So we meet here
again. Glad to have you all onboard with us here at the
newsletter. So here I go once again, "Rolling the dice"
and hitting you with what comes into my Strat-o-matic mind.
Couple of things that have come my way this past month since
I last wrote this column.
For starters: How about some Rules issues
that came up in one of the StratAlliance leagues, which you
might find interesting. There was a decision made
to regulate the maximum use of miscellaneous rules. I imagine some
other leagues have discussed whether or not to allow certain
computer game only features to be used for draft league play.
Without question these features maximize the enjoyment of
the game, but, on the other hand do they alter the game too much from the dice and
card game that we know?
There are points to be made on each
side of this discussion. I was asked for and so I offered my opinion. For the most
part Captain Obvious says, "do what they guys feel is best
suited to what they want". Yeah, ok. Good way to polarize
a league and start a public debate over something so
innocuous. The great 'Max Rule Paradox' then of course
will appear. That
is it. It makes the game more realistic toward actual MLB play
recreations, but does it alter the version of the Strat-o-matic
Baseball Game as
we are used to playing it? Is is not a harmful set of features you know
guys... lets list them here:
Doubles/Triples
rule
Improve
Statistical accuracy
Pitcher's Clutch
Pitch around
Errors on
Pickoffs and bunts
More Baserunning
decisions and realism.
Throwing errors
OF Distribution.
These features
though are exclusive only to the computer game, and they do indeed affect the
logic and probabilities of your season and game play.
This is
clearly stated in the help section of the computer game. All the guides and prep
can not prepare some gamers for the factors that toggling
these extra features on can cause. Without transparency, leagues must
seriously decide whether they want to take the strategy out
of the hands of the gamers who are sending in their CM's or
playing their Netplay games.
The
Doubles/triples rules uses a randomizer which isn't too bad,
but what about the normalizing affect of the improve
statistical accuracy and outfield distributions? The effect is
not minimal and can drastically impact ball games, at bats,
and thus season's and pennant races. I will say this
much, if your league craves this accuracy mechanism, then no game is better,
period. These toggles are outstanding and work extremely
well. But some gamers want more control over their strategy
and even choosing which probabilities and cards are best
suited for their needs. This then is a Paradox right? I love
this, but I am not in
favor of these extra features for a draft league replay. I am definitely in favor for
recreations and simulations. Below is what the game company
states about these rules:
For a long
time the Strat-O-Matic board game player's tradeoff is getting
an improved game at the cost of a slight loss of game engine
visibility. This group of users are somewhat split on
whether or not to use the maximum rules, but it is clear
that most are using some, if not all, of them.
"So, just how is
the game engine altered? Well, this depends upon the mix of
the Maximum Rules that you have selected, but the game engine
changes fall into one or more of the following categories:
DICE ADJUSTMENTS
- Random numbers are used with a series of complex
calculations to determine whether or not to override certain
play results. If this determination is made, then there is
another dice roll that is made internally and the final play result is
displayed on the screen. The on screen dice do not animate
until the final play result has been determined.
SPLIT
ADJUSTMENTS - Random numbers are used, again with a variety
of calculations, to determine whether or not split card
readings are to be overridden. The split result is not
animated until a final determination is made of the play.
CARD ADJUSTMENTS
- Certain portions of the card results are overridden. For
example, say you turn on the "More baserunning decisions"
Maximum Rule. If you get a Single* the result
of the "*" (which
means that all base runners advance just one base) is
ignored and a more complex and realistic base running system
is used.
Considering
how the game operates, some leagues may want to explore this with
their rules committees and decide what fits for their own
particular
situations. For me there's nothing like reading the
sheets, and looking at the cards. I have an extensive
collection of vintage Strat cards from my youth and
other acquisitions I have made, and I love the dice and cards enough to
still use them, and look at them. Old traditions die hard,
and for my league the hidden variables are not the best fit
or us 'ole dice rollers...
Next up, how about
the Bruce Bundy's Projection
Spreadsheets? These sheets came in pretty handy for me in
my own league. They gave to me a really strong template which I could
rely upon for my insights on my team's cards. It's so
advanced that it even takes into account the sub chances of
the dice roll probability. It basically accounts for the
split cards results incorporated into the hit results.
Remember 3 dice, but 20 split possibilities. Bruce's sheets
have a key to help you understand these ratings. Check out
this page that we have on our site which discusses his
projection sheets so you can read how to use these
spreadsheets in more detail. To read more about the Bundy
Projection Sheets,
click here.
Now, to really get
the jist of how the cards and this probability thing works
and why it is important in understand the mechanics of the
baseball cards,
you should step back into time and read the Bundy Articles
on card creation. You can find these
articles located at:
http://www.cba-bb.net/Bundy.htm
It is the most comprehensive resource you could read to help
you understand the deeper intellect of Strat. It's an
old web page, but it has been around for awhile plus there
are some other retro Strat goodies on this page
you might appreciate. This is not for everyone of
course. It
does require some mathematical ability or reasoning. However
the math is not Common Core stuff, it's straightforward
'order of operations' you might say. Also known as P.E.M.D.A.S. if you will
{Parenthesis, Exponent, Multiply or Divide whichever comes
first. and Add or Subtract whichever comes first}. It is
the foundation if you want to reach the next level of your
game play, a master
level to exaggerate it a bit. It's basic college 101.
As they say, "If there is no
pain then there is no gain".
From our Very
Interesting Department: On this same Bundy webpage are some older StratAlliance
articles and interviews. Bruce Bundy had done some
insightful interviews with special individuals who are or
have been key individuals at the game company such as James Williams, Steve Barkan,
plus an
old interview with the computer game programmer Bob Winberry
plus even a StratAlliance interview with Hal Richman himself. I got a
kick out of reading and hearing these individuals again.
One realizes as you list to these materials how the baseball game has
changed and grown so much since then, we must thank all of
these amazing people.
Once again here is the:
Ultimate Strat Baseball Youtube
Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC93h4fGGI7ibBUuTxrwDrzw
From our Video Channel
shown above which is aired via Youtube:
James Williams, if you are not familiar with him (or read
our interview with him before) was an original Strat-o-matic employee who had a
key role in helping with the development of
the game. We recently uploaded a special interview
conducted with Mr. Williams by Bruce Bundy and I have to
tell you, it is priceless.
It provides the listener so amazing insights that reaches into the game
itself. Bruce and James discuss the testing
of the game, plus the creation of the college football game
too. You even get to hear,
who the best SOM employee gamers were. It's a fun ride Stratofanatico's! You can listen to this James Williams
interview and see some photos of the SOM crew provided by
Bruce on our video
channel. Also, if you go to our page "SOM
Baseball World News", in this issue, you will
find a direct link to this interview plus all the other new
videos we have added to our Video Channel for this release
of the newsletter.
So if you
are ready to check it out,
click here to go to our
World News Page.
You will also
find another
installment of the "Commsioner's Corner" as well on the
Ultimate Strat Baseball video. We are doing our best to
combine our video channel with the on-line newsletter to
offer to our members they very best information we can
gather and keep things interesting. These days, people like
to watch videos! So therefore, we strongly
recommend that you subscribe to our video channel so you don't miss
what we have coming up and we do have some great new videos
coming up for 2016.
For
example,
we
will once again have exclusive coverage of "Opening Day 2016" and
we have a few surprises lined up as well. It will be a
phenomenal year to be a Strat-o-matic fanatic and a member of this
newsletter. A little bit of a scoop here, there is a
rumor that SOM has really stepped up the baseball game for
the next coming year. It's always a treat to see what Bob Winberry
(the programmer) and the game company
come up with. Last year it was the draft component, and
who knows what could be next? I just can't wait for "Opening
Day".
Join us on this day and say hello. The opening day attendees get
everything first before anyone else as you all know.
Again, on our
SOM News Page, you will find more information about the range
ratings documents that came out this month, but here is what
I saw that stood for me: Kansas City gets 5 one rated
fielders. Sal
Perez, Hosmer, Dyson, Gordon, and Escobar. But note, Dyson
may get the 1 in CF, but drops to a 3 in RF and a 1 in LF
contrary to the 'OF Defense' rule. Holy Toledo. I can
recall the 1976 Big Red Machine having 4 ones. Can you name
them? Mike Trout got his one of course. Oakland's defense looks
very shoddy. Mostly 4's, 5's, some 3's. Fuld gets a one
though.
They are doomed. Steven Vogt gets a 3 at catcher, and that bat
should make him one of the top catchers. Ryan Goins
gets a one at2B, and looks like a good utility card coming with
multiple positions. AJ Pollock moves into the
elite with a one in CF, but Nick Markakis drops to a 3 in RF, shocker
there. Cincy's Kris Negron plays 'em all 'cept catcher,
though none too well, all fours... For a full list of all
the "1"-s SOM gave out for the new set, see our page called
"SOM Baseball World News" (click
here).
Speaking of
vintage cards, we strongly recommend you go to Moonlight Graham's Marketplace,
his website is -
http://moonlightgrahamsmarketplace.com/ --
they have some great vintage Strat cards for the hardcore Strat Fanatics,
all of your favorite players. Just E-mail them for a pricelist. Of course the
game company has a fantastic sale on their merchandise right
now too, so hurry before the holiday fever ends.
Gary Simonds'
website is still a great place to visit even though he hasn't linked
with us yet (but hopefully this might happen in the future).
Check his site out if you want some real Strat goodies like
great alternative ballpark photos for the Japanese leagues,
as well as MLB and MILB parks. There are SOM schedules, Historical seasons As
played, Board game resources, and so much more. Head over to
his website at:
http://www.oocities.org/gls84/somlinks.html and give
it a look.
Till next time,
--
Let
them dice roll!
Marc Wass
email:
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Contained inside this exciting issue of
Ultimate Strat
Baseball Newsletter:
(to view the various interviews, articles, columns and special
sections click on the links {underlined} and this will take you
to the appropriate webpage)
♦
RETURN TO NEWSLETTER MAIN PAGE
♦
INTERVIEW with MARC PELLETIER, another well known and successful strat baseball gamer in the
on-line version of the baseball game offers us insights from his genius.
♦
ARTICLE with
DOUG BRUNET,
another member of our newsletter shares his thoughts
about the game of baseball and its connections with
Strat-o-matic as well as his philosophies of how to succeed in
your game play. Doug is a member of the CBA Council, a computer
baseball league.
♦
ARTICLE with CHUCK TINKLER (Part II), a continuation
of the article by Chuck, one of our members sharing about a
real Strat Master that he met in his early days of playing Strat-o-matic
♦
SOM BASEBALL LEAGUE REPORT with WOLFMAN SHAPIRO
-- the editor of "The Ultimate Strat Newsletter" and 2012 CBA
Champion, the "Wolfman" puts out a call to
commissioners of various
Strat-o-matic Baseball Leagues that he discovers on the internet and
shares two more replies he received from these leagues to be interviewed and tell their stories!
This is the second part of this report.
To read the individual interview, click on the links below or
start with Part III and follow the in-page link to read the
second interview as well:
INTERVIEW with Glenn Wheeler, NASOMA, P-III
(F2F/Netplay/Computer)
INTERVIEW with
BOB COLLEARY, BVL + BFL, P-IV (Computer)
♦
SOM/MAJOR
LEAGUE BASEBALL WORLD NEWS with WOLFMAN SHAPIRO
, editor of "The Ultimate Strat Newsletter"
shares about the 2015 Baseball Fielding Rating File released by
the Game Company, revisits the status of what 2016 MLB
projections are already available to obtain and study and shares
about some of the new videos that are available on the Ultimate
Strat Baseball Channel on Youtube - more good stuff is on this
page - head over there NOW!
♦
REPORT with TOM NAHIGIAN (1961 cards)
Personal friend of the Wolfman, known in Guzzo's book as "The
Collector", returns and we take a peak at some of the early
strat cards printed from 1961 from the New York Yankees and the
Los Angeles Dodgers.
♦
ARTICLE about WOLFMAN SHAPIRO written by DONNA CHEVRETTE
--
the editor of "The Ultimate Strat Newsletter" and 2012 CBA
Champion, the "Wolfman" goes back into the far past and
pulls out one of his first articles to the Strat-o-matic Review
from 1973, when he really was becoming known as the "Wolfman"
(the Skokie Wolfman) as he
challenged one of the first female strat gamers, Donna Chevrette to a play
against him via play-by-mail. Two series were played
with All Star players from 1971, one report is written by Wolfman and
the other by Miss Chevrette, it was called "The Battle of the
Sexes", this month we hear Ms. Chevrette report of
Series II.
♦
RECOMMEND
ON-LINE SOM RESOURCES
--
On-line Strat-o-matic and Baseball related websites
that offer amazing information, special tools and products to improve
your game play
that we strongly recommend. In most cases, we have had personal contact with
these sources who agree with the principle to work together and help promote each other.
♦
BOOKS TO
DIE FOR and Become a BASEBALL GURU
-- This page
is
specifically about special books we are finding that either will
expand your insights about the game of Baseball, help you in the
creation of your current league teams or with your replays and
learn more about the Strat-o-matic
Baseball Game and Game Company's
history. We
have a special arrangement with Acta Sports, who is a publisher
of a number of great baseball books (including Bill James
Handbooks) to offer for our members
a 10% discount. We will continue to add more books to this page in the future
as we uncover other gems our members should know about.
Contact Us for Questions or Submissions:
Wolfman Shapiro
co-Founder/Editor, the
Ultimate Strat Baseball Newsletter
email:
wolfman@ultimatestratbaseball.com
facebook:
www.facebook.com/wolfman.shapiro
twitter: @StratBaseball4U
To Sign Up and Become a Member of this Newsletter
http://www.UltimateStratBaseball.com
(this provides direct emails when our bulletins
and next issues come out)
