I created a survey for my latest book project – a history of baseball tabletop simulations! This is a collaboration with several co-authors who are subject matter experts. The book will focus on the baseball tabletop sims 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 and Kurt Bergland
A lifelong resident of central New Jersey, I enjoy spending quality time with my wife and three children. In my professional life I’ve worked for three local healthcare systems as a server and network administrator over the last 30 years. Co-chair of the SABR Games and Simulations Committee since August 2022 along with Mark Wendling.
My hobbies include baseball, statistics, computers and video games along with freshwater fishing. I have authored five books and contributed articles to Seamheads, Fangraphs and my site, Hardball Retro. Follow my HardballRetro channels on Twitch for live-streaming of classic and current baseball video games and view the resulting playthrough videos on YouTube!
Visit my Amazon author page to check out my books, promotional videos, and post a review if you're a Hardball Retro fan!
My Books:
"Hardball Retro’s Compendium of Baseball Video Games and Electronic Handhelds," published in September 2024 with co-author John Racanelli, is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com.Hardball Retro’s Compendium of Baseball Video Games and Electronic Handhelds was recognized with the 2025 Sporting News-SABR Baseball Research Award.
“Hardball Architects – Volume 1 (American League Teams)”,published in July 2020, is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com.
“Hardball Architects – Volume 2 (National League Teams)”,published in April 2022, is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com.
“Hardball Architects” examines the trades, free agent acquisitions, draft picks and other transactions for the 30 Major League Baseball franchises, divided into a 2-volume set (American League and National League). All key moves are scrutinized for every team and Sabermetric principles are applied to the roster construction throughout the lifetime of the organization to encapsulate the hits and misses by front office executives.
“Hardball Retroactive”,published in June 2018, is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com. A cross-section of essays that I penned for Seamheads.com along with my Baseball Analytics blog spanning nearly a decade touching on subjects including "Taking the Extra Base", "General Manager Scorecard", "Worst Trades", "BABIP By Location" and "Baseball Birthplaces and the Retro World Baseball Classic". Rediscover your favorite hardball arcade and simulations in "Play Retro Baseball Video Games In Your Browser" or take a deep dive into every franchise's minor league successes and failures in relation to their major league operations in "Minors vs. Majors".
“Hardball Retrospective” is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com.Supplemental Statistics, Charts and Graphs along with a discussion forum are offered at TuataraSoftware.com. In Hardball Retrospective, I placed every ballplayer in the modern era (from 1901-present) on their original teams. Using a variety of advanced statistics and methods, I generated revised standings for each season based entirely on the performance of each team’s “original” players. I discuss every team’s “original” players and seasons at length along with organizational performance with respect to the Amateur Draft (or First-Year Player Draft), amateur free agent signings and other methods of player acquisition. Season standings, WAR and Win Shares totals for the “original” teams are compared against the real-time or “actual” team results to assess each franchise’s scouting, development and general management skills.
Don Daglow (Intellivision World Series Major League Baseball, Earl Weaver Baseball, Tony LaRussa Baseball) contributed the foreword for Hardball Retrospective. The foreword and preview of my book are accessible here.
“Hardball Retrospective - Addendum 2014 to 2016”supplements my research for Hardball Retrospective, providing retroactive standings based on Wins Above Replacement (WAR) and Win Shares (WS) for each "original" team over the past three seasons (2014-2016). Team totals from 2010 - 2013 are included for reference purposes. “Addendum” is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com.
Contact me on BlueSky - @hardballretro.bsky.social