APBA

APBA (pronounced "APP-bah") is a game company founded in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It was created in 1951 by J. Richard Seitz. The game company on their official website states that the letters stood for "American Professional Baseball Association" which was the name of a boyhood league Mr. Seitz participated in with his friends. After 60 years in Pennsylvania, the company headquarters was moved in 2011 to Alpharetta, Georgia.

The company's first offering was a baseball simulation table game using cards to represent each major league player, boards to represent different on-base scenarios (e.g. "Bases Empty", "Runner on First"), and dice to generate random numbers. Seitz's product was derived from the game National Pastime, invented and patented by Clifford Van Beek in 1925, a game which Seitz played in his youth. The game can be played against another person or in solitaire fashion. Devoted fans keep track of the results and assess how players' performance compares to their real-life statistics.

The game company later produced football, golf, basketball, hockey, bowling, boxing, soccer, and saddle racing games modeled after the baseball game (cards, boards and dice).

Later, computer adaptations of some of these games were produced.

APBA enthusiasts have included President George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, David Eisenhower, sports agent Arn Tellem, and journalist and memoirist Franz Lidz. Many players and others involved in the game have been fans.

For much of its history APBA's main competitor has been Strat-O-Matic. Other competitors include, or have included, Replay Publishing, Statis Pro Baseball and, in APBA's early years, Big League Manager. In 2000 APBA redesigned the packaging of its baseball game and for a brief time expanded its marketing approach to include hobby shops and sport card dealers, with limited success.