- Challenge The Yankees
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Challenge The Yankees was a popular baseball board game, sold only in 1964 and 1965 by Hasbro (Hassenfeld Bros.) of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The game and many of its components, especially the player cards is now a popular Ebay item, consisting of 25 New York Yankees player cards, 25 All Star player cards (non-Yankees), a baseball diamond game board, cards representing different plays (single, double, triple, fly ball, ground ball) 4 pegs to move around the bases, manager strategy cards, and other accessories. The player up at bat rolls the dice, and refers to that "batter's" card, to check to see what that dice roll represents for that particular ball player, and moves a pegs accordingly. Each player's card is different, for example, a dice roll of 3 when Yogi Berra is at bat represents a home run, while a 3 rolled for Bill Mazeroski represents a base on balls. The object is to score the most runs at the end of 9 innings.
The 50 player cards in the set are approximately 4" × 5½", with a blank back, and feature a small black & white photo of the player, a facsimile autograph, and a few biographical details and stats. The only way to distinguish the cards between the two years is to compare the stats. There has been some confusion over the years about the 50 player cards in the 1964 set, and the 50 in the 1965 set. Some players are the same in both editions, and some are different.
Contents
Collectors
Collectors like to be certain which year player card they are buying. Below is the complete listing of 1964 and 1965 cards. The ERA for pitchers and batting averages for the position players are noted in order to distinguish between 1964 and 1965. Only four of the 100 cards are identical for the two years: Yankees Hector Lopez and Tom Metcalf, and All Stars Carl Yastrzemski and Johnny Podres. Every other card differs in some small way, either by player fact, ERA or Batting Average.
1964 Set
Position Player's Batting Ave or Pitcher's ERA
Player name ERA/batting averages Hank Aaron .320 Yogi Berra .285 Johnny Blanchard .247 Jim Bouton 3.04 Clete Boyer .243 Marshall Bridges 3.75 Harry Bright .255 Tom Cheney 3.67 Del Crandall .257 Al Downing 2.81 Whitey Ford 2.78 Tito Francona .278 Jake Gibbs .250 Pedro Gonzalez .192 Dick Groat .293 Steve Hamilton 3.47 Elston Howard .286 Al Kaline .309 Tony Kubek .275 Phil Linz .276 Hector Lopez .272 Art Mahaffey 3.81 Frank Malzone .280 Mickey Mantle .309 Juan Marichal 3.07 Roger Maris .261 Eddie Mathews .280 Bill Mazeroski .264 Ken McBride 3.54 Willie McCovey .282 Tom Metcalf 2.77 Jim O'Toole 3.52 Milt Pappas 3.42 Joe Pepitone .265 Ron Perranoski 2.33 Johnny Podres 3.63 Dick Radatz 2.13 Hal Reniff 2.78 Bobby Richardson .272 Rich Rollins .302 Ron Santo .266 Bill Skowron .289 Duke Snider .298 Bill Stafford 3.55 Ralph Terry 3.52 Tom Tresh .278 Pete Ward .290 Carl Warwick .256 Stan Williams 3.74 Carl Yastrzemski .294 1965 Set
Player name ERA/batting averages Hank Aaron .320 Johnny Blanchard .248 Jim Bouton 3.03 Clete Boyer .239 Leon Carmel .219 Joe Christopher .266 Vic Davalillo .279 Al Downing 3.18 Whitey Ford 2.73 Bill Freehan .281 Jim Gentile .266 Jake Gibbs .214 Pedro Gonzalez .261 Dick Groat .293 Steve Hamilton 3.42 Elston Howard .289 Al Kaline .307 Tony Kubek .270 Phil Linz .262 Don Lock .251 Hector Lopez .272 Art Mahaffey 3.93 Frank Malzone .278 Mickey Mantle .309 Juan Marichal 2.91 Roger Maris .263 Eddie Mathews .277 Bill Mazeroski .264 Ken McBride 4.14 Tim McCarver .281 Willie McCovey .271 Tom Metcalf 2.77 Pete Mikkelsen 3.56 Jim O'Toole 3.37 Milt Pappas 3.34 Joe Pepitone .258 Ron Perranoski 2.55 Johnny Podres 3.63 Dick Radatz 2.20 Pedro Ramos 4.07 Hal Reniff 2.87 Bobby Richardson .271 Rich Rollins .291 Ron Santo .276 Rollie Sheldon 4.18 Bill Stafford 3.46 Mel Stottlemyre 2.06 Tom Tresh .268 Pete Ward .286 Carl Yastrzemski .294 Notes for 1965 cards where Pitcher's ERA or Player's Batting Average are the same
Mickey Mantle - All Star Years Listed; Hank Aaron - 64 All Star noted; Dick Grote - 64 All Star noted; Bill Mazeroski - 64 All Star noted; Johnny Podres - Same Card 64/65; Carl Yastrzemski - Same Card 64/65; Héctor López - Same Card 64/65; Tom Metcalf - Same Card 64/65;
Yankee Rollie Sheldon
Not all of the 1965 sets contain the NYY Rollie Sheldon card. Rollie was traded to Kansas City on May 3, 1965 and his card was withdrawn from the set, making it more scarce than the others.
References
Categories:- Sports board games
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