Statis Pro Baseball (1971)

The Statis Pro baseball game includes individual pitcher and batter cards for an entire baseball season. A full 9-inning game generally takes 30 minutes or less to complete.

Begin by choosing teams, pitchers, and line-ups. In order to simulate a real season, each player card indicates which positions a player is allowed to play, and for how many games that player played at each position during a full season.

Each at-bat is simulated the same way. First, a Fast Action Card (FAC) is drawn to determine a PB number which is then compared to the PB rating on the pitcher's card; this determines if the pitcher’s card or the batter’s card is "in control". Then a new FAC is drawn to generate a random number to determine the result from the player's card who was "in control". Each of the 98 FAC has four results—two per side, one right-side up, one upside-down and also features special PB results to simulate clutch batting, clutch fielding, unusual plays (e.g. dropped third strike, ejections, etc.), and injuries.

If an out is made, an out chart appropriate to the runner situation (e.g. Bases Empty, Runner on Second, etc.) is consulted to determine the outcome by drawing an additional FAC (or two, if the out result has a chance of error to be checked).

Charts on the playing board support managerial choices such as sacrifice bunts, hit and runs, stolen base attempts, etc. For these, no PB number is determined; simply consult the FAC’s random number and follow the chart’s instructions which usually involves consulting players ratings appropriately (e.g. base runner’s stolen base rating, catcher’s throwing ability, etc.).

Production of the game was halted after the 1992 baseball season on account of a royalties dispute between Avalon Hill and MLB. While the Avalon Hill Statis Pro Baseball game is no longer in production, it is possible to make your own player cards using the Statis Pro Baseball card formulas provided with the game. Moreover, PDFs of fan-made seasons and teams can be found online either free or for purchase.