame. Funny what crazy things you remember.

[thamolas]

Baseball stars on the NES was the first baseball video game that I really played a lot. Guys in my neighborhood played that game religiously. I liked Basewars on NES, too. Creating custom teams of killer robots who battle out a baseball game? Why not. On the PC, I started out with Mogul, too, back in 90-something. Don't remember. The game was so-so and crashed a lot. I came back, years later, looking for "what was that baseball sim again?" and found a thread on a random message board where someone was making fun of BB Mogul and hyped up OOTP. I tried X and had fun at first before being slammed back to earth by crazy bugs, crashing, corrupted saves (and corrupted back-ups) etc. It was a nightmare. I was so mad that I spent money on a game that I couldn't play (and tech support refused to help me). I came back to try 11 and, so far, only one crash, no killer bugs, and no corrupted files. I'll keep my fingers crossed. It's an awesome game.

[Leo_The_Lip]

This is a picture of myself (middle) brother and cousin playing our first baseball boardgame. I'm holding the dial that turned a large wheel of results under the field. In front of the dial is a window that showed what the pitch might be. The pitcher figure is standing on it. The batter would either lift up the batter and see the result of the swing, or lift up the umpire so see the ball/strike call.

If the the batter hit the ball, there would be the usual fielder notation with a symbol for fly ball, line drive or ground ball.
Then you'd lift the fielder and see the result. Base runners also covered up the play at each base.

We've been trying to remember the name of the game without success. Searched places like Boardgame Geek without coming up with a name.

[Irrelevant Dude]

I spent countless hours playing a game that I believe was called "Dice Roll Baseball". The batter would roll 2 dice for each at-bat and the result was determined by a cardboard cutout that had different results depending on the hitter's batting average and home run total. My brother and I would keep stats and play full seasons of head-to-head games using this simple piece of cardboard. I probably still have it in an old chest in my parents' basement. Does anyone else remember that game?

[PhillieFever]

My favorite video game baseball from back in the day was Tony LaRussa for the Genesis I gues from around 92 or 93 not sure. It was the first game that actually felt like big league baseball on a console. I remember playing through the whole season as the Baltimore Orioles in the Mike Mussina, Ben McDonald, Arthur Rhodes era. Still to this day the only console game I've ever played a whole season in. Board game wise it was APBA on and off for years and years.

[Afino]

Originally Posted by CubsFanCuddy

I spent countless hours playing a game that I believe was called "Dice Roll Baseball". The batter would roll 2 dice for each at-bat and the result was determined by a cardboard cutout that had different results depending on the hitter's batting average and home run total. My brother and I would keep stats and play full seasons of head-to-head games using this simple piece of cardboard. I probably still have it in an old chest in my parents' basement. Does anyone else remember that game?

I played something similar. I actually created one myself from scratch when I was like 10 or 11 years old. Should have marketed it

[Beach23BoyP]

Originally Posted by Giants44

nice - beat me about 9 years.

did you read this book:

Amazon.com: Strat-O-Matic Fanatics: The Unlikely Success Story Of A Game That Became An American Passion (9780879462802): Glenn Guzzo: Books

very fun reminiscing for old school strat guys.

I've thought about reading it. I just wished that I'd kept my 1963 edition of SOM based on the 1962 season. 1962 is still my favorite season to replay.

[Beach23BoyP]

Originally Posted by Leo_The_Lip

Do you mean you first played in 1963 with the 1962 cards, or first played in 1964 with the 1963 cards?

I first played in 1964 with 1963 cards. Hand computed stats--lots of long division. The KC A's won that 20-game short season and WS. I also had Pedro Ramos toss a perfect game, something I never have had happen with Strat again.

1962 cards. I loved the "Whiz Kids" Phils. Callison, Wine, Taylor, etc.

[Giants44]

Originally Posted by Beach23BoyP

I've thought about reading it. I just wished that I'd kept my 1963 edition of SOM based on the 1962 season. 1962 is still my favorite season to replay.

I enjoyed it, great trip down memory lane for me.

funny thing is I tried to pull the old game out and play with my son a couple years ago - ironically he loved it and I thought it was too slow and too much work - I have become acustomed to OOTP doing things in 5 seconds that it would take a week for me to accomplish.

[OldFatGuy]

The very first serious baseball I played was in the 1960's (lol I never even knew of all the options available in the 60's) with a baseball game I got free at McDonalds (or Burger King or one of the fast food joints).

All it was a piece of paper with a legend on it. You used a deck of cards, and each card meant something. Ace=Home Run, King=Triple, Queen=Double, etc. etc.

Made up teams using basball cards, and kept stats and standings. Flipping a new regular card got me the result, then I'd flip to the next basball card to see who was up to bat, flip the next playing card to get the next result, etc. etc.

Played that for a looooong time. Looking back it was sooooo lame, and I discovered there were really great other options available, I just didn't know it.

Then the board game I played the most was Avalon Hill's Superstar Baseball, again keeping stats and everything. I went through I don't know how many sets of dice on that one.

On the computer, I played several early ones, including LaRussa, Weaver, The Sporting News Baseball (actually not bad), but then found Front Page Sports Baseball 94 and thought I'd found the game I waited my whole life for.

Turned out it wasn't, and OOTP is closer to being that game. In fact, if OOTP had FPS graphics, I'd be in heaven. It was sooooo fun playing out your games on that because it was pure physics based, so when the ball was hit you had no idea what it was going to be. You had to watch the action to find out.

Great times, cause it would be a deep fly and you're wondering if it's deep enough, and then sometimes the player jumps over the fence to make a great catch, etc.

It had too many AI and other flaws (the physics model wasn't great). All in all though, I still prefer that one on strictly playing it out. Prefer OOTP in every and all other aspects though.

[rocknfire7]

The first baseball sim?

Back when Fleer and Donruss first came out and were cheap cheap I would take that days crop of cards and play war to find the winner. I would also arrange my cards per team and take them outside and hit rocks with those old hard plastic yellow bats that they don't make anymore. The telephone wires indicated a homer, double, single or out. It was always somebody versus the Royals. I often left the cards outside. I was 5 or six then. I still have a few warped and faded cards for old times sake.

After that it was Atari Baseball, then later on SOM ( I still collect and occasionally play the cards), APBA, numerous console games including a 24 hour Bases Loaded tournament complete with detailed stats, ( Never played that game again) then the SOM computer version and finally I stumbled apon OOTP when looking for player pics.