Hands-On: Statis Pro Baseball

A quick overview of a classic tabletop baseball game.

[@noneofyourbuisness5854]

The summer of 1981 my friend and I picked 6 teams each and played a whole 162 game season for each team. we were 13 years old and played this thing night and day for almost 4 months straight. I loved that game.

[@jpscesniak]

that's amazing.

[@garychrosniak7014]

BY FAR MY FAVORITE ...BASEBALL GAME .....QUICK PLAYABILITY, CARDS ARE EASY TO READ AND GAME BOARD HAS SOOO MANY MANAGERIAL CHOICES ....NICE JOB AL

[@thecelebratedmisterk]

I just bought one on eBay and await its arrival. I enjoyed this video.

[@derekox]

I used to play this with a friend when I was in the Army. We had something called the "Vince Coleman rule", where if he reached first base, a steal of 2nd was automatic, and so was him advancing an extra base, on any hit made by the batter behind him in the order.

[@wi54725]

I owned Statis-Pro Baseball and Basketball as well as Superstar Baseball, Paydirt and Bowlbound. These games helped me develop a love of statistics, and it led to me "breaking the codes" of the player cards so I could make my own teams and not have to play the same season cards over and over. It's what started me on a 48 year hobby of making my own tabletop strategy games. My close friend and neighbor does the same, and in our retirement, we are seriously thinking of trying to combine our games and make it marketable at a very low price just to have pizza money. I highly recommend parents buying sports strategy games like this out of publication game. Payoff pitch, Strat-o-matic, APBA, Triple Play, Pine Tar, and many others are excellent games. I prefer the more detailed games with all the bells and whistles, while others prefer the quick and easy to play games. If you are a real true fan, you want the more detailed games, even if they take longer to play and have a notebook full of charts.

[@wi54725]

Forgot to mention that I converted Statis-Pro to Base 10 and dice, because the FAC wore out after so much usage. I made a set that included the best seasonal team for each of the 16 original franchises in the Classic Era (1920 to 1960). I played an entire AL Season with the 1946 Red Sox, 1927 Yankees, 1929 Athletics, 1924 Senators, 1934 Tigers, 1948 Indians, 1920 White Sox, and 1922 Browns. Surprisingly, the 1922 Browns did much better than I thought they would, and they challenged the Yankees to the final 10 games. IIRC, the Yankees went 96-58, and the Browns finished second at 89-65. The White Sox finished last but went 67-87, as the parity was incredible.

[@TheFilipFonky]

Hah! If you and your friend are the videogame-playing type then I recommend the Out of The Park Baseball series. They're the "heavy detail with all the bells and whistles" kinds of games

[@johnmcguinness9732]

Perhaps my favorite baseball game. Played this game a ton back in the 1970s and still play it today. What is best is that there are a lot of season sets and team sets (best of) available to download. Awesome throwback. A classic that deserves more love. Great job Al.

[@kansascitymoose7401]

Absolutely loved this game as a kid. Guys would come over and we'd play for hours. Good times. Thanks for reviewing.

[@rcd4466]

Your review brought back a lot of memories. Late seventies to mid eighties I played a ton of Statis Pro. Since then I’ve played the usual suspects, including APBA, Strat, Replay and HMB. I think I’ll buy an after market 67 set on eBay and revisit this game. It just may be the best of the bunch!

[@felixmadison5736]

Not really. I played it after playing APBA, SOM, etc. It's a nice game, but lacking in realistic player stats, and performance. It is a nice 'change of pace' every so often.

[@IILockNLoadII]

OMG!!! I spent countless hours playing this game when I was a kid. There were no PCs at the time, so I would keep the team player stats in a notebook and update manually after every series. I absolutely loved this game!

[@terryp3034]

Terrific overview of a wonderful game. It plays fast and it's simply incredible how realistically the games play out with lots of drama and surprises.

[@hands-on-games]

Terry P Thanks Terry! I agree with your assessment. After playing it again, I'd say it ranks right up there as my #2 baseball game of all time.

[@AgustusM]

I love the gameboard so much that I used it as my everyday strat o matic board as a kid. Still have it, but it has a lot of wear and tear.

[@farpointgamingdirect]

I was introduced to this game by my GySgt when I was in the Marines in the 80s; I played the hell out of this game!

[@timcarroll490]

Al, my first game in 1979! I have the online game and still have game cards.

[@ldr4690]

Played a MILLION games of this! For better or worse, this was my teenage existence!!!

[@RonEmch]

I played this game in, I believe, 1973 and 74 before Avalon Hill took it over. You would get it straight from Status Pro (Jim Barnes). I played in a PBM league for 2 years solid. We'd do the American League and then the National League. Would have to send Manager instructions to the other coach for away games, and wait for them for home games. About once a month, we'd send our stats to the head guy and he's put together a league stats sheet. Great times.

[@battlestarclassica]

What an excellent overview of the finest tabletop baseball game of all time.

[@stevenkramer4762]

+Sean Eric Howard Sorry, it's Strat-o-matic....best game and best selling by far...

[@domdoot8715]

Statis Pro Advanced blows Strat out of the water. And, yes, I've been a long-time player of Strat.

[@DiceBaseballDigest]

Interesting comment. I have recently begun to play Strat and I am intrigued by SP Why do you say this is better?

[@felixmadison5736]

Statis Pro SUCKS compared to SOM!! Strat is the only realistic sim of MLB. Every other game is a SOM wannabe.

[@MrCosmo314]

This game was the best...played it all the time

[@markfacciolo7893]

I love Statis Pro Baseball. Best board game ever. I purchase new player cards every year and play an entire Phillies season.

[@gregbeever9448]

Wonderful video Al. It's great to see the attention you're giving these games to keep the genre alive. I've owned the Statis-Pro games for many years and loved every minute of it. Getting ready to dive back into the games again. Thanks again.

[@creates100]

didn't realize these games were still being played. had the 1978 game. great fun. thanks for posting.

[@justRayEvansopinion]

Living in England I thought cricket was bad enough for stats, but that is like a walk in the park compared to how this game reflects baseball. The fact I don't know much about baseball is purely incidental...

[@jaydub5160]

When you said soon, I was thinking a few days, not this quickly! Thank you, Al!

[@markrussell7560]

Great job Al. I have had the second edition of this game with the 1983 teams since I was a kid growing up and still play it. I just started a replay of the 1983 Braves tonight with a 2-1 loss to the Reds.

[@terryp3034]

Mark, I picked up an '83 set only to discover later that some player cards were missing. If you'd be interested in scanning those cards for me, I'd certainly pay for your trouble. Terry

[@jgarrison1309]

This is one of the best games out there. I played so many solo games. The Pitcher reduction idea forced you to make pitching changes and this is probably the key to making it a nice solo game.

[@steve_etzel]

A couple of things I like about this game is the PB system for pitcher-batter interaction and the "reduction" system for pitcher fatigue. One unfortunate thing is that the original formulas for assigning hits, walks, and strikeouts to pitcher cards were flawed (2-5 pitchers were too weak and 2-9 pitchers were too dominant). To make matters worse, the instructions for rating pitchers were published as part of the game instructions and they still persist to this day. Better formulas were developed along the way but many people don't use them. The Statis Pro stolen base system was either way ahead of its time or somewhat messed up. At a minimum, there has been some confusion about how to interpret the SB chart. I have done KZbin videos talking about the pitcher ratings/cards and the stolen base system if you're interested.

[@Raddlesby]

Great video! I've heard a lot of good things about Statis-Pro's line of games, and was curious how this one measured up to APBA and SOM. Plus, it's good seeing the '92 Braves take down the Pirates again. Go Braves!

[@DiceBaseballDigest]

Great video, man! Very informative. Those fast action cards would be in shreds by the 3rd inning if my boy handled them. Has to be a way to protect all the cards. Sleeves, perhaps?

[@johnnynuttall9851]

Great walkthrough vid Al; I got the game in the 80's & played LOADS of games, I really enjoyed it. After seeing this I'll have to get it out again!!!!

[@jgarrison1309]

A nice trip down memory lane! I had the 1980 set. George Brett, Cecil Cooper, Miguel Dilone.... even Mickey Rivers had great cards that year. Rudy May and JR Richard, 2-9 !

[@leftys408]

I love the pitcher 'reduction' ratings in this game so that once that rating hits zero, the pitcher has to come out. For me, that made this game superior to strat-o-matic back when I used to play (don't know if SOM has put in something like this).

[@DiceBaseballDigest]

SOM has a rating where in a particular inning, depending on the pitcher, he allows three base runners, a function allows for out s to become hits. Hypothetically, if Seaver has an 8 on his car, in the 8th inning and beyond, if he allows 3 base runners, he would potentially face a reduction in effectiveness and outs could potentially become hits so it would be better to replace him.

[@robertaxel]

Excellent review; thanks. Slight comment... Statis Pro is not technically a 50-50 pitcher batter game as the pitchers have a PB rating. This is an important distinction which is an improvement over 50-50 games such as Strat O'Matic in my opinion.

[@Cthecool]

C

[@davidtroppens7426]

It is a 50-50 game if you look at it vs. the card set universe. I call it a modified 50-50 game since one pitcher can earn control for more than half of the results or less. However the way the PBs are distributed if done right it works out to 50-50 overall for the entire field of pitchers.

[@DiceBaseballDigest]

We are splitting hairs. Strat is staight 50-50 but this isn't. This really isn't but we get why. It starts 50-50 but once you pull the card, it changes, allowing the pitcher an advantage on the result. It isn't a straight 50-50, thats why you pull two cards. It makes sense because ace pitchers can dominate the game. In other games, if you roll off the batter consecutively, it really doesn't matter who is on the mound, your best pitcher and your worst pitcher are identical in value. In reality, this would never happen. A great pitcher, Mariano, lets say, could have a bad day but his bad day would still be better than Tyler Clippard's bad day. Just the fact that you are facing a legend would change the batter's mindset and approach. Could he still get a hit? Sure but never without having been influenced by the stuff being hurled.

[@johnnysmoke612]

No matter how this is done it is done in an expected 50/50 formulation type outcomes. If one pitcher takes away another pitcher is giving it back and the same with the hitters. We know through formulation all readings can't come from the batter card or the pitcher card only. The individual player stats would end up to skewed, so 50/50 is the best way to balance. If 75% of the results come off the pitcher card and 25% batter cards. The pitcher cards would be toned down and the batter cards toned up moreso than a 50/50 system, for the batters especially. Yet, still in the overall 50/50 output for the results.

[@johnnysmoke612]

Just using an example. Stratomatic could be 67% pitcher 33% batter. Column 1 & 2 on the batter card would be two super columns for the better hitters and the pitchers columns 4 through 6 would be toned down a bit from the present SOM system. However; does this way cause more outliers or address them?

[@rcspaintserviceandgaming]

I used to own the blue box - was that the Great Teams version? Got hooked on baseball when I visited family in Michigan back in 1976. "The Bird" did some great matches on tv for the Tigers. Wish I could relive/replay those matches.

[@sportsmanz5948]

Statis Pro Baseball was great. I loved it. I'm more of a Strat guy, but this was a very good game.

[@michaelmitchell4080]

Al, thanks. Really want to give this one a shot, confused about all the various 'versions'. Pretty sure this is the original version and not the advanced version. You mentioned "3rd Edition Rules". I think I've been sent them by our gaming colleagues. I'll rummage through what I have and see if I can work through a few sample innings.

[@drwheatie]

You are cranking out the videos. Good job. Looking forward to Blood Red Banner and Empires in America.

[@hands-on-games]

drwheatie Sometimes the mood strikes, but I think this past "spurt" is likely the exception to the normal rule. :) As for the SoS games, Soviet Dawn *was* supposed to be next, but since the game shipped without half of the counters, I've going to do Zulus on the Ramparts.

[@MrCosmo314]

One thing I did was to put the player card on the base instead of the peg. It made it easier to track who was where

[@Vedioviswritingservice]

You have to play with the reduction rules otherwise you bring in your closer to in the 2nd or 3rd inning to complete the game. I did that with Tug Mcgraw for the 1980 season when he was untouchable.

[@DiceBaseballDigest]

This is a great tutorial. After watching this for the second time, It seems like a whole lot of steps to achieve an end result. I don't see it as fluid but rather the opposite-choppy and disjointed. It is not a basic game at all but a pretty complex one. It is a multi step result marathon with multiple pick-ups, flips, and chart references. It always requires another turn of the deck. I realize you can have all the player ratings set up before hand but that is quite a bit of work; not so much if you love doing it. I respect that lots of guys enjoy it and recommend it. It just doesn't seem to have a basic level. What I hated about ABPA was that I had to look at charts to see what the play result was depending on who was on first, whats on second and I don't know is on third. I did like that top pitchers always had an effect on the game. Is there a way of playing this without all the extra bells and whistles? I like the fact that results are channeled off the pitcher card when they are aces. I really like that and think it makes sense. Hope you appreciate my input and others do as well. I am not saying its not a great game but that maybe it isn't for me. I just really like the pitching system with the better pitchers being more dominant.

[@bbblackwell]

Great job, thanks for this! Just picked up the 1987 edition after wanting this game for a long time -- can't wait to jump in and take it for a spin. Previously I was playing a tiny little game in a green box called "All-Star Baseball" which uses your baseball cards, dice, and tables to generate results. Ever heard of it?

[@hands-on-games]

+Jaundiced Jape Yep, I've heard of it, but I've never played it. Thanks for watching!!

[@jose633]

Jim Barnes, creator of the FAC system, thank you, sir.

[@AGoat1971]

Loved this game!

[@RonFields]

Great review of a great game! I always played APBA as a kid but now I'm a Statis-Pro player. Have you reviewed DICE Baseball on your channel yet? It's a game very similar to Statis-Pro with a few extra touches that can be played with dice or FACs (ironically). Oh and BTW that copy that you have is probably in the best condition that I have ever seen.

[@hands-on-games]

Hi Ron. I've owned DICE baseball in the past, but never reviewed it. Thanks for watching!

[@DiceBaseballDigest]

Pristine set! I would love to have those laminated.

[@felixmadison5736]

You sound like the Al Wilson who is the voice of Replay Computer Baseball.

[@brucewayne3602]

... does this game incorporate rbi/clutch hitting ??? ... Al Wilson is brilliant !!!

[@DavidA5205]

Al, great video and play through. Do you know if the game factors lefty/right splits or if there are season card sets that include that? I had this game back in the early 80's and played it a bunch. It was the only board game I had. 30 years later within this calendar year I have added history maker, payoff pitch, strat, apba, and Replay baseball to my library of baseball games. I have played a few pc baseball games too but I enjoy the interaction of board games more. I may have to look into a reboot of this one too.

[@hands-on-games]

DavidA5205 Using google, I found that there is indeed a "fan" created advanced game that incorporates L/R splits on the cards. You should be able to find it easily enough if you are interested. It was never officially published with splits on the cards as far as I know. That said, the game does include an optional rule (chart is printed on the board) that changes some results based on the type of matchup - although it's very basic and not player specific.

[@DJJohn-uv5ff]

@@hands-on-games I know it's been a few years since you posted this video, but a search brought me here. I just purchased the *fan created* Statis Pro Advanced (with the L/R splits). More charts, but more in depth. And I don't think it'll take that much longer to play a game once I get the mojo down. I've caught your vids over the years. Thank you for all you do for the gaming community.

[@timcarroll490]

What other games do you play? I have Diamond Mind for pc, Replay, cards and pc, Baseball Classics board game, npiii, skeetersoft for pc, and switch back and forth just about every day, oh, and digital diamond pc too. Even though I am a Pirates fan, Al, loved many of Phillies, esp. Carlton, Schmidt, Luzinski, McBride and Garry Maddox

[@hands-on-games]

+Tim Carroll Tim, as for baseball, I am pretty much just an HMB player right now, although I do own a few more and will do my best to highlight them on my channel. Strictly cards and dice though, PC games leave me flat these days...

[@rubykrebs9550]

I am playing a best of the best season with Statis Pro Baseball. Drawing players from 1876 to 2012 I have assembled all 30 teams with their best players from their best year. I am playing the 2014 season schedule. You can follow my season on Facebook @ Statis Pro Baseball Best of the Best. Each team has a 20 man roster. Here are the New York Yankees: C-Dickey'36 1B-Gehrig'27 2B-Lazzeri'29 3B-Nettles'77 SS-Jeter'99 LF-Keller'41 CF-DiMaggio'37 RF-Ruth'23 DH-Mantle'56 (Bench) C-Berra'50 IF-Rizzuto'50 OF-Jackson'80 Pitchers: (Starters) #1-Gomez'34 #2-Reynolds'52 #3-Guidry'78 #4-Ford'61 #5-Chesbro'03 (Relief) Long-Gossage'80 Short-Arroyo'61 Closer-Rivera'05 See how your favorite team is doing. Thank you. Ruby.

[@danholm4952]

no doubles , trip[;es or homers off pitchers cards?

[@arnoldhunter2215]

I know it's been a while Where did you find those bags that you store your status pro cards in I've been looking For bags like those

[@hands-on-games]

Amazon sells the in all shapes and sizes. Just search on small plastic ziploc bags. :)

[@paulwisham5943]

Great Stuff! Thanks!

[@o0xst]

no splits though right?

[@clintonparks6357]

AL Who do you buy your cards from?

[@hands-on-games]

Clinton Parks I don’t buy cards for Statis Pro, sorry!

[@clintonparks6357]

@@hands-on-games you created these beautiful cards? then do you sell them?

[@hands-on-games]

Clinton Parks No, these cards came with the game. They are the official player cards, I separated them myself. I didn’t create them. :)

[@MikeHillman-n2c]

What about statis pro football

[@DeViLzzz2006]

I keep scouring Ebay looking for reasonably priced stuff that can be sent affordably to Canada. Almost had something recently but no go. Why I watch videos like this I don't know as I am only punishing myself. It is a longshot I will end up with printed games in the future unless I pay way too much.

[@hankwetzel5917]

I own three or four seasons of this game. I got turned onto it by my uncle who played it almost daily for years. I also own a football and basketball season. Basketball is very good. Football is not.

[@felixmadison5736]

Ever notice how a game like this with no dice really sucks? It's so damned boring with the card flipping, and if your gonna have this type of game engine you have to fit dice rolls in there some place.

[@terryp3034]

All the random numbers, which are half the FAC flips, are base 8. So you can get two 8 sided dice and roll them for your random numbers. It probably is more truly random than the cards. So you flip a card for the PB number, then roll the dice for the random number.

[@felixmadison5736]

I always change any 'FAC' game like this to dice. Rolling dice is the only way to go with board games, even Monopoly. @@terryp3034