Vol. III, Issue #4 - December 2015

** Welcome to USBN Vol. III - Issue #4 **

Comments from the Wolfman about this current issue as we finish on our third
year (2015) of publication with this next issue, providing for our readers the most unique and interesting aspects of Strat-o-matic Baseball with links to Major League Baseball.  Time to meet some of the most interesting people who are connected to
the game we love - along with happy holidays from the staff at USBN ...........
 

Hello again dear Strat Baseball Family and a happy holidays to you all. Welcome to our last issue for 2015.  Normally people use the end of the year to relax more, celebrate life with friends and family as well as reflect how this current year has gone.  So in this regard, besides wishing everyone a great Christmas and New Years, we want to extend our gratitude for your interest and support of this newsletter, as we finish our 3rd year of existence.  We had some great articles and reports this year didn't we.

We are also excited by this current issue as not only are there two more baseball leagues we interview but two of our members have contributed articles and we think this only makes our newsletter stronger.  Our newsletter is only strong from the support we receive from you, our members.  We are up to 1530+ subscribers now with an average of 20-30 new people joining each month.  And our creative juices keep churning as prepare for more amazing projects and articles/stories/columns as we prepare for 2016. 

This month thanks to SOM, we got a chance to peek at aspect of the new 2016 player set will be like based on another great season in MLB this year with the release of the fielding ratings for all the positional players. As there are many strat leagues who just finished their seasons for this year - we know begin to prepare for what the new cards will be like; which other MLB seasons will Strat release and if we will see more Negro or international teams.  Of course for our members who did take advantage of the Bundy Projection Sheets, you have a good idea what the cards in the new set will be like. Looking forward to these cards, I did add in our "SOM Baseball World News" page the sources to check out for 2016 projections of the MLB players -- a few of these on-line sources has already published their information (I tell you which ones) plus this page also makes sure all of our members know how to get the 2015 Range Ratings as they are called plus which players got "1" ratings for the new set.  Finally this page discusses some of the new videos we have on the Ultimate Strat Baseball Video Channel on Youtube.

Further in the current issue you will find another interview with a very successful player with the SOM On-line Baseball Game via the game company's website, a French Canandian Marc P.; our good buddy Chuck Tinkler continues to tell us about the "Master" he met in part II of his article; and my good friend Doug B. who is on the council of the CBA, the league I compete in, shares his first article discussing Strat, Baseball and strategies.  I think I saw a new person who was a woman recently joining our newsletter (suspecting this by the name) which might be linked to the old SOM Review article I shared last month, playing in the 1970's against Ms. Chevrette, so Part II of our series is given here as well as we hear from Ms. Chevrette.

Additionally, Marc Wasserman, the CBA commissioner comes back with Part II of his "Strat Wise" column discussing the Miscellaneous Computer Rules available to computer leagues as well as some things on our video channel; and we have two more baseball leagues we talk to (NASOMA and BVL) that each have their own interesting stories to tell us.  Finally, once again we dip into the original cards from 1961, thanks to our good friend Tom Nahigian to look at some more 1961 Yankee and Dodger hitters.  And as always we have the latest sharing of on-line strat and mlb resources we recommend plus books we think would be of interest.  This newsletter should keep ya' all busy during this time of holidays with some good reading, new ideas and some interesting videos!

Now, I am sure many of our members are following what is transpiring in MLB, as the free agents find their homes, trades are going on as each team prepares for its 2016 season (just as those of us in leagues are doing) and we all speculate on which of the top 100 Prospects will be the new superstars for their teams as well as the new foreign players from countries like Japan, Korea and Cuba, that will make their way into MLB.  So although its a quiet time at present, it still is an opportunity to take this downtime and do your analyze of what to expect for next year in Baseball. 

I know in my league, the CBA, I have the #2 draft pick and although our league allows us to pick uncarded players who have a contract with a major league franchise (whether in the majors or the minors and thus many of the new young players to get their 1st card is taken), I am still thinking who should our team take since we are in a rebuild mode and there are a number of good choices.  Then as a Chicago born individual, you can imagine how excited I am about what the Cubbies are doing, now that their young players are starting to perform and all the new players they are bringing in.  Maybe the movie "Back to the Future" was off by a year?  Will the Cubs be the new KC Royals - will these two teams meet?  Or is it the time for the Giants to return?  No doubt MLB 2016 will be another exciting year as will the new year coming for all of us with our future Strat Game Play (replays, leagues, tournaments and more).  I am still thinking, if I have time to go back in to another skype tournament that the Strat Tournament Players Club hold or go back into the on-line game and see if I can win with a hitter's team - maybe we could find another ex-player to accept a challenge from one of our members.  What we do next year is only limited by our imaginations which are unlimited!

So dear readers you now have at your fingertips the next and last issue of this year (right before Christmas, our gift to you) of the newsletter you love.  Dig in - roam around - take your time to digest all we have to offer for you in this issue. Please, feel free to tell your all strat buddies about us and as always, always, this newsletter is and will forever be FREE.

There is a small request and suggestion I wish to make, in alignment with the holiday season of sharing and giving - as you know on each page, we have a little area called "Support the Cause" where we ask for your donations, to help the newsletter.  There are some costs we have that are coming up which allow us to keep our website going, that is where all the newsletters are being stored.  So I ask to each member, if you might be able to make just a very small contribution (using the "Support the Cause" area below), this would really help us with our expenses.  Therefore, consider the following proposal:

Let us imagine it is after Christmas, and each member of the newsletter says, "Gee, if I offered to the Ultimate Strat Baseball Newsletter just $1 and all the other members did the same, this not only would help with their costs to keep doing such a fine newsletter but could also provide additional funds to initiate other cool projects that could benefit all the members for next year ... wouldn't that be great?"  Well as I said, it is just a simple proposal but who knows what might happen, we thank you :-)

Note (reminder): Once again, if you have just joined us recently or haven't had a chance to read all of our bulletins and prior newsletters (since January of 2013), you can find everything you desire by visiting our archive webpages at:

http://archive.aweber.com/stratbaseball

So here we are go again, as MLB has its time of trades, signings and players shifting teams, as we Strat-o-matic Baseball Game fanatics are preparing for the new teams the game company will grace us and release soon ... and finally as some of us even contemplate what presents Santa might bring us, we offer you all the new version of our newsletter.  We thank you all for your kindness and support and don't be shy to contact us if you have some suggestions how to improve the newsletter or a written contribution to offer. Its all good!!

To a wondrous holiday season, a great end to 2015 and to a glorious
preparation for 2016 and all the great experiences and stories which await us!

Wolfman Shapiro
on behalf of the team at USBN


PS -- if you didn't receive the special file (excel spreadsheet) we attached to our invitation to get your copy of the November issue of USBN (for whatever reason), this now yearly gift we receive from Bryan Kernal, which has the final 2015 MLB Stats of every player who was active during the past season including their lefty/righty splits and game positions, is available below. Just click on the link below and this spreadsheet will come up in your browser to be downloaded to your computer:

http://www.ultimatestratbaseball.com/USBN-11-2015/2015FinalMLStats.xlsx

PSS -- one of the reasons why we were only able to complete four issues this year is linked to what I do for a livelyhood, which a few of our members already know as it kept me quiet busy this year resulting in some long distance travels. This is as a public speaker, author and investigator of various world mysteries and subjects linked to what is being called "the paranormal".  While these areas have nothing to do what-so-ever with SOM, we (my wife and I) are coming into contact with special information that could be of some interest for a few of our members who have a similar interest.  So in accordance with the energy of the holiday festivities and following the nature of this time to celebrate and share with each other, if there are any of our members who resonate with such studies, please feel free to contact me via my email below and perhaps let's have a chat. I think you will find the information we are sharing with others very interesting and profound.  Again I wish to all our members a most pleasant and happy time as we reach the end of yet another most interesting year.  Thank you and God Bless  :-)

 

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