GREAT MOMENTS IN STRAT

Have you experienced a game of Strat-O-Matic so thrilling, unique or bizarre that you just HAVE to share it with someone? That would be us. Send you Great Moments in Strat to SOMTalkShow@aol.com. Please include your name and hometown. Readers like to see that and you deserve the credit.

All Stars, No Hits

Being a veteran of 40 years and just getting my first no-hitter a few months ago was a very exciting time for me. When the feat happened again in, of all places, an All-Star Game, that was very rare. In my 1958 All-Star game, Billy Pierce threw the first 3 innings for the American League, followed by Frank Lary, Billy O’Dell Don Larsen (yes, the one who threw the perfect game in the 1956 World Series), Jerry Harshman and Bobby Shantz. The American League won, 3-0. The National League had such stars as Willie Mays, Ernie Banks, Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Frank Robinson (all Hall of Famers). NL pitchers Lew Burdette, Warren Spahn, Johnny Antonelli and Bill Henry held the American League stars like Mickey Mantle, Rocky Colavito, Ted Williams, Yogi Berra, Luis Aparicio, Larry Doby and Roger Maris to 3 runs and 7 hits.

The funny thing is, I was trying to get as many players as possible in the game and was not paying attention. Then, with two outs in the ninth inning I realized – wait a minute, I am one out from a no-hitter! Dick Groat came on as a pinch hitter to see if he could spoil the magic. He hit a ground ball to short, Aparicio to Vic Power for the out. Ladies and Gentlemen, a combined no-hitter by six pitchers! I don’t think the majors ever had a no-hitter in an All-Star game. This was the most amazing game I have played in 40 years.

Orlando E. Leon, Polk City, FL

As Great As the Browns Can Be

Like most years since their return, it was a wretched 2006 for the Cleveland Browns. The horror began on the first play of training camp when highly-prized free agent Charles Bentley suffered what appears to be a two-season ending knee injury. The injuries kept piling up, and so did the losses. But the low point came Nov. 27 when veteran sportscaster Casey Coleman lost a year-long battle with pancreatic cancer. His dad, Ken Coleman, had broadcast the Browns’ championship game back in 1964, but Casey’s lengthy Cleveland tenure saw no banners raised.

It rankled me to Greenland that Casey’s last memory of his beloved Browns was a 30-0 disembowelment by the sword of division rival Cincinnati the day before. He deserved better. We all did. So much so that Sir Robert Skelly and I decided to do something about it. Through the miracle of Strat-O-Matic, we put together the Casey Coleman Memorial League, where “Golden Era” Browns were designed to emulate Mike Sherman’s historic march through the Atlanta Falcons.

Not only were the Browns built for success, they were going to do it with one of the most tragic figures in Cleveland Browns history, the Hamlet of Berea, Tim Couch himself, at the helm. Couch is considered a bust. It’s little remembered that he had a promising rookie campaign that fizzled when his ramshackle offensive line left him battered like a fresh-caught cod. Injuries, not talent, led to Tim’s demise. He deserved better, and by golly he was going to get it!

“It” was the best of the Browns’ SOM old-timer teams. Jim Brown was the primary running back, with Leroy Kelly and Ernie Green as backups. The receiving corps featured Paul Warfield and Gary Collins at wideout and Ozzie Newsome and Johnny Brewer at tight end. The starting line had Gene Hickerson and John Wooten at guard, John Brown and Dick Schafrath at tackle and John Morrow at center.

The defense was almost as intimidating. Excellent run and pass defense cards were mixed and maxed to ensure domination, and what a cast of characters manned the positions! The defensive line, from left to right: Paul Wiggin, Don Colo, Bob Gain and Bill Glass. Linebackers were Jim Houston, Vince Costello and Galen Fiss. The defensive backfield included Bernie Parrish, Walter Beach and Larry Benz with Ross Fichtner and Erich Barnes splitting time as the remaining starter. Lou “The Toe” Groza did the kicking, Collins handled the punting and Kelly and Walter “The Flea” Roberts handled return duties. All were exemplary.

These Browns finished 14-2, outscoring the opposition 483-193, and hopefully bringing some joy above to Mr. Coleman, who bummed many a cigarette from me back in the ‘80s at old Municipal Stadium. And yes, we proved beyond all doubt that Tim Couch, if surrounded by the proper cast, could indeed be another Ben Roethlisberger! Couch compiled a quarterback rating of 85.5, including 22 TD passes against 10 interceptions. Best of all, he was sacked only 11 times! (How different would history have been if this were the case in the real world?)

Of course, it was hard for defenses to worry about Couch when No. 32 was running the ball 419 times for 2,539 yards (a 6.1 average) and 32 TDs! Green and Kelly were both effective in limited relief and third-down roles, while Kelly really distinguished himself by returning three punts for touchdowns and achieving a kick return-like average of 22.5 yards per punt return! HOF tight end Newsome caught 79 passes for an 11.1 average, including TDs in 11 straight games. Collins added 46 catches for a fine 23.2 average, surpassing 1,000 yards. (He had to punt only 41 times all season.)

The schedule was sort of funky – opponents included the six newly acquired 1991 old-timer teams, the 2005 Bengals and Super Bowl champ Steelers and eight other 2005 teams. On Opening Day the Browns overwhelmed the Vikings, 62-10. Brown ran for 315 yards, including TD scampers of 53, 35, 38 and 35 among his five scores. In 43 years of playing Strat-O-Matic, I never rolled the dice better.

Cleveland finished on an 11-game win streak. They were only 3-2 after falling 24-17 to the ‘05 Redskins (Skelly and I each finished 7-1 sharing head coaching duties). Our other loss was the most bitter, a 16-3 loss to the hated Steelers. You can't win them all, but … 14-2 is close! And after following the real-life Browns for so long and so futilely, these Browns at least represented fun. … Way to go Casey!

Mike Hudak, North Canton, OH

The Season’s Best Game May Have Been the First

My first game of 2007 had the 1973 A’s at the 1977 Reds. (Basic cards-and-dice league) The A’s chose Ken Holtzman to go against Tom Seaver of the Reds.

Bill North led off the game with a walk and the Reds chose to hold the AA stealer. Campaneris followed with a GB-A ++ which resulted in a single with North advancing to third. Bando rolled a pitcher’s X and the 20 sided die rolled an 11 for an error. The A’s take a 1-0 lead. Seaver K’d Jackson and easily retired Tenace and Rudi, and didn’t allow another hit all game.

But the one tainted run was enough for Holtzman. He struck out four of the first six Reds, had a perfect game for 5 1/3 innings and had faced only 27 men through 8 2/3 innings. Dave Concepcion broke up Holtzman’s no-hitter on a Single 1-12 roll. Ken Griffey’s clean single in the seventh inning was the only other hit Holtzman allowed.

Still, Seaver’s stellar pitching allowed the Reds to mount some drama in the bottom of the ninth-inning drama against Holtzman. Holtzman retired Concepcion and pinch-hitter Ray Knight for 2 quick outs, but Pete Rose and Griffey walked, putting the potential tying and winning runs on. Joe Morgan is up and 52-HR George Foster is on deck. But Holtzman got Morgan to ground out to the pitcher and the A’s win a 1-0 game that featured only three hits.

A’s 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 1 0

Reds 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 2 3

WP Holtzman (1-0)

LP Seaver (0-1)

Maddux Improves with Age

Due to the ice here I was home from work. To get my three sons away from video games, I suggested we play some Strat baseball. We have a 3-team, 20-game league we have been slowly playing since last spring. Each of us chose two teams from 2005 – one NL, one AL. Their combined record must be .500 (or close to it). My oldest son took the Cubs and Rangers, my middle son the Marlins and Blue Jays, me the Nationals and Devil
Rays. My 4-year old rolls the dice and watches.

Today ended up being special. The Cubs/Rangers pitched Greg Maddux against the Marlins/Jays. Maddux retired the first 12 batters, walked Carlos Delgado in the 5th (who was quickly erased by a double play) and then retired the side in order in the 6th. After 6 innings, he had faced the minimum 18 batters and we all started getting excited.

In the 7th, Michael Young threw the ball away for a 2-base error, but Maddux still had his no-hitter. He retired the side in order in the 8th, then got the first two outs in the 9th. Juan Pierre was up and Got a SI 1-2 LO(2b) 3-20. As my son rolled the split dice, my palms started to sweat. I hadn’t had a no-hitter since Dave Hamilton did it in 1975. Since then, three potential no-hitters had been broken up with 2-out in the 9th. The split die rolled, paused, swayed, and stopped ... on a 5! No-hitter for Maddux! My first in 32 years! It was vintage Maddux, doing the job with only 4 Ks, facing only 28 batters.

Here's the line-up he no-hit: Pierre (CF), Luis Castillo (2B), Miguel Cabrera (LF), Delgado (1B), Shea Hillenbrand (3B), Reed Johnson (RF), Gregg Zaun (C) -
(injured and replaced by Paul LoDuca), Russ Adams (SS), AJ Burnett (P). Not great, but not easy, either! It was a thrill the ice storm of Valentine's Day ‘07 made possible! Strat-O-Matic is great, you never know when it might create a nice memory.

Steve Walker, Ellicott City, MD

Good Things Come in Threes

     The Gentlemen’s Base Ball League has produced another first in our twenty-third season: 2006 Ryan Howard hit three home runs in a game in two consecutive games, as he marches toward the Rookie of the Year prize. Through 39 games his 14 homers pace the circuit. Coupled with 2004 Barry Bonds’ three-homer, two-grand-slam, 10-RBI explosion, Howard’s unique feat has gotten us off to another great season.

Rick Zaborsky, Dublin, OH

The Chapman Problem

The toughest thing I’ve ever had to do in all my Strat-O-Matic playing days is try to figure out how to kill someone.

Engrossed in a 56-game short-season 1920 schedule, I reached the time when the Cleveland Indians arrived for a series against the Yankees at the Polo Grounds.  This is when Ray Chapman was supposed to die.

In order to be true to the 1920 season, I had to make Chapman “disappear.”  He died overnight in a New York hospital after being beaned by a Carl Mays fastball.  I could either play it and fake the moment (or morbidly hope that it really did happen), or I could just substitute the real 1920 game.  I decided to play it and see what would happen. 

In the real game, Chapman was hit leading off the fifth inning, with the score 3-0 Cleveland. I used the as-played lineups and Cleveland scored two runs in the first inning, with Chapman driving in the first run and scoring the second. 

After striking out in the second inning, Chapman hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth. 3-0. Hm-m-m-m-m-m-m...the score is right...

But Chapman was not destined to bat in my fifth inning.  He was doomed (?) to lead off the seventh.

In 1920, Mays had received the sign from catcher Muddy Ruel to throw a fastball.  According to the description in Mike Sowell’s excellent book, The Pitch That Killed, Mays thought he detected a shift in Chapman’s rear foot. Chapman, regarded the best bunter in the league, also had a tendency to lean out over the plate in his stance.  Mays reportedly decided to come up and in, a difficult pitch to bunt.

Ruel said later that, from his vantage point, the pitch was headed for the strike zone.  From Sowell’s description:

“The ball sailed directly toward Chapman's head, but he made no effort to move.  He remained poised in his crouch, apparently transfixed as the ball flew in and crashed against his left temple with a resounding crack that was audible throughout the ballpark.”

The ball bounded toward Mays.  He picked it up, thinking it had come off the bat, and tossed it to first base for the out.  According to Sowell’s description, Wally Pipp had taken the throw and was prepared to toss it around the infield when he saw Chapman on the ground, and raced toward him.  When Mays saw Pipp turn and run, he also turned and saw Chapman.  Reportedly, Mays started to argue that the ball had hit the knob of the bat and that Chapman was out.  While most of the players raced to the plate, Mays stayed near the mound. 

Ray Chapman died at 4:40 a.m., baseball’s first on-field death. Manager Tris Speaker, who considered Chapman one of his closest friends, spent weeks mourning, in severe depression.  Some days, he couldn’t find the strength to play.  The early years are so fascinating, in large part because players were like family.  That highlights how unique a loner like Mays was, a man who barely suffered even his own teammates.

In reality, Cleveland held on to win, 4-3.  In my game, they finished a 7-0 whitewash of Mays and the Yankees.  In both instances, Mays left after eight innings for pinch hitter Sammy Vick.

I highly recommend reading the many baseball histories available, for an opportunity to more-fully realize just how great the Strat-O-Matic Baseball experience can be.  If you thought you had the play-by-play working in your head before...

Jeff Woodhouse, Seattle

What follows is a severely truncated version of Woodhouse’s writeup of the Tribe-Yankees series finale. Woodhouse completed the four-game series by postponing game two at the Polo Grounds. The shattered Tribe dropped game three in listless fashion, 3-1. Cleveland seemed to fall apart completely in game four. Seemed to …

Down 11-1 after seven innings, still reeling from the loss of shortstop Ray Chapman and the sudden departure of Tris Speaker, the devastated Indians fought back with four runs in the eighth inning and another eight tallies in the top of the ninth to upend the hometown Yankees, 13-11. It seemed an act of divine intervention.

The Yankees scored two runs in the first, added a pair in the third and doubled their lead in the fourth against Tribe hurler Slim Caldwell, while the Tribe was hitless. New York led 10-0 after six innings with two more runs against reliever Duster Mails.

Through seven innings, Yankees starter Ray Collins had allowed just one run on four hits and a pair of walks. In the eighth Cleveland bounced back with four runs. LF Duffy Lewis, long among the best in the game, misread a fly ball that went for a hit and an error that allowed Jack Graney to circle the bases, picking up Charlie Jamieson and Bill Wambsganss, who had each singled. Then Elmer Smith doubled and Doc Johnston singled him home.

Seldom-used Tony Faeth retired the Yankees in the bottom of the eighth without incident.

In the ninth, Cleveland pinch-hitter Joe Evans singled, Jamieson walked and Wamby lined a single to center field for one run. New York still led, 11-6, and Yankee reliever Hank Thormalen fanned Graney. But another base hit by Smith, plating Jamieson, started a fall of dominoes. Larry Gardner also singled, scoring Wamby, and Johnston singled to make the score 11-9.

Steve O’Neill greeted reliever Jack Quinn with a smash over weak-fielding CF Ping Bodie for a two-run triple. The Yankee lead was gone. And who better to step to the plate than Ray Chapman’s replacement, Harry Lunte.

Lunte ripped a Quinn fastball up the middle for a base hit and the go-ahead run, bringing Evans to the plate for his second pinch-hitting appearance of the inning. Again, he came through with a base hit, and Lunte then scored the final run on Jamieson’s fly ball to left.

Tribe ace Stan Coveleski finished the game in easy fashion, retiring three straight Yankees, completing his 10th shutout inning of the series. The winning pitcher, though spelled differently, was Tony ... Faeth (don’t ruin the moment by wondering how it’s pronounced. Just go with it). Divine intervention, indeed.

A College Football Classic – The Hard Way

I recently had a Big Ten thriller. Michigan State led 20-6 with 6:43 to play, but Wisconsin came storming back. Brian Calhoun’s 56-yard run with just under four minutes to play made the score 20-13, and Michigan State fumbled at midfield while attempting to run out the clock. Five plays later, Wisconsin had tied the score at 20-20 with one minute to go.

Michigan State drove and the Spartan kicker, just 2 of 4 on the day, nailed a 48-yard field goal by rolling a 2 on a “2, 12 good; 3-11 no good” field goal opportunity. BUT WAIT! Illegal Formation on the Spartans, penalty accepted, no field goal, headed to overtime!

In overtime, the teams missed a combined THREE field goals before Wisconsin scored on their possession of the 3rd OT to cap an impressive comeback win, 33-27.

The story of the game was the ineptitude of the special teams. Michigan State was 2-of-6 on field goals and Wisconsin was 2-of-5. Michigan State averaged only 18.8 yards per kickoff return, while Wisconsin averaged an appalling 7.8 yards.

The offenses were on fire, though, combining for 1,020 yards (MSU-522, Wisc-498). Wisconsin ran for 251 yards and Michigan State had a solid 194 yards rushing. Although I have no ties to either university, the game had me hooked. It even featured backup QB Tyler Donovan (who had thrown a grand total of 3 passes in his career) coming in for Wisconsin after an injury to John Stocco and going 19-of-34 for 199 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs and rushing for 63 yards on 6 carries. Not to mention he led the Badgers back from down 14 points with 6 minutes to play in regulation. Oh, and his two touchdown passes? The first one came down 20-13 with 1:07 to play in regulation; the second in the first OT trailing 27-20. Can you say clutch?

Scott D, Fort Lauderdale, FL

College Ways, Opening Days, GPAs and Groundball As

I am a senior at the University of Michigan and a 12-year veteran of Strat-O-Matic. I attended five consecutive Opening Days during middle and high school, including 2003, when a friend and I skipped school to be the first in line. Seven friends and I who work for the campus radio station’s sports department formed a keeper league made up of different class years, so the graduating seniors’ teams will be passed on to new recruits the following fall. Aside from myself, no one else in the league had ever played Strat, but everyone is addicted. For the sake of their GPAs, maybe they are a little too hooked. In this day of high-tech video games, and even high-tech Strat-O-Matic games, there is a contingent of youth in Ann Arbor who will be playing face-to-face with cards and dice for years to come.

Now for my (not so) Great Moments in Strat:

In the LCS of the league, my Mets (I am originally from Long Island) trailed 1-0 to the Cubs down 3 games to 2 and were down to the final out of their season in the top of the 9th. My friend Kevin decided to let Dontrelle Willis finish me off, but Manny Ramirez, 1-17 in the series thus far, cracked an undisputed 2-run HR to put me up 2-1 and keep my season alive. In the bottom of the 9th, Billy Wagner, who had been perfect the entire regular season, surrendered a game-tying HR to Ken Griffey Jr. Two hitters later, Ben Molina almost ended my season again, but missed a 1-16 HR chance. After dodging that bullet, I was able to score twice in the top of the 11th and hold on for the series-tying victory.

Unfortunately, after a tremendous pitchers duel between Roy Halladay and Johan Santana in Game 7, Wagner again surrendered a 9^th-inning HR to Griffey. This one sent the Cubs to the World Series and left me wondering why I used my closer in a tied game on the road.

Stephen Schuster, Ann Arbor, MI