Wolfman:
Which
MLB team did you root for when you were younger and are you
still a fan of that team? Are there any ball players you really
followed or who were your favorites?
Earl: My childhood team was the Yankees, mostly
because my grandfather liked Reggie Jackson. I followed them
pretty ardently through the Don Mattingly years when they were
good-but-not-quite-good-enough given the playoff format. But the
strike - and college - made me lose focus on baseball for a
number of years. I got turned back onto baseball around 2000,
when I went to an Astros-Phillies game at the Vet. The Phillies
have been my team ever since. Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jimmy
Rollins, and Cole Hamels were all players I liked a lot during
their 08-09 Pennant years. And I'm looking forward to cracking
open the 1982 set I just purchased in order to rediscover a
whole host of players from my youth.
Wolfman:
How
did you hear about SOM Baseball? When did you first begin to
play the game?
Earl:
The first time I heard about SOM came while watching the
Phillies. Well, it was either the announcers or a story about
the team mentioned that their CF Doug Glanville was a
Strat-o-matic enthusiast. At the time I was playing a couple of
computer-based sims like Diamond Mind and Out Of The Park, and I
thought, "Why would I want to do cards & dice???"
Fast forward to early in the summer of last
year. I posted an image of my scorecard from an MLB game I
watched on TV on Twitter. A follower named Craig asked if I ever
tried SOM. In trading some messages he described the game, and I
decided I needed to give it a try. It didn't take long after
that to get hooked.
Wolfman:
What
is your history participating in leagues (face-to-face or
computer based)? Or do you focus mostly on doing solitary
replays? Tell us about your experiences playing strat baseball
please?
Earl: I have not played in an SOM league,
unfortunately. My experiences have mostly been involving my solo
simulation league, the Ten-acious Baseball League. I've also
done a few Skype games against Tabletop Baseball (the "other"
Earle haha) and SOM Delaware (Chris).
Wolfman:
Have
you ever played in any tournaments?
Earl: I have yet to play in an SOM tournament.
It's something I'd like to try down the road once I become more
familiar with the Super Advanced rules and gain more experience.
Wolfman:
What
do you like about Strat-o-matic Baseball and why are you such a
devoted gamer?
Earl: I enjoy strategy games, especially sports
franchise games. I also like realism. So SOM Baseball combines
both of those aspects depending on your level of detail. It's
real data implemented, but you can also morph it into something
completely fictional if you like. I'm sure that I will
eventually want to join a league and get that aspect going.
But what I've also come to love is rolling the
dice and reading the cards. There's something relaxing about the
pace of a C&D game. I like the way you can't really speed things
up much with C&D. If I have the chance to autoplay in a computer
simulation, it's too tempting to set tendencies and let the sim
run. With C&D, you're forced to make every decision. It's both
exhilarating and relaxing at the same time.
Wolfman:
Now
lets talk about Tenacious Strat, your Youtube Video Channel, how
did the idea come to you, to get this video channel started? How
long has it been in existence?
Earl: I started the channel in July 2016, a few
weeks after I began my Tenacious Baseball League project. I went
to YouTube looking for ideas to improve the way I was executing
my league. I saw a few accounts like the USBN account, as well
as Tabletop Baseball and Baseball Demos. Earle and David were
both beginning to roll out full games on YouTube. I'm also
familiar with the growing genre of video gamers streaming on
YouTube and Twitch (since my kids are infatuated). I thought it
would be worth a shot at creating a channel publishing a mixture
of how-to's and complete game videos detailing play in my
league.
Wolfman:
What
is your specialty that you cover on your Video Channel? Do
you have some special new videos coming out in the near future?
Earl: As I stated, my channel has become
focused on live-streaming SOM gameplay in my league. One of the
best innovations I implemented in the Tenacious Strat channel
was to live-stream games. The stream provides a chat room which
has fostered a burgeoning YouTube Strat-o-matic community. My
hope is that one day we have a whole group of Strat channels
where we interact with each other, play games against each
other, and maybe even see head-to-head leagues develop using
video as the medium for carrying out the games.
As far as special videos, I'll plug the Battle
Of The Earl(e)'s series that Tabletop Baseball and I have been
producing every Tuesday night. We continue to work out the
kinks, but we're about ready to finish up our second 4-game
series where we play head-to-head match-ups live on YouTube. In
our first series we decided to pit the 2015 Champion Royals (me)
versus the 2016 Champion Cubs (Tabletop) using the 2015 set.
We're about to complete the second series which uses the 2008
season. I'm managing the Phillies while Earle is the skipper of
the Angels. The best part is that you can go back and watch all
of these games in succession on our channels if you like.
Wolfman:
We always ask those we
interview if they have any tips or advice for our members that
could help them with success with their own game playing?
Earl:
This isn't very nuts-and-bolts, but whatever your vehicle
for Strat playing (league, tourney, computer, solo, etc), make
sure that you're having fun with it. We all get fed up with
certain things at times. Sometimes we need a break or a
different perspective. As long as it's fun, you're going to get
the most out of your experience win or lose.
Wolfman:
Have you had any
special experiences (certain games that stand out in your mind
that you played or series you played) while playing strat, games
that you will never forget because they were so amazing?
Earl: Before I began recording my TBL games, I
was rolling a game between the 2015 Rockies at the 2015 Brewers.
Colorado got out to a big lead, carrying a 9-2 lead into the 8th
inning. The Brewers stormed back against Colorado's weak bullpen
and walked them off 10-9. I also enjoyed a series I played on
the Tenacious Strat Facebook page, the 1922 NY Giants vs. the
1922 St. Louis Browns. I called it the World Series that Wasn't,
since the Browns and Giants finished with the same record but
the Yankees were 1 game ahead of St. Louis in the AL. I won't
spoil the ending if anyone wants to watch on the page. That Giants/Browns series was only possible thanks to a
loyal supporter named Jerry who graciously mailed me a
number of historic team card sets to help me get started. I may go back and find another instance of 3 to
roll off like that one.
Wolfman:
Finally is there
anything else you would like to share with our members that I
didn't ask you before that you think is important to let them
know about?
Earl: The primary motivation behind my channel
is growing SOM's fan base. My fellow "Strat-tubers" and I
mutually inspire each other to innovate and continuously improve
our channels. I'm hoping that as we keep rolling games, our
videos can provide the same kind of creative spark in others to
either purchase the game or get started on their own project.
There are already viewers that have gone out and purchased their
first SOM game based off of watching our channels.
And I'd like to mention the other YouTube
channels that have actively produced content in the last several
months: Tabletop Baseball, Baseball Demos, Fan-o-matic, Espo
Strat Baseball Network (ESBN), and Stratomatic Delaware. Of
course, you folks are doing a great job too. We appreciate our
viewers and supporters, especially the seasoned veterans who
engage in the chat room and offer their expertise to many new
players.
Wolfman:
And if a member of the
newsletter wanted to contact you or had some questions for you,
what is the best way to do so?
Earl:
Certainly! They can shoot me an email at
