THE TALK SHOW

 

Host: Glenn Guzzo

 

 

 

VERSION 9 BASEBALL NEARLY HERE

 

Could you please describe the new updated computerized baseball upgrade program features for version 9.0?

 William Clark DeLashmutt, Farmville, VA

 

            Your timing is excellent. See the recently posted article on Strat-O-Sphere for more detail, but soon we’ll have extensive encyclopedia ability, an evaluator to judge the run-scoring/run-prevention effects of making changes to our lineups, ability to add player photos to our game and notebook screens, “web-gem” defensive highlights in the box scores, one-touch links between the game and the Internet, player nicknames in the play-by-play, and more. Years ago, when Draft-O-Matic was added, I spent some fun days just playing around with that. I think that many gamers will do the same with several of the Version 9 features.

 

I have been playing computer Strat since 1989.  I started with the cards in 1966.  My computer problem is that I have been running various replays and computer projects for many seasons.  One of my encyclopedias is a total of everything.  For instance, Mantle and Mays each have more than 800 career home runs.  Whitey Ford has more than 400 wins and many pitchers are approaching 300.  It is a great database, but since there are thousands of players in it, with thousands of lesser stats, I do not get to compare or rank them with each other the way the data is displayed. Any chance that the encyclopedia function will be updated to help manipulate the data in a type of form such as the relatively new "reports" section?  If not, can something be done so that we can see more of the data in the leaders sections of the same encyclopedia that exists now?

Jerry Gryguc, Plainville, CT

 

            Wish granted, Jerry. The data-base-building function in Version 9 swiftly assembles lists of career leaders, single-season leaders, alphabetized player listings, team-by-team lists and much more. For leaders in categories based on averages and percentages, you can tell the computer to list only the leaders with at least this many at-bats or innings pitched. And, if you can run Microsoft Access, you can export the data there, where you can manipulate it as you please.

 

 

 

THE PROBLEM WITH COLLEGE SPORTS

 

The middle of the college football bowl season made me look for my old college football games, and, after looking through some of the teams, I was wondering: Is there any chance SOM will make a computer college football game?  I know they printed two card sets in the late ‘80’s in a more updated format than the old games from the ‘70’s, and I also know they had a college basketball tourney disk from the mid-‘90’s, so I was hoping that it could be considered down the road.  Even if they took the last two seasons they printed and put it onto a disk I’d be happy.

Henry Roman

 

          Actually, Strat-O-Matic printed three 48-team college football card sets (including all of the AP Top 20 teams) for the 1986-88 seasons. As you note, it was SOM’s second try at board-game college football and there was one short-lived attempt at computer college basketball.

 

            The inability to produce a college game that is successful in the marketplace has vexed game companies for decades. I fervently hope there is a way to succeed, but the obstacles are many, foremost the vast number of teams. Let’s start with football:

 

            Remembering that most gamers like to play stock teams, a successful game would have the teams necessary for a gamer to replay his favorite team’s complete schedule. At minimum, the football set ought to include the six BCS conferences – Big East, ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-10 just to get the major bowl teams and their conference foes. That’s 62 teams. In 2003, those 62 teams played 78 outsiders, including all 14 MAC teams, all 11 Conference USA teams, all eight Mountain West teams, all 10 WAC teams, all eight Sun Belt teams and four independents (Notre Dame, Navy, Connecticut, Troy State). Exclude smaller schools that appear on only one team’s schedule (Sacramento State, et al), and we’ve still got 117 teams with significant presence on the BCS schedules. That includes Connecticut (six times), Middle Tennessee (four) and Louisiana-Monroe (three). A brutal paring of the list would leave us with 62 BCS conference teams, nationally ranked Bowling Green, Miami of Ohio and Boise State, plus Notre Dame and the three service academies. That’s 69.

 

            NCAA basketball, with more Division I schools, schedules more than twice the size of the football schools and so many small-conference teams in the NCAA tournament, would be a much higher number.

 

            Result: Major research and production, which could be justified only by major sales. In card form, a set too large to be reasonably priced if it contained the individual player cards of the NFL and NBA games. Think at least twice the size of Strat-O-Matic’s NFL set and at least three times the size of the NBA set. $60 card sets (conservatively)? That’s not likely to bring major sales. Break the college sets into subsets by conference? That has never worked for any game company before – we’d still have to buy them all just to play the Big Ten conference fully. Drop the Big East and ACC for football? That would discourage sales from the major SOM customer base on the East Coast. The smaller customer bases are in SEC and Big 12 country. But if SOM dropped them, why would it bother with NCAA sports? The computer is the only true option.

 

 

THE VOTES FOR 2005 ARE COMING IN

 

When SOM decides to recreate a season, what criteria do they use? A few suggestions: The great 1949 pennant race, the 1951 season and 1971-73 due to how difficult it is for gamers to get the extra cards.

Martin Hixson, Brighton, MI

 

            Different criteria at different times. Once, Strat-O-Matic was determined to complete converting its basic-only seasons from the 1960s to advanced form. At other times, it wanted to reach as far back as it could (e.g. 1911 this year, 1920 before that) to bring vintage players (Walter Johnson, Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker) to life in advanced form for the first time. In many cases, the company has been guided by strength of customer sentiment, often through polls conducted in the old Strat-O-Matic Review or STRAT FAN, and online.

 

I’ve been playing Strat about 40 years and really enjoy past-season replays, having finished 1959 (Yanks over Giants in Series), 1941 (Red Sox-! Over Brooklyn) and ’64 (Chisox over Philly), and currently taking my time rotating between 1934, 1955, 1920 and 1965.  Next, 1948 seems to me a perfect season to put out in super-advanced format.  Incredible three-team race in the AL with DiMaggio, Williams, Boudreau, etc.  Boston Braves win the NL in an upset.  Musial hits .376.  Also, there are no super-advanced past seasons between 1941 and 1955 even available!

Jeff Polman

 

 

            Jeff, you and Martin (above) are in tune with the majority of past-season baseball fans I hear from. They cite the wider gap between 1941 and 1950 than any other two consecutive Strat-O-Matic seasons. That will change slightly when 1911 appears this year, creating an equal gap between 1911 and 1920. It’s not hard to make the case for each of the seasons 1946-49 and 1951. You’ve already done it for 1948, so here are the others:

 

1946: Back from World War II, many stars produce a great season, including the first playoff (St. Louis over the Dodgers) and a famous World Series capped by Enos Slaughter’s “mad dash” to score the winning run of Game 7 from first on a single. The Cardinals’ Harry Brecheen, who died this month, was the first lefty to win three games in a World Series. It’s also a season, like 1948, without the typical Yankees-Dodgers World Series (’47, ’49, ’52, ’53, ’55, ’56) over the next decade. In the AL, the Red Sox won their first pennant since 1918, thanks to Ted Williams (.342-38-123), who finished second in the Triple Crown categories and was the league MVP. Bob Feller returned from the war to win 26 games and post a 2.18 ERA. Hal Newhouser proved that his previous dominance was not a war-era fluke. He went 26-9 with a majors-best 1.94 ERA. And Musial hit .365 with 50 doubles and 20 triples.

 

1947: The most historic season not yet captured by Strat-O-Matic, this one is known to all as the year Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, was the NL rookie of the year and led the Dodgers to the pennant. The Dodgers were five games better than the Cardinals, eight better than the Braves (who had twin 21-game winners Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain – the year the phrase “Spahn, Sain and two days of rain” was coined) and 13 better than the Giants, who hit a then-record 221 homers (Johnny Mize hit 51 of them). Young Ewell “The Whip” Blackwell led the NL in wins (22-8, 2.47) for fifth-place Cincinnati. In the AL, Ted Williams won his second Triple Crown (.343-32-114) but his Red Sox finished in third, 14 games behind the Yankees, whose Joe DiMaggio was MVP. And in the World Series, the Dodgers’ Al Gionfriddo made his famous homer-robbing catch of DiMaggio’s drive in Game 6 to force the series to a seventh game before the Yankees won.

 

1949: Popularized by David Halberstam’s book, “Summer of ’49,” this season featured two pennant races decided by a single game each. In Casey Stengel’s first year as manager, the Yankees beat the Red Sox on the last two days of the season to edge Boston by a single game. Ted Williams won the MVP award with a .343-43-159 season in which he shared league RBI honors with teammate Vern Stephens, who also slugged 39 homers. A strong Cleveland club settled for third, 8 games back. In the NL, the Dodgers won in extra innings on the final day to finish one game ahead of the Cardinals. Jackie Robinson led the league in batting and was MVP (.342-16-124, 122 runs, 36 doubles, 12 triples and a league-best 37 stolen bases), despite an awesome year by the Cards’ Musial (.338-36-123, 128 runs, 41 doubles, 13 triples, 107 walks). Pittsburgh’s Ralph Kiner led the NL in homers (54), RBIs (127), slugging (.658) and walks (117).

 

1951: Second (among remaining eligible seasons) only to 1947 for historical fame, this is the season of Bobby Thomson’s home run that decided a three-game playoff and capped the Giants’ miraculous comeback to win the pennant over the Dodgers. The Giants had trailed the Dodgers by 13 ½ games on Aug. 12, then won 16 straight and 39 of 47 to force the playoff. The Giants had a pair of 23-game winners, Sal Maglie and Larry Jansen, Monte Irvin’s finest season (.312-24-121) and rookie-of-the-year Willie Mays. The Dodgers had lefty Preacher Roe (22-3), Roy Campanella’s first huge season (.325-33-108) and Gil Hodges’ 40 homers. Musial (.355-32-108) and Kiner (.309-42-109) were monstrous once again. The Yankees won their third straight World Series (in a streak of five), during the rookie year of Mickey Mantle and the swan song of DiMaggio. But the Yankees’ stars were the Big Three of Ed Lopat (21-9), Vic Raschi (21-10) and Allie Reynolds (17-8, two no-hitters). They had to be that good to keep the Yankees five games ahead of second-place Cleveland, who had a trio of 20-game winners – Bob Feller, Mike Garcia and Early Wynn, plus 17-game winner Bob Lemon, as well as slugging Luke Easter, Al Rosen and Larry Doby. … A bit of trivia: Mantle was not the AL rookie of the year. His roommate, Gil McDougald, was.

 

 

THE QUEST FOR ALL-TIME GREATS

 

I have been a Strat-O-Matic game owner (baseball) since 1964. My dream is to have Strat create an all-time team for each franchise based on the player’s best all-around season.  The cards would look like they do now (both basic and advanced) and you would combine teams such as the NEW YORK-SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS , BOSTON-MILWAUKEE-ATLANTA BRAVES as an example. Imagine having a Yankees team with the 1921 Babe Ruth, 1956 Mickey Mantle and 1978 Ron Guidry together! Add another 29 teams (I could understand if you would not include Tampa Bay in this set) and I think this would be a big sell. I hope Strat-O-Matic would give this strong consideration, and act on this soon.

 Phil Solimine, Passaic, NJ

 

            This set would be a dream-come-true for many of us. But “act on this soon” is the key phrase. For Strat-O-Matic to do any player in advanced form requires it to compute the statistical norms for every team in that player’s season. And in the case of pitchers, the hits on the card are calculated after his teammates’ defensive ranges are determined. In other words, if the company is going to do 1921 Babe Ruth, it has to do much of the research for an entire season. The set you describe would include all, or nearly all, of the pre-1959 seasons Strat-O-Matic has yet to produce in advanced form. That’s 49 seasons from the 20^th Century alone. This is a major reason why the game company has preferred to release full seasons. Another is that all of the customer feedback (to the game company, to STRAT FAN, etc. indicates that most baseball gamers play stock teams more than they do fantasy teams). For now, you could use your ’20 Ruth, ’56 Mantle and ’78 Guidry – with ’41 Joe DiMaggio, ’27 Lou Gehrig, ’50 Yogi Berra and more recent-vintage Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Goose Gossage, among others. Yes, it would be somewhat tougher to assemble the best St. Louis Browns for that Browns/Orioles franchise.

 

 

I started a thread on the Strat-O-Matic Forum some time ago: Accepting the lack of some stats and three-pointers pre-1980, why not a basic, Hall of Fame, basketball card set? I can’t be the only one looking to put Russell, Cousy, West and Chamberlain up against the modern players.

Neil M. Greenberg, Brooklyn, NY

 

            Earlier installments of The Talk Show prove that you are not the only one. A previous Talk Show also pointed out that Strat-O-Matic doesn’t go backward in game development – that is, once it gets beyond a basic game, it doesn’t produce basic-only sets. Although the basic games are a staple for introducing new Strat players, experienced players overwhelming graduate to the advanced versions and don’t go back, except occasionally. Finally, there is the issue mentioned above about the inefficiency of producing advanced cards for isolated players.

 

                                                              

 

PLAYING TIPS IN THE MAKING

 

We have had a 16-team computer football league for the past two years.  In both years, the home-field advantage is not very evident. I hate to suggest more penalties as there seems to be plenty of penalties. I suggest "home-field dice"….  if the Home Field indicator comes up, the ratings of a player required to determine the outcome would be affected — the home team’s player would be increased by one, the visiting team’s player rating would be decreased by one.

Tom Murch, Eagle Bend, MN

 

            If your league has been keeping data on this, you ought to send it to Strat-O-Matic. An interesting idea, but I suspect it would need considerable play-testing. Odds-makers generally allow three points for the home team, which can be decisive, but isn’t a very visible edge in a computer game. While a draft league could tolerate a standard home-advantage factor, a new rule ought to work whenever the computer is used, and that means stock teams, too. Then, we might want to consider a stronger home-field edge for teams with the sharpest home-road differential. If this were also a board-game option, I’d have some other questions: A fifth die would make quite a handful, wouldn’t it? Would that be one side in six to activate the advantage, or more often? Would skill-players’ cards be affected, or just the blockers and defenders? Would you also move up one line or down one line for place kickers and punters?

 

 

Two minor suggestions for the computer game:

(1) I don’t mind injuries, but I hate to see stars or high draft picks miss extended periods via freakish circumstances. Why not have an injury option that states "rest of game only," which would still allow for some substitutions and missed time, but not ruin seasons for players, or more importantly, managers.

 

(2) Many players play in all-star-style leagues with teams based all over the world. Wouldn’t it be sort of neat to add the Japanese, Cuban and Puerto Rican national anthems to the American and Canadian options? Variety is the spice of life, I say!

Mike Hudak, North Canton, OH

 

            (1) This option also would work well for draft-leagues that already monitor player usage, but don’t want to do away with injuries altogether.

 

            (2) With the Expos playing so many games in Puerto Rico and a few games each year in Japan, maybe this is not so far-fetched, so to speak.

 

 

 

 

 

RULES, RULES

 

Two questions concerning the situation when the batter misses the pitch on a suicide squeeze or safety squeeze attempt, and the runner on third is forced to try to steal home (in super advanced play):

(1)  Is the minimum safe range 1, or will the runner be automatically out if
his safe range is calculated to be zero or a negative number?

(2) What happens to the trail runner(s)?

Dave Feldman, New York, NY

 

(1)   The minimum safe chance is 1.

(2)   Unless it’s a double or triple steal, they stay put.

 

 

In the November Talk Show, there was an inquiry regarding brittle pitchers.  You stated that in the Super-Advanced rules, a pitcher may be injured on any 6-12 roll.  I must have an old version of the rules (I only purchase the computer game nowadays), because I do not see this rule.  But I have noticed while playing the computer game that this does not seem to be the case.  It seems the only time a pitcher can get injured (while using the DH rule) is if the DH is up.  Can you shed some light on this?

 

Also, I once sent an e-mail to SOM suggesting that (in the computer game) it might make sense for a pitcher’s injury to be dependant on how tired he is.  For instance, any 6-12 roll could be a possible injury based on the pitcher’s fatigue level.  You would subtract the fatigue level from 10 to give a % chance that the pitcher gets injured.  Example:  at level 9 (full strength) it would be a 10% chance of an injury; at level 0 (pitcher is spent) it would be 100 % (automatic injury on a 6-12 roll). 

Greg Pahren, Lexington, VA

 

 

            To activate the more-frequent pitcher injuries, click the SADV Injury option under the Rules for the league you are playing. It’s not a default setting. You’ve got to set it yourself. If, then, pitchers were being injured too often, your playing tip could be excellent.

 

 

The way it is now, NL pitchers only get injured when they’re batting and AL pitchers only get injured when their team’s DH is hitting, is neither equal nor accurate. Pitchers tend to get injured more when they’re pitching, and thus I wonder why Strat-O-Matic simply doesn’t put injury possibilities on a pitcher’s pitching card. With this change, I think also the current way the AL pitchers get injured should be eliminated (because it’s completely inaccurate), but the manner in which NL pitchers currently get hurt should be left. After all, NL pitchers play in the game more than AL pitchers do.

 

And, what is the exact formula for how bunting for a base hit works?

Matt Byrom, Danville, CA

 

            Though it’s not a board-game rule, you could adopt the SADV computer rule for pitcher injuries: Make any 6-12 roll for a man at bat an injury to the pitcher in the field.

 

            On bunting for hits, Strat-O-Matic doesn’t divulge its formulas. It’s hidden in the computer game. The board game has no such rule, but bunters trying to sacrifice can get a hit when the SPEED rating comes up. The percentage chance depends on his speed. 

 

 

MAN VS. MACHINE

 

            Recently it was announced that Strat was going to eliminate their floppy disks and replace them with CDs. This is great for those just now buying past season disks and for future seasons. However, what is Strat doing to find a solution for those gamers like myself who have already purchased many past season disks in baseball and football and who worry that in the future their disks will become useless when floppy disks can no longer be used on computers? Mac users were able to trade in their disks for IBM copies; will gamers be able to trade in their floppy disks for the CD version?

Dan Gault, Ancienne-Lorette, QC, Canada

           

So far, the change is only for computer basketball. Even there, the past-season floppy disks still work. So there’s no need for a trade-in policy.

 

 

In the current SOM computer baseball game, base runners are picked off base an unrealistic number of times.  It also appears to have no regard for who the base runner is or who the pitcher is.  Is this something that can be addressed in the future?

 Mike Belay, Erial, NJ

 

            Actually, it has everything to do with who is on base. The runner’s chance of getting back is determined by his second steal-success number. And pitcher’s hold ratings are influenced by their real-life pickoffs. As for frequency, SOM’s Bob Winberry replies, “While we don’t rate pitchers or base runners individually for pickoffs, our game does reproduce the approximate league totals for a major-league season.” After hearing your question, Winberry ran an autoplay of the 2003 season, which produced 156 pickoffs (that information is in Report Writer). According to The Bill James Handbook, the real 2003 major-league season had 152 pickoffs.

 

 

Just finished replaying the 2002 football season and was disappointed to find out that the "form playoff league" function imported the teams but not their offensive or defensive plays. When the company fixes this bug do you think you could get them to include an automatic playoff scenario, including playoff scheduling and standings, based on tie-breakers instead of the alphabet? Playing a historical league with stock teams ought to have a built-in playoff format don’t you think?

Mike, Phoenix (Strat since 1968)

           

Winberry reports that the computer-manager import bug will be fixed in the next version. Until then, we can export the CM from a regular-season league and import it into our playoffs leagues. However, Winberry said, a full-featured playoff schedule is not likely because the NFL’s tie-breaking rules are complex and have frequently changed over the past two decades. “We could do a (simpler) system, but if it doesn’t duplicate the actual system, it’s half a feature,” Winberry said. So it’s up to the gamer to pick the playoff teams. Setting up a playoff league with those teams takes no more than a couple of minutes.

 

 

We have an e-mail football league that has several owners in different states.  It would be very nice if another person could join into an existing game as a "spectator." Is this feasible?

 Tom Murch, Eagle Bend, MN

 

This is the type of question that doesn’t have an answer, because Strat-O-Matic doesn’t divulge its new-product plans until it is sure it can deliver. To do otherwise can create false hope or give too much notice to competitors. 

 

 

There seems to be a growing problem with more and more people using various high-speed providers and setting up home networks, that people are unable to host NetPlay sessions because the IP address they are assigned is not visible from the Internet.  Is SOM doing anything about this?  Several people from the leagues I am in have inquired about this and I’m sure we’re not the only ones.  Being somewhat computer savvy, I understand the issue.  But one simple solution would be to drop the requirement that the home team must be the host. Of course, the problem would still occur if both participants had the same issue.  An alternate would be to have a server set up where both teams would connect.  This could be a last resort for people since there could be availability issues and/or performance issues due to the number of people connecting.  But it would be better than having two teams in a league that could never play each other.

Greg Pahren

 

Winberry replies: “There is no influx of bug reports in this area. Some very small percentage of people have trouble. Industry-wide, 2 percent of computers have trouble connecting any given computer game for Internet play.  Our game is no different.  These problems relate to hardware, software and network configurations on individual systems, and are largely outside of a game publisher’s control. Technically, we cannot drop the home-host requirement without re-writing NetPlay from scratch, and that is not a simple solution. One day, Strat-O-Matic hopes to rewrite the baseball NetPlay to be more like the system in football, but that is a major project.”

 

LONG LIVE THE CARDS

 

I have been a faithful SOM customer for over 20 years. I particularly enjoy
playing the board hockey game. With the advent of the computer games, what are the chances that Strat-O-Matic will ‘force’ everyone to begin buying their computer games because it’s easier to duplicate CDs than print cards? I, for one, hope the printed cards never go away.

Mike Butts, St. Louis

 

            Like the paperless office and the end of newspapers, the demise of Strat-O-Matic cards in the face of computer options has long been forecast. Presumably, all of these things could happen someday. Because of the setup costs, printing demands volume to keep the printed product reasonably priced. If the critical mass is lost, then printing becomes too costly. But computers don’t have that issue. So, even today, we see some additional players for the computer only. And some past season disks in the non-baseball sports for the computer only. Strat-O-Matic’s Hal Richman has been very astute about this, and about doing everything he can to keep Strat-O-Matic in card form. It’s the heritage and the soul of the company – holding a card and looking at the format creates an unmatched bond between gamer and product. The computer must compensate in other ways. By selling card sets inexpensively to gamers buying the computer game at the same time, Strat-O-Matic keeps the print order up high enough to keep the prices for cards reasonable. And Strat’s latest experiment with “six-packs” of best teams from football and hockey past seasons (at the same time full-season disks are created) is another demonstration of the company’s devotion to cards.

   

RETROSHEET TO THE RESCUE

 

The Big Book Of Baseball Lineups I mentioned does not have actual day to day lineups but rather some great ideas for use with the Career Historical Disks. The book did lead me to a web site with all of the day to day box scores from the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s. called http://www.retrosheet.org/ . This should help

R.E. Boaz

 

 

In response to the request for lineup information, why not try www.retrosheet.org, which has complete box score listings dating back to 1972, plus selected seasons from the ’60s.

 Leith Dunick, Thunder Bay, ONT

 

 

            Thanks, guys. I should have thought of Retrosheet. After all, I know its creators, led by Dave Smith, who have toiled selflessly with the goal of assembling the play-by-play of every game in baseball history. Amazingly, a large amount of that work has been accomplished. Retrosheet, used by Strat-O-Matic to assist its past-season research, can answer lineup questions and much, much more. For instance, what is this player’s career statistics against left-handers, or against that pitcher, or when he bats in this place in the order? And that’s just scratching the surface of what Retrosheet can provide – and it’s all free..

 

 

THE FURTHER AWAY THEY GET, THE BETTER THEY LOOK

 

I love The Talk Show,” especially the statement on the last installment from Charlie Lord. He laments that pitching was tougher in the ‘50s and ‘60s compared to today. This is true. But pitching back in Babe Ruth’s era was tougher than the ‘50’s and ‘60s. I know that Lord wasn’t going that far back, but the Babe was far superior to anyone in that era. In 1927 he hit 14 percent of all the home runs in baseball. No one else has ever or will ever come close to matching that.

Steve Napoli

 

            While other Ruth records have fallen in time, this one will outlive us. Some of the reasons why pitching was so tough in Ruth’s time: the spitball, using one ball for a whole game, games that went into twilight with no lights, deeper (or non-existent) outfield fences and a small-ball culture that acknowledged these facts and encouraged batters to bunt, hit-and-run and chop at the ball much more often.

 

 

ESSAY OF THE MONTH: BOOMER HEAVEN

 

I enjoyed your reply to the Wish List of Past Season requests. I have ordered almost everything SOM has to offer since 1965, and I have enjoyed them all. The computer games have been a god-send, tabulating stats and offering an opposing manager, especially in football.

 

I am a Baby Boomer, and growing up in the ‘60s, I have come to the conclusion that the ‘60s and early ‘70s were the Golden Age of Sports. The ‘60s had the Celtics, Packers, and UCLA (continued into the ‘70s) dynasties; Starr, Unitas, Brown, Sayers and OJ at USC; Mays, Mantle, Aaron, Koufax, and Gibson; Wilt, Russell, the Big O, and Mr. Clutch; Maris and 61, McLain with 31, UCLA’s 47 game winning streak, and Wilt’s 100; Alcindor-Hayes-Maravich, Wilt-Russell; the ’67 Sixers going 68-13; the Ice Bowl, Namath and the Upset; SC-Notre Dame; the Fearsome Foursome, Doomsday Defense, and the Purple People Eaters. The College Basketball Game of the Century featuring ‘67-68 UCLA-Houston.

 

The early ‘70s had UCLA’s 88-game winning streak, The ‘71-72 Lakers’ 33-game winning streak, and the Dolphins’ 17-0; OJ and 2,003; Wilt-Reed-Kareem; The
College Football Game of The Century featuring ’71 Oklahoma-Nebraska.

 

The teams and players of that era were mythical, and the games legendary. I realize that today’s athletes are bigger, stronger, faster, better-trained, etc, but something seems to have been lost. When New England upsets the Rams in the Super Bowl, it is just that, an upset. When the Jets beat the Colts, it was monumental. I was a bit young when Maris broke the Babe’s home run record, but it was probably the most talked-about record in baseball until McGwire broke it in ’98. When Bonds broke McGwire’s record, it was certainly an achievement, but it almost seemed ho-hum. When 14-0 Ohio State beat Miami in the BCS Championship game last year, it was certainly a great game, but a few years from now, I suspect very few people will remember it. However, when Nebraska edged Oklahoma in a reg–season game in ’71, it has remained the Game of the Century. How many fights match Ali-Frazier, or Ali-Foreman, today?

Certainly the younger generation will argue the Celtics-Lakers-76ers of the ‘80s, with Magic vs. Bird; obviously McGwire-Sosa in ’98. Pedro, Maddux, and even Gagne have pitched probably even better than Koufax and Gibson did, when you compare the league offensive stats of the eras, but they still don’t have that mythical quality that Koufax did. Koufax and Jim Brown quit while still in their primes, and for some reason, my generation believes they could still be playing. Wilt retired prematurely, and was pursued into the ‘80s by many NBA teams. Jordan probably should have stayed retired. His Bulls teams will go down in history as a dynasty, but there was very little competition for them. The team that went 72-10 played a schedule against a diluted league, and only played the much stronger Western Conference teams twice that year (one game at home, the other on the road). In contrast, the ‘71-72 Lakers that went 69-13 played the 51-31 Warriors six times, and the 63-19 Bucks five times. The ‘66-67 76ers that went 68-13 played the 60-21 Celtics 10 times!

 

So, here is my Wish List: (all of these are computer products … if cards are issued as well, great):

Any NFL seasons from 1960-76, but here are my favorites in order: 1967, 1969, 1970, 1973, 1971, 1963.

Any NBA seasons from 1960-61 thru 1975-76. Favorites are 1966-67, ‘71-72, ‘61-62, ‘72-73, ‘67-68.

Any college football or basketball seasons from the ‘60s to early ‘70s. Favorites:
Basketball:  1966-67, 67-68, 71-72, 73-74 … Football: 1967, 1971, 1972, 1968, 1966

I’m sure there are a large number of Boomers who would at least partially agree with me. You mentioned that we, as consumers, need to buy the SOM products, and I concur. As I stated earlier, I have purchased almost everything they have made. I even have the ‘72-73 basketball card game, the ‘77 college football game, the ‘87 and ‘88 college football games, as well as the ‘95 college basketball computer disks. In addition I purchased all of the STRAT FAN teams that you and Ron Brammer collaborated on. If they will make it, I will buy it.

Jeff Lauber, Galt, CA

 

 

THE TALK SHOW

 

Host: Glenn Guzzo

 

 

 

DOUG GLANVILLE, ONE OF US

I loved Doug Glanville’s article. I am proud to say that I Glanville was on my
team for my 1997 face-to-face draft league. Have you met other major leaguer’s who are Strat fans?

Rod Jerred, Stat player since 1967

I thank Doug Glanville for sharing his story of Strat. I was instantly taken back to my "glory days" of Wiffle ball all day, Strat-O-Matic all night. It was weird reading your story – I didn’t know if he was telling me his memories or mine, minus the pro-ballplayer stuff. With the computer game, and being older, I had almost forgotten how important those cards really were. I remember a lot of the ‘84 football cards got mildewed in my friend’s basement. It was a catastrophe of Biblical proportions. Thanks for bringing back some great memories. If there is anyway to get Doug to drop a few paragraphs here and there during the season to let us know what goes on in the life of a Strat-O-Matic big leaguer during the season, that would be very interesting.

Steve Treiber, Canton, OH

            Check elsewhere on Strat-O-Sphere for Doug Glanville’s replies to various gamer questions. You can tell, both from his first article and these replies, that he’s enjoyed the exchange with other Strat players, too.

 

MORE CELEBRITY STRAT TALES

I work in a supermarket in northern New Jersey and have gotten to know Mark Jackson, formerly of the Knicks and some other NBA teams. When I finally got up the nerve, I asked him to autograph his rookie (of the year) Strat card and I gave it to my good friend (and fellow Strat nut) Jeff Smith. Mark is Jeff’s all-time favorite Knick player, and I thought it would be a nice gift. After signing it, Mark asked what it was. After explaining it to him, he told me that it was cool and thanked me. He is always gracious with fans and never have I seen him turn down an autograph request. One of the truly classy guys in sports, and I got to tell him about Strat Basketball.

Andrew Lehman, Cliffside Park, NJ

            As Doug Glanville has told us, most Major League baseball players have at least heard of Strat-O-Matic. Good job, Andrew, spreading the word to an NBA player.

           

BALLPARKS, NOW AND THEN

 

Admittedly, I hadn’t gotten yearly updates to the baseball game for a while, so maybe I missed something. Looking at the ballpark ratings for the New York teams, SOM has Shea Stadium as a much better park for lefty HR hitters and Yankee Stadium as even for both lefty and righty hitters.  I’ve been watching baseball for 30-plus years and last I checked it’s Yankee Stadium with the short right field fence. OK, if the weather’s bad the wind often comes in from LF at Shea, but I would never call Shea a hitter’s paradise for anybody, even in good weather. So has Strat gotten its parks mixed up, or are they basing their numbers on something I’m missing?

P. Stein, Flushing, NY

 

SOM’s Steve Barkan replies:

Those ratings are correct. 

In Shea, in less than ideal weather, it is almost impossible for right-handed batters to hit homers.  The wind comes in from left center and swirls around towards right.  It was very noticeable the last two years, when we had fairly bad summers in New York.

Yankee Stadium sees virtually the same percentage of homers both ways.  In the last few years, the Yanks have had right-handed batters, noticeably Soriano, go the other way (there’s a wind tunnel to right-center) that skews the number, making it basically even for righties and lefties, even though the distances are slightly deeper to left and left center.

 

Having different stadiums (Wrigley Field, Camden Yards) available as game boards this year was a great idea. Any plans on creating them for the rest of the parks or any old-time parks?

Shamus, Chicago

 

Will Strat produce the ballparks for 1911? It would add to the history.

John Trent

 

            Like everything else new, future expansion depends on how popular they become. Hal Richman says that no additions are yet planned to the lineup of seven color ballpark game boards that debuted last year. They are the Polo Grounds, Wrigley Field, Shea Stadium, Camden Yards, Anaheim’s Edison Field, Houston’s Minute Maid Park and Pittsburgh’s PNC Park. They sell for $4 each.

 

 

IN PRAISE OF THE “MANUAL” COMPUTER

 

In the computer version of the baseball game you can input dice readings to get the results of the play.  Is there a way you SOM could add this feature to the computer versions of football and basketball?

Barry Allen, West Palm Beach, FL

 

            The answer to nearly all of the computer wish-list questions is: Yes, it’s physically possible. No, Strat-O-Matic can’t say yet whether a particular request is going to make it into the lineup of improvements. Those decisions are made closer to release dates. But, as always, SOM adds these requests to its list of possible upgrades and evaluates them based on demand volume and programming time.

 

 

 

ONE BAD LEAD DESERVES ANOTHER (CHANCE)

 

I have noticed for several years now the following scenario:

A base runner reaches first, then attempts to obtain a good lead and fails. A relief pitcher comes in. The runner is not even allowed to try again to obtain a good lead, even though the new pitcher may have a poor hold rating (i.e. > +1). Is this something that might be addressed in the future?

Tom, Macedon, NY

 

            That’s the official rule, Tom: One attempt at a lead. But some board-game leagues have decided that if the defense changes the situation, the offense can react – in this case, by getting another attempt at the lead. That does add something to the strategy of whether to bring in a reliever.

 

 

WEARY OF WAITING

 

When do you think the company will address the remaining flaws in the original games? Most of us long-time gamers have invented two-minute clocks, pulling-the-goalie rules, etc. to correct major problems with realism. With the switch to computers, we are stuck with many of the original flaws because we have to play the computer as programmed. In my opinion the priority should be to correct basic flaws before spending assets on encyclopedias, bells, whistles etc. After all, realistic replays with stock teams are the main idea – agree?

Mike, Phoenix

 

            Strat-O-Matic’s games always have been created first as faithful replay games. They were also created with equal fidelity to accuracy/realism and ease of play. Many of Strat-O-Matic’s defunct competitors cared deeply about the former at the expense of the latter. Their attention to detail was remarkable, but playing them gave you a headache managing all the computations, charts and multi-step plays. Almost literally, by the time a gamer finished a series, the game was off the market

Over the years, Strat-O-Matic has expanded its play options significantly, with advanced rules, super-advanced options and with computer-only features. No matter how frequent and dramatic the changes – innovative Strat gamers with a willingness to endure longer, more complex contests have always come up with their own playing tips. Strat-O-Matic has adopted many of their customers’ innovations as official options.

            Expect that progress to continue. But also understand that many of those “bells and whistles” have been as much or more in demand as anything else gamers have come up with.

 

 

ENCYLOPEDIA QUESTIONS

 

I have two questions about the new encyclopedia for version 9.0.

1. I have 13 years of data for a league that started with the first version of the computer, then SOMBB.  I have kept all the roster and stat files but when I create a database for the new version, a couple of the years start to create but then a message saying "no records" but I hit enter key and it continues and creates a database.  After creating the encyclopedia, I search for a player (e.g. Helton) and it shows him but when I click on him, it says no record.  Some players it works for and other it doesn’t.  I don’t understand why it would bring up their name if it didn’t have good data.
2. A couple of my seasons have player replay data but the league says "hasn’t started".  It seems that the line score file isn’t there.  I thought this was the *.lsc file.  Is there another file that also might be missing and if so how can I get around it?

Rick Dean

 

Love your Talk Show, and it is as informative as ever.  I would not miss it.  Congratulations on another great job.

 

I am having a very hard time with Version 9 collating my old baseball database in the new encyclopedia format.  I have no problems with stock leagues, but get many "cannot find player(s)" and "no current record(s)" when I try to merge custom leagues into the database.  All my players come from SOM disks, except fringe players created to fill out older 20-man teams. My old leagues come from as far back as 1990, so there may be some codes I am missing, which SOM failed to mention that I need.

 

Have you had any problems?  Have others had problems?  I have tried the tech support.  I wrote five e-mails and got one response. The response was of absolutely no help and seemed to indicate a lack of knowledge about my issue. Please respond with any ideas you may have.  I do not wish to abandon my 15-year-old totals.  I would probably have to return to Version 8.

Jerry Gryguc, Plainville, CT

 

 

The Version 9.01 patch did clear up many encyclopedia problems. Bob Winberry offers this additional advice: “After installing the patch you should delete all existing encyclopedias and encyclopedia databases and rebuild them.  If you are still experiencing problems, then you’ll need to send your data over to Strat-O-Matic along with a detailed explanation of the problem.  The best way to do this is to use the League/Backup League feature of the program to backup all of your leagues to .lzp file.  If you have just a few seasons you can email them to Strat-O-Matic along with the problem description.  If you have many seasons, burning them on a CD-ROM and mailing them to Strat-O-Matic might work best.”

 

 

 

 

Version 9 with maximum rules, less than two outs with man on third, or second and third, with first base open.  Infield playing back, groundball B to the pitcher. Why does the runner on third get thrown out trying to score?  Old gbB rules said that if no runners are forced, runners hold.  I can understand an occasional rock-head play, but this happens every time.  Is there any way I can force the man to stay at third?

 

           On another note: Sports Illustrated has a story on the new stats baseball GMs are using.  I think they should have given credit to Strat-O-Matic, because we were looking at those stats long before Billy Beane thought of them!

Joe Smith, Phillipston, MA

 

            Even with the infield playing back, the pitcher is considered to be playing in. So the traditional rule applies – the man on third is out on a groundball B with the infield in. As well, a groundball(p)B occurs so infrequently that it might be considered a rare play. Picking the 2003 Phillies at random, this result doesn’t come up on a single pitcher’s card and only on three of the eight cards for the lineup regulars. Those three – Marlon Byrd (3-2 vs. righties), Jimmy Rollins (3-3 vs. righties) and Placido Polanco (1-6 vs. righties) account for less than 1 percent of possible dice rolls on the batter cards of Phillies regulars. When you take only those groundball(p)B results that occur with less than two out and then only with a runner at third or second and third — the frequency is certainly rare enough to consider the outs as bone-head plays, or dashes for the plate on balls hit not straight back at the pitcher, but to his right or left.

 

            Still, gamers who want more control would love to have the option of playing safe. That could be accomplished with a rule similar to the one in place now that gives the offensive coach an option of trying for third base, or staying put, on a groundball to the left side.

 

            The reaction among Strat-O-Matic players to the team-building concepts “divulged” in Moneyball about Billy Beane’s Oakland A’s has been universal: Gee, I’ve always know the value of a walk and built my teams, and my lineups, based on on-base chances. This is a prime example of how playing Strat-O-Matic makes a fan far more aware of player talents, game strategy and the elements of success in professional sports.

 

THE TALK SHOW

 

Host: Glenn Guzzo

 

 

 

SEEING DOUBLE

I was kind of disappointed that Brooks Kieschnick got two separate cards in SOM. This is great for honest board game players, but I see four potential problems with the computer version: 

 

1. In baseball, Kieschnick could be in left field, switch positions with the pitcher to get a tough lefty out, then trot back out to the pasture with the original pitcher returning to the mound. This wouldn’t be possible in SOM.

 

2. Although he gets a solid 8N rating, his batting stats as a "pitcher" will not add to those accumulated as a "batter."

 

3. With 25-man rosters, Kieschnick’s resourcefulness is wasted if one man takes up two spots!

 

4. And, the weirdest one – he can be in two places at once; throwing a pitch, then catching it in left field. This guy is going to get tired!

 

With Kieschnick assuming his dual role again this season and David McCarty toying with the idea in Boston, are there any plans for SOM to introduce an innovation for this type of player?

Nathan White, Fredericton, NB

 

            No. 4 is the tough one when the pair of Kieschnick cards is turned over to HAL, the computer manager. No. 1 has happened so seldom with Kieschnick that we could live without that ability. Relievers come to bat so seldom that No. 2 shouldn’t have much impact. There’s a couple work-arounds for No. 3 – in one, just de-activate tomorrow’s starting pitcher and you’re back to 25 men on the computer roster. The only thing I’ve come up with so far for No. 4 is for the league manager with Kieschnick to be able to use both cards for manual play, but to send only one with his CM. Not ideal, but this is a guy who had only 70 at-bats. Maybe other gamers would like to share what’s working well for them.

 

 

 

 

ONE FOR THE AGES

Is it possible to put the age of the player on his card along with his stats? You don’t know how nice that would be for drafting and trading purposes. Just missing that small detail is all, if you guys added that it would make my day. Thanks and keep up the great Job!

John DeVita Manteca, Ca 

 

            That would be a nice touch, not only for “keeper” leagues, but for Draft-O-Matic to consider future value. And it would assist gamers who like to assemble novelty teams. Birth date, which would take more space on the card and therefore might be unwieldy, would be more precise than age, which would require SOM to pick an arbitrary cutoff date (end of last season? Jan. 1? April 1? July 1?). While your suggestion will get added to SOM’s wish list, a “nice touch” might have a difficult time getting to the top of the list unless it is very easy to implement.

 

 

THE JOYS OF SPRING

This past week I had a lazy vacation and introduced my 9-year-old to Strat about the same age I was. We played the computer game and after one hour the interest faded. The excitement and feel is just not there. When we got home, I found I was missing the cards. I broke them out with some customized charts for stealing and a few other things and started rolling the dice. He came down stairs and started playing a bit. Three hours later I was putting him to bed an hour late. We have played almost every day since.

 

The computer game offers awesome replay ability and league play but nothing compares to looking at cards as you roll the dice and have the excitement of a great hit or the frustration of Jeff Bagwell’s 1994 card making an out versus lefties. The human touch to making it happen is what made it great to play the game. I have not played much the past five or so years but we are setting up a season and I am looking forward to rolling them again.

Tom Hannon, Amesbury, MA

 

            Well said, Tom. The board game is a great way to learn Strat-O-Matic – the cards, the dice chances, the strategy charts and the managing moves. And for us older kids, the board game is a wonderful way to re-connect with our youth, when the board game was the only option. Once that connection is made, the computer game is tough to beat, with its speed, unique features and versatility. Gamers who know both the board and computer games enjoy the best of both worlds.

 

                       

ONCE AROUND THE TRACK

Don’t make fun of me; I’m a huge Strat fan. I think Strat fans know the greatest baseball team of all-time, football team and hockey team, but think about Strat-O-Matic Horse Racing.  A one-time deal: Several different tracks, several great horses, weather conditions and maybe a way to work in odds. Come on, think about it – Smarty Jones against Man-O-War, Seattle Slew, Seabiscuit, Citation, and Secretariat.  Could any of these horses beat the others and win the Triple Crown?  Thanks to Hal we know the great teams, but will we ever know which pony was the greatest?

Oh yea, and golf … Tiger, Hogan, Palmer and Nicklaus teeing it up in the Masters.

Nic "the Phillie" Mattioni 

            Those are fun to think about and probably fun to play, at least once or twice. But the various game companies who have tried their hand at both of these sports have abandoned them pretty quickly. Of course, we believe Strat-O-Matic would do these best, but the SOM audience is a statistics-conscious, strategy-conscious group. Those are the things that make gamers want to keep playing, to complete entire seasons and to play different seasons. Horse racing and golf have their stats, but not many fans can cite them. The strategy for most single-performer sports tends to have much less of the risk-reward elements that capture the fascination in team sports. Your notion of a “one-time deal” probably would be the way to go. A lot of us would buy anything Strat-O-Matic produces, knowing it will be good. And SOM wouldn’t be tied down maintaining a game that might not bring a high percentage of us back for more. Still, the game company knows it would hear demands for updates when the next Smarty Jones or Tiger Woods comes along, or when the newer computers can’t run the old software.

 

 

Would Strat-O-Matic consider revising some of its deluxe past seasons in terms of additional players? In 1961, for example, teams such as the Angels, Senators and A’s went through many roster changes, especially with pitchers. I know that one can obtain additional players at no charge on one of the web sites. Nevertheless, I think that having only 23 or 24 players per roster is unlikely to produce an accurate replay. Congratulations on a great forum.

Paul Dunn

 

            Thanks, Paul. When Strat-O-Matic has updated a previously released season to super-advanced form (e.g. 1965 and 1963), it has added players to the card sets and included all players on the computer. So the question is whether we’ll ever see seasons like 1961 and 1962 ever re-released in super-advanced form. Some of those card sets are lacking players with more than 100 at-bats or more than 60 innings pitched. While SOM traditionally done a careful job of printing the most representative players, and the team stats turn out well, redistributing all those missing AB and IP can throw off the individuals who absorb them to their regular load. That does affect final replay stats. The answer for super-advanced versions depends on demand. When SOM re-released 1975 and 1978 in super-advanced form (the only two that were upgraded from advanced, rather than basic), the gaming public didn’t overwhelm the company with orders. Those were popular seasons, too. The feeling among most gamers seems to be that it’s worth playing a basic-only season over when things like lefty-righty ratings, pitcher endurance and throwing arms are added. But there’s less urgency to take a season with all those things and play it again just to add supplemental stealing, clutch and ballpark effects.

 

 

SCHEDULING HELP

Hi.  I was wondering when SOM was going to add a feature to automatically
create a schedule based on information we give it about our particular
league?

Tom Martens, Rock Island,  IL

 

            Gamers ask for a more capable computer scheduler fairly often. However, Bob Winberry reports, programming an excellent schedule-maker is one of the biggest jobs he could tackle. The logic can be very complicated and, to this day, the big leagues use humans to do the task. Computers help but don’t finish the job. Even for simpler, balanced schedules of eight or ten teams, it can get pretty hairy when trying to dictate a certain number of off days and double-headers – and to have those things done on a staggered schedule so that the same opposing pitchers aren’t matched up against each other all season.

 

 

SOME MISTAKES LIVE FOREVER

What’s up with the 1975 Super Advanced Weather effects having night games for the Cubs? They didn’t start playing under the lights until 1988. Also, Al Hrabosky throwing "righty" in 1975? I Don’t mean to be too critical, as I love your baseball game. I guess I just have very high standards for your product.

Mike Morley

 

            These are previously documented errors, Mike. Many season sets have a few of them. In this case, they are very easy to spot and correct.

 

 

 

 

FIELDS OF DREAMS

Will SOM add the ballparks of 1911-1920 to the ballpark disk to add to the enjoyment and history of the game?

Robert J. Trent

            Bob Winberry says there are no plans for that. However, there are free downloads of stadium images from some Internet sites.

 

WILD THROWS

The computer game provides the option of outfielders making an error on a throw to a base.  Since errors also occur on "FLY-X" plays, doesn’t this mean that the overall total of outfielder errors is going to increase?  Or does the computer game somehow compensate by not letting as many errors occur on "FLY-X" plays?  I’ve avoided using this option because I didn’t want errors to get out of hand.

 

P. Sean Bramble, Fukuoka, Japan

 

            The super-advanced error ratings, and the Super-Advanced Fielding Chart, which are in the computer game, take into account the wild-throw potential. Using that feature should improve your accuracy, not distort it.

 

 

WORLD CUP BASEBALL

I know there is a good chance there will be a Baseball World Cup hopefully next year.  Are there any talks of making a season of cards or a computer game following the tournament?

Frank Giles

 

            No. Except in very rare circumstances (the 1980 U.S. Olympics hockey team, for instance), the excitement for these events doesn’t last long once they are over. And the statistical achievements are based on too few games to be represented well. Gamers who crave these sets tend to put their own together. For instance, Rene Silva in Miami has put together rosters of baseball players to emulate the Caribbean World Series. Several hockey fans have assembled World Cup rosters for Canada, the U.S., Russia, Sweden, Finland and Czechoslovakia.

 

 

OLDIES BUT GOODIES

I am just getting back into SOM (particularly baseball) after years of "altered focus."  I really am getting a kick of reading old STRAT FAN issues I have picked up over E-Bay.  I must say again that they are terrific!  I just read the April 1992 issue featuring Dan Patrick, Gary Miller, and Jon Miller and their love for SOM. Even though it is 12 years later, those were (are) great articles!  Jon Miller’s article was tremendous as I laughed out loud several times, especially at the reference to his mother’s comments.  I am having a great time playing the 1963 original cards with my favorite team of all time, the 1963 Yankees.  I am dying to get started on the original 1964, 1965 and 1962 seasons.  And I want to learn about the hockey and basketball games, too.  I noticed that you still sell back issues of your annual replay guides which sound very intriguing.  For a Stuck-in-the-60’s basic game "replayer" who manages teams "my way" do you think these guides would still be of value to someone like myself?

Charlie Lord

 

            Warning: Shameless plug ahead. Disclosure: Charlie is no relation. The Baseball Replay Guides I have been creating for almost 20 years are intended to be ideal for replayers, whether you replay one team or an entire league. They contain the exact as-played schedule and actual starting pitchers for each game. They contain comprehensive roster moves for each team. And unique, team-by-team lineup guides that distribute at-bats realistically. These features work together or separately, so no matter how sophisticated your league is, the Replay Guides apply. Many who use them say they love being able to do “guilt-free” replays because the Guides can dictate when star players – yours or your opponent’s – have to sit and which subs will play. Going against the actual starting pitchers also helps the standings and the individual stats come out right.

            All of the ‘60s seasons are available. The complete list: 1911, 1920, 1927, 1930, 1934, 1941, 1950, 1953-56, 1959-70, 1978, 1985-99, 2001, 2002. I’m hoping to have 1948, 1984 and 2003 available in January. Cost: $15 per season, two for $28, three for $39. Check or money order (U.S. funds) to: Glenn Guzzo, 1608 Inkberry Lane, Jacksonville, FL 32259.

 

 

 

CHEER OF THE MONTH

 

Hi, SOM Players,

 

         I just bought the 2003 season last month. The last time I played the game was in 1988 with the ’87 teams – some classic players. I can remember the team to beat was Oakland. What a powerhouse team – they had it all. I went in the basement of my parent’s house and found the game still in the box. I played ’87 Oakland against the ’03 Yanks. Final score: Oakland 8, New York 1. What a powerhouse. Nothing beats being on the deck with some Phillies baseball on the radio and SOM on the table. Thanks a million.

Joe. D. 

 

(editor’s note: We’re pretty sure this did not come from Joe DiMaggio)

 

 

CORRECTION

Alert gamers Chris Palermo of Oakdale, NY and John McGuire of Edwardsville, IL correct us on an answer we supplied in the April Talk Show:

 

           Tom, from Macedon, NY, asked why the game wouldn’t allow a base runner to attempt another lead, if the first attempt failed, and the defense brought in a reliever with a worse hold rating. Here is the text from the Strat-O-Matic rulebook, which also can be found in the file boardgame.txt in the CDROMBB folder:

The baserunner may make only one attempt for a good lead while he occupies the same base, unless

           1.  If a runner being held on base attempts and fails to achieve a good lead, he may try for the good lead once more if the defensive manager later decides to cease holding the runner on base.

            2.  If the defensive manager changes to a pitcher with a worse hold rating or a catcher with a worse arm, a runner who has previously attempted and failed to achieve a good lead may try for the good lead once more.

 

Just to be sure, I tried some situations with the computer game and it adhered to this rule. Players who had failed to get a lead against the first pitcher were permitted to try again when a reliever entered.