Vol. V,
Issue #2 -
March 2017
**
SOM Baseball & MLB World News **
(
a new periodic column for 2017 where we share special news
linked to the SOM Baseball Game and MLB .... stay tuned!! )
Notes from the Wolfman:
- Well fans, dear members, by now we assume most of you have
already received all the new teams/seasons of printed and
computer based SOM Baseball cards - you have had your league
drafts now and are or soon will be starting your new seasons in
your league. We have the whole year of 2017 ahead of us
for new game play, tournaments and to discover who your new league
champion will be. The card viewer app is also out now. And
soon it will be time to play Baseball Daily with your favorite
teams (for me, the Chicago Cubs of course!).
In this edition of SOM Baseball & MLB World News - we have more
stories about "Opening Day" that took place, last month, at the Strat-o-matic Game
Company, your humble editor challenges one of the most
successful Strat Tournament Player's Club champion to a dice and
cards best of seven game series and we have the latest sharing
from Baseball Info Solutions (with John Dewan) from their "Stat
of the Week" newsletter. So sit back and enjoy our new stories
...
FLASH: FLASH: FLASH: Do You Know How "Opening Day" truly begun?
Another report about "Opening Day", this past February at the Game
Company; both stories from our Members.
"Opening Day" at the Strat-o-matic Game Company brings great
excitement to the new year of
game play as we always get a new edition of the computer game
that includes several exciting enhancements and all the new seasons of
printed and computer cards. "Opening Day" was covered
quite well this year with all kinds of video, including via our staff
on-site with all the new videos you will discover on the Ultimate Strat Baseball Youtube
Video Channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC93h4fGGI7ibBUuTxrwDrzw)
plus SOM announced recently about their new Video Studio located at the Game
Company. So on their own Youtube Video Channels are now all kinds of interviews
they did on opening day in their new studio area including an
interview with our key columnist Marc Wass, the head of our
Youtube channel.
The key interview which SOM did on
"Open Day' which touched me the most was with Hal Richman, the
creator of Strat-o-matic. This is a three part interview you may want to
check out. To view Part I, click
here.
Now the main reason for this
particular news item you are reading is that we received an email from
our member, Billy Stroppel, who
talked about how the idea for "Opening Day" got
started. So what I am sharing below is a re-print of his two emails
I received, so you can
read what I read ... but before I do this, I want to publicly thank
and acknowledge
Billy for being the catalyst to start this very exciting
tradition ...
(editor's note, during our January
issue, I sent out to our members asking for "Opening Day
Stories" and Billy responded to me ... read on ...)
I grew up in Glen Cove NY, one train
station away from Glen Head NY where Strat-o-matic's
HQ is located. A literal 5 minute walk down the
tracks. As a 14 yr old Newsday paperboy, in 1973, we
saw the Mets almost beat the A's in the WS after
upsetting the Reds.
Once
Feb. '74 rolled around we figured we shouldn't have
to wait 6-8 weeks for the new Strat season (to come
out) so we went down the tracks and knocked on their
door. The staff let us in and showed us the printing
of the cards, and we handed them our newspaper tip
change and told them we wanted the cards that day,
not 6-8 weeks later. So they sold us the cards (then
and there).
The
next year, we went back again with the same result.
By the third year, I brought a 20-sided die from
Dungeons and Dragons and they chased us away until I
convinced them we weren't salesmen but fans who
tested it and that it should replace the stained and
bent split cards. We met HAL and the staff every
February and got our cards right off the tables
continually reminding them they should let anyone
walk up. That was how Opening Day began. The
20-sided die was soon added and the game prospered.
Billy
Stroppel
-------------------
On: Saturday, February 18, 2017 3:58 PM,
From: Wolfman Shapiro <wolfman@ultimatestratbaseball.com>
wrote:
To: Billy Stroppel
Billy
what a great story - thank you for sharing ...
so have you or any of your friends that started
"Opening Day", have you been to any of the
so-called official days since then?
thanks for helping with the 20 sided die!
what are you doing with Strat now?
Wolfman
-------------------
It was my cousin Jim Stroppel and
myself. Once they started "Opening Day",
we went on day two to beat the crowds
like any New Yorker would. After I moved
to the Bay Area in 1985 I had to order
by mail like everyone else. I've been
active in CDROMBB leagues since 2000 and
play both baseball and football.
Netplay brings the game alive when it
works. No CM's, ability to manage the
road games, etc. I'm hoping the promised
Netplay patch works. Being able to
'travel' to another park and see
different settings other owners use is
priceless, in my opinion. Next best
thing as face-to-face cards and dice.
-------------------
We
also heard from another one of our
members, due to my post to everyone in
February, Gary Rosenthal answered my
call. So please find below the two
emails I received from Gary:
Good Morning
Wolfman,
I was able to attend my first
Opening Day this year and had a
blast. Meeting fellow gamers
from around the local area and
the country was terrific.
Myself and a few members of our
league here in Staten Island NY
were interviewed by one of the
Ultimate Start newsletter
staff. He asked that we reach
out as we just completed our
first year playing together
saying that the newsletter would
like to know more about us.
Well….. here we are and we are
more than happy to let the SOM
world about the Straten Island
Baseball Association (SIBA).
Best Regards,
Gary…
-------------------
(I emailed Gary back and asked
for more details on his
experiences at "Opening Day" and
this is what he had to share
....)
I have
been a subscriber to the
newsletter for a little
over a year. I enjoy
the insights and
articles. Thank you for
putting it all together.
This was
my first time going to
Opening Day in all my
years as a Player of the
Game (off and on for 35
yrs). All that I have
read about it is
true....
It's
COLD!!! I and 3 others
from our League made the
Trip to Glen Head.
Myself,
Andy and Phil, all from
Staten Island made the
hour and a half trip.
Chris, our other league
member who joined us is
from queens, is much
closer. I enjoyed
meeting people from all
over the country. The
group of guys ahead of
us were from Michigan
and flew out for the
day. They also walked
out with a hand truck
full of cards.
What was
also interesting was
everyone talking about
their leagues (with
pride).
I also
got the pleasure of
trying and the new Card
Reader App, which looks
great. I like that you
could make a "Custom
Team". I signed up as a
beta tester to I am
hoping to give it a good
work out. The idea of
having the cards on my
tablet and being able to
play Start without
having to carry all the
cards.. Great!
I was
also great seeing Adam
and Hal again. I had
meet them at the
Baseball Hall of Fame
over the summer. They
had a baseball film
weekend and were showing
the Start Movie along
with Q&A to follow. I
thought it was a great
adaptation of the book
hearing Adam's outlook
for the future of the
company was nice to
hear.
As for
our League, we have no
"Commissioner".
Everyone has an equal
say and majority rules
the way. Six of us (5
from Staten Island) all
meet on Facebook and
thought we would give
putting a league
together a go. WE
finished our first year,
just crowed our First
League Champ and will
have our Second Year
Draft on Mar 12th.
Have a
great night Wolfman ....
Regards,
Gary...
I
hope you enjoyed these
extra stories - so now
you know how "Opening
Day" started, thanks ...
Wolfman
FLASH: FLASH: FLASH: Here are the last report I received issued
by Baseball Info Solutions that discusses a projection on two
MLB Teams Up-the-Middle Defense ....
|
Up-the-Middle Defense
Projections
February 23, 2017
We are just getting
started with Spring
Training, but projection
season is already in
full swing, so let's
take a peek at our
Defensive Runs Saved
(DRS) projections for
2017.
Below are the teams
with the best and worst
projected up-the-middle
fielders (i.e. catcher,
second baseman,
shortstop, and center
fielder). This is often
a good proxy for overall
defensive quality
because non-catcher
up-the-middle fielders
see over one-third more
opportunities per season
than the corner
positions do, and
catchers can provide
value on every single
pitch.
We project the Blue
Jays to be the best
up-the-middle defensive
team in 2017 with a
total of 27 Runs Saved,
and in fact they are the
only team whose worst
position among that
group is still projected
to be above average. It
should not be too
surprising to see them
at the top of the heap
given the defensive
reputation of some of
the players involved.
Toronto Blue
Jays Primary
Up-the-Middle
Fielders |
|
Pos |
Player |
2017 Proj DRS* |
2016 DRS* |
|
C |
Russell Martin |
6 |
7 |
|
2B |
Devon Travis |
2 |
2 |
|
SS |
Troy Tulowitzki |
5 |
10 |
|
CF |
Kevin Pillar |
12 |
21 |
|
*At the
position listed |
Kevin Pillar fills up
the highlight reel and
has been a top-five
defensive center fielder
both of the last two
years, and we project
him to be second-best
this year to another
Kevin, Kiermaier of the
Rays. While Troy
Tulowitzki has not been
an elite defensive
shortstop in some time
(he finished in the top
five in DRS at his
position in four of his
first five full
seasons), he still has
not finished outside the
top 10 in any of the
last four seasons. One
of the big reasons
Russell Martin commanded
an $82 million contract
in 2014 is that he is
one of the best pitch
framers in the league,
providing at least six
Strike Zone Runs Saved
every year that we have
computed it (since
2010), which adds up to
the second-best total in
that time period. And
the table above does not
even include utility men
Darwin Barney and Ryan
Goins, who are two of
the better defensive
middle infielders in the
league and will
contribute to the
overall team defensive
quality.
On the other end of
the spectrum are the
Mets, whose ballyhooed
starting rotation might
end up underperforming
again if our projection
of -19 runs saved by
their most important
fielders is borne out.
New York Mets
Primary
Up-the-Middle
Fielders |
|
Pos |
Player |
2017 Proj DRS* |
2016 DRS* |
|
C |
Travis d'Arnaud |
-5 |
-4 |
|
2B |
Neil Walker |
-1 |
0 |
|
SS |
Asdrubal Cabrera |
-9 |
-7 |
|
CF |
Curtis
Granderson |
-4 |
1 |
|
*At the
position listed |
New York was in the
market for a center
fielder this offseason
(although one target was
Andrew McCutchen, who we
noted a couple weeks ago
has struggled in
center), but now they
will have to make do
with 36-year-old Curtis
Granderson. To begin the
season, he projects to
get most of the work in
center field—ahead of a
much better fielder in
former Fielding Bible
Award winner Juan
Lagares—in his first
substantial time at the
position since 2012. On
the other end of the
field, Travis d’Arnaud
is an above average
pitch framer (he has the
tenth most Strike Zone
Runs Saved in the league
since 2013 despite
missing substantial time
to injury), but his arm
and pitcher-handling
deficiencies have kept
him from being an above
average defender
overall. Lastly,
Asdrubal Cabrera’s
range has been a
liability for some time
now (he has not had a
Range and Positioning
Runs Saved above -5
since 2011), and we
project him to be the
worst defensive
shortstop in the league
this season, tied with
Xander Bogaerts.
Note: We
only listed the players
who project to get the
majority of work at each
position. The team
totals account for all
players who project to
fill that position over
the course of the year.
|
|
|
The prize of our winter hibernation.
—Peter Gammons
The most essential
annual published
for the baseball fan.
—Rob Neyer
Bill James and the team at Baseball Info
Solutions are dedicated to producing the
best stats, and the best analysis of those
stats, so that is why baseball fans and
professionals alike study
The Bill James Handbook as
soon as it comes out each year—the first-to-markett,
most comprehensive, and most fun baseball
annual for 28 consecutive years. Here is the
2017 edition, complete with:
-
New!
Hits Gained and Lost to the Shift
-
Exclusive! The Annual Fielding
Bible Awards
-
Updated! Leader Boards, Defensive
Shifts, Pitch Velocity, Managers, Park
Indices
-
New! Long Fly Out & Home Run
Breakdowns
-
Complete! Career Data for Every
2016 Major Leaguer (and a few bonus
players)
-
Unique! Win Shares, Career
Targets, Hall of Fame Monitor, Instant
Replay Analysis
-
First! Hitter & Pitcher
Projections for 2017
Paperback, $29.95
|
Copyright © 2017 by John Dewan.
Permission to reprint or broadcast this
information is granted only if used in
conjunction with the following citation:
"Used with permission from
John Dewan's Stat
of the Week®,
www.statoftheweek.com."
If you are not already subscribing to John
Dewan's Stat of the Week® and would like to
start receiving it e-mailed free to your
inbox each week,
click here.
|
|
FLASH: FLASH: FLASH: Did you Hear About the Challenge of the
Century? The Wolfman plays Pete Nelson, Worlds Champ and
Strat Tournament Player's Club Legend, in a face-to-face
showdown using Dice and Cards and Teams from the 2017 STPC
World's Tournament.
As our readers
know, your humble editor is fearless and has challenged all
kinds of well known and respected strat baseball gamers to play
against over the years ... but this time the Wolfman's challenge
was against Pete Nelson, a multi-champion within the Strat
Tournament Player's Club, who is very well respected. Pete
accepted the challenge and on a Saturday morning, in his home,
near Seattle, the two legends came together for a best of seven
game series following the tournament rules.
The Wolfman wanted
to find out and see for himself, what magic Pete Nelson had.
Pete selected the team he used in the most recent championship
series the club offers in January of each year called the Worlds
(which we reported in our January 2017 issue) and the
Wolfman selected a team drafted by another gamer within Pete's
division at the Worlds, that did actually make the tournament's
playoffs.
To read about the
game by game report and who was the victor, head over to the
following page within this edition of this newsletter, at:
http://www.ultimatestratbaseball.com/USBN-3-2017/WolfmanShapiro-Challenges-PeteNelson-March2017.htm
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 RON SHANDLER, Baseball Fantasy Expert,
Throughout the fantasy baseball world, in all the various forms
of Fantasy Baseball, there is no one more well known and
respected as Ron Shandler. He started the website Baseball HQ,
the very successful baseball guide called Baseball Forecaster
and now he offers the new BABS Project for winning in your
fantasy league. We had the chance to speak to Ron
and to
get to know him a bit better as well as find out what the BABS
project is all about in Part I, of a two part interview series
we will be doing with him.
♦
ARTICLE with WOLFMAN
SHAPIRO - Wolfman Challenges STPC Worlds Champion Pete Nelson,
The Strat Tournament Players Club, is known as the most
expansive and challenging series of Strat-o-matic Baseball Draft
tournaments world wide. Pete Nelson has been one of the main
organizers and supporters of these tournaments for many years as
well as one of their repeat champions in their classic Worlds
Tournaments. Pete lives close by to our editor Wolfman in
the Seattle area, so at the end of January, these two giants played a best
of seven game series following the tournament rules of this club. Find out
how this epic battle of SOM Baseball heavies went ....
♦
STRAT WISE with MARC WASSERMAN
commissioner of the Cyber Baseball Association (CBA) continues
his new column sharing various perspectives on SOM Baseball.
For his article this month he discusses about vintage
strat-o-matic cards and how to find the best deals and
prices to get them.
♦
INTERVIEW with CHRIS WILLIAMS, Strat Baseball Author,
Chris is a fellow strat baseball gamer and new member to our
newsletter who has just recently become the author of a new
book through Acta Sports by the title of, "Coulda Woulda
Shoulda", a very entertaining book about "What If" scenarios
that might have changed the history of baseball. In this
interview, meet Chris and find out more about his new book.
♦
SOM BASEBALL LEAGUE REPORT with WOLFMAN SHAPIRO
--
the editor of "The Ultimate Strat Newsletter" and 2012 CBA
Champion, turns his attention to talk to members of various
face-to-face
Strat-o-matic
Baseball Leagues that he has discovered through the league
registry service offered
on the Strat-o-matric
website. Each commissioner speaks about the history of
their league and their experiences. To read the interview
for this month, click on the link below:
INTERVIEW with
HARRIS JESSOP, Winter Need a Life League Commissioner (Netplay)
♦
ARTICLE with CHUCK TINKLER,
Chuck is one of our most popular contributors and is back with a
new article for his column, "The Chuck Stop", as he
continues his article he calls "Old Guys Rule" with
Part III.
This article deals with the value of a 1st round draft pick and more - Chuck
always entertains our readers with his insightful and colorful
stories and experiences - check out this latest edition now!
♦
ARTICLE with WOLFMAN
SHAPIRO - How to Setup Your Draft League Team, the Final Part
of this article,
Wolfman, finish the last segment of this three part article to share with
our members the meat and potatoes of his various strategies how to build his 2017
Skokie Wolfmen in the CBA, a Keepers computer league. In
this segment, he
discusses the results of the CBA draft held in early March with
both this written article and some supplemental entertaining
videos. By using his team as an
example, you may receive from this article some suggestions and
new strategies you can use to help build your own team and bring
to your fans
a league's
championship.
♦
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 idea and key principle about working together
to 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.
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