** The SOMers Forum with Mark Heil **

So Mark, we would like to welcome to the Ultimate Strat Baseball Newsletter.

Mark:  Thanks, Wolfman.  The Ultimate Strat Baseball Newsletter provides a real service to the SOM community, and I am glad that SOMers has the opportunity to be featured in it.

Wolfman:  Mark, first I would like to ask you a few questions about yourself. When you were younger were you a baseball fan - what was your favorite team and which players were your heroes or the ones you followed?

Mark:  Growing up in Philadelphia, I cheered for the Phillies – and it’s a habit I can’t seem to shake!  I remember reading the Philadelphia Bulletin when the Phillies acquired Steve Carlton for Rick Wise.  At first, I was dismayed by the news.  Wise had pitched a no hitter the year before while hitting two homeruns in the same game.  I remember I was in bed when my father told me to get up and to come watch the end of that game.  It was a great memory for me.  Like Carlton, Wise was an upcoming pitcher, but the newspaper reporters strongly felt that Carlton was the better of the two.  And the of course, Carlton went out and had a tremendous year winning nearly half of the Phillies games in 1972 and become a Hall of Famer.  Wise put up some impressive career numbers himself, but they were not at Super Steve's level.

My siblings were frontrunners who cheered for the Cincinnati Reds.  In particular, my sister had a strong affinity for Johnny Bench.  My favorite was this guy named Mike Schmidt who hit below the Mendoza line in his rookie season.  He also hit 18 homeruns including 2 grand slams within a week of each other against the best pitching staff in the NL East – the New York Mets.  Nonetheless, I was subject to a lot of teasing that year, but I had the last laugh (at least on that subject!).

(Here we see Mark One visiting Fenway Park to watch Jason Verlander take on the Red Sox)

I remember my father taking us to a Phillies game in their new Stadium, Veterans Stadium.  It was a cold chilly night, so my father got us hot chocolate.  He arrived back just in time for Greg Luzinski to hit his first homerun of the season.  My friend who went with us was so excited, he jumped from his seat fist pumping the hot chocolate all over my father!

Of course, it was great watching the Phillies building around those guys as well as the fiery Larry Bowa and Bob Boone.  They went out and added Garry Maddux, Bake McBride, Richie Allen, Richie Hebner, Dave Cash, Tug McGraw and Ron Reed, among so many others.  So many happy memories and a feeling of hope and excitement, each and every season.  

Wolfman:  Did you play baseball when you were younger - like in little league or high school and if so what was your best position.

Mark:  Mostly, I remember playing pick-up games with kids in our neighborhood.  If we had 6 people we could play ball.  The batter called his field.  There was a pitcher, shortstop and an outfielder.  If you got the ball to the pitcher before the batter got to first, he was out.  Sometimes we would play a team from another local neighborhood.  I was primarily an outfielder and was self taught. 

I was far from a natural athlete, but spent a lot of time reading, practicing, and eventually became competitive.  I played little league and for my grade school baseball team.  But I went to a small private school and in 8^th grade, the school decided that we did not have enough players to field a team.  I missed freshman year tryouts due to knee surgery and sophomore year tryouts due to a family vacation (despite my fierce objections).  Junior year I tried out for the junior varsity team.  The first week of tryouts I performed well, including hitting a tremendous homerun.  (I still revel in it because it is one of my few highlights!)  But the second week, I just couldn’t do anything right.  So my baseball career ended.  I played softball thereafter, mostly for fun, but on a few competitive teams as well.  It wasn’t baseball so I never took it too seriously, but had a lot of fun through my 20s and 30s. 

Wolfman:  Did you play other baseball games before you met SOM?  What do you think about SOM Baseball? Now can you tell us how you learned about strat-o-matic? When did you get your first game and what season did you play with?

Mark:  In the early 70s, a friend of mine and I played Ethan Allen’s All Star Baseball.  Initially, this is where I started to learn about the history of baseball, how to score a game, compiling statistics  and calculating batting averages, slugging percentages and ERAs by hand.  Calculators were expensive back then!  (Concepts like WHIP, OBP, Ops had yet to be invented.  Yes, thank you, Bill James!)  In the Ethan Allen game, pitching statistics were purely a matter of luck as the game only used hitters cards, and that used to annoy me.  Half the game was missing!

Then my friend had gotten Strat-o-matic Football for Christmas:  Bert Jones, Lawrence McCutcheon, Fran Tarkenton, Bob Griese, Franco Harris., etc.  We learned how to keep rushing yardage statistics, passing yardage, punts, punt returns, etc.  We loved playing it, but about this time, my family moved to the other side of the city.  Our friendship slowly drifted apart, although I see his parents from time to time.  (In fact, I saw them earlier this year at my father's birthday party!)  I nagged the heck out of my parents to get me the football game, and for one of my birthdays, they did.  The problem was that football was neither my father nor brother really cared to play it, and I did not have any friends who got into it.  You really can’t play a solitaire version of the board football game.   

Eventually, I came to have a few friends down the street with whom I used to play those pick-up football, baseball and basketball games.  I had introduced them to SOM Football and we played some games, but no leagues or anything like that.  We were huge Phillies fans listening or watching games every night.  Then one Christmas, my friend got Strat-o-matic Baseball for Christmas.  I think it was the 1976 season.  We played it night and day.  His parents then ordered him the set of old timer teams.  Every weekend day from 7^th grade through senior year of high school, we played Strat-o-matic baseball.  I can’t tell you how many leagues we drafted and played.  Even though all of us went to different schools Strat-o-matic kept us together as we came of age.

In college, we had grown apart.  Occasionally, I would roll a game or two, but nothing serious.  Eventually the game wound up in my baseball drawer where it remained for many years.  In 2007, my 7 year old son found it in the drawer and asked me if I would play it with him.  I thought it was beyond him and put him off for about a year.  He was persistent.  Of course, part of me couldn’t wait to play with him.  So finally I agreed to play with him.  I could not believe how easily he picked up the game, and how quickly he absorbed it.  He loved playing it, and it became something we would do together.  Today he is a little more enamored with MLB2014. 

Wolfman:  Have you personally participated in any baseball leagues (card & dice or computer)?  What about tournaments?

Mark:  Aside from those leagues my friend and I organized, I never participated in a baseball league or tournament.  I remember receiving the SOM newsletters in the 70s and wanting to participate in one of those leagues.  It just sounded like a great time. 

On SOMers, we have organized some Group Participation projects.  The first one was the Hall and Heroes League where eight of us drafted teams from scratch.  It was a lot of fun.  "Seajaw" wound up edging me out to win the division and then beating Stargell8 for the Championship.    We have just finished our second group participation project:  2012 season with a twist.  Each team was able to draft three Hall of Fame players.  The other twist to the league was that teams were ranked against how well they performed in real life.  We had 8 members participate each managing two teams, an NL and AL team.  "Nitrous Oxide" managed the Colorado Rockies won honors by drafting Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Gaylord Perry. 

"Donnie Roll Tide" promotes a tournament he organizes every summer on SOMers.  One of our members attended and reported having a great time.  Donnie is planning another one this summer.  You may want to cover it in your virtual magazine.

Wolfman:  Do you have any special stories you can tell our members about a unique and amazing game you played (by yourself or in a league) - any special moments when you won a league championship, etc ....

Mark:  My son really wanted an SOM Randy Johnson card.  Finally, I was able to get the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks.  He was thrilled, and of course the minute we got it, he wanted to play a game.  It didn’t matter who the opponent was.  So I picked the 1980 Philadelphia Phillies placing Steve Carlton on the mound. The game lived up to expectations, very few hits and lots of strikeouts.  In the bottom of the first inning though, after Carlton struck out the first two batters, Reggie Sanders hit a home run, giving the Diamondbacks a 1-0 lead. 

Here we a window display of various Strat-o-matic products that Mark came across in NYC.  The store was called the Compleat Strategist on 33rd Street.  It was a few years ago when Strat-o-matic was celebrating its 50th Anniversary.

After setting the Phils down in order, the first time through the lineup, Johnson walked Lonnie Smith to open the fourth inning.  However, he got Rose to flyout, McBride to strikeout and Schmidt to groundout.  In the fifth inning, Manny Trillo hit a sharply hit ground ball to Tony Womak that looked like it had a chance to squirt through, but rolled a 4 using the 20-sided dice, and Trillo was out on a close play at first.  In the sixth with two outs, Smith again walked and stole second.  But Rose popped out to Mark Grace to end the inning. Meanwhile, on the other side, Carlton was pitching an incredible game for the 80 Phils.  After the first inning, he got out the next 11 hitters, striking out more than half of them.  Surprisingly, it was Johnson, who got the hit in the bottom of the fifth.  After that hit, Carlton only allowed two other hitters to reach base, a walk by Matt Williams in the 7th and a base hit by Finley in the 8th. That brings us to the top of ninth.  Three batters to go for personal Strat-o-matic history, even if I was rolling for the team that was being no-hit.  Del Unser pinch hit for Carlton to lead off the inning and promptly struckout.  It was Johnson's 12th strikeout of the day.

The next batter, Lonnie Smith, who had two walks and two stolen bases, hit a ground ball to Womack for the second out of the inning.  This brought Pete Rose to the plate.  The roll of the dice resulted in a 1-5: single 1-8, lineout SS 9 - 20.  I quickly picked up the 20 sided die and held it.  The look of anticipation on my son's face was priceless.  He could not decide whether to sit or stand.  To his credit, he never said a word, but his body language was undeniably yelling at me, "Come on, Dad, roll!"  Finally, I cast the die and let the "strat-o-matic gods" determine Johnson's fate.  And after tumbling for what seemed an eternity, the die settled on the number 13!  Womak makes the play.  Johnson's no hitter is preserved and history is achieved.  In all the years, I have rolled Strat-o-matic games, this is the only no-hitter I have participated in.

Wolfman:  What type of team do you like to manage in SOM, for example a pitching team with small ball or defense, or more of a hitter's team?

Mark:  I am offensive minded.  I refute the concept that good pitching always beats good hitting.  If you look at those teams with great pitching staffs of all times, it is amazing how few of them won a world series.  By contrast, the Yankees used offense (and money) to dominate.  They usually had one dominant pitcher supported by a cast of above average pitchers.  But ultimately, it comes down to run differential and being only offense or pitching won’t necessarily win you a World Series. 

Wolfman:  Now lets move on to the forum you oversee, called SOMers. Can you tell us how the idea of SOMers began?  Who came up with the name?

Mark:  Really, the idea for starting a forum was "Seajaw’s".  We had gotten to know each other at the Stratomatic Village.  There were a lot of people we whose commentary we enjoyed, but the Village was growing rapidly.  He and a friend were going to start a new forum.  I had planned to become a member of it while continuing being a member at the Village.  "Seajaw’s" friend was going to be the technical person, but he had some personal matters that prevented him from creating the site.  So I began looking at sites where it could host our site.  We looked at about 30 different hosts before selecting Activebaord by Sparklit. 

Before launching, we felt it was only fair to notify Ken at the Village.  Ken was very supportive, providing advice and posting a link to our new site.  I remained an active member with the Village as we were building SOMers, but a change in job changed how much time I could spend on SOM and I have been a lot less active there over the past few years.  I am glad the Village continues to do well even after the migration to a new host.   (Note: Also Ken at Stratomatic Village also gave us a great deal and help and advice to get this newsletter going as well!!)

I will take credit for the name.  Since we are all players of SOM, it seemed natural.  As "Seajaw" and I were forming the discussion board, we were e-mailing each other back and forth. 

Wolfman:  How many members do you have? Does SOMers only have forums for Baseball or do you cover any of the other SOM games?  Tell us what makes your forum or board different or unique from other SOM Baseball Forums? Do you know the locations from where you members come from?

Mark:  That’s a good question, Wolfman.  We have had a few hundred people sign up, but some have come and gone.  I would say we have a core group of 35-50 active members who are commenting several times a week.  We have a very active community with about 50 posts a day.

There are several things that make SOMers different:

1.  We are not trying to be the largest SOM forum.  We would rather have a core group of contributors who interact respectfully with one another than to be a large site having to police a lot of nonsense.  Life’s too short. 

2.  SOMers is a family friendly site.  Ideally, I would like this to be a place where fathers, sons, mothers and daughters would enjoy interacting.

3.  We tend to focus on projects and replays.  We don’t get into debates about the 10 greatest hitters of all time, although we did have some great threads a few years ago about the All Star Game and protecting the catcher after Buster Posey’s ankle got broken.

4.  We are not a complaint center for Strat-o-matic.  Members have frustrations with the company, but our site is not the place to air those grievances.  Complaints lessen the experience of other users. 

5.  At SOMers, we empower our members.  The member who starts the thread is the thread owner.  Some sites get concerned with threads going off on tangents or with members hijacking a thread.  Thankfully, we have not had a lot of problems with either of these issues at SOMers.  When it has happened, we (the administrator and moderators) coached the thread owner about how to handle the situation.  In 99% of the situations, that has resolved the issue.  If it doesn’t, then we reach out to the offending party privately and educate the member.  We have not had to threaten people with suspension or expulsion to deal with these situations.

6.  It is not my site or "Seajaw's" or "Nitrous Oxide's".  It is our member's site.  As administrator and moderators, our job is to keep a site that members come to have some fun and share their experiences playing Strat-o-matic. 
 

Wolfman:  What is there about SOMers that you are the most proud about?

Mark: 

1.  I am most proud of our members.  We have a great community of knowledgeable baseball/sports fans.  They contribute insightful comments to replays and various threads.  It is great to see how excited they get when someone throws a shutout or hits for the cycle.  They check in often and treat each other with respect.  We have young members and well those with silver linings. 

2.  Our moderators, "Seajaw" and "Nitrous Oxide", also deserve a huge shout out.  They keep the conversation flowing while also looking out for any potential trouble on the site.  Their knowledge of the larger SOM community is helpful.

3.  Finally. we have great projects and discussions on a variety of topics.  Here’s just a sampling:

          A.  "Nacster’s" computer replay of every season since the beginning of baseball.  He has his own 
               section for this massive project.

          B.  Gary’s annual season replay where has assumes the manager’s role and replay’s the entire
               season.  This year he is managing the 1967 White Sox.

          C.  "Stratfan70" is nearing the end of his 1964 replay … unfortunately the Phillies were nowhere
               to be found.

          D.  "Rollsox" is playing the World Series Losers Tournament.  ("Rollsox" is full of energy
               achieving success.)

          E.  "Stargell8’s" 1937 Negro Season Replay.  I learn so much from this thread.

And there are plenty of others.  "Seajaw" is renowned for his write-ups duing his replays and Nitrous Oxide has a great running thread proving the 1927 Yankees are the greatest team of all time.

Wolfman:  Now we ask this question of any SOM Baseball gamer, we interview - linked to strategies you have used in the game to help you have more success.  So what are the key strategies you use with your SOM Baseball teams that have helped you to build a successful team or take a pre-existing team to be very successful?

Mark: 

1.  Scoring runs covers up a lot of sins, and scoring runs starts with players who can get on base followed by those who can drive them in.

2.  Focus on finding pitchers who have great control. 

3.  Play within yourself.  You only get 27 outs in most ballgames!

Wolfman:  If a person wants to become a member of SOMers, how can they do this? If a person wishes to contact you and has questions about SOMers, what is the best way to do this?

Mark:  I would suggest that anyone who is interested come visit the SOMers just head over to: http://somers.activeboard.com. Look around.  Read some of the threads.  If you find yourself wanting to throw in your two cents into a conversation, click on register and join the site.  It takes less than five minutes and you can be contributing your thoughts.

If you have questions about the site, you should click on the Frequently Asked Questions section.  In this section, we discuss the idea behind SOMers, Members’ conduct and technical questions.  But to be fair, if you contribute positively to the conversation at SOMers, you will fit right in and have a great time on our site.

If your questions still are not answered, join the site and send an e-mail to me ("Tall Tactician" or markheil@yahoo.com) or one of the moderators, "Seajaw" and "Nitrous Oxide".

Wolfman:  Is there anything else you wish to share, which you feel might be important for our members to know which was not asked in the questions we have already asked?

It has been a great interview and I have had a lot of fun, Wolfman, but I would be remiss if I did not mention our host Sparklit.  Sparklit is the company which makes Activeboards available.  It is not Word or a page layout program, but you can make your thread as graphically interesting as you want using photographs, fonts and colors.  One of our members, Mark Fran Anthony is doing a replay of the 1994 Season.  I don’t think you can do this on other SOM sites.  So if you have a creative side and some talent, you can create a really interesting thread on SOMers.

We have a great community.  I mentioned some of our members, but clearly not all of them.  I hope that no one feels slighted or hurt because they or their projects were not specifically mentioned.

Finally, we have had some members who for one reason or another have stopped posting here, but were helpful in getting the site started (e.g., "BaseballJeff", "Clutch", "MartyMil", "ColavitoFan", "ScorpioRising2", "Mrpuna").  On the chance they may see this article, I want them to know how grateful we are and we wish them the best.

We are glad to count you as one of our members Wolfman. You have the Ultimate Strat Online Baseball Publication, and I hope that we will collaborate more in the future with you!

Wolfman:  Thank you Mark so much for stopping by today and giving our members an idea about another great on-line SOM forum.  We invite you or any of your members who have something to share with the SOM Baseball family (an article, a replay, etc ...) you are all welcome to share via this newsletter. All the best, Mr. Somer!!