Vol. III, Issue #3 -
November 2015
Strat-o-matic Baseball League
Commissioner' Interviews PART I
**
"The Fox Valley SOM League - Kurt Meunier
**
(We wish to thank Kurt, for
answering our call to begin a new aspect of our newsletter
to dig deeper into the lives and times of a commissioner leading
one of the many
Strat-o-matic Baseball Leagues that exists and how they affect
their members.)
(Notes from the Wolfman:
In our newsletter so far,
we have heard about the ins and outs of being a member of an SOM
Baseball League via our Commish, Marc Wasserman. For this
issue and going forward, we have decide to begin to take a look
at some of these leagues as we put out a private email to the
commissioners of leagues that have been listed publicly.
Kurt Meunier of the Fox Valley SOM League answered our call and
we are very proud to lead off with his story of a small
face-to-face league based in Wisconsin. If you would like
to share some special stories and insights linked with your own
league, please feel free to send me a private email, at my email
shown below. So, next up is Kurt Meunier, the manager of
the Milwaukee Brewers of the FVSL, the league storyteller and
the Yankees of his league ...
)
Above we see FSVL
Commissioner Kurt, showing off his Babe Ruth
Softball Swing
Wolfman:
Dear
Readers -- we are honored and excited to be able to
introduce you to Kurt Meunier, who is the
commissioner of the Fox Valley Strat-o-matic League.
Kurt has an interesting story to tell us how the
FVSL was founded in 1988 under some very interesting
circumstances.
Kurt, welcome to the Ultimate Strat Baseball
Newsletter.
Kurt:
Thanks for talking with me
Wolfman:
So Kurt, when you were younger did you always have
an interest in Baseball?
Kurt:
I did. I started at with little league & progressed
from there. When Milwaukee got the Brewers in 1970 I
really had a team to follow then (I was 8).
Wolfman:
Do you
play in little league or high school and if so what
was your best position?
Kurt:
I did play both. Played 1B in high school then when
I graduated played tournament softball in Wisconsin.
I would play every night(twice on Tuesdays) then
every weekend (130-170 games a summer for 30 years)
Wolfman:
Who are
some of the individual ball players that are your
most favorite?
Kurt:
Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, Cecil Cooper, Jose
Canseco, Roger Clemens
Wolfman:
Now tell
us Kurt, how did you first get involved with
Strat-o-matic?
Kurt:
I saw an add in a magazine and ordered the game in
1975 and then started to play the game solitaire.
I found out in 1981 that a friend of mine also
played the game, so we began to play against each
other on Sundays. We heard of other guys who played
and tried to start a league but it didn't work out.
Wolfman:
So is the FVSL the first league
you play in then? Did you play in any tournaments
before then?
Kurt:
Yes, I started the FVSL and that was my 1st ever
league. I have yet to play in a strat-o-matic tournament.
Wolfman:
Now Kurt tell us the history about how the FVSL
started and what is the current status
of your league now, how many teams do you have?
Kurt:
The FVSL was founded in 1988 by various softball
teammates I knew but we didn't know that each other
played strat.
Our softball team traveled around the state
(Wisconsin) playing
our league games. We would begin in April &
finish our season in October. One weekend we were
playing a tourney in Menasha & knew this
other team so we stopped to see how they
were doing. I leaned over to check their
score sheet & saw that they were using a strat score sheet so I asked Huggy "who
plays strat?". He looked around & said
"me, how did you know?". I told him the score sheet
gave it away. So he & Jim played so this how our league
began with 6
guys. I began doing newsletters &
recruiting & we hit 12 players
eventually. Thru the
25 years we have been around we have had 20 players in the
league. However right now, we are
down to 6 franchises.
Wolfman: What
geographic region are the members of your league
from.
Kurt:
We are all from Neenah, Menasha, Oshkosh and Appleton,
Wisconsin
Wolfman: Is this a face-to-face league?
Kurt:
Yes it is.
Wolfman: How often do you play?
Kurt:
Every Sunday beginning in February, we play 6-12
games each week.
Wolfman:
Can you explain the structure of your league and how
you decide your champion?
Kurt: There are divisions setup with a 120 game schedule.
Then
depending upon the number of teams (in our league) determines
the of games we play against each other and how many teams make the playoffs. We have
a league constitution and a newsletter.
Wolfman:
Now coming back to your own game play - what are
some special experiences you have had as a member of
your league - have you won any championships?
Kurt:
I have been considered the "New York Yankees" of our
league. I did not make the playoffs in our inaugural
year but every year there after (21 years) winning
12 championships
I have experienced a few
no-hitters. I had Roger Clemens toss one, Bruce '2
minutes for' Ruffin throw one & I had a combined
no-no thrown against me that was started by Alex
Fernandez. I have had a few broken up in the 9th as
well including 2 more by Roger Clemens
Wolfman:
What are some of the greatest teams that have
existed in your league?
Kurt:
My 1992 Team went 92-28. That team was stacked with
the likes of F. Thomas, R. Alomar, Barry Bonds, K.
Griffey Jr., Juan Gonzalez, Danny Tartabull, Terry
Pendleton, Nolan Ryan, Saberhagen & a stacked
bullpen of Duane Ward, Tom Henke, S. Howe and M. Stanton.
Wolfman:
Which team and year won the most games?
Kurt: The 1992 Milwaukee team went 92-28,
the 1996 Milwaukee team
went 89-35, then the 1996 Milwaukee team went 85-35,
with the 2006
Milwaukee team going 82-38. Those are the best records
for our
regular season teams. (Note from the
Wolfman: I wonder who was the manager of these
squads???? hmmm ....)
Wolfman:
Why do you enjoy playing in your league - what type
of relationship exists with your members?
Kurt:
We are a close knit group of members/friends. I have stood up in some
of their weddings & some have stood up in mine. We are on
the same softball team as well.
Wolfman: Has there
been any challenges to your league in the past where
it might have ended?
Kurt:
There were a couple times but just like with all families,
there are going to disagreements & differences of opinion
at times, but we have always worked through it.
Wolfman: What
makes your league unique?
Kurt:
The fact that our league has always been a face to face league
and
meets on every Sunday even during the winter (which
can be extreme here in Wisconsin).
Wolfman:
Tell us about some of the members of your current
league?
Kurt:
There are 2 sets of brothers, John & DJ Hinz (they
manage one team) and Jeff
& Jason Neubauer (they manage another team). There is an Uncle
and nephew tandem, Jason &
Terry Dixon (share yet a 3rd team). Then we
have the old high school friends, Kurt Meunier,
Mark Wolfgram & Rob Ertl.
Wolfman: What are
the ages of your members?
Kurt:
We are all from 40-55 years old.
Wolfman:
I understand Kurt, people in your league call you
"The Story Teller", why is this and what stories can
you tell our readers?
Kurt:
I have been told that I do not just answer "yes" or
"no" to
any question asked of me but that I always answer
such questions with a story. Besides the story
I shared before about how our league began, here is
another cool story connected to our softball team
adventures:
During a weekend in 1991, we were playing a softball
tournament
in Winneconne & Huggy, Jim, Robbie & I were 'rollin
the bones' when a guy came over to the pavilion &
asked who's cards they were. All pointed to me and he
asked "do you have the 1983 set". I told him I did &
he wanted to know if I would sell it-told him now,
as he wanted "1" specific card, the Tom Tellman card.
Turns out, that this was who I was talking to!!! Odd thing
is I have always been a true blue Brew Crew fan so
why I did not recognize him is beyond me. He also
played softball in the same
circle as I did & I never knew that he did
Wolfman: Now I would like to turn the
questions around to ask the Yankees of the FVSL,
about your strategy in building your teams. Can you
talk a little bit about this.
Kurt: I have stuck to the same plan/format
each year. Our league has a salary cap
so you can get a number of "superstars"
but you still need key bench or platoon
players for matchups vs. certain pitchers.
Wolfman:
And what are some of the other keys to your success?
Kurt: I
draft high strikeout pitchers and load
them into a strong bullpen who may go 5 innings a game
if needed.
Those type of relief pitchers would be (back in
the early 2000s); H. Bell, C. Marmol, B.
Jenks, BJ Ryan and B. Lidge.
Wolfman:
What else did you acquire to build these amazing
championship teams?
Kurt: Beyond
my
strong bullpen (with the pitchers I
mentioned above), I would build a team
with a combination of speed
& power. My 2007
team had 1B-A. Pujols, 2B-R.
Cano, 3B- M. Cabrera, SS-C. Guillen, C -J. Mauer then the rest
of the team were matchup players
such as L. Scott, G. Sheffield, Del Young,
J. Devannon, G. Gross and S. Stewart to
face certain type of pitchers.
Wolfman: What tips or key strategies could you
share with some of our younger members
or members new to strat to help them
build successful teams?
Kurt:
I recommend to
draft a good mixture of players that
will matchup against your opponent.
Anyone can send out a team of superstars
but it is more fun to manage special matchups,
situations & go with your hunches. I
have a couple of guys
that 'crush' LHP and a couple that "crush" RHP
for example and then just use your managing skills
how to best implement the use of your
team.
Wolfman:
If a member of our newsletter wanted to find out
more about the FVSL, do you have a website or
publication you share?
Kurt:
We have a league Newsletter (I would be happy to
share) but we do not have a website.
Wolfman: How
important are league stats?
Kurt:
They are everything for us. The one thing we all
play for
Wolfman: What
would be the best way for any of our members to contact you
if they have additional questions?
Kurt:
By email (
Wolfman:
Is there
anything else about your league you would like to
share with our members that we didn't ask before you
think is important to know?
Kurt:
We have a traveling trophy that
our champion carries for
a year (until the next season's champ).
We had one of our members who carried a tape recorder around
with crowd noise from County Stadium that he would
play during his games. He also had Bob Uecker's homerun
calls that he would play when one of his players
HR'd as well as Bob Uecker's strikeout calls. I do not
want to give out any names but that person is the guy
being interviewed here. :-)
Wolfman:
Thank you Kurt for spending time with us to give us
some insights about your special face-to-face
league. Continued success to you and your
members and thank you for supporting our newsletter
with your stories and insights!
Dear members, to continue to read the next
part of this special new section about some
special Strat Baseball Leagues, please feel free to
click on the link below to go to PART II of
this report and hear about a very
interesting retro keepers league:
Strat-o-matic Baseball League
Commissioner' Interviews PART II
Contained inside this exciting issue of Ultimate Strat
Baseball Newsletter:
(to view the various interviews, articles, columns and special sections click on
the links {underlined}
and this will take you to the appropriate
webpage)
♦
RETURN TO NEWSLETTER MAIN PAGE
♦
ARTICLE with JOHN DEWAN, owner of Baseball Info Solution, chapter for a book about Bill
James .
♦
MLB STORY with BILLY SAMPLE,
Talks about "Bat Flipping" and Willie Montanez while a Ranger.
♦
ARTICLE with CHUCK TINKLER ,
another special article by Chuck, one of our members about a
real Strat Master he met in his early days of playing
Strat-o-matic
♦
SOM BASEBALL LEAGUE REPORT with WOLFMAN SHAPIRO
--
the editor of "The Ultimate Strat Newsletter" and 2012 CBA
Champion, the "Wolfman" puts out a call to
commissioners of various
Strat-o-matic Baseball Leagues that he finds on the internet and
three leagues respond to be interviewed and tell their stories!
To view any individual
interview, click on the links below or start with Part I and
finish with an in-page link to Part II for the two interviews,
more interviews given in the December issue coming:
INTERVIEW with Kurt Meunier, FVSL, P-I
(F2F League in Wisconsin)
INTERVIEW with
Robert Latorre, 60's Decade Keepers League, P-II,
(CDROM-email)
♦
SOM/MAJOR
LEAGUE BASEBALL WORLD NEWS with WOLFMAN SHAPIRO,
editor of "The Ultimate Strat Newsletter"
shares the Special Fielding Ratings given by John Dewan's Group
with Baseball Info Solutions and an update on the SOM Baseball
Projection Sheets shared by the legendary Bruce Bundy, author of
the periodic column called "Strat Thoughts".
♦
REPORT with TOM
NAHIGIAN (1961 cards),
Personal friend of the Wolfman, known in Guzzo's book as "The
Collector", returns and we take a peak at some of the early
strat cards printed from 1961.
♦
STRAT WISE with MARC WASSERMAN
--
commissioner of the Cyber Baseball Association (CBA) renames
his column to "Strat Wise"
as he expands his sharing and reporting of our Strat-o-matic
Baseball Community. In this first part of his new column
he talks about the recent MLB World Series and discusses the
content of some of the special videos we have on our Ultimate
Strat Baseball Video Channel on Youtube.
♦
ARTICLE
with WOLFMAN SHAPIRO
--
the editor of "The Ultimate Strat Newsletter" and 2012 CBA
Champion, the "Wolfman" goes back into the far past and
pulls out one of his first articles to the Strat-o-matic Review
from 1973, when he really was becoming known as the "Wolfman"
(the Skokie Wolfman) as he
challenged one of the first female strat gamers, Donna Chevrette to a play
against him via play-by-mail. This is series used the MLB All Star players from 1971,
with the Wolfman taking the National All Stars and Chevrette
taking the American. The series became known in the Review
as "The Battle of the
Sexes". After this series was played, and a victor
uncovered, the combats switched teams and played a second series
(which is an article by Donna Chevrette) that will be reported
in our December issue.
♦
RECOMMEND
ON-LINE SOM RESOURCES
--
On-line Strat-o-matic and Baseball related websites
that offer amazing information, special tools and products to improve
your game play
that we strongly recommend. In most cases, we have had personal contact with
these sources who agree with the principle to work together and help promote each other.
♦
BOOKS TO
DIE FOR and Become a BASEBALL GURU
-- This page
is
specifically about special books we are finding that either will
expand your insights about the game of Baseball, help you in the
creation of your current league teams or with your replays and
learn more about the Strat-o-matic
Baseball Game and Game Company's
history. We
have a special arrangement with Acta Sports, who is a publisher
of a number of great baseball books (including Bill James
Handbooks) to offer for our members
a 10% discount. We will continue to add more books to this page in the future
as we uncover other gems our members should know about.
Contact Us for Questions or Submissions:
Wolfman Shapiro
co-Founder/Editor, the
Ultimate Strat Baseball Newsletter
email:
wolfman@ultimatestratbaseball.com
facebook:
www.facebook.com/wolfman.shapiro
twitter:
@StratBaseball4U
To Sign Up and Become a Member of this Newsletter
http://www.UltimateStratBaseball.com
(this provides direct emails when our bulletins
and next
issues come out)
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