Vol. II,
Issue #2 - March 2014
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**
SOM Baseball World News **
(
a new periodic column where we share special news
linked to the SOM Baseball Game .... stay tuned!! )
Notes from the Wolfman:
- Welcome to our new page. We are not sure how often this page
will appear but as we were going to press for issue #2 of 2014,
we had some more interesting news to share and a few updates
about what we covered in the last issue. We have decided rather
than talk about such items on the main page for the newsletter,
we would do it on its own page. So sit back, as we share with
you some interesting stories linked to the SOM Baseball World .....
FLASH:
Announcement of the "National Strat Tournaments" organization
-- March 2014 (a further update,
new website, why you should visit ...)
We are happy to report the
merger of Star Tournaments and SOM Tours into the National Strat
Tournaments (NST) group is going very smoothly. Already the new combined group has finished six live
tournaments in the month of March with six different champions
using the 2013 baseball cards. We at the Ultimate Strat
Baseball Newsletter are very supported of the new organization
as we support any type of tournaments, especially what NST is
doing as their tournaments are well run and very competitive
with some of the best players on the planet participating. We
have now had interviews or reports with three of their World
Champions. If you would like to learn more about these
live and on-line tournaments go to:
http://NationalStratTournaments.com
We recommend
strongly you visit their site because of the spreadsheets they offer to
their participants of the tournaments to help create a more
equal footing and chance to win, especially for newbies.
They have all the new cards rated by top players and top players
within positions. Also, they give the rosters of the teams
drafted for each tournament so you can get an idea, if you study
the rosters, what type of teams are the most victorious as you
see the minds of these master players. To view these
special tournament-based spreadsheets (very necessary if you
decide to participate in one of their tourneys), look for the
main page in the left column: APS, DRAFTS, ELIGIBLE PLAYERS;
then click on the various links to the documents which you can
either view on-line or download as a spreadsheet.
So far here are the top 10
rated players for the NST drafts:
1) Trout 2)
M. Cabrera 4) Tulowitzki & J. Fernandez 5)
Cano 6) H.Ramirez 7) McCuthen
9) C. Davis & Kershaw 10) Harvey & Puig
FLASH:
Oh My God, All the New Changes to
the Baseball Computer Game, Part II
(comments from the Wolfman on some of the enhancements ...)
Wolfman:
Well, this week I had to
prepare my computer manager (CM) for my league the CBA. Unfortunately,
this is going to be our first year, in our 9th season,, that we will not compete
as we already are 0-6 in our first week. Anyway, I did have a chance to
see a few of the enhancements and while for experienced players, you
probably picked up on them right away, I thought it might be helpful for
some of our members who are newer players to hear a bit more about what
I have seen from a GM point of view (and not as a commissioner who also will
love, so I hear, some of the enhancements for stats connected with the
league).
First of all, in updating the computer manager for your team, under the
Category of Starter Schedule, there is a new button called "Generate",
which will take all the starting pitchers you have defined on the
Starters category (up to 7 starters) and sequentially fill in
automatically, one per day, into the Starter's schedule for your league.
This makes it faster, but for our team, who has 7 starters with two of
them not pitching right away, we had to go in and make changes. But now,
in the Starter Schedule, you can move a pitcher who is already listed
to a different rotation spot and you won't have to see their name listed twice
together. It makes it easier to
do the schedule of your starters.
Next, on the Batters Category, there is a new button called "Pinch" -
where for the four types of pitchers (normal righties and lefties,
reverse righties and lefties), you can define an order (called pecking
order) of who to pinch hit first and so on. Also, you can define a
pecking order of pinch runners here.
On
the Update Default Lineup Screen there is a "Super Hal" button which is
used to define for each lineup you show, an order of when to use your
players (again a pecking order) at each fielding position. I
believe this is a new feature. Our league does not use this
feature, but it is available.
Also on this screen you now have 50 different lineups you can define; or
in other words, you could create a unique lineup against
every starting pitcher your opponent has. Also, and this is new (and you
must be careful) is, under Preset (which is the name you give to each
lineup) another field called DLM (draft league mode) where you can
define against a left handed or right handed pitcher (or N/A if you are
doing a lineup for specific starters) the range of the opponent's start
code for strongest against Left or Right Handed hitters (which ranges
from 9L to 1L, E and 1R to 9R). So obviously a lefty who has a rating of
say 5R is a reverse lefty and so on. There doesn't exist anymore, in the
first four lineups, an automatic assumption that lineup 1 is a normal
left, lineup 2 is a normal right, and so on.
These are the main enhancements I saw which I had to use to make
our latest manager for our very powerless Skokie Wolfmen in the 2014 CBA
season. However, we did draft many young players and if our veterans who
were injured return it could be a whole new ball game in 2015. Hope this
summary was helpful.
FLASH: What the Heck is
this? A Stratomatic Watch? - Here is the Answer
![Ultimate Strat Baseball - An old 1950's watch called Stratomatic](UltimateStratBaseball-SOMWatch.jpg)
All we can read from the photo is
Stratomatic and at the bottom
of the photo it saids: "with exclusive Power Reserve Indicator"
If you recall, we showed this graphic
image
last time of a "Stratomatic Watch." Well, the person who sent us the
image intentionally didn't send us the full image as we discovered the
name of the company who made this old style watch is called "SUTER"
(sounds Swiss; not sure) and you can find such watches available for sale
on e-Bay. So we thought we would solve this little mystery if you were
curious from our last newsletter. :-)
FLASH: The Second Video recorded
by our Man at Opening Day is Now Available!!
Wolfman:
Last month (February 2014), we
released to our members the first video taken by our roving reporter
about Strat-o-matic's Opening Day. Then a second video was made
available to our members, but this one was made private for a short
time. Now the second video, "Behind the Scenes," is
available publically. If you didn't have a chance to view this video,
you can view it at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rMBIbN_phY
(this video has interview with
some of the SOM employees and officers)
If you missed the original video
we shared in February of "Opening Day", you can view that one at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6gY6dW0KrU
(this was our teaser video to
give our members an idea of what footage we have.)
We also have our own channel on YouTube, the
"Ultimate Strat Baseball Channel", where we hope to continue
to add more videos dealing with interesting or key events
or new interviews linked to SOM and MLB. We already have a few other
videos on this channel from other experts in the SOM World. So for the
year of 2014 we hope to give a good balance of new and exciting
information in the printed word via our on-line newsletter and through
the videos. To see our Youtube channel, head over to:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC93h4fGGI7ibBUuTxrwDrzw
Finally, we do have three more
videos that contain interviews from "Opening Day." However, as we
have done with the second video discussed above, they are currently in a
private mode. We have done this because we want to allow our members of
this newsletter the first look. As we explained in our Bulletin #3,
earlier this month, the only way to view a private video is if you have
a gmail account which automatically links you to Google+ which is needed
to view private videos. Because we have to follow YouTube's rules (which
is part of Google), this is the only way to see private videos.
These videos will be made public
within a few weeks, but if you are curious and want to watch
them now, again send an email to
info@ultimatestratbaseball.com with your gmail email stated in
your email and use the subject, "Opening Day
Videos 3-5, let me in!!".
FLASH: Wolfman is going to
become a "Barnstormer", another on-line tournament.
Wolfman:
As I mentioned in my Convention
column in the What's Next section, I have discovered that there are
various tournaments that are being offered as part of the on-line SOM
Baseball gaming system. I did have a chance, in 2004, to see an
early version of this when this system was connected to the Sporting
News. You do not need to have either the board or computer game to
participate. So, since I had my credit for the 2012 cards, I
thought as a birthday gift, I would try my hand at it.
The Barnstormer's Tournament, which
I will be covering in April, has already started, but due to the format
they use, a person can still join and qualify for the championship
playoffs, which are held later this year. I have already interviewed
Rick Johnson (who goes by his nickname of "Mighty Moose"), the
coordinator, who was very, very helpful to prepare me for how to
participate. So Barrnstormers will see a Skokie Wolfman team. This
tournament uses a set of players which is called the All Time Greats,
which I will explain more in my article. On March 31st, my season begins
in League 13, which means 156 people are participating in their first
event of six events (or leagues you play).
I just received word on Thursday
(March 27th) which players I requested that will be on my team. This team
will have a lot of power, defense, speed and fairly good on-base with good
starters. I will keep our final roster for my article as we still
have a chance to make tweaks and we didn't get the CFer I wanted (Mays,
when he hit 51 homers).
If you either wish to be a
spectator of the Barnstormer tournament and possibly join for the final
five events (or leagues; they play 3 games a night via the gaming
engine), check it out at:
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/tournament/19
If you click on the link to email
the commissioner (Mighty Moose) on this page, he will explain how you
can sign for event #2 to participate with Barnstormers.
PS - There are two
other tournaments I have heard about also using the on-line gaming
engine, and I hope to chat with their commissioners as well. I just
picked Barnstormers because it came up first and Mighty Moose was there
to prepare me for this experience. The question will be, will my
experience with live tournaments with Star, the on-line tournament with Purestrat and Skype, and my experience in the CBA with the computer game
help with this new platform. I did check the team with the best record
in the Barnstormers tournament and he picked a pitcher's park (0 - ball
park home runs) with small ball and good on-base. Hopefully if I
can interview any of the champions we will see if a team with great
power can do well too. Stay tuned ...
Note:
-- if you have a new story you think our readers might enjoy
linked to Strat-o-matic please feel free to email us your story
by contacting Wolfman at:
wolfman@ultimatestatbaseball.com
Support the Cause
If you are enjoying
the content and information our newsletter shares with you, why
not support us with your helpful donation for our minor expenses
and time?
|
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 BRIAN
MCRAE,
ex-MLB player with Royals, Cubs and Mets.
♦
INTERVIEW
with JEFF MONTGOMERY,
ex-MLB player with the Royals.
♦
ARTICLE with JOSEPH
BOTTOM & ALAN DAVISON,
two SOM Baseball Fanatics
(Joseph & Alan) give permission for us to share with our members
their article called "Numbering the Days - Memories of SOM
Baseball", published in the Weekly Standard, Sept. 2013
♦
ARTICLE with HANK SMITH,
former Star Tournaments Commissioner and Ambassador
Hank was one of the most beloved individuals in the SOM
Baseball World and a key for the success of the Star
Tournaments. In this report, Hank discusses how he won the 2007
Worlds Tournament held by Star to find their champion. This is
the beginning of a new direction by Wolfman Shapiro for his
Conventions Column and to honor Hank who passed away in 2013.
♦
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 ninth national Strat-o-matic Convention in
1980, held in Evanston, IL, at Northwestern University, as the Wolfman and his buddies organize
their seventh and final convention via their Chicagoland SOM
Club. Unfortunately, due to personal changes in the Wolfman's
life at that time, a report of what took place at the convention
was not sent to the SOM review. This article will transition us
to other types of tournaments that have been offered after 1980
and to honor Hank Smith. Also we hope this column will inspire our readers to help us
create a SOM On-line Baseball Convention
in the near future.
♦
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 turns his focus to discuss how the start of the CBA began with its Canadian roots
and once again is being strongly influence by our Canadian
members.
♦
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.
♦
BOOK REVIEW with WOLFMAN SHAPIRO
Wolfman takes a peek at the
"Baseball
Prospectus 2014 Guide"
created by Baseball Prospectus and over 20 contributing writers.
This guide features predictions for over 2,100 players who will
or could be a part of the upcoming 2014 season. CEO, Joe Hamhari, helped us to get this book.
He is an avid SOM baseball
gamer who we interviewed in the August 2013 issue of the
newsletter.
♦
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 Base 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.
To
Learn more about the SOM On-line Convention attempted
in 2013 and a bit more about the Strat Alliance
http://www.stratalliance.info
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