THE TALK SHOW

Host: Glenn Guzzo

 

Reminder: Send us your “Great Moments in Strat” – your playing experiences that you just have to share.

New Web Site Could Make Corrections Easy to Find

      The new Strat web site looks fantastic and is very functional. One of the new features that I’d like to see the new site have is a card-correction repository for each sport. Right now, you may easily miss corrections to certain sets or disks unless you are actively looking for them. Having one organized to check for card updates, etc. would be great. Can you pass on the idea to Hal and the guys? Thanks.

Chris Scheel, Tucson, AZ

      Consider this passed along. This is the sort of improvement that both SOM and its gamer community can collaborate on at a more interactive, dynamic Web site.

Another Way to Play Online

      Are there any plans to offer other than a 12-team league for the online version? Also, have you heard about any plans where you could have a season play longer? We have had a 16-team league for over 20 years, and would really like to switch to the online league, but those are two major drawbacks.

David C. Coleman, Victorville

      David, this question probably is best asked of the folks at The Sporting News Online, which runs the Strat-O-Matic seasons online. But suggesting it to SOM can’t hurt. Making the online games compatible with existing leagues sounds like a smart way to expand the popularity of the product.

 

Nostalgia and the Hall of Fame

      This a long-shot idea, but I wish SOM would do the second Hall of Fame and the Negro Hall of Fame using the original card set up.

Gerry Deshong, Garden City, MI

     

      The original Hall of Fame sets – two sides of basic cards, one side with the player’s best season and the other with his career stats – still earn a lot of affection after all these years. But this one falls in the category of other things we’ve discussed here – It’s very unusual for any company to go backwards technologically. Since Strat-O-Matic introduced lefty-righty factors and other Advanced/Super-Advanced features, the newer products always have had the latest advancements.

 

Once is Not Enough

      How can you determine if a starter who made only 1 or 2 relief appearances will get rated for relief? Examples would be Joba Chamberlain 32 games 31 starts and Bud Norris 11 games 10 starts. They both made only 1 relief appearance but wouldn’t Norris appear more likely to get rated in relief?

Eric C. Vieweg

      It takes two relief appearances for a carded starter to be rated for relief.

Baseball’s Split Ratings

      My son, Matthew, is a big White Sox fan.  We were looking at the fielding ratings preview for the White Sox and he asked me why some of the players had two fielding ratings listed for the same position. Could you please explain or ask Hal why sometimes a player’s rating increases or decreases when going from the advanced defensive rating to the basic defensive rating?  Thanks.

Tim & Matthew Jung, Tinley Park, IL

      When a player’s fielding percentage dictates an error rating much higher than his range rating would produce in the basic game, then his basic grade goes up – for instance, a 2(B3). The reverse is true: An error rating much better than his range rating means his basic grade improves – for instance, a 3(B2).

Love at First Sight

      Just finished my first computer hockey game – it’s amazing, Caps downed Ducks 6-5 in a shootout. Ducks tied game in the 3rd with under 3 minutes, Caps nearly won in OT, then did win in a five-round shootout when Backstrom scored! A great game captures the drama and flow of a close hockey game very well. My kudos to Strat for another triumph!

Steve Walker

            He plays, he scores! Strat-O-Matic’s fanatical hockey-fan base grows! Strat-O-Matic Baseball is more popular, football is unequalled for head-to-head strategy and basketball has no peer for combining flow and complexity. But Strat-O-Matic hockey earns as loyal a fan base as any game anywhere. As we can see from your experience, it doesn’t take long to have that effect.