Issue #1, January 2013, Part I

Comments from the Wolfman

Dear SOM Baseball lovers and members of this newsletter, it is a great honor (I feel a chill in my body as I write this) to have this opportunity to birth this new newsletter dedicated to Strato-matic Baseball. We (as our support team grows) promise to do our absolute best to share with you in each issue the most fascinating and interesting information, stories and insights linked to SOM Baseball (both the computer game and cards & dice) and the game of Baseball itself.  Although from time to time, you will receive my thoughts and ideas via articles or reports, this newsletter basically is going to be a co-creation by all of us so that it is not just the viewpoint of one group or individual.

So what do we have to share with you for this first issue? Well, as we indicated on our signup page we were able to complete the interviews with Glenn Gusso, the author of "Strat-o-matic Fanatics" (we will be dividing up his interview into the two parts) which a section of his interview offered in this first issue - we already have gathered a lot off material so far so we need to offer it in smaller bites. We also had a chance to speak with Scott Simkus, so you will hear his interview, Scott helped the game company with the creation of the Negro League Allstars plus offers a great baseball historic newsletter.

Next you will be hearing from J.G. Preston. J.G. was basically my personal mentor in the 1970's that helped me during my early playing days with SOM Baseball and worked at the game company. Then my old friend Larry Braus (from Chicago), our first support team assistant writes about his memories of all the different SOM conventions and tournaments.  In Part II, I will support Larry by sharing the reports of the first SOM convention starting in 1972 that came from the Strat-o-matic Review and a few personal memories.

We have a quiz for you related to the Baseball cards from our secret consultant and finally the Wolfman has done his magic to get some special baseball and SOM related books for our members at a discount (which should be ready in Part II) plus a special "Rookie Review" which can help all of us that are involved in any type of draft league from our partners at Stratogists.com.

Now as far as what this first part of our newsletter will contain going forward; this is my chance to share with our reader a few special insights and thoughts. And indeed I do have a few comments I wish to make before you head off into our first interview.  The great experiences I have had in my over 45 years (hard to believe but true) linked to SOM, is the amazing people I have met and in some cases, still have friendships with after all these years. 

Like for example, I had not played C & D (cards and dice, just playing the computer game) since I think 2008 when I was at a Star Tournament in Chicago representing my on-line computer league the CBA.  But recently some new brother Strat gamers found me on Facebook and we got together in early January to play face-to-face (here in the Seattle area) and although my team didn't perform as well as I would have liked - it was just so great to meet with other dedicated gamers (each of the guys was involved in their own replays) and listen to their stories and personal experiences. This is something I have really missed which comes up when you do it the old fashion way and play in person. I hope you will hear from some of these new brothers in this newsletter in the future!

I will apologize up front, I am a writer and I might write a bit too much, but its because I am so exciting to see where this newsletter will go.  So please feel that you are now a part of the team to create it - and if you are inspired in any way to share some stories, or tips with others, we would love to hear from you.  Ok, enough said, lets lead off with the first interview we received with Mr. Simkus and go from there.

thanks for becoming a member, let us know what you think about the newsletter:

Wolfman Shapiro
 
PS - so on the first page of each newsletter, you will see an intro via my comments, the next section will have links to the content of the newsletter which are on separate webpages and then some insights about what is coming up in our next issues.  If you wish to contact us in any way, at the bottom of each page will be our contact information.  If you like the way we are offering this free newsletter, please feel free to encourage your other SOM buddy or league members to join us - the signup page is at:

http://www.UltimateStratBaseball.com