Ball Five Baseball The Deadball Era 1903-1919

The Deadball Era: 1903–1919, where it all began.

Baseball before the home run: bunts, steals, hit-and-runs and spitballs. The first World Series is played in 1903. Christy Mathewson throws three shutouts in the 1905 Series. The 1906 Cubs win 116 games, then lose to the “Hitless Wonders” White Sox. Tinker to Evers to Chance, Merkle’s Boner, the 1914 Miracle Braves. Ty Cobb hits .420, Honus Wagner and Walter Johnson dominate, and a young left-handed pitcher named Babe Ruth stars for the Red Sox.

Now you manage them, every team and every season from 1903 to 1919, played at-bat by at-bat. Surprise steals come up more often here, just like the running game of the era.

What’s in the game

• Player cards built from each player’s real season stats, with lefty/righty splits on every hitter and pitcher
• Cards that flip like the ones you got in the mail, with real stats on the back
• Fielding checks based on each fielder’s range and errors
• Pitcher warm-up tosses set his form for the day, and fatigue colors tell you when he’s tiring
• Momentum: a pitcher can get in a groove or get rattled
• Steals, pickoffs, hit-and-runs, bunts, intentional walks and pitchouts. You make the calls.
• Real schedules, standings, season stats, box scores and play-by-play

Note: play-by-play records only go back to 1908, so 1903–1907 are built from season stats alone.

Microsoft Excel only, not a board game. Works in Windows or Mac Excel. Download right after checkout, set up and ready to play.

Bonus: comes with the 1985–86 English First Division season of 5 Minute Soccer, free.

Title: Ball Five Excel Baseball — Deadball Era 1903–1919 · Price: 30

I left “at the wall” plays out of the feature list, since home runs were rare then. Add it back if you’d rather keep all the lists the same.