In 1980, fantasy baseball — then called Rotisserie, named after the very restaurant in New York where it was invented — came on the scene. And by the end of the 1980s, it was very popular.
Because fantasy football only gained mass popularity in the 1990s, it was always assumed it came later.
Chuck Josephs not only would like a word. He'll show you his book for proof.
In 1973, Josephs, a marketing executive for 3M in California, heard about a guy who had a group of friends who drafted real football players and translated their stats into points. When he was relocated to Minnesota a year later, he mentioned it to his new friends, including fellow 3M employee Dick Getchell, and they started a league that took on the concept.
In 1976, Josephs published a book that described the concept with his point system. There were 500 copies printed of "Fantasy Football League: Commissioner's Official Playbook" at a price of $19.95.
"We advertised it in The Sporting News and Pro Football Weekly, and it spread across the country," Jacobs told cllct.
The first story about the league appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune on Oct. 28, 1976.
"The NFL is the final refinement of make-believe," the Tribune's Jim Klobuchar wrote. "It turns the old parlor games and even the photo electric football games into one-cell primitives. It doesn't need a spinner or a set of dice. No card decks or battery-operated pawns. All the scoring is done by live people on Sunday afternoon and Monday night, and the only requirements for the owner-coach in the Fantasy Football League are that he should be shrewd and possibly devious in recruiting his players."
But baseball was still America's pastime, and so it exploded in a way fantasy football did not.
Over time, the evidence disappeared that proved Josephs had his idea for fantasy football before fantasy baseball came along. The copies of his book eventually thinned out. And now, there are supposedly just two.
That's at least what the auction description at Heritage says for an original copy of the book, which will be auctioned off Oct. 1. It's one of Joseph's copies that was consigned.
Given how far fantasy football has come, Josephs said he was "curious" to see if an original relic would be interesting to a collector. There's at least some initial interest, as the book is up to $960 in bidding, including buyer's premium.
So does Josephs regret he wasn't able to own more of fantasy football?
"I'm not sure we really could do anything, and we didn't trademark it because we all had full-time jobs, it wasn't our focus, and we didn't really have much money," he said.
As for the rise of the game, which is now the most popular of fantasy games, Joseph looks back like a proud father.
"I'm delighted to see so many people enjoying the camaraderie they experience in participating in a league."
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct.com and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectible market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.