The Great American Game table game

[mighty bombjack]

I wanted to share a couple of gifts that my father gave me for Christmas (he found them at an estate sale in Kansas).

This is tabletop game called The Great American Game. As you can see, it has dials for strikes/balls and runs/outs, as well as a button on the right that spins the wheel in the rounded top to display outcomes for different situations. I guess there were wooden players that fit into the holes at bottom, but those are long gone. I don't think this is particularly valuable, but I love the graphic on it and will find a nice place to display it on the wall.

Any information that anyone has on this would be appreciated. I know there are a number of baseball toy game collectors here, and this is my first one. Like I need another collecting focus!

See my other post for the scorecard he gave me.

[mighty bombjack]

I found this post from just over a year ago, which shows the wooden pieces. The one pictured there is the original Frantz version, while mine above is the Hustler Toy Corporation version.

http://net54baseball.com/showthread....+american+game

Great resource, this board!

[vintagesportscollector]

Nice Wayne. The graphics make this game very appealing and a nice display. Google and you will find a lot of info and pictures. Here are two sources:

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/...-baseball-game

http://spookyshobbyshop.com/FRANTZ%2...ME%201923.html

It's a pretty common game, and as you said not valuable, but I enjoy displaying a version on the wall as well.

[mighty bombjack]

Thanks for those links, Joe. Looks like 1925 is the year for this one, which the second link there lists as the second type (Hustler Toys has their label on it, but the Frantz signs remain on the playing field).

Again, I do love this board and its wealth of knowledge.

[Butch7999]

To alleviate confusion in this thread, a few additions to this older thread [ http://net54baseball.com/showthread....+american+game ]:

The Frantz Manufacturing Company was founded in 1909, producing building hardware. They began to specialize in garage hardware
around 1920 (the company is still in operation today).

The company diversified into the production of wooden toys sometime around World War I. The Great American Game ~ Baseball --
essentially a 1923 reworking of the circa 1919-20 Play Ball ~ The Great American Game by Evan L Reed Mfg Co -- was one of
their first efforts at mechanical toys.

The game was designed by Leonard Kroff, who applied for patent in 1920. Kroff and Frantz founder Peter Frantz were together granted
a second patent for the game in 1925.

Hustler Toy was a division of Frantz Manufacturing, not a different company.
With the success of Great American and other Frantz toys, Frantz created the Hustler division in 1925 to differentiate their toy line
from their building equipment and garage hardware lines.

In our opinion, it would be arbitrary and inaccurate to classify "four different versions" of the game.
The differences between the Frantz and Hustler versions of Great American are many, and mostly subtle --
a blue scoreboard printed on the tin litho playing field in the earlier editions, replaced by a crowd of spectators in later editions,
a wide variety of color combinations for the border and cowling throughout the production run into at least the late 1920s,
and several variations in both the box graphics and the Hustler sticker.

The "Frantz Garage Hardware" sign appears on the left-field wall on all Frantz and Hustler editions. Eric ("spooky") may have confused
the 1919 Evan L Reed game or the 21st-century Schylling repro editions with the Frantz/Hustler versions in claiming otherwise,
unless he's discovered some rare variation we've never seen.

Because of its long production run, its popularity in its day, and its sturdy construction, examples of Great American
are still relatively plentiful today. Examples in decent condition typically sell in the $50.-$150. range, and of course
poorer examples can be had for less. The original box is a tougher find, and examples which include a box in decent shape
range around $200.-$250., while pristine examples have flirted with $400.