Christmas had come. Our lists were made and submitted. We’d get some of the things on our list, but there would always be a few surprises. Under the tree on Christmas Day, 1964, was a gift I didn’t recognize. It was long and flat and when I opened it I was staring at the start of what would become a lifelong hobby. There in my fifth grade hands was a board game I had never seen before: Challenge the Yankees by Hasbro. As Yankees announcer Phil “Scooter” Rizutto said, “Holy Cow!!”
Challenge the Yankees was the brainchild of a man named Roger Franklin.[1] The game included 25 player cards of the current Yankees players and 25 player cards of current greats from the other 19 major league teams. Two editions of the game were released, in 1964 and 1965.
“Challenge the Yankees” was a concept that made a lot of sense. After all, from 1950 to 1964, the Yankees had been in the World Series 13 times. The only team that came close to that was the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers with 6 appearances.
Challenge the Yankees was a simple game. You set your lineup, you rolled the dice, and you read the result off the batter card. Pitchers had no effect on the outcome. If the play result was a single, double, triple, ground out or fly out, you chose a card from the scoreboard that was propped up on the playing field.[2] To be honest, I never used those cards, so my games were errorless, and probably more high scoring than they should have been.
There were two editions of the game, the initial in 1964 release and a second edition in 1965. The ’64 edition was based on player career stats through 1963. The ’65 set was based on ’64 stats and included a few changes. According to BoardgameGeek.com, 250,000 copies were sold.
There were no further editions of this simple but fun game. I assume it’s because the challenge was hanging with a team that moved in and out of being a viable contender for the next 11 years. The 1965 season sent them into dark places, and it would not be until 1976 that they made another appearance in the World Series. Nevertheless, the family of the designer made some efforts to revive the game in the late 2010’s. A Facebook page was devoted to the game and its resurrection, but an announcement was made on August 10, 2018 that the plans had fallen through.[3]
What happened to my copy? I moved on to other games, starting with Strat-O-Matic in 1966. I sold my game to Bob Valvano, who was coaching at a local college and busy in the sports table game world of the 70’s and 80s. Bob is now an announcer with ESPN.
From time to time a pristine copy of the game can be found on eBay. Be prepared to shell out big bucks for it though. There was one listed recently for about $2800. You can also find individual player cards, which measured 4 inches by 5 3/8 inches, for about $10 as of this writing.
Challenge the Yankees was primitive compared to today’s games, but it was a blast to play.
The following links give pictures and additional information and were used in the writing of this review.
[1] https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/7654/challenge-yankees
[2] Some excellent images of the game are found here: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/218609/challenge-yankees
[3] https://www.facebook.com/ChallengetheYankees/
