Vol. II, Issue #3 - May 2014

** Recommended On-line SOM and Baseball Resources **
      (suggested resources by the newsletter team as well as to honor
our guests who have appeared in issues of the newsletter
as well as groups and individual who support the newsletter)

{ Wolfman: This webpage contains various on-line Strat-o-matic Game resources (predominately for the Baseball game) as well as other resources related to MLB baseball that can help you in your game play.  It has been my experience linked to my league play that there are many on-line tools one can use to help build their teams or to supplement their game using historical tools.  This page will change over time as we have more and more additions. 

If you have know of other resources that you feel should be added to this list please feel free to contact us with your suggestions. Our policy is to list those resources or organizations which we personally know of or have had direct contact with these groups or the individuals who run them. Further, the spirit of this newsletter is about supporting our community and finding others who are open to work together. Such cooperation (such as the Strat Alliance or our recent merger to work with Stratogists.com and Bruce Bundy) only helps to create stronger environment for the SOM Baseball Game. This does not indicate however, if one of your favorite resources is not listed here that we do not approve of such. It just means that either we are unfamiliar with this contact or that they may have a differently philosophy and approach about how to create partnerships and affiliations then we do. Of course, no one is perfect.}

Resources that we Recommend
(special on-line websites we have uncovered of great value)

http://www.strat-o-matic.com
(Website for the Strat-o-matic (SOM) Game Company. This is the website where you can purchase the Baseball game (board game or computer game); all of the various baseball printed cards and the computer teams plus various accessories.  Of course the game company offers various other sports games like football, basketball and hockey. For 2013, besides releasing version 17 of the computer game and cards based on the 2012 MLB season, plus the following new full seasons were released: MLB 1891, 1938, 1961; Negro Leagues: 1920, 1931 and 1942; and a Japanese League from 1973. More cards were released in 2014 including the 2013 set and 1973 plus more Negro and international teams.

Further, the Range Rating File, which lists the fielding ratings for all the players on the field of the cards represented in the 2014 card set, was released this month (December). To get your copy of this file as a Microsoft Spreadsheet or Adobe PDF go to:

http://www.strat-o-matic.com/community/announcements/2013-baseball-range-ratings-preview

Also, you may want to check out their on-line baseball leagues and tournaments they offer with different sets of players from the 1880's through the new set for the 2013 MLB season and it also includes the Negro League players.  We will be covering this form of the gaming in future articles as Wolfman joins a tournament in late March (2014). To read more go to:

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/

(In this issue we feature the online games with SOM Baseball, please consult with the links shown below to read the three articles we are offering, one article explains how to play the game completely on-line.)

Note - we are not connected nor endorsed by the Strat-o-matic Game Company. Our newsletter is offered as a labor of love by our newsletter support team to enhance the game playing of our members and the SOM Baseball Community. We do our best to be as supportive as possible for the success of the game company. We do thank Adam Rosen, the Marketing Director for his help to support our attempt of an on-line tournament in October of this year.)

http://www.stratalliance.com
(Home website of the 2013 October On-line SOM Baseball Convention co-sponsored by the Strat Alliance which is a joint alliance of Pure Strat, Star Tournaments and the Ultimate Strat Baseball Newsletter along with Stratogists.com. Although our planned tournament or convention do not take place, the Alliance will continue and we hope to offer a similar on-line event in the near futue. This website gives you information about the first three Alliance partners and our thoughts about how to organize a special and new tournament for the future convention.  Here you can also sign up for their free newsletter (as we hope to eventually offer yearly on-line conventions) and to register for future conventions as we are able to organize them.)

http://stratomaticbaseballvillage.lefora.com/
("The Stratomatic Baseball Village" - a friendly and supportive online forum community for Strat Baseball enthusiasts. The key individuals who offer this wondrous forum includes Ken "rezzdogg" Dunning, founder/admin and Michael McLaughlin ("67mantle2-7"), admin/moderator. We also thank Ken and Michael for their initial help, advice and support last year (2013) as our newsletter was first starting out.)

www.cba-bb.net
(The website for the Cyber Baseball Association, a 24 team baseball league using the computer game which has existed since 1997. Wolfman Shapiro is the 2012 champion after seven years of hard work, Marc Wasserman, our so called "secret consultant" and author of the League Commissioner Column is the commissioner. The CBA is the first league to officially support our newsletter. The website contains the up-to-date standings of the league during the season which normally begins in March and goes through September/October.  The free report by Wolfman you received when you signed up gives his history in this league.)

Ultimate Strat Baseball Collectibles and Sporting Goods Store
(To help our members who are interested in Baseball Collectibles, uniforms and sporting gear we have worked out a deal with Amazon to provide for our members some amazing items linked to baseball that you can't find any where else.  So we encourage you to visit our store periodically and check out these special items. Instead of charging a monthly fee for the newsletter we rather keep it free for everyone but your purchases will help to compensate for our time and dedication to allow the newsletter to continue and come out each month.  Also the banner at the top of each page for the Amazon sports collectibles will also take you to our store - thank you!!)

www.Stratogists.com
(The 'Baseball Stratogists' group has been designed for those seeking a competitive edge in Strat-O-Matic baseball. 'Baseball Stratogists' was created by three Strat buffs and game veterans (Dave Welch, Rick Speciale, and Mike San Clemente) as the essential guide to good drafting and better game play. They share each year a "Rookie Review".  We thank the Stratogists for becoming a partner in alliance with our newsletter and for their support.)

To obtain a copy of the "2014 Rookie Review", the 9th annual publication, you can read more about this special document (and order your copy at a slight discount) at:

http://www.ultimatestratbaseball.com/Stratogist-Rookie-Review-Dec2013.htm

http://StratTPC.com
(Strat-o-matic Face to Face Tournament Association known as the Strat Tournament Players Club (STPC) which offers a series of live and on-line SOM Baseball tournaments (via Skype and Netplay). Started in 1996, this group formerly known as the Star Tournaments took over for the TBA group and has numerous tournaments each year with their champion tournament called the Worlds, held in January of each year.  The section of the U.S. covered by these tournaments is in parts of the Midwest of the U.S., the western states and west coast and several southern states in the U.S.  The tournaments use a format of draft a team of 25 players from the most recent released SOM Baseball cardset with a stadium. 

http://www.purestrat.com
(Purestrat is the western region of the Strat Tournament Players Club and handles all face-to-face tournaments in this region plus the on-line touraments utilizing Skype and an electronic dialer. 

http://www.strat-o-matic.net/
(This is another premier SOM forum developed and the brain child of Alex Redovian with 2400 members that covers all of the various strat-o-matic games. In addition, Alex, who is a programmer has developed an on-line dice roller for both the baseball and football game which is available for free. The tournaments done on Skype by Pure Strat (western division of the Star Tournaments) uses his dice rollers.)

www.facebook.com/ImbaStratOMaticBaseballLeague
(A face to face league for Strat-o-matic Baseball located in the New York / New Jersey area with 18 teams. They also have their own online forum linked to the league at: http://imbastrat.proboards.com/index.cgi -- this becomes our second baseball league to support and help us let others know about the newsletter)

http://www.stratfanforum.com/
http://www.stratfanforum.com/forums/forum.php
(Welcome to the Strat-O-Matic Fan Forum. A dedicated online community who have been discussing Strat-O-Matic's board and PC games since February 2001. This forum covers all of the sports games offered by Strat-o-matic. We interview the founder Dan Patterson in Issue #2 of this newsletter)

http://www.oneforfive.com/category/strat-o-matic/
(Paul Dylan, WA, U.S. - blog site that contains all kinds of articles about Strat-o-matic in this part of his site with some powerful ideas and insights about the game, Paul is a member of our newsletter as well and is doing an interview about us for his site.)

http://flory.net/twsl/
(Ted William Strat-o-matic League, founded in 2002, 24 team netplay draft baseball league, one of several baseball leagues supported by Nick Flory on his website. Mr. Flory doesn't have a main page for his site that lists all the other 67 baseball leagues he supports but you can see a list of them by going to the Ted Williams league and go to the menu on the left hand side of the page and click on "Other Sites" and a list of all the baseball sites pop up. We wish to thank TWSL heads Mike and Larry for introducing us to Nick, who has our newsletter logo shown on his sites and shared the newsletter with all the different leagues which saw a substantial growth in our membership - thanks Nick, Mike and Larry.)

www.somhoops.com
(A Fan's Guide to Strat-O-Matic Basketball created by Jason. Somhoops offers a rating guide for Basketball with the permission of the game company. We recommend Somhoops as a great site to visit for our members if you like Basketball plus we are grateful for their support to announce our newsletter to their members who similarly love the baseball as much as we do.)

http://somtour.net
(Strat-o-matic Face to Face Tournament Club, Series of live and on-line SOM Baseball Tournaments, predominately held in the Eastern Part of the U.S., some parts of the midwest as well as offers tournaments into Canada. They also offer throw-back tournaments where they draft a team from SOM Baseball cards of past season instant of the current and have other special services they offer. They were established in 2009.

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/tournament/19
(The 2014 Barnstormers Tournament, which is a yearly tournament held that utilizes the SOM Baseball Online gaming system and uses what is called the All Time Greats card set. This card set comprises the best MLB players who have received a card in any season printed by Strat-o-matic including those who had printed cards and those players who have just a computer image. Barnstormers plays six draft leagues choosing to begin with 25 players and a stadium. There gamers qualify for the playoffs by points and play one or two more leagues to find their champion. This tournament has existed since 2001.)

http://www.strat-o-matic.com/community/glenn-guzzo-column
(Column by Glenn Guzzo - periodic articles by "Strat-o-matic Fanatic" Author Glenn Guzzo shared on the SOM Website that covers all the different games. We interviewed Glenn in our first issue.)

http://www.strat-o-matic.com/community/podcast
(Podcasts done with well known SOM figures by Steve Reiter shared on the SOM Website, in a future issue we will share an interview we did with Steve.)

https://www.facebook.com/billy.sample.75
(This is Billy Sample's facebook page, where you can chat with this ex-Major Leaguer. I have found him very friendly and open to discuss his experiences as a ball player for Texas, the NY Yankees and Atlanta as well as a sportscaster, interview in April issue)

http://users.wowway.com/~faust05/index.html
(The website linked to the genius of Bruce Bundy, who has developed and shares his formulas that can help a person create their own SOM baseball cards. On his website he additionally shares his advice how to improve your play in the baseball game, interviews with key people in our community and is a tester for the game company.  In this issue we have an interview through Bruce with Steve Barkan of the Game Company and also Bruce acts as an advisor for the newsletter and is one of regular columnist with his "Strat Thoughts" column.)

In December of 2013, Bruce Bundy released his "SOM Projection Sheets" to forecase the new baseball cards coming out by Strat-o-matic for 2014. To read more about the Projection Sheets or to obtain your own copy visit Bruce's page on our site at:

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

Column and Blog by Jeff Polman

http://mystery58.wordpress.com
(his current blog postings, been involved with SOM since 1964. Is one of the few people to have a column on the SOM website, along with Glenn Guzzo, is also a member now of our newsletter)

http://www.strat-o-matic.com/community/jeff-polman-column
(Jeff's column on the SOM website, writes about all kinds of ideas and stories linked to the SOM Baseball Game) 

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Special On-line Tools that are Available
(different newsletters and special reports )

http://www.v-j-enterprises.com/Secrets-of-the-Wolfman-d.htm
(The Wolfman's first e-book to discuss his secret strategies, for time after time, placing his league teams into the playoffs. This is part one of his report, about how to win fast!  He uses his experiences in his current league the Cyper Baseball Association {CBA} and his 2012 Championship to hold nothing back. If you have been struggling in your draft league (face-to-face or computer) or draft tournament, this document will help you tremendously.  It comes as PDF. This document could be the difference between another year (or tournament) of frustration or a chance to get to the top.  Mostly geared for league play but could be helpful with the current tournaments who use a draft.  In honor of the September 2013 On-line SOM Baseball Convention this e-book is offered to anyone by a donation.)

http://www.ultimatestratbaseball.com/Stratogist-Rookie-Review-Dec2013.htm
(The Stratogist.com Rookie Review, is a special guide published each year - the 2014 Guide is the 9th edition of the Guide that will discuss the top 200 Rookies, who either became key players in the 2013 season, which will reflected by the new 2014 SOM Baseball cards or are future young players you wish to draft for your team in your leagues. Our members of our newsletter by order this guide on the page above will receive a $3 discount or a special price when ordered with Bruce Bundy's "2013 SOM Projection Sheets")

http://www.ultimatestratbaseball/SOMProjectionSheets-Dec2013.htm
(The 2013 SOM Projection Sheets by legendary Bruce Bundy created through the special formulas that Bruce has developed with a 95%+ accuracy on creating the cards that Strat-o-matic will release for 2014. The Sheets are in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet format, one for the hitters and one for the pitchers and Bruce also includes articles (in PDF format) that discusses his formulas. These sheets are offered at a significant discount via our newsletter and a special price if order in combination with the Stratogists.com Rookie Review for 2014.

http://www.outsiderbaseball.com
(This online weekly baseball newsletter is offered by Scott Simkus.  Mr. Simkus is a base historian who in each issue offers another special story related to various individuals and teams who have been involved with MLB. There is a yearly subscription fee to receive this newsletter.)

http://www.baseballamerica.com
(Baseball America is an organization dedicated to tracking young baseball talent throughout high school, college, the minor leagues and the major leagues. They offered a website filled with all kinds of timely information and several publications.)

http://www.sabr.org
(Society of America Baseball Research, with over 6000 members and has existed since 1971. There is a membership fee to join - gives you an opportunity to share and discuss anything about the game of baseball with its members. Also SABR prints its own books and journals and has members from people who have been personally involved in professional baseball as well as fans.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/
(Another website that focuses statistically on many aspects of the game of baseball including the best and most talents major league prospects that are coming up with all kinds and tables and charts. Major League Ballclubs hire this group to help them with their various strategies for their teams. Their website has all kinds of articles and blogs plus the group publishes their own guides. In our July 2013 issue, we will be sharing an interview with Joe Hamrahi, the President who is an avid SOM baseball gamer and credits SOM for starting him on the path to work with baseball statistics. Look at our March 2014 issue for a review of the annual guidebook that publish called "Baseball Prospectus 2014".)

http://www.baseballinfosolutions.com
(The premier baseball website by John Dewan and his team, to analyze and record every baseball statistic that one can think of. This company provides Strat-o-matic key data needed in order to create the baseball cards each season as well as works with and supports every team in Major League Baseball. They were originally known as Stats, Inc. but have evolved into a new company. To follow "John Dewan's Stat of the week" go to: StatOfTheWeek.com or follow John on Twitter at: @FieldingBible)

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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 RALPH POLUMBO, 2013 GUSSOMO league champion.

♦  INTERVIEW  with BILLE DEANE, MLB statistician, researcher and author.

♦  SOM BASEBALL WORLD NEWS, the current status on the Strat Tournament Players Club and SOM Tours, a final farewell and honoring of Hank Smith.

♦  INTERVIEW with CARL KIDWILER, sports photographer and collector
(Special photographs of old NY Yankee players in his collection.)

♦  QUESTIONNAIRE 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 questionnaire which Hank and Wolfman developed in 2007, Hank shares his secrets and keys for winning in tournament
play based on drafting your team. If any member is so inspired there is a blank form of this questionnaire you can fill out and send back to us to help us collect more data we can share at some future time.

♦  SOM BASEBALL ONLINE REPORT with WOLFMAN SHAPIRO -- editor of "The Ultimate Strat Newsletter" and 2012 CBA Champion, the "Wolfman" explores a whole new world of playing the SOM Baseball game through the online gaming system which Strat-o-matic Offers. In 2001/2002, Strat-o-matic agreed with The Sporting News to offer a version of their game which could be played completely on-line using a web browser. In 2012, SOM told full charge of this system and there is a whole community now of people who are involved in
all type of draft leagues including a unique style of holding tournaments. In this issue, "Wolfman" explains how the gaming system works and you sign-up for a league plus he interviews the commissioner of the Barnstormers Tournament and the 2013 Champion of
this tournament.  To view this three part report, click on the links of the articles to read shown below:

ARTICLE: Introduction to SOM Baseball Online (the online gaming system)

INTERVIEW with MIGHTY MOOSE (R. Johnson), Barnstormer's  Commissioner

INTERVIEW with BRUCE FOSTER, Barnstormers Tournament 2013 Champion

♦  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 continues to focus his discussion on his own league the CBA and shares the websites of other special baseball leagues linked to the Strat Alliance.

♦  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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