For the first time, the Major League season that made Strat-O-Matic successful in creator Hal Richman’s make-or-break year is available with Super Advanced features. In SOM’s third year, this was the first to offer all the teams and the first to be profitable. Now, gamers can relive one of the most dramatic seasons in baseball history with all the features that the game company has added in the 57 years since.

Back in 1963, gamers could not wait to relive the year of the Giants’ first pennant in San Francisco following a thrilling three-game playoff with the Dodgers, and ending with the seven-game World Series and a tension-packed 1-0 finale that made the Yankees repeat World Champions. Or even to see if the expansion, 120-loss New York Mets could do any better on the tabletop.

This was the year that Dodger Maury Wills set a record with 104 stolen bases, teammate Tommy Davis led the NL by batting .346 and driving in 153 runs, Dodger Don Drysdale led the NL with 25 wins and 232 strikeouts and Sandy Koufax led with a 2.54 ERA while striking out 216.

Yet that and 101 regular-season wins was not enough to topple the powerful Giants with Willie Mays (.304-49-141), Orlando Cepeda (.306-35-114), Felipe Alou (.316-25-98), Willie McCovey (.293-20-54 in 220 AB) and a big-four pitching rotation of Jack Sanford (24-7), Billy O’Dell (19-11), Juan Marichal (18-11) and Billy Pierce (16-6).

In the AL, New York won 96 games, five better than Minnesota and ahead of 209-homer Detroit. AL MVP Mickey Mantle (.321-30-89, 122 walks), Roger Maris (33 HR, 100 RBI), Rookie of the Year shortstop Tom Tresh (.286-20-93), catcher Elston Howard (.279-21-91) and Bill Skowron (.270-23-80) formed a modern-day Murderers Row supporting top pitchers Ralph Terry (23-12 and the complete-game winner of the 1-0 World Series Game 7), Whitey Ford (17-8) and Bill Stafford (14-9).

This was also the finest hitting performance by Hall of Fame outfielder Frank Robinson (.342-39-136, 51 doubles, .624 slugging) for 98-win Cincinnati, which had a pair of 20-game winners in Bob Purkey (23-5) and Joey Jay (21-14). Future Hall of Famers Hank Aaron (.323-45-128), Ernie Banks (.289-37, 104), Roberto Clemente (.312), Harmon Killebrew (49 HR, 126 RBI), Al Kaline (.304-29-94), Brooks Robinson (.303-23-88), Jim Bunning (19 wins) and Warren Spahn (18 wins) also starred.

27 cards per team … Two-sided cards for basic, advanced and super-advanced play