Two New Sets Announced for 2017 (1949 and Baseball Heroes II)

Two Sweet: A Baseball Heroes II Set and the 1949 Major League Season on Their Way
 
By Glenn Guzzo
         Maybe you’ll be dieting after Christmas, but you can gorge yourself without guilt in February, when Strat-O-Matic releases not one, but two original baseball sets in both card and computer-roster format.
 
            Gamers will feast on SOM’s recreation of the historic 1949 Major Leagues – the Boys of Summer season with two dramatic pennant races and battling title competitions, and Jackie Robinson’s finest season. And gamers who have been licking their chops for a second Baseball Heroes set since the first one was released six years ago will be served 117 more helpings of diamond stars.                 
 
 
They Might Be Giants (or Braves, Yankees, Sox, or …)
117 Stars – Some Future Hall of Famers – In New Baseball Heroes II Set
 
            After Strat-O-Matic’s first Baseball Heroes set sold out rapidly, a sequel was inevitable.
 
            Like the first Heroes set, this one has 117 players in card form and on computer rosters, balanced by position to form four strong teams. The players, including some future Hall of Famers, are rated on their seven best seasons. Gamers told Strat-O-Matic they were thrilled to play the Heroes separately or to combine them with similarly designed specialty sets, such as the Negro League All-Stars and the Hall of Fame players.
 
            The Heroes II stars span a century of Major League baseball, from shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh, whose first big year was in 1916, to the 2016 retirees David Ortiz, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez.
 
            There’s a cast of strong Hall of Fame candidates (Derek Jeter, Chipper Jones, Vladimir Guerrero, Ivan Rodriguez, Jim Thome, Mariano Rivera, Trevor Hoffman) and controversial ones (A-Rod, Manny Ramirez).
 
            Other recent superstars include Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, Todd Helton, Scott Rolen, Gary Sheffield and Jorge Posada.
 
            Like those above, almost half of the players in the set starred in the 1990s and later. But there are 14 who played before 1950, and 24 from the 1950s and ‘60s. For every Charlie Keller and Indian Bob Johnson there is a Johnny Callison and Rocky Colavito; for every Bucky Walters and Harry Brecheen, a Dean Chance and Camilo Pascual; for every Stan Hack, a Rico Petrocelli; for every Firpo Marberry, a Ron Perranoski.
 
            Heroes II resurrects the memories of fire-balling pitchers such as Sam McDowell, Jim Maloney and Billy Wagner, and finesse artists such as Cliff Lee, Johnny Antonelli and Stu Miller.
 
              They are the instant legends (Fred Lynn, Fernando Valenzuela), the later bloomers (Jim Edmonds, Rick Reuschel) and the consistently good and underrated (Jose Cruz, Dave Stieb). They are huge fan favorites (Kirk Gibson, Torri Hunter) and the sometimes-bad boys (Jason Giambi, Darryl Strawberry). They are sluggers (Jack Clark, Carlos Delgado), slick glove men (Andruw Jones, Omar Vizquel) and many who were both (Dolph Camilli, Miguel Tejada).
 
            The full list is here. Read it and cheer.
  
1949: The Boys of Summer Available This Winter
  
            Author Roger Kahn told us about the Boys-of-Summer Dodgers of 1949. Strat-O-Matic will tell you the story in its way, bringing all 16 teams to life.
 
            You’ll experience it with a pair of pennant races decided on the final day.
 
            In the National League, the Dodgers and Cardinals were at it again, for the fourth straight year. In the end, Jackie Robinson’s finest season (.342-16-124 with Major League-leading 37 SB with 122 runs, 66 extra-base hits and .528 slugging) proved worthy of a pennant and MVP honors over Stan Musial (.338-36-123 with 128 runs, 90 extra-base hits and .624 slugging) and his Cardinals teammate Enos Slaughter (The Sporting News’ Player of the Year who hit .336-13-96 with 60 extra-base hits).  The Dodgers had Rookie of the Year pitcher Don Newcombe (17-8, 3.17) and the Cardinals had Howie Pollett (20-9, 2.77).    
        
            The Phillies, with youngsters Robin Roberts, Richie Ashburn, Del Ennis, Granny Hamner and Willie Jones, were an inspiring third. Warren Spahn, who led the league in wins (21), complete games (25) and strikeouts (161), highlighted the fourth-place Braves. The fifth-place Giants had Bobby Thomson (.309-27-109) and ERA leader Dave Koslo (2.50). On the sixth-place Pirates, Ralph Kiner bashed a career-best 54 home runs while winning his fourth (of seven) straight home run titles, while also hitting .310 and leading the NL with 127 RBIs and .658 slugging.
 
            The American League was every bit as exciting and dramatic.
 
            Casey Stengel’s first season as manager of the New York Yankees was the first of the Bronx Bomber’ record five straight World Series champions, but it took wins on the final two days against Boston in Yankee Stadium to overtake the Red Sox by a single game.
 
            It wasn’t the only near miss for Boston. MVP Ted Williams (.343-43-159 with .650 slugging and 162 walks) missed a Triple Crown by losing the batting title by less than a single point to Detroit’s George Kell. The Red Sox also had the league’s top two winning pitchers, Mel Parnell (25, with the league-best 2.77 ERA) and Ellis Kinder (23).
 
            It might have been a three-way race for the batting title if the Yankees’ Joe DiMaggio (.346-14-67) had not missed the first half of the season with a foot injury.
 
            With Bob Lemon’s 22 wins and Dale Mitchell’s 23 triples, third-place Cleveland finished only eight games behind New York. Fourth-place Detroit had Kell (.343), promising rookie Johnny Groth (.293) and four starting pitchers with at least 15 wins, led by AL strikeout leader Virgil Trucks (19-11, 2.81) and future Hall of Famer Hal Newhouser (18-11). The fifth-place A’s had 20-game winner Alex Kellner. The sixth-place White Sox’ batting leader was 42-year-old shortstop Luke “Old Aches and Pains” Appling (.301). The seventh-place Browns had the league leader in stolen bases, 3B Bob Dillinger (20), who hit .324.
 
            The ’49 season also made household names of many impressive youngsters – none older than 22: Robin Roberts (15 wins), Duke Snider (.292-23-92), Whitey Lockman (.301), Richie Ashburn (.284), catcher Del Crandall (.263 and great defense), AL Rookie of the Year Roy Sievers (.306-16-91), Nellie Fox (.255 with strong defense) and Eddie Yost (91 walks). Twenty-three-year-old NL Rookie of the Year Don Newcombe led the Dodgers with 17 wins and 24-year-old Yogi Berra hit .277-20-91 despite missing a month with injury.
 
 
 
 
Heroes II Roster
 
 
 
 
 
 
CATCHERS
CENTER FIELD
STARTING PITCHERS
 
Ed Bailey
Brett Butler
John Antonelli
 
Walker Cooper
Johnny Damon
Kevin Appier
 
Jason Kendall
Willie Davis
Harry Brecheen
 
Darrell Porter
Jim Edmonds
Dean Chance
 
Jorge Posada
Torii Hunter
Chuck Finley
 
Ivan Rodriguez
Andruw Jones
Bob Friend
 
Manny Sanguillen
Chet Lemon
Roy Halladay
 
Jim Sundberg
Fred Lynn
Tim Hudson
 
Gene Tenace
Reggie Smith
Larry Jackson
 
 
 
Cliff Lee
 
FIRST BASE
LEFT FIELD
Mark Langston
 
Dolph Camilli
Moises Alou
Jim Maloney
 
Carlos Delgado
Brady Anderson
Jon Matlack
 
Jason Giambi
Lance Berkman
Sam McDowell
 
Todd Helton
Jose Cruz
Andy Messersmith
 
John Olerud
Luis Gonzalez
Jamie Moyer
 
David Ortiz
Bob Johnson
Bobo Newsom
 
Mark Teixeira
Charlie Keller
Roy Oswalt
 
Jim Thome
Manny Ramirez
Camilo Pascual
 
 
 
Andy Pettitte
 
SECOND BASE
RIGHT FIELD
Brad Radke
 
Max Bishop
Bobby Abreu
Rick Reuschel
 
Ray Durham
Johnny Callison
Jose Rijo
 
Chuck Knoblauch
Jack Clark
Kenny Rogers
 
Davey Lopes
Rocky Colavito
Steve Rogers
 
Gil McDougald
Kirk Gibson
Bret Saberhagen
 
Buddy Myer
Brian Giles
Johan Santana
 
Tony Phillips
Pedro Guerrero
Dave Stieb
 
Placido Polanco
Vladimir Guererro
Mel Stottlemyre
 
 
Gary Sheffield
Frank Tanana
 
THIRD BASE
Darryl Strawberry
Dizzy Trout
 
Sal Bando
 
Fernando Valenzuela
 
Ron Cey
 
Frank Viola
 
Darrell Evans
 
Bucky Walters
 
Stan Hack
 
Wilbur Wood
 
Chipper Jones
 
Carlos Zambrano
 
Bob Elliott
 
 
 
Scott Rolen
 
RELIEF PITCHERS
 
Robin Ventura
 
Turk Farrell
 
Matt Williams
 
Keith Foulke
 
 
 
John Hiller
 
SHORTSTOP
 
Trevor Hoffman
 
Bert Campaneris
 
Firpo Marberry
 
Rafael Furcal
 
Stu Miller
 
Nomar Garciaparra
 
Jeff Montgomery
 
Derek Jeter
 
Ron Perranoski
 
Roger Peckinpaugh
 
Dave Righetti
 
Rico Petrocelli
 
Mariano Rivera
 
Alex Rodriguez
 
Billy Wagner
 
Miguel Tejada
 
 
 
Omar Vizquel