replay – Hardball Retro

Hardball Retro’s Compendium of Baseball Tabletop Simulations

Derek Bain — Fri, 02 Oct 2026 11:14:31 +0000

Introducing – Hardball Retro’s Compendium of Baseball Tabletop Simulations

available now at Amazon for $44.99 (paperback) and $19.99 (Kindle)

Features 589 full-color pages with 150+ baseball tabletop sims and 16 interviews with game designers!

This compendium celebrates 100 years of baseball tabletop simulation games. Our goal with this book is to memorialize as many of these simulation games as possible and document the richness of the hobby we love. Game descriptions are supplemented by articles, game designer interviews, and comments and ratings from over 250 individuals from the tabletop baseball community. The authors wish to encourage readers to explore these games, both past and present, create their own teams and leagues, and share those results with fellow baseball gaming and simulation enthusiasts!

Baseball games are almost as old as the game of baseball itself. What started out as mechanical devices to emulate the batted ball, evolved into tabletop games designed to simulate the entire baseball game experience. Eventually, randomizer mechanisms entered the fray in the form of dice and spinners. Most early games were generic in nature. However, in 1925 we saw what is arguably the first true baseball tabletop simulation with the introduction of National Pastime by Clifford Van Beek. More tabletop games followed, including Ethan Allen’s All Star Baseball Game in the 1940s, the APBA Major League Baseball Game in the 1950s, and Strat-O-Matic Baseball in the early 1960s. Other game designers followed with creations of their own, a trend that continues today.

Book Discussions / Promotional Appearances

Praise for Hardball Retro’s Compendium of Baseball Tabletop Simulations

“This is really a first class effort by the authors. Love the color photos! Derek Bain contacted me to do the interview for the book and you are going to learn many things you didn’t know about DYNASTY League Baseball Powered By Pursue the Pennant.” – Mike Cieslinski

“[Hardball Retro’s Compendium of Baseball Tabletop Simulations] is beyond wonderful! It is truly the encyclopedia of baseball gaming.” – Joe Shaw

“If you play Baseball tabletop sims, this book is a must-purchase. It is an incredible read and deeply educational. I purchased both paperback and Kindle versions. Post reading, it will remain a major reference for me.” – BB Edison, Amazon review

“A must-have for any baseball card and dice player’s library!” – Paul Gardner

“The book is an excellent contribution to keeping the history of tabletop baseball alive. The designer interviews give you interesting insight into the how and why of tabletop baseball creation.” – David Becker

“The book does a great job of quickly telling you what to expect from a game engine, the product’s components, and a brief history of the Sim… [Hardball Retro’s Compendium of Baseball Tabletop Simulations] is well-researched, and taps into the Baseball Sim community for their “takes” on the games, both positive and critical. A must have addition for any gamer’s bookshelf.” – M Pate, Amazon review

“These guys did an amazing job on giving a brief history of tabletop baseball gaming, and reviewed a lot of past and present games… The book is an instant classic!” – C Bauer, Amazon review

“Great book about the history and design of tabletop baseball simulation games, and includes comments from the designers themselves… a must have reference in this hobby.” – Robert Genova, Amazon review

“The Hardball Retro’s of Baseball Tabletop Simulations was everything I hoped for. Since retiring playing baseball sims is all I do. I have 38 baseball Sims and seeing every one of those in the book gives me an idea of how other people think of certain Sims. Authors did a fantastic job compiling the information. So if you enjoy the hobby or thinking of trying certain games out this is the book for you.” – Doug Wahl, Amazon review

“A vast treasure trove of baseball gaming history and fun! [Hardball Retro’s Compendium of Baseball Tabletop Simulations] will be the definitive reference source on all the tabletop baseball games we all grew up playing, as well as those we only knew through magazine ads, and many we never heard of at all!” – Roland Chapdelaine

“An excellent book about tabletop baseball games. Great history on the subject! Read it cover to cover right away!” – Russell D. Esperson – Amazon review

Survey for my book project – “History of Baseball Tabletop Games”

Derek Bain — Sun, 19 Oct 2025 17:05:37 +0000

I created a survey for my latest book project – a history of baseball tabletop games! This is a collaboration with several co-authors who are subject matter experts. The book will focus on the baseball tabletop simulations published over the last century and include reviews, interviews, images and ratings from various sources.

https://forms.gle/cFFJqoFngnnNxyue8

Please consider filling out this survey – we are looking for your feedback for any and all baseball tabletop games that you’ve played or owned.

Please scan the list of baseball tabletop games on the form and ONLY enter an overall rating for each game that you have played or owned on a scale of 1 (worst) to 10 (best) and optionally provide a comment for those titles. Several games have a single entry for the original title along with sequels. You may only enter one rating per game title. However you can utilize the Comments section to enter specific ratings for the different versions in those instances. Comments that are thought-provoking or detailed have a higher likelihood of making it into the book!

We are also seeking individuals who would be willing to contribute write-up(s) for specific games or provide images of your games (boxes, cards, manuals, charts, etc.)

Please DO NOT rate or comment on any games that you have never played! If we’ve inadvertently omitted a game from our list, there are text and rating fields at the end of the form to capture this information.

Be sure to click SUBMIT when you’re done!!

Completion of this form indicates permission and authorization for me to utilize your responses including name/nickname, ratings and comments in the book.

Steve Etzel created a brief video on his YouTube channel to explain the survey:

Thank you for participating! – Derek Bain, Steve Etzel, Andy Palomino, Kurt Bergland and Daniel Evensen

Hardball Retro Replays – Tony La Russa Baseball 3 – 1901 Season

Derek Bain — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 15:41:28 +0000

I created a Facebook group, “Old Computer Baseball Simulations”, as a place to gather people who enjoy our National Pastime from a managerial and front office perspective – primarily games that are no longer actively supported by the publisher, designer or programmer. I would like to encourage the sharing of user-created season disks. In order to facilitate that goal, I started to create seasons for the Earl Weaver Baseball and Tony La Russa Baseball games. I hope to expand this effort to other games in the near future. However there are several advantages to creating older seasons for Earl Weaver Baseball 1.5 (IBM PC edition) and Tony La Russa Baseball 3 (IBM PC) such as the SeasonTool utility by Daniel Guenther for use with Earl Weaver Baseball 1.5 and the ability to import seasons from Old Time Baseball into Tony La Russa Baseball 3. There are a number of adjustments to be considered post-import, but the overall time to complete the task is much shorter than entering the statistics by hand! If anyone is aware of similar import utilities for other baseball sims created from 1980 through 2000, please share in the Comments section.

Methodology

I imported the 1901 through 1981 seasons from Old Time Baseball into the C:\TONY3\TEAMS30 subfolder on my computer, then made the following modifications:

Old Time Baseball lists all switch-hitters as right-handed batters. I reviewed the players for each team and corrected their batting handedness.
When importing from Old Time Baseball, I’ve noticed that a number of left and center fielders are incorrectly listed as right fielders for their primary position. I corrected those entries to the best of my abilities.
I configured the pitching rotations to utilize a 4-man rotation for most teams / seasons prior to the mid-1970’s.
I used the Baseball-Reference “Other – Batting Orders” page for each team to set the lineups vs RHP and LHP.
Manager Profiles changes:
- Endurance 80% (vs ERA)
- Leave ’em In 90% (vs Yank ’em)
- Leave ’em In 90% (vs Pinch Hit)
- Sacrifice 70% (vs Hit Away)
- I did not adjust stolen base attempt frequency, but this could probably be tweaked for deadball-era teams and on a team-by-team basis in the 1980’s.

After simulating the 1901 season, I noticed one batter with an extremely high batting average over 200 plate appearances. That individual had 1 hit in 1 at-bat during the 1901 campaign, but he achieved significant playing time due to an injury in the simulated season. For future simulated seasons, I will attempt to locate players with low plate appearances and high batting averages, and adjust their real-life stats to a .250 batting average to avoid these anomalies.

Here is a video recapping the regular season standings and league leaders, followed by Game 2 of the 1901 World Series between the Brooklyn Superbas and the Boston Americans (with Mel Allen calling the play-by-play), and a game-by-game box score review of the World Series.

Season Recap

1901 Final Regular Season Standings

1901 Team-by-Team Individual Statistics

1901 League Leaderboards

1901 Team Totals

Reference

Baseball-Reference: 1901 American League

Baseball-Reference: 1901 National League

Retro Computer Baseball Game Review – Tony La Russa Baseball 3 – 4 – Old Time Baseball

The Making of Tony La Russa Baseball 3

Tony La Russa Baseball 3 – tutorial – create/edit teams (IBM PC)

Stay Home With SABR: Don Daglow, baseball video game designer

SABR 52 – Don Daglow

Hardball Retro Replays – 1984 Season

Derek Bain — Sun, 01 Dec 2024 18:00:31 +0000

I decided to embark on a quest to replay an entire season, managing my favorite team (the California Angels) and using the as-played lineups, rotations, schedules and transactions. Therefore, any injuries or transactions that occurred during the actual season will occur in my simulation (I’m using Digital Diamond Baseball v12.1). All teams are using the actual lineups and starting pitcher for a particular game. The computer managers and I have the flexibility to use our bench players and bullpens at our discretion, but the pitchers’ availability is limited by fatigue incurred from pitching in the days prior to the current game.

Objectives

simulate seasons using As-Played lineups, rotations, schedules and transactions as outlined above
as the manager of my team (and not the General Manager), I am not permitted to manipulate my roster (or other teams’ rosters) in any way
compile and review those results, post recap videos of the current standings and leaderboards at the end of each simulated month on the schedule, then seed the top teams in playoff rounds that mimics the postseason structure from the given season
live-stream the playoff and World Series games and upload the resulting videos to YouTube
try to out-manage my real-life counterpart
have fun!

Monthly Recaps

Playlist for Opening Day plus April through August Season Recap Videos

September 1984

Playoffs and World Series

Playoff Recap

World Series – Game 1 – Kansas City Royals @ Chicago Cubs

World Series – Game 2 – Kansas City Royals @ Chicago Cubs

World Series – Game 3 – Chicago Cubs @ Kansas City Royals

World Series – Game 4 – Chicago Cubs @ Kansas City Royals

World Series – Game 5 – Chicago Cubs @ Kansas City Royals

Standings

Hardball Retro Replay 1984 Final Standings

American League – Real-Life 1984 Final Standings

National League – Real-Life 1984 Final Standings

I managed the California Angels to a 78-84 mark, three games worse than real-life skipper John McNamara.

Leaders

Hardball Retro Replay 1984 Leader Boards – Batting

Hardball Retro Replay 1984 Leader Boards – Pitching

American League – Real-Life 1984 Leader Boards

National League – Real-Life 1984 Leader Boards

Team Totals

Hardball Retro Replay 1984 Team Totals – Batting

Hardball Retro Replay 1984 Team Totals – Pitching

Hardball Retro Replay 1984 Team Totals – Fielding

Team-by-Team Statistics

Hardball Retro Replay 1984 Team-by-Team – Batting

Hardball Retro Replay 1984 Team-by-Team – Pitching

Hardball Retro Replay 1984 Team-by-Team – Fielding

Special Events

3+ Home Runs in a game

05/14/1984 – Pat Putnam (1984-Seattle Mariners) hits 3 home runs [6].
06/13/1984 – Vance Law (1984-Chicago White Sox) hits 3 home runs [10].
06/24/1984 – Greg Walker (1984-Cincinnati Reds) hits 3 home runs [4].
07/14/1984 – George Brett (1984-Kansas City Royals) hits 3 home runs [12].
07/31/1984 – Mike Schmidt (1984-Philadelphia Phillies) hits 3 home runs [31].
08/16/1984 – Andre Thornton (1984-Cleveland Indians) hits 3 home runs [27].
09/09/1984 – Lance Parrish (1984-Detroit Tigers) hits 3 home runs [28].
09/16/1984 – Willie Upshaw (1984-Toronto Blue Jays) hits 3 home runs [18].

5+ Hits in a game

08/29/1984 – Dave Winfield (1984-New York Yankees) gets 6 hits [146].
09/01/1984 – Willie McGee (1984-St. Louis Cardinals) gets 6 hits [145].

Hit for the Cycle

04/06/1984 – Wade Boggs (1984-Boston Red Sox) hits for the cycle.
06/08/1984 – Dave Henderson (1984-Seattle Mariners) hits for the cycle.
07/20/1984 – Jim Wohlford (1984-Montreal Expos) hits for the cycle.
07/31/1984 – Tony R Armas (1984-Boston Red Sox) hits for the cycle.
08/29/1984 – Don Mattingly (1984-New York Yankees) hits for the cycle.
09/17/1984 – Steve Balboni (1984-Kansas City Royals) hits for the cycle.

Inside-the-Park Home Runs

07/08/1984 – David Green (1984-St. Louis Cardinals) hits an inside the park home run [9].
07/19/1984 – Roy Howell (1984-Milwaukee Brewers) hits an inside the park home run [5].
09/20/1984 – Randy G Johnson (1984-Atlanta Braves) hits an inside the park home run [5].

15+ Strikeouts in a game

04/02/1984 – Mario Soto (1984-Cincinnati Reds) strikes out 15 batters [15].

07/27/1984 – Dwight Gooden (1984-New York Mets) strikes out 15 batters [169].

No-Hitters

04/17/1984 – Mike Boddicker (1984-Baltimore Orioles) throws a no hitter. 06/07/1984 – Ken Schrom (1984-Minnesota Twins) throws a no hitter.

Please check back frequently to view the latest monthly recaps, playoffs and World Series videos!

Credits

Real-Life Standings and Leaders courtesy of Baseball-Reference

Digital Diamond Baseball is available on Steam.

Hardball Retro Replays – 2015-2019 “Actuals”

Derek Bain — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 12:28:16 +0000

The objective and methodology for my Hardball Retro Replay half-decade, multi-season simulations can be found here:

https://www.tuatarasoftware.com/2024/01/26/hardball-retro-replays-sim-seasons-with-original-and-actual-half-decade-rosters/

2015-2019 “Actuals” – Simulation Recap

2015-2019 “Actuals” – Simulation Results

Standings	Batting Leaders	Pitching Leaders
Season 1	Season 1	Season 1
Season 2	Season 2	Season 2
Season 3	Season 3	Season 3
Season 4	Season 4	Season 4
Season 5	Season 5	Season 5
Season 6	Season 6	Season 6
Season 7	Season 7	Season 7
Season 8	Season 8	Season 8
Season 9	Season 9	Season 9
Season 10	Season 10	Season 10
Season 11	Season 11	Season 11