Vol. III, Issue #4 - December 2015

** SOM Baseball Cards with Tom Nahigian **
      (thanks to our friend Tom Nahigian and his complete collection of SOM Baseball Cards we go
       back into the past to share some of the first cards issued by the game company!!)

(Notes from the Wolfman: In January of 2013, our first issue, we introduced a quiz of our members related to specific questions linked to any of the SOM Baseball cards ever printed. Specifically we were asking about unique aspects of the cards related to the performance of the players.  However, because only a few people, like our good friend Tom Nahigian (who is highlighted in this article), have the full collection of the cards ('The Collector' as Glenn Guzzo called him in his book on Strat), the responses to our quizzes dwindled to nothin' eventually.  So to celebrate Tom's birthday in June of 2013 and then again in the August issue of that year, we shared the image of a few of the cards that SOM printed in 1960 (just an All Star set) and then 1961 as well (an all star set and the top two teams in each league).  I thought again, for his issue we might take a peek again at some of these amazing early version of the Strat Basell cards -- to view how the baseball game has evolved so much in the 50+ years of its existence. Some key features of the existing version of the game (just considering the basic side of the cards today) had not been developed yet as we look at some more cards from 1961.

I first met Tom in person when I visited my father in Chicago in 2005. At this time I was living in Holland and usually once a year I would come home to be back in the U.S.  Now in April of 2013, we did an interview with Tom, you might remember if you have been our member since then. However if not, to learn more about this personal good buddy and fellow SOM fanatic, and how he was able to create his collection, check out this interview using the link shown below.

LINKS TO PREVIOUS ARTICLES THAT SHARED EXAMPLES OF THE EARLY CARDS

http://www.ultimatestratbaseball.com/USBN-6-2013/Baseball-Cards-TNahigian-June2013.htm

http://www.ultimatestratbaseball.com/USBN-8-2013/Baseball-Cards-TNahigian-August2013.htm

What did the Baseball Cards Look Like in the First Years?
(shared by Tom Nahigian, starting back in 2013, as we slowly share these cards )
 

1961 Based Cards
(More card images from the 1961 Yankees and Dodgers - Hitters)

New York Yankees

Los Angeles Dodgers

(Again in 1961, no fielding ratings or X chart existed plus the results shown in
lower case for outs and getting on base [hits/walks/errors] is capitalized)
 

Note from the Wolfman: We again want to thank Tom for his help to allow our members for this rare view into the history of the development of how the baseball cards have evolved over time. Of course there are modernized versions (card sets) of these early seasons that the game company now offers along with the computer rosters.  Again, as we mentioned in the July issue (2015), the mysterious GROUNDBALL E (showing up on a result of 3 or 11 on the cards or a dice roll chance of 2 out of 108) found on both the hitter's cards and pitcher's cards and a FLYBALL E (showing up on 2 or 12 on the cards or a dice roll chance of 1 out of 108) on the hitter's cards only are automatic errors (since there were no X-ratings yet for the card).  The GROUNDBALL E was a one base error (but the error wasn't credited to any fielder) and a FLYBALL E was a two base error (again not accredited to any outfielder). Just very interesting to see the format of the early cards aye?
 

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