** Strat Thoughts with Bruce Bundy **

 

Bruce is a professional musician as well.

A Brief Bio on Bruce Bundy Bruce has been playing Strat-o-matic since 1969 and he is definitely one of us, an SOM Fanatic. Bruce is an excellent SOM Baseball Manager which we have observed with his presence in the CBA (our computer league which Marc is commissioner). --> Bruce has published over 30 (up to about 60 now) formulas on how to create Strat-O-Matic Baseball cards from scratch along with other articles and antics with his friend Glenn Guzzo (shared when the Strat-Fan SOM Magazine existed). --> He ran the official "Strat-O-Matic BBS" Bulletin Board from 1987 to 1992. At Bob Winberry's request, Bruce recruited Will Kolodzie's SOMWorld as our official SOM Online Magazine (now supplemented with this newsletter) - and, I also recruited Dan Patterson for our Official Strat-O-Matic Web Forum. -->  Bruce has been a Strat-O-Matic Beta Tester for many years which has resulted in various improvements within the SOM Baseball game.

Now for the STRAT THOUGHTS column December, 2013,

Bruce Bundy presents:

PHOTOS AT STRAT-O-MATIC

Hal Richman and his wife Sheila in the SOM Office with Mr. Richman ready to roll the dice for the baseball game photo (c) Bruce Bundy

Here we have Bruce with Bob Winberry. For those who don't know who Mr. Winberry is, he is the programmer who has developed and keeps adding updates and improvements to all of the Strat-o-matic Computer Games including the baseball game which many of our members play a lot ... We hope to be able to do an interview with Mr. Winberry sometime in the future, he seems interested in what we are doing with our newsletter. photo (c) Bruce Bundy

Believe it or not, as is discussed in the Steve Barkan interview with Bruce, that young man
to your left is the President of Strat-o-matic, Adam Richman, the son of Hal. And if you
already read the interview with James Williams, that is our new friend behind the desk
with a big smile on his face and announcing he is one of us, a Strat-o-matic Fanatic.
I don't know about you but I recognize also those flyers that are on the ground
in front of the desk to your right - looks like a normal office to me!!
( photo (c) Bruce Bundy )

The gentlemen in Blue to your right, picking up the package is Len Schwartz.  Len serves
in the Management team at Strat-o-matic and also is involved in the research to help in
the development of various sports games.  As you can see SOM is now a company
with more then three people (Mr. Richman, Barkan and Williams) in the good old days.
( photo (c) Bruce Bundy )

Opening Day - have you ever been to one at Strat-o-matic, on a cold winter day waiting
to be one of the first to get your new and latest baseball cards or the full game including
the computer game? I wonder if the companies in the building next door to SOM is
wondering what is happening at SOM or why are they so popular? Would you be willing
to wait in this long line just to have a week to 10 days preview of the new cards?
( photo (c) Bruce Bundy )



Ever wonder what goes on at Strat-o-matic in the Back Room? How does the shipping
department keep everything organized with all the games they sell, and all the seasons
of the teams they sell. Well Bruce has given us a chance to take a peek at how it all
works out and where your new Baseball Cards, game or computer disk will be put
together to be shipped out to you.  Better than Mr. Richman's garage in the early days.
( photo (c) Bruce Bundy )

Not sure which year this happened, when the cards were sent
out so late but I don't recall recently that SOM has been late
with the baseball cards and games. In any case this sign shows
how much the game company cares about us not just
as their customers but like their extended and loyal family
( photo (c) Bruce Bundy )

 

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As most of you know, earlier this month (December 2013), Bruce released his yearly
Projection Sheets based on the formulas he has developed which basically allow him to know ahead of time what the SOM baseball cards (basic and advance) will look like.  These formulas are used to create his Projection Sheets, which come out in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.  On the page we have released before where the Projection Sheets were first offered, we did a short interview with Bruce. Please find below a few key ideas related to the power of the information provide by the Bundy 2013 Projection Sheets.

Wolfman: What specific information does the sheets provide?

Bruce: You will receive the full rating for each player in the new 2014 SOM Card set. For the hitters this includes their real season stats (combined, vs. left and right handed pitching) with all the card ratings (fielding, running, stealing, etc ..) and the percentage on the cards (both for elementary and super advance with the left and right handed sides) for every stats (on base, hits, walks, hr, etc ...). Similar for the pitchers it is the same, the season stats are shown (combined and vs left and right handed hitters) with their ratings and all the card chances for various results (elementary and split in advance by the left and right handed sides) such as walks, strikeout, hits, hr, etc.. Trust me, with these spreadsheets, you will know every aspect of every player in the new card set!

Wolfman's Review of the Bundy's SOM Projection Sheets

I think I might have been one of the first people to see the Bundy Sheets, as we worked closely with Bruce to setup the webpages needed to offer these special sheets for our members initially.  In this section I just wanted to give my take on what I saw with the sheets and why I believe these sheets can help any of our members who either just want to know what the new baseball cards will be like or to help you plan for your league or tournament drafts.

The first thing you notice, is in the Hitter and Pitcher Sheets, which are separate spreadsheets, all the players are ranked, who has the best overall hitter's card and who has the best pitcher's card include for the Lefty/Righty split.

For the hitter's sheet, you will see various sections on the spreadsheet which provide a complete view of how the player performed, statistically and from an SOM perspection. First besides seeing the name of the hitter, their age, and the team and league they played in you see their average, on-base, slugging and OPS. The next section gives you all the information SOM gives us via their card such as which pattern of card they will have (SOM uses a pattern how the card is layed out based on best hitter to worse hitter), their fielding and e-rating, arm, stealing, bunting and hit and run and so on. What to do who will be the AA stealers, who are you best bunters, its all here.

The next three sections give you a value in each column to rank the hitter's card and their performance. First the basic game values (which are collective) is offered with values for everything from walks, strikeouts, extra base hits, hit points on the card and more. Then the next two columns, how the hitter did against left-handed and right-handed pitcher is shown next. So basically looking at this data you can easily see who has the best cards in any type of category as you read all the same information you would read when you hold their strat card or see it on your computer screen.  There are few columns in the spreadsheet which the Bundy formulas need to produce all the values in these card columns and he also includes each players actual real life stats and performance vs. left and right handed pitching. 

To conclude on the Hitter's Sheet, every piece of data I have ever researched on-line needing to spend hundreds of hours to create my own spreadsheets on what to expect from the new cards, Bruce has it in these sheets. There is nothing else you need plus his formula are 95% accurate compared to what the final cards will look like and that pretty darn good.

Now moving on to the Pitcher's Sheet, Bruce has done the same basic pattern of sharing the plays stats combined with a ranking and values for the cards in the basic or advanced version. Beside the pitcher's name, you see how they throw, their age, team and league followed by a collectively ranking of which pitcher has the best (or most unhittable card).
After their real life stats in the next section, you can another section which has all the Strat settings we are use to, to help evaluate our pitcher such as their Point of Weakness, Start or Reliever, Closer setting, WP, Balk, which pitcher's hitting card and so on.

Then just as the hitter's sheet, the next three section give the basic card makeup followed by the advanced (first left handed ratings, then right-handed) where values are given for what wee can expect the appearance of the card to be like. For example, what is value of hits on their which the pitcher gave up, values for the walks issued and strikeouts, home runs given and the batting average of the hitters against them and so on.  Again extra columns are shown in the back of the spreadsheet to provide the data needed to be used by the formulas to calculate the card values. And again, finally you also get the live stats how the pitchers did against the left and right handed hitters. Once again, pretty much anything you want to know what the cards will look like, or how the pitchers performed, this one document has all the information contained here.

So the Pitcher's Sheets provide for you just the right information so you can know which is the best overall starters and relievers as well as closers too. Which pitchers are reverse aces and which are normal aces.

The only thing missing is the prediction of the rookie players who may be the new stars of tomorrow that haven't received a Strat card yet and that is where Stratogist.com come in with their 9th Annual Rookie Review. So the combination of Bundy's Sheets with Stratogist.com Review, and any SOM manager/GM has all the information they need to build a dynasty for their league team.

All in all, being a writer and researcher myself, I know the time it has taken Bruce to make these sheets, and the dedication and its immense. But as I have come to know Bruce as a person, he loves this game and in his heart he wants to help our community. Therefore I want to acknowledge Bruce for a job well done that I know will help any and all of our members.  I give a rating of A+ for the Bundy Sheets, as there isn't anything I can think that I would need to know to decide if I want to add a player to my league team who has a card, that is not on these sheets!!

Take a look for yourself, there is more information given on the webpage we setup specially to discover the sheets you can view this at:

http://www.ultimatestratbaseball.com/SOMProjectionSheets-Dec2013.htm

(Wolfman: I also highly recommend you take a look at Bruce's website as it has information about his formulas that he shares (or when you order the Bundy Sheets, he gives you quite a few articles he has written about them) linked to how to create your own cards along with some interesting interviews and video blogs. Also if any of our readers have some specific areas of the Baseball Game you would like for Bruce to cover, just email us directly and we will pass your suggestion on to Bruce. We are aware there are several people who have used the Bundy formulas to create cards from seasons not released by SOM yet and also to make some of the Negro League teams as well.)

Bruce Bundy Website: http://www.cba-bb.net/Bundy.htm

Link to his Small Ball Video - take a look: http://users.wowway.com/~faust05/bb1.flv

 

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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

♦  INTERVIEW with JAMES WILLIAMS, retired Sales Director of Strat-o-matic

♦  INTERVIEW with STEVE BARKAN, R&D Baseball and Hockey Depts at Strat-O-Matic Media LLC (interview done by Bruce Bundy, Dec 1st, 2013)

♦  ARTICLE with MIKE SANCLEMENTE, founder of Stratogists.com
(Mike will discuss a bit more about the 9th Annual Rookie Review with some examples
 of what the review will look like.)

♦  EARLY SOM CONVENTIONS COLUMN with WOLFMAN SHAPIRO -- editor of
"The Ultimate Strat Newsletter" and 2012 CBA Champion. Wolfman takes us back in
this article to the seventh national Strat-o-matic Convention in 1978 held in Champaign-Urbana, IL, at the University of Illinois as the Wolfman and his buddies organize their fifth convention. Wolfman will be our guide through the first nine conventions happening through 1980 of which he was present at each one. This particular column now moves into the 1974-1980 era when the conventions moved to Illinois. We will continue to share one new convention in each future issue till all of these early conventions are published. Also as an inspiration for the SOM On-line Baseball Convention this month.

♦  COMMISSIONER's CORNER with MARC WASSERMAN -- commissioner of the Cyber Baseball Association (CBA) continues his column about what it is like to be a League Commissioner. In this article he focuses upon the Strat Alliance and beginning
to introduce to our members some of the SOM Baseball Leagues that exist.

♦  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 a new page we are adding for the newsletter that 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 Base Game and Game Company's history.  At the time of the release of this newsletter we have a special arrangement with Acta Sports to offer our members a 10% discount. We hope to add more books in the future.

 

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