APBA Baseball is a legendary baseball simulation board game first published in 1951 by the American Professional Baseball Association (APBA). While the core gameplay involves rolling dice to simulate baseball games, a key component that brings the game to life are the individual cardboard player cards that contain statistical data for thousands of real Major League Baseball players throughout history. These player cards are what allow fans to build their own dream teams and matchups between legendary players that could never meet on an actual baseball field.
Each APBA player card contains a wealth of statistical and biographical information for that particular ballplayer. At the minimum, every card lists the player’s name, years played, team(s), position(s), batting average, home runs, runs batted in (RBIs) and runs scored for their career. Many older vintage cards from the early decades of the game break these stats down season-by-season as well. Additional stats often included are games played, at bats, doubles, triples, stolen bases and pitching records like wins, losses, earned run average and strikeouts if they were a pitcher.
Some of the earliest APBA cards even included each player’s birthdate, birthplace, batting handedness, height and weight. Over the decades as more advanced stats were tracked in MLB, APBA cards began incorporating new stats like on-base percentage, slugging percentage and Wins Above Replacement (WAR). The front of each card also features a small black and white photo of the player in action, helping fans easily identify who they are selecting for their lineup. On the back, a brief paragraph provides a bio and highlights of their baseball career.
APBA has released new sets of player cards each year from 1951 up until the present day, with some years seeing multiple updated releases. This allows the game to continually add the newest MLB rookie classes and refresh cards with the most recent seasons of play for active players. It also means their extensive database now spans over a century of the major leagues. Vintage APBA card sets from the 1950s and 60s are highly collectible today, as they capture the statistics and photos of legendary stars from the Deadball Era through the 1960s before digital records.
Obtaining the full collection of cards spanning baseball history would be a monumental task, as the total number printed is certainly in the hundreds of thousands if not millions. APBA released their players in sets divided by team, league, position or era. In the early days, full teams could be had for just a few dollars, but now valuable vintage team sets can sell for hundreds online. APBA also produced “dream teams” that compiled the best players at each position or decade into single pre-made lineups.
While the basic information remains consistent, APBA has evolved the design and layouts of their cards over the decades. Early 1950s cards had a simple single-row layout with black text on white. In the 1960s, a dual-horizontal layout was used, and colors were added to the borders. Modern cards today feature larger photos on a vertical format with additional stats and a more graphical design style compared to the plain text of earlier eras.
For dedicated APBA players, collecting and trading individual cards of their favorite players is almost as big of a hobby as the game itself. Legendary stars like Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Willie Mays, Nolan Ryan, Derek Jeter and more hold significant value in the secondary market of completed auctions. Sealed boxes of unopened vintage APBA cards that still contain complete teams in pristine conditioned are true prizes for collectors.
While the APBA game system has been supplemented by advanced computer and video game simulations in recent decades, the classic cardboard player cards remain a unique way to connect fans to baseball history. Being able to build a lineup with icons from across baseball’s past is a big part of what makes APBA such a special and nostalgic game for many longtime fans and players. The cards immortalize the stats and faces of ballplayers, keeping their legacy alive for future generations to experience even after they have left the field. As long as APBA continues to issue new cards each year, their extensive library will remain the most comprehensive collection of baseball players anywhere outside of the Hall of Fame.
