THE TALK SHOW

Host: Glenn Guzzo

 

You can submit your question or insight on any Strat-O-Matic game to SOMTalkShow@aol.com. When you do, kindly include your name and town. Other gamers like to see that. And the display format below works better that way.

 

 

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

 

 

One League’s Answer to Relief Abuse

 

In a recent Talk Show, we invited gamers to share their rules to prevent abuse of dominant relief pitchers …

 

I was reading a recent Talk Show about relief-pitcher use in the playoffs and thought I would share the rules used in the face-to-face league I play in:

 

“No reliever shall pitch for more than their endurance rating plus 4 total innings over any 3-game period.  We decided to do this to reward pitchers with higher endurance ratings.  Especially since most closers have endurance ratings of 1 (even though most of the good ones have closer ratings of 6).”

 

This rule was put into our league because some managers would use their stud relievers for extended periods, game after game. While this rule doesn’t totally disallow relievers from being used a lot, it does restrict them so they aren’t abused.

 

In my 6th year in this league, I made the championship for the first time and this rule came into play as I managed Game 6 of the championship series. In Game 5 with the series tied at 2-2, my starter, Jake Westbrook, got knocked out in the 2nd inning having given up 4 runs with runners at 1st and 2nd and David Ortiz at the plate. I got out of the jam, but lost the game to go down 3-2.  But having my bullpen go 7.2 innings with Glendon Rusch (3.2), Mike Gonzalez (1.2) and Frank Francisco (2) meant that I had to manage their innings in Game 6 so that they would have innings available if I could force a Game 7.

 

Game 6 couldn’t have started much worse when Brandon Webb allowed 3 runs in the first frame and was pulled after 2 innings.  Of course the game went to extra innings.  The game should have ended in the 10th inning but my shortstop, Miguel Tejada, missed a diamond at Comiskey Park (1-19 roll for success) that would have forced a 7th game.  I wound up losing in 12 innings.  But the significance of the relief rule was that I couldn’t overuse Rusch (pitched 2 innings), Gonzalez (pitched 2.2 innings), or Francisco (pitched 1.2 innings). If I could have used those relievers more, I would have. Francisco’s replacement gave up the winning runs in his first inning. 

 Bob Vyhnalek, Buffalo, NY

            Thanks for the playing tip and the fine example of its use, Bob. This sounds like something other leagues will want to adopt.

 

 

Expand the Hall of Fame (Set)

 

Like many others, I have returned to SOM after being away 30 years.  I have been playing the Hall of Fame game for 2+ years. I play the advanced game with the cards and

dice.  With today’s election of Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn, is there any chance that SOM will, at some time, update the HOF game with cards for all Hall inductees since 2000 and for those who are sure to be inducted in the future?

Bob Siefken , Bishop, CA

 

            The likelihood gets greater each year, as the list of uncarded Hall-of-Famers grows, and as sure Hall-of-Famers retire.

 

            With Ripken and Gwynn’s election, the list of uncarded inductees includes C Gary Carter, 1B Eddie Murray, 2B Ryne Sandberg and Bill Mazeroski, 3B Wade Boggs and Paul Molitor, SS Ozzie Smith and Cal Ripken, OF Tony Gwynn, Kirby Puckett and Dave Winfield and P Dennis Eckersley and Bruce Sutter.

 

            That’s 13. We probably need a minimum of 16-20, maybe 24 (the same number in the eight unofficial “teams” of HOF players in the current 192-player set).

 

            The only retired player who is a mortal lock for the Hall is Rickey Henderson. Strat-O-Matic could compute his best seven years now. Since SOM made exceptions for Pete Rose, Joe Jackson and Carl Mays by including these unelected greats, it could do the same for retired 500-homer men Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro. All would fit the category of players not elected for reasons other than their playing credentials.

 

I would like to add three good players already in the Hall who got there more for their managerial prowess: 3B John McGraw and C Al Lopez and Wilbert Robinson. They supply positions that have serious shortages in the current set. P Clark Griffith would be welcome in this regard, too.

 

            Some will want to promote such retired players as Jeff Bagwell, Goose Gossage, Lee Smith, Barry Larkin, Fred McGriff and Larry Walker. But I’d like to elect Alan Trammell and Ron Santo, too, and that’s unlikely to happen. The odds certainly don’t favor Bert Blyleven, Jim Rice and Andre Dawson. 

 

So we have 20 until the likes of Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux (and Tom Glavine?) retire. And note that our group of 20 has only three pitchers. Pitchers are seriously under-represented in the Hall and on the current SOM rosters. So rather than make another 24-man team, it would be helpful just to add these guys to the existing “teams.” That’s why 16 could work as a separate item for sale.

 

 

Play-By-Plays and No-Hitters

 

Can you tell me if this bug will be addressed in SOM Baseball Version 12?  I would like to be able to view the Preswing Play by Play during games and the Player Card Image. To date, this has not been possible in any of the earlier computer versions.  If Preswing Play by Play is selected in the Entry Mode section of the Game Preferences Menu, the program blocks the player card image from displaying during the game.  Even if Show Cards During Game option is selected in the Dice/Cards/Splits Settings Menu.  The player is stuck choosing between these two options and should not have to make this choice. If there is already a work-around for this, please let me know.  

 

Also, on the recent topic of tossing your first no-hitter:  I’ve been playing Strat-O since I first purchased the box with four 1976 teams and then purchased the 1977 season cards.  I have been playing ever since (with a break or two for grad school) and had several no-hitters broken up in the ninth inning (the closest – SF Giants’ Kelly Downs was one out from a perfecto before he yielded three consecutive doubles and was pulled from the game). It wasn’t until this past fall, playing the 1959 Season of the Historical Baseball Project that I rolled my first no-no.  Cleveland Indians hurler Gary Bell tossed the no-hitter on June 23 against the Baltimore Orioles, walking only one batter. Unlike in ‘59, Bell was used solely as a starting pitcher. “Ding-Dong” quickly became the ace of the Tribe staff and finished with a fine record of 20-6, 2.85 ERA (16 -11, 5 saves, 4.04 in 1959) and the AL Cy Young Award!  He led the Tribe to the World Series and Cleveland then defeated the Milwaukee Braves in seven games. (Bell cooled down in the series, posting a 0-0 record with a blistering 8.44 ERA.)  

 

That first no-hitter was 30 years in the making!

 

Scott Ferris, Lima, Ohio

 

            Great no-hitter story, Scott. Those light-hitting Orioles are a candidate to be no-hit any day, especially if Gene Woodling or Bob Nieman is out of the lineup. If the Tribe had won the World Series in 1959, when Rocky Colavito was their right fielder, he surely would not have been traded at the end of the season (to Detroit for Harvey Kuenn) and the “Curse of Colavito” would not have haunted the Indians for 35 years. Interesting how results can vary. In my 1959 AL replay following actual player usage very closely, Cleveland was the worst under-achiever, while Chicago, Detroit and New York finished in an amazing three-way tie for the pennant.

 

            The other matter is not a bug. It is a design issue that was decided long ago. Strat-O-Matic’s Bob Winberry says that so many game features are tied to the play-by-play that the task is too massive to redesign the game in the way you would like.

 

 

 

 

 

Give Me a V12

 

The new version 12.0 baseball screenshots look great!  Can’t wait!  But what about the card image?  Is that going to be much improved, too (i.e. resemble an actual card, much like The Sporting News site)?

Lee Michaels, Pittsburgh, PA

 

This probably won't be done.  It’s a matter of available screen real estate.  In order to show the card in a side-to-side format and with the full text of a real Strat-O-Matic card (instead of the abbreviations used in the computer game) the card image would have to be huge.  If you notice on the Sporting News site, the card image is approximately 610 x 260 pixels, which is just too large to fit into the available screen real estate for the computer game on normal sized monitors. 

 

 

Strike Three?

 

It’s common sense that if a batter misses a pitch on a H&R attempt, the runner steals the base, then the batter attempts a sacrifice and goes 1-and-2, he just struck out.  I found a SOM rule forbidding doing it the other way around (bunt, then H&R), but none about the sequence I mentioned.  Does SOM intend to forbid, or that it be a K?  Or don’t they have a position on the question?

Bruce Layton, Ithaca, NY

 

            It’s absolutely true that if the count is already 1-and-2 a swing and miss on a hit-and-run would be a strike out. But not necessarily the other way around. With one strike via the hit-and-run, a sacrifice attempt tells us that the count is now 1-and-2 – NOT that the batter has acquired two new strikes trying to bunt. So it could be that after a miss on a hit-and-run, one more strike was enough to get the bunter to a 1-and-2 count.

 

 

The Defenseless Blackhawks

 

I am a big fan of the Hockey Hall of Fame set, and enjoy coming up with different ways to set up various teams as a way of making each “league” that I play with my brothers quite new and unique. I see from the article posted in the Strat-O-Sphere (12/23/05) “Shuffling the Deck” by Glenn Guzzo that the Chicago Blackhawks have, as their 4th defensemen, Cyclone Taylor.  I have not been able to find any evidence that Cyclone Taylor ever played for any Chicago team, not the Blackhawks or any other.

 

I’d like it if he could be a Blackhawk, because that franchise needs all the help it can get! How did Mr. Guzzo come to this designation of Taylor as a Blackhawk?

 

Thanks so much for Strat-O-Matic’s efforts.  One of the joys my brothers and I

get from your products, besides playing the games themselves, is the opportunity to learn the history of the respective sport from the cards, as well.

Jimmy Jr.

 

            It’s been so long since I assembled those teams, I am not sure about Taylor. But it is likely that I had to pick an unaffiliated player to fill out the Hawks’ lineup and selected a player whose card was strong, but not strong enough to change the character of the team or its odds of winning. Without Taylor, the Hawks had only three defensemen and one of those, Bill Gadsby, played more briefly with Chicago than he did with New York.

 

            However, in the process of looking into your inquiry, I found that I had not assigned Babe Siebert, who played with pre-War Montreal and Boston. He would be an eighth defenseman who, along with Hap Day – the seventh defenseman – are also wingers on a fourth line for pre-War Montreal. Or he could be a sixth defenseman/fourth-line winger for Boston.

 

 

More Than One Canale in Boston

 

I just acquired the original 1968 football season and I have a question regarding the 1968 Buffalo Bills.  On the defensive-players card there are no linebackers listed as subs.  There is no way a team could go through an entire season without injuries occurring.  Is this a mistake?  The Pro Football Encyclopedia lists Edgar Chandler, Marty Schottenheimer and Paul Maguire as others who played linebacker.  Should any or all of them be added? Also in 1968, for the Boston Patriots Justin Canale is listed as starting right guard and reserve defensive tackle.  I do believe the reserve defensive tackle should be Whit Canale.  Can you clarify these issues for me?  Thanks.

 

Bill Donnelly, Indio, CA

Gamer since 1976

 

 

 

The latest word from Strat-O-Matic on 1968 ratings is in the computer game. For Buffalo, Schottenheimer is shown as the backup at all three linebacker spots. He’s a 4. McGuire is shown only as a punter and Chandler is not on the depth chart

 

For 1968 Boston, you appear to have made a very clever catch. The computer game does not mention Whit Canale, and also has Justin Canale on both offense and defense. But he Justin is now the starting LG, a 4 run-blocker. Len St. Jean (a 5 run blocker) is the starter at RG. But according to the ESPN Football Encyclopedia, apparently it was Whit Canale who was the reserve DT.

 

 

Computer Nostalgia

 

I have been playing Strat baseball for 20 years and have fond memories of playing the old Apple IIC version.   The version was a combination of computer and person gameplay.  Teams were manually entered and the cards were read by the players and put in the computer.  Drawing splits and ground/flyball X’s were calculated by the computer.  Statistics were kept by the computer, injuries generated by the computer.  It was truly a great version of the game.  Today’s computer version is great, and I know that each user can choose how much they want to be involved in the game, but I sure miss the Apple IIC version.  Any chance of a return to less-advanced tech if one so chooses? 

(BTW- Luis Medina's 1988 SOM card has created a lot of home run titles in the history of my brothers and my league throughout the years.)

Keep up the great work.

Mark, Hillsboro, WI

 

            I enjoyed playing a 1961 American League replay that way.  But I don’t think I’d go back to typing “gb6x” and such, and I seriously doubt that any software company will turn back the clock technologically. Given your history, I assume you either have the cards with you when you play the computer game or are using the Card Image option. I find that this keeps me alert and ever-aware of a player’s strengths and weaknesses. Then the computer game automates everything you mention above, so all I “miss” is typing in the card readings. 

 

 

Passing Thoughts

 

I have written before about this, but I have a simple solution to Strat Hockey’s most pressing issue.  I would like to see Strat increase the rebound chances and decrease the outside shot chances on Passing L for the higher-assist-rated playmakers and simply balance it out by adding more outside shots for the lower-rated ones.  This would require no changes to the split or action decks and would be easy to determine mathematically.  I know that different passing formulas are discussed on the Strat Fan Forum, but this one is simple and would not require extensive testing or game changes.  It could even be an optional rule.  Especially with a player like Crosby in the league, it would seem the time has come to go forth with this.  Then this otherwise-great game would really be made perfect.

 

Barry, Bronx, NY

 

            The better passers also tend to be the better goal-scorers. So given the extra playing time they get and the sometimes-scarce playing time the lesser players get, it might take a strong adjustment to “balance it out.” But, yes, your system would be simple to apply. And, yes, distinguishing the great passers from the good ones has been the goal of many hockey gamers for years.

 

 

Imagine You Manage the Royals – Really

 

The video games no longer did it for me. Despite beautiful 3D graphics, I couldn’t deal with players batting .433 well into August, so I put the controller down, went out to the local game store and purchased Strat-O-Matic baseball.  If this game does one thing, it unleashes a vivid imagination in ways that digital images on the television cannot. 

 

Being someone who likes a challenge, I took over the 2005 Kansas City Royals, with their questionable rotation and streaky bullpen.  I have brought them to 6-11 so far, as each night I sit down to a game.  In the most recent game against the White Sox, I imagined Freddy Garcia with confidence in his face as he surgically retired my team to the bench inning after inning.  I saw frustration in my players, as Emil Brown continues a horrendous dry streak – I even bumped him up in the lineup to give him more plate opportunities. Not even Terrence Long, who has been enjoying an above real-life performance with a .338 average and 12 RBI, could do much as he squeaked out a single to continue his five-game hitting streak in the ninth inning.  Runelvys Hernandez has been a bit shaky of late, but pitched a solid first five innings against a power-packed Sox lineup before giving up four runs on the night. Final score: 8-0 in the first game of a three-game series. In real life, the Sox won 8-2.

 

I want to thank Hal Richman and this legacy he has left simulation gamers like me, and also to thank you for continuing to make the board game version for Strat-O-Matic baseball. It’s one of the best hobbies I have picked up.

Adam Kisailus, Buffalo, NY 

 

            This very idea – that Strat-O-Matic fuels the imagination and the gamer’s mental visualization of baseball and its players – is behind Jon Miller’s explanation that playing Strat as a boy started him on his career announcing baseball games. SOM creator Hal Richman has explained that a good many well-known announcers were Strat-O-Matic players first. Count Bob Costas, Kenny Albert, Ken Singleton and more. The rest of us who have announced our Strat-O-Matic games silently or loudly certainly can relate. Anyone who has never once shouted, “Holy cow!” “It’s outta here,” or “Are you kiddin’ me?” during a Strat-O-Matic game, hasn’t been playing long.

 

            Yes, this is an amazing hobby. Almost each game played is full of thrills, large and small, that fertilize the imagination. Memories from ballparks and bubble-gum cards come to life. An empty house becomes a stadium. Three dice become bats, balls and gloves. When playing Strat-O-Matic, the ill forget their pain for a while, the lonely feel companionship, the frustrated feel relief. And the Strat-O-Matic player has friends all over the world who speak your language. It’s magic.