In my C&D 2013 CHA replay tonight, the date is Sept. 21 in Detroit, Sox up 6-4 heading into the bottom of the 9th vs the Tigers … CHA Reed comes on to close out the game… First Tiger is Hunter who walks, followed up by Cabrera who Reed also walks, and brings up Matt Tuiasosopo … I roll and a 1 comes up, so I roll for a WP and of course a WP happens sending Hunter to 3rd and Cabrera to 2nd. I bring in the infield hoping not to get a gb ( ) ++ and roll a 2-2, which is a LO 3b MAX … so, I roll the 20 and it comes up a 6!
 

            Inning Ending, Game Ending, TRIPLE PLAY for my White Sox! WOW! Never saw that one coming! TRIPLE PLAY to end the game!

            I am currently replaying the 1960 season with cards and dice. Today playing the June 12 schedule I had my first no-hitter. Jack Fisher of the Baltimore Orioles no-hit the Kansas City Athletics 2-0. Fisher allowed two walks and a third runner reached base on Fisher’s error. Fisher continues a strong campaign both out of the bullpen and as a spot starter for the first place Orioles. His stats to date are:
 

             W-L G-CG-SV  IP  H   R ER HR BB SO ERA

Fisher     7-1   11-4-0    71  43  10 8   2    27   35  1.01
 

            The Orioles lead the Yankees by ½ game in the American League, while Cincinnati and Los Angeles are tied in the National League. I am playing this season and the 1971 season (alternating dates between them) because of my favorite team the Pittsburgh Pirates. Coincidentally, in my last 1971 games, Sam McDowell of the Cleveland Indians took a no-hitter into the ninth against the California Angels.
 

            Just had to share my first no hitter ever and share the story. Can’t wait for SOM to reproduce the ’79 season!
 

            I received The 2014 Strat-O-Matic Baseball Hall Of Fame edition for Christmas and on the 26th I decided to set up my first game. It wasn’t anything serious. I just threw together a couple of teams comprised of my favorite players. It was Sandy Koufax versus Bob Gibson on the hill. I have always loved Gibson and knew he was great but I wasn’t really prepared for what he did that day. He threw a complete-game shutout against a lineup consisting entirely of Hall Of Famers! Ruth supplied all the offense Gibson would need by homering twice off of Koufax.
 

 
 

            I was half-heartedly rolling out the string of this game in my "Champions League" where I take the best team of each franchise amongst the 30 or so seasons I own, where the 98 Braves were getting smacked by the Nationals 8-0. I had put in my mop-up pitcher, then the mop-up’s mop-up and had even pulled leading NL MVP Candidate Javy Lopez from the game, down 8-0 to save an AB (overusage) and to remove any possible injury risk. The first out of the ninth was recorded and I was down 8-0 and ready to move on to the next game when the impossible happened: a 12-run ninth:
 

*** TOP OF INNING 9 ***
 

0     G.Williams 4-10     3 Ground Out                   b-0
 

1     C.Jones     2- 5     6 Home Run                       b-H
 

1     A.Galarraga 4- 8 19 1 Double                         b-2
 

1 2 E.Perez     6- 9 12 6 Single                              2-3 b-1
 

                             SUBSTITUTE P – Tom Gorzelanny
 

1 1 3 D.Bautista 4- 9 6 4 Single                           3-H 1-2 b-1
 

1 12 G.Colbrunn           1 Wild Pitch                     2-3 1-2
 

1 23 G.Colbrunn 2- 5     2 Single                         3-H 2-3 b-1
 

1 1 3 K.Lockhart 2- 3     5 Walk                           1-2 b-1
 

                             SUBSTITUTE PH- Ryan Klesko
 

1 123 R.Klesko    4- 3     5 Force Play                     3-H 2-3 1-o b-1
 

2 1 3 W.Weiss     4- 6     5 Walk                           1-2 b-1
 

                             SUBSTITUTE P – Tyler Clippard
 

2 123 G.Williams 4- 6     6 Walk                           3-H 2-3 1-2 b-1
 

2 123 C.Jones     4- 6     5 Walk                           3-H 2-3 1-2 b-1
 

2 123 A.Galarraga 2- 7     5 HBP                            3-H 2-3 1-2 b-1
 

2 123 E.Perez     5- 9     4 Walk                           3-H 2-3 1-2 b-1
 

2 123 D.Bautista 1- 4     6 Double                         3-H 2-H 1-H b-3
 

2   3 G.Colbrunn 3- 7     6 Double                         3-H b-2
 

2 2 K.Lockhart 4- 5       4 Pop Out                         b-0

 

 

            The story you are about to read is true. The names have not been changed to protect the innocent, or the guilty. I have been a baseball fan since 1966 when my Dad took me to my first game in Kansas City. Since then I have watched, read about and collected the history of the game. In 1972, my friend down the street, Larry Kenton, introduced me to a game he and his cousin played: Strat-O-Matic. Being a nut about statistics and the players that accumulate them, I took to it immediately. He had the 1969 season, basic version only of course. I played a few games and decided I wanted to replay the American League season. Years later I obtained the advanced version cards. Well, last night I finally finished that replay. A short 43 years later.
 

            I really enjoyed the game, but I was 12 when I started this replay and life got in the way. High school, girls, sports, other interests, college, marriage, children, ventures into other games like Bowl Bound, Statis-Pro basketball, Extra Innings, a 1978 Kansas City Royals Strat replay, a play-down tournament using Strat’s 36 team set with my son Will, various games with my nephew Tyler, games with the Bauer brothers down the road, my hobby of collecting autographs, and my work. But 1969 always sat there on the back burner, begging me to play every once in a while. The last five years or so I decided to make an effort to finish this season so I could move onto other things. I only take time once in a while to roll the dice, as you can easily tell.
 

            I hand calculated all statistics after every game and kept standings and league leaders and individual team sheets. After every week on the replay calendar, I proved team and individual hits and runs scored and allowed, calculated all team statistics, and had to set up new grids every two weeks or so. Other than eventually making tables on a Word document, all this was done with a pencil, calculator, and lots of erasers: Old school at its finest. Seems I spent as much time or more with the statistics as I did actually enjoying the game.
 

            I had many great moments. A no-hitter by Paul Edmondson of the Chicago White Sox. This was particularly interesting. Edmondson played only one year in the majors, 1969, and died February of the next year. The no-hitter he crafted was his first appearance in my replay; therefore it would have been his “Major League debut.” I also had a no-hitter by Andy Messersmith, a 10-inning job by Sudden Sam McDowell in which he lost both the no-hitter and the game on a triple by Norm Cash in the 11^th, and a perfect game by Mickey Lolich against the lowly Seattle Pilots. Rod Carew had a 6-for-6 game. A handful of batters hit three homeruns in a game, including Boog Powell in Game 4 of the World Series. Jim French, a slow-footed Washington Senators backup catcher, hit triples on his first three at-bats of a game. Merv Rettenmund of the Orioles, with an average quite south of .200, hit for the cycle in a rare start. Frank Howard hit 50 homeruns. Harmon Killebrew won the MVP award, and Lolich the Cy Young with a 22-9 record in addition to leading the league in ERA and strikeouts. McDowell and Luis Tiant of Cleveland both lost at least 20 games. Carlos May of Chicago was Rookie of the Year.
 

            The Orioles won 109 games, just as they did in 1969, and dispatched the Twins in the playoffs, just like they did in 1969, advancing to the World Series against the Mets. With Baltimore leading 3 games to 2, it looked like the Mets had them on the ropes in Game 6. They led 3-1 going into the bottom of the 9^th, and had Tom Seaver ready to clinch the title in a looming seventh game showdown. Ron Taylor got the call from Gil Hodges to close the Orioles out. Don Buford, Paul Blair and Frank Robinson all singled, making the score 3-2. After a Boog Powell sacrifice fly tied the score, Brooks Robinson stood in. A roll on Taylor’s card produced a one-out, two-run homerun that capped their furious rally and a World Series championship. What a grand way to finish my replay (even though I hated the Orioles).
 

            1969 is over, at long last, and now it is on to other projects. I am in the middle of a 2003 KC Chiefs football replay and a 2008 NCAA basketball tournament using Statis-Pro. I have other World Series replays in line, and recently bought several of the six-team NFL football sets for playing enjoyment.
 

            Thank you, Hal Richman, Strat-O-Matic, and especially you, Larry Kenton, for producing and introducing me to this simple, yet captivating game we all love. I look forward to hearing the clink of the dice many times in the years ahead. I am contemplating replaying the 1969 NL season now, and if I do I will be a mere 97 years old when I pitch those dice the last time.