OT: Need help identifying a baseball board game

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Posted By: Richard Masson

I recently received this from a friend. I don't recall a game like this myself. Can anyone identify the name of this game?

"Im trying to track down a board game my cousin and I used to play when we were wee tikes in the late 70s/early 80s. The problem is, I dont know the name of the game or the manufacturer and Im hoping you can help with this. Possible clues to help in the search:



Presumably the game was made in the mid 70s
The game was approximately 3 feet x 3 feet in the shape of a baseball diamond and wasnt flat (it had stands rising from the field).
The game surface was cardboard and plastic and the stands were plastic.
The pitcher had control of small metal ball, approximately the size of a BB, that he would pitch from a sort of catapult at the pitchers mound. The pitching controls where levers located behind the centerfield stands.
The pitcher controlled how fast the BB traveled towards home plate and controlled a magnet under the path to home plate (think of the dirt strip that appears in many major league stadiums between the mound and home plate except this was plastic of course) which allowed him to throw a curve.
The pitcher also controlled a trap door under home plate which allowed him to throw a sinker.
The batter controlled a metal bat on a pivot arm that allowed him to control the power and timing of the swing at the pitched BB.
The field consisted of half moon cut out depressions which dictated 1B, 2B, out etc depending on which depression the batted ball landed in. You kept score by keeping track of the hits and outs. The best part is if you were able to time your swing just right when the pitcher through a sinker, you could hit the BB out of the stadium and clear across the room!"

Does anyone recall a game like this?

Sorry Leon for the off topic post. I'll post a scan of a G&B to make up for it later.

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Posted By: Dave Hornish

It sounds almost like Grand Slam Baseball, which I used to play for hours as a kid. Late 60's Early 70's era but there were no magnets that I can remember but I think there were 2 or 3 varieties of the game. Mattel made it I believe.

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Posted By: Anthony S.

I can't remember the name of that game, but I owned it and loved it. The coolest aspect was that on those occasions when the pitcher tried to throw a sinker (by pulling the lever to open the trapdoor at the plate), but let go of the lever too soon, the ball (it looked like one of those metal balls in Pachinko games) would bounce up slightly off the board such that if you swung at just the right time, you could launch it over the stands and out of the park. You could also throw absolutely wicked slow curves by maneuvering the levers just right as there was a magnet running along under the board on a direct line between the pitchers mound and the hitter.

Edited to add: Richard, I only read the first couple of sentences of your post before composing my response, because I immediately remembered that game and how fond I was of it, and how many friendships it probably compromised due to the intense competitiveness it unleashed in my clique of friends. I just went back and read your entire post and got a kick out of the fact that I'm not the only person who remembers those sinker generated home runs.

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Posted By: Butch & Co.

Hi Richard -- the Baseball Games guys here, reporting in somewhat shamefacedly to say we don't have a definitive answer on this surprisingly tough question. There were a ton of big "action" games produced by several different manufacturers in the 1970s and '80s (and before that and since then as well), most of which had many or at least some of the features you describe, so it's a bit tough to narrow down.

We will say that "Grand Slam" is not the exact name of the game, which is not to say Dave and Anthony's other recollections aren't spot on. We're also pretty sure your friend's youthful memories have somewhat exaggerated the actual size of the game. Offhand, it sounds most like one of the many action games made by Gotham Pressed Steel. Does that ring any bells? Push Button Baseball? Electro Magnetic Baseball? Official Denny McLain or Official Johnny Bench Baseball? Tudor Metal Products also made several somewhat similar games.

We'll take a closer look through our files of over 1500 games and see if we can come up with an exact match. We'll also try running your question by the game collectors in our own forum.

Baseball Games
http://baseballgames.dreamhosters.com/

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Posted By: Steve

I thought Grand Slam baseball was a card game?


That is it was a game that used cards for play.


Steve

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Posted By: Anthony S.

I can add that this game looked like a small stadium, about 20 x 20 inches, give or take an inch or three. The outfield bleachers were made out of molded yellow plastic and were maybe 4 rows deep.

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Posted By: Butch & Co.

Steve, there have been at least twenty sports games with "Grand Slam" as all or part of the title or as part of the manufacturer's name -- four baseball card games, five baseball board games, three electronic baseball games, at least two computer/video baseball games, at least one arcade pinball baseball game, one baseball-themed puzzle game, and one non-baseball sports board game, all with "Grand Slam" in the title, and three more baseball board games made by companies with "Grand Slam" in their name. We don't have any record, though, of a large-scale baseball action game called "Grand Slam."

Baseball Games
http://baseballgames.dreamhosters.com/

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Hey guys,



Might the game be the one described in this listing??



Frank W



http://tinyurl.com/9t6k5b>


Or this one, by Tudor??

http://tinyurl.com/99buz3

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Posted By: Richard Masson

Thanks for researching this. Keep the posts coming if you think of anything else.
Aren't Tudor the guys who made the vibrating football game with felt balls?

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Posted By: barrysloate

That was Electric Football. I used to play it when I was a kid. It was mostly an exercise in chaos. You had to adjust the little feelers underneath the players based on which direction you wanted them to move. But it usually resulted in 22 plastic men bouncing off each other randomly.

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Posted By: Steve

Butch I agree, but I was going by the OP and his statement that this game was from

the early 70's, if so then the Grand Slam game I know of from that era was a card game.

Thanks for the info.


Happy and Healthy New Year to all btw.


Steve

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Posted By: Butch & Co.

Steve, no disrespect intended! We were just adding more information than was of any real use, in lieu of having an actual answer for Richard.

A cursory review of our files kind of rules out both of our off-the-cuff guesses, Gotham and Tudor. It's that flippy trap-door feature at home plate that's throwing us. None of the Gotham or Tudor games we know of (and we think we've catalogued all of 'em) have such a gizmo. Nor do any of several other big action games that came to mind -- not Hank Aaron Baseball Game by Ideal (1973), nor SnapAction Baseball by Shelcore (1980s), nor slightly older big action games like Mag-Powr Baseball, Hall a' Fame Baseball Game, Strike 3 by Carl Hubbell, Jackie Robinson Baseball Game!, nor even Wolverine's Pennant Winner.

The other features Richard's friend listed are common to several Gotham and Tudor games, but none of those games have all of those features. We'd have guessed he may have conflated a couple of different games from his youthful recollections, but Dave and Anthony's memories seem to corroborate the idea that it's all just one game. We're probably overlooking some obvious candidate, which would be all too typical of us.

By the way, Tudor's Tru-Action Electric Football is still in production after almost sixty years, now made by Miggle Toy, and avidly played and collected (the Miggle website has links to tournaments and player/collector forums). With some dexterous adjustments, you really can impose some control over which way your players go on the vibrating metal field. Sometimes.

Baseball Games
http://baseballgames.dreamhosters.com/

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Posted By: Butch & Co.

We may have found it.
Champion Baseball Game by Epoch, 1973.
Photos and details later tonight.

Baseball Games
http://baseballgames.dreamhosters.com/

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Posted By: Anthony S.

Epoch definitely rings a strong bell, as I seem to remember we would refer to it in a manner such as "do you wanna play Epoch." Pretty sure you nailed it. Look forward to the pictures.

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Posted By: Butch & Co.

Look familiar?







First pic, obviously, is the box; second and third are the gameboard / playing field, one better showing the three-tier yellow plastic bleachers, the other better showing the flippy trap-door at home and the BB-sized balls. Looks like there are some differences in the playing field graphics, so these are almost certainly editions from different years, maybe '73 and '74.

The game measures about 16 1/2 inches square, so Richard's friend's recollection of the size of the game, assuming this is indeed it, is considerably exaggerated -- no surprise. Everything, when we were kids, was bigger than it really was.

We should've guessed this game more quickly. It's not rare on the second-hand market, and has averaged around $25. on eBay over the last five years or so. Epoch, by the way, is a Japanese company which is still busy producing some high-end baseball action games.

Baseball Games
http://baseballgames.dreamhosters.com/

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Posted By: Anthony S.

That's the one. Damn, that was a fun game.