Issue #1, January 2013, Part II
(in partnership with the Stratomatic Baseball Village & Stratogists.com)

** Interview with Mike SanClemente of Stratogists.com  **
    (by Wolfman Shapiro )

(Note from the Wolfman: - Mike and I have been in contact periodically since I returned to SOM Baseball in 2004. I salute Mike and his team for supporting our newsletter before even our first newsletter came out.  In the review copy of the "Rookie Review", I was impressed with the sports analyst that Mike is in touch with to create this fantastic tool to help all of us playing in Draft Leagues with the newest cards coming out. At the bottom of this page and also on our "Recommend Resources", is a link for you to obtain your copy of this Review. Mike is one of the most helpful and friendly people you would ever want to meet in the Strat world, orientated to helping his fellow gamers.)

Wolfman:  We are here now with one of the founders of Stratogists.com, one of our partners at this newsletter. Mike, thanks for this chance to speak to you.

First I'd just like to ask about your background. Have you always been a big baseball fan, did you play baseball when you were young, and which team do you root for living in Massachusetts?

Mike: I'm a longtime Red Sox fan, and my lowest point was clearly the Game 7 World Series loss to the Mets in 1986, on my 18th birthday.

The high point was 18 years to the day later: I turned 36 in 2004, the day the Sox swept the Cardinals, on the heels of their 3-0 comeback to defeat the Yankees in the ALCS.
 

I played baseball growing up; I still love to play the game, but I'm a much better basketball player than I am a baseball player.

Wolfman:  How did you first hear about Strat-o-Matic? Did you play in any leagues? Which card set (year) is your favorite or your favorite team?

Mike: Two friends introduced me to the game in 1982; I won the first full-blown league I was in, thanks to my unlikely #1 starter Bruce Kison.

My favorite Strat players of all time are Fred Lynn, Nolan Ryan and Rickey Henderson, with honorable mention to JD Drew.

During my sports-writing career I've been lucky enough to speak to or interview Boggs, Strawberry, Zimmer, Fielder, Rickey, Ryan, Greer, & Pudge Rodriguez. I can tell you Rick Reed, Rob Ducey and Rafael Palmeiro were the rudest guys I met, but Brian Buchanan, Torii Hunter, Steve Balboni and Tom Henke were incredibly kind. Ken Hill didn't want me to interview him; Phil Plantier didn't want me to stop interviewing him.

My favorite overall Strat team would be the 1982 Cardinals, since I love stolen bases.

Wolfman: Can you tell us about any usual or special experiences you have had with the baseball game? Do you consider yourself, being a Stratogist, an expert on SOM strategy?

Mike: Oh, I'm hardly an expert! The great thing about being on the Stratogists.com staff is I get to see, first-hand, the opinions of many smart people. Reading their forecasts in the Rookie Review, talking with them about trades, etc. helps shape my own decisions. (Editor's Note - maybe we should all write to Mike to get secret information on current players :-) )

Wolfman: How did Stratogists.com start? I see on your website you have several other partners listed. What is your specialty at Stratogists.com?

Mike: Stratogists.com has a staff of about 15 writers, and our specialty has become the "Rookie Review" (again see link below to get your copy). We have almost 100 free archived articles, from time to time I'll post a free video with player advice and analysis, and we have a nationally-syndicated guest writer who joins us each year to offer yet another expert perspective on rookies.

My two co-founders were Rick Speciale and Dave Welch. Rick is hilarious, wrote the HTML code for our initial website, and still plays baseball today, in Australia no less, throwing a fastball more than 80 MPH.

Dave is perhaps the best storyteller I know, and has covered the auto industry for Business Week for over 10 years, so his writing skills are through the roof. He once interviewed Harold Richman for the magazine, and once singled off Steve Avery.

Without these two guys, Stratogists.com doesn't exist.

Wolfman: Can you talk a little bit about the Rookie Review: how will a gamer working with the new cards (2013 based upon the 2012 season) benefit from having your Review.

Mike: They would save time and get many different opinions (we use over a dozen authors) on the 200+ rookies out there.

Every year, many in the hobby would lament how much time you have to spend to adequately prepare for each draft.

Hours of sorting spreadsheets, finding then deciding about different opinions on the 200+ available players, using so many sources to form a viewpoint...the Rookie Review saves you, heck it saves -me- all this time!

I actually had to skip doing the Review last year due to excessive hours at work; one manager recently told me that draft was "one of his worst" since he was without the Review for the first time in 5 years.

Wolfman: Is there any special tips about playing the baseball game that you would like to share with our readers, to help our readers become a better SOM baseball manager? What are  some key concepts?

Mike: If you're new to the game, I'd ground yourself in the math at first; there's a lot of numbers in the game, and you should know them better than your competitors. Maybe even play the board game so you know the inner workings; jumping right into the computer game is convenient, but you get a real grasp for things with the board game in front of you. After you have experience, I'd trust your instincts.

Wolfman: Why did you decide to become a partner of our newsletter? I know we have a bit of contact prior to this but what do you see can come of this newsletter. How do you see into the future, such type of partnerships benefiting the Strat community - is there some new project you hope to initiate that would be of interest for the baseball gamer?

Mike:  I of course had a curiosity with your nickname, but our contact came through our mutual friend, Marc Wasserman who introduced me to you. A lot of content on Stratogists.com is free, so I certainly support a free newsletter, it's great that you are willing to do this. Any big or small thing to help grow the enjoyment of this game is worth the extra time.

New projects? The biggest issue Strat faces, in my opinion, is how to grow the number of people who play it. With a 4 year old at home, my free time is short, but spreading the word about Strat is key to its survival.

Last but not least, I hope the Ultimate Strat Baseball Newsletter has many successful years ahead of it!

Wolfman: Mike thanks for your time to do this interview with us and for believing in our newsletter before we have even begun. We wish Stratogists.com all the success!
 

(Final Notes: If you have a particular question you would like to ask Mike, you can reach him at his email directly at: mike.s@mindspring.com -- also we plan to have some future discussions with Mike and his fellow Stratogists in the future, to deterimine if there might be a way for us to co-create some new projects together that will take SOM Baseball to a new level.)
 

Contact Us for Questions or Submissions:

Wolfman Shapiro
Founder, the Ultimate Strat Baseball Newsletter

email: wolfmanshapiro@gmail.com
facebook: www.facebook.com/wolfman.shapiro
twitter: @StratBaseball4U