GREAT MOMENTS IN STRAT
Have you experienced a game of Strat-O-Matic so thrilling, unique or bizarre that you just HAVE to share it with someone? That would be us. Send your Great Moments in Strat to SOMTalkShow@aol.com. Please include your name and hometown. Readers like to see that and you deserve the credit.
NOW YOU KNOW GEORGE JUMONVILLE
I always wanted to see what a Joe Hardy-type player would do for a bad team. I had the opportunity with George Jumonville and the ‘41 Phillies. Jumonville batted .429 with 1 home run in 7 at bats during the 1941 campaign. The ‘41 Phillies won 43 games. I had Jumonville start every game for Philadelphia. Jumonville won the Triple Crown with 62 home runs, 139 RBIs and a .421 average. He cooled off with only 10 home runs the final two months of the season. Jumonville also led the league with 52 intentional walks, 136 runs scored, a 29-game hitting streak, .732 slugging percentage and 473 total bases.
As for the Phillies, they won 62 games, an increase of 19 victories. I expected Philadelphia to have more than 19 games of improvement. I wager the Phillies would have won several more games without so many intentional walks. Have you heard of any other Joe Hardy-type players used with a season replay?
Mike Sanders
Glenn Guzzo responds: We’ll let others contribute their Joe Hardy-type projects, but we know of those who have created cards for Roy Hobbs or themselves, and placed those cards into real lineups.
IMPERFECT, PROBABLY
This is for Orlando Leon (who in the last Great Moments reported a perfect game for Tom Seaver by getting Lou Brock for the last out): Sorry to burst your bubble, but unless Lou Brock was batting 9th and the pitcher Bob Gibson was batting 8th then it could not have been a perfect game. Sounds as if Seaver faced 28 batters. Sorry …
John in Alabama
TORII! TORII! TORII!
In my 2009 MLB cards-and-dice tournament, Torii Hunter goes 6-for-6, with 5 singles, a HR and 6 RBIs. LAA won Game 5 against KC to move onto the second round by a score of 19-1! In the previous four games, Hunter was 1-for-13 with 4 Ks, 3 BBs, a SB and CS!
John Barkoviak, Normal, IL
HIS FIRST NO-HITTER: IN THE WORLD SERIES
After a thrilling 60-game schedule for the 1930 Old Timers, the 1936 Yankees finished first, followed by the ‘34 Cardinals and the ‘31 A’s. A five-game playoff between the Cards and A’s was won by the A’s. The A’s then played the Yankees in a Best of 7 World Series, with the Yanks having home field advantage.
For Game 1 at Yankee Stadium, the A’s were missing their injured star center fielder, the pride of Montclair, N.J., Mule Haas. On the mound for the Yankees was Red Ruffing and for the A’s right hander George Earnshaw. Two powerful teams with great pitching. Through five innings, there was no score. Then, in the top of the 6th, the A’s scored three runs on singles by Jimmy Dykes and Dib Williams. This was when I realized that Earnshaw had not allowed a hit yet! By the 9th, he had walked two and struck out six – then Earnshaw got ground outs from Crosetti, Rolfe, and Dimaggio. Game 1 was over and George Earnshaw pitched a no-hitter — the first no-hitter ever for me playing Strat. And in a World Series game, too! George Earnshaw also beat the Yankees in Game 5, going nine innings and allowing 5 hits and 1 run. Lefty Grove wrapped things up in game 6, as the A’s defeated the Yankees 2-1 to take the crown as World Champions of the 1930s Old Timers.
Scott Acton, Hackettstown, NJ
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