Hi, Glenn. Congrats on all your hard work to help make the 2012 card set another triumph for SOM! It never ceases to amaze me when I think of how intense the few months before Opening Day must be for everyone at Strat-O-Matic.
 

A few questions:
 

1.) I haven’t seen any mention of the Opening Day travel trip. Did not enough people sign up to meet the minimum requirement to make it happen?
 

2.) Do you have any insight on why Marco Scutaro did not have a card with just his SF stats? For a player to have had such an impact on a team when he joined, I thought for sure there would have been one.
 

3.) Since you were once again in on the fielding rating discussions, was there any thought (even though you have said repeatedly in the past that a player jumping two fielding ratings is almost unheard of) to making Alfonso Soriano a 3 in the basic game due to his improved defense in 2012?
 

            Thanks, as always, for your time. What other projects, be they SOM-related or not, do you have in the works?

            Intense, yes that would describe the collaborative effort involved when Hal Richman, Steve Barkan, John Garcia, Len Schwartz, Bob Winberry and I turn to baseball work as soon as the regular season ends. It was worth it: This set with Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout, Buster Posey, R.A. Dickey, Craig Kimbrel, Aroldis Chapman, Fernando Rodney and a fantastic rookie class might be my favorite of the 21^st Century seasons.
 

            

            There has been speculation in the community as to why the new Negro League teams came out as computer products only.  Some revolves around the possibility that the market is deemed to be limited, or that the company is trying to steer gamers more toward the computer product.

            Is there any chance that SOM might consider another approach for cards-and-dice gamers?  Perhaps a set of top Negro League teams to parallel the Old-timers or 36 Prior Season Teams sets?  A “top 10” maybe? Also, does the fact that the new Negro League products went to computer gamers only mean that the possibility of a second set of individual carded players is slim?

 

            Quick question I was hoping you could answer that has my Strat league a bit up in arms. Does the pro-rated injuries tool pro-rate only duration of injuries, or does it also impact frequency of injuries?
 

 

            Nice to read your response to my Talk Show submission concerning the tick clock. As I mentioned, a tick clock in hockey would be easy as the penalty timer already incorporates the concept. The timer slows down play for the power play to be more realistic. So I suggest using the tick clock when the goalie is pulled for the same effect.
 

1. Assume the team with 6 attackers is on the power play using all PP rules

2. When the defensive team gains control it has the same options as the short-handed team would have.

3. If the short-handed team ices the puck move 5 ticks … 1-2= empty netter, 3-20=icing

4. A successful skate moves the tick clock 3 and now icing is … 1-5=empty netter, 6-20=icing

5. A subsequent skate is 3 ticks….1-10=empty netter, 11-20= lose to PP team as they are across the red line

6. A subsequent skate is 3 ticks…1-18=empty netter, 19-20= how did he miss that! Lose to PP team.
 

            I think this system increases realism tremendously without sacrificing playability.
 

            As for basketball, a tick clock would allow a more realistic use of timeouts to run plays and make offensive/defensive match-up changes. Intentional fouls and timeouts in the endgame are a big part of the pro game that is missing in the Strat game.