SherCo GRAND SLAM Baseball

THE HISTORY OF SHERCO

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It all started in 1968.  Not long after reading the Robert Coover novel, "The Universal Baseball Association, J. Henry Waugh, Prop.", Steve LeShay finished the design of the game that would eventually morph into the SherCo that most people came to know.

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The initial game had only three ratings for batters and pitchers, just like in the book, but Steve did have a field and, eventually, settled on the 28x28-square grid system upon which the game would be played.  Not long after that decision, Steve made the call to "convert" stadium diagrams into the grid system so that you could play a game in every stadium of the day.  No other game made that distinction by stadium, and it was one of two unique features that has often been imitated, but never duplicated.

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SherCo's singular uniqueness is that its results are not the cold "Ground ball to short" or "Fly out to center" that become easily memorized and that don't stimulate the imagination.  Because of the grid system, Steve developed the "stop-action" system of resolving each play right on the grid chart.  Allowing the fielders to be placed anywhere meant that a fly ball to, say, 12-18, might be caught.  This time.  But, next time, if the fielder shaded a square to the right, or back, that same ball might drop in for a hit.  Or the wind could push that same ball further into the gap, turning that single into a double.

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Over the next couple years, Steve went from producing sets that were mailed in envelopes to having a game box and mounted game boards under the name "SherCo Baseball Simulation".  Started offering the Teams of Yesteryear sets.  By 1980, the game had gone through a massive change in graphics ... using a more futuristic font and a blue/green color combination ... the game was now sent in a self-mailing box and was now known as "SherCo II Baseball Simulation".  More rules and chart changes came along in 1984 before the game underwent its most radical change in years.

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By 1988, Steve had enough chart changes and rules changes compiled that he combined them into a new version of the game.  Out went the blue and green (including the printing in those colors) and replacing it was black type face and what Steve calls the "school bus yellow" box and a name change to "SherCo's Grand Slam Baseball Game".  What we now sell as SherCo Classic is a re-presentation of that 1988 version of the game, with minor wording and chart changes.

 

Fast forward a few years.  Steve is no longer at "PO Box 524, Malaga, NJ" and has licensed his remaining inventory and the rights to creating new season sets to a third party.  The games can be found mainly on eBay through that third party's eBay store.  The game appeared to have run its course, although still selling to an audience that wasn't growing.

 

No one would call publisher Brien Martin a knight in shining armor.  In fact, Brien only reached out to Steve in an attempt to get permission to scan a copy of his old SLOBS manual and make it available on the internet for those who missed out on the product back in the 80s.  The year was 2015 and, to Brien's surprise, Steve wanted to discuss bringing SherCo back ... his licensing agreement had expired, and so no one was selling the game or season sets any longer.  Steve had looked up Hot Stove Games and had seen that they were designing and selling games, and that Brien was always looking for new ideas.

 

So, a random, what-the-heck-have-I-got-to-lose e-mail, asking a totally different question, led to Brien and Steve working together to re-vamp the graphic design of game components, laying out the rule book from scratch (none of the original files existed in usable form any more), re-designing not only the 30 current ballpark charts, but 62 others to offer every major concrete-and-steel stadium since the Polo Grounds.  Seven season sets to get started.  And a 2016 re-launch that exceeded either man's expectations.

 

Fast forward to today ... SherCo now offers Classic and PLUS seasons from 1940 to the present day, inclusive, in BOTH Classic and PLUS versions, about a half-dozen pre-1900 seasons.  We also offer nine Teams of Yesteryear sets for Classic (reproductions of the originals), two Negro League Greatest Teams sets, the 500 Greatest Players of All-Time for SherCo Classic, and SLOBS (the do-it-yourself career league system) in both Classic and PLUS versions.

 

We offer two great versions of one great game and, for over fifty years, remain the game that's the most fun to play.

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