FLASH: The Bruce Foster Challenge - What it is?
by Wolfman Shapiro

Last year we covered what the On-line SOM Baseball Gaming System is all about through various editions of the newsletter. Briefly, this is another option that any Strat Player has where they can participate in new leagues or tournament which is totally done via your web browser. Each league consists of 162 games and has access to different sets of players that SOM has released a card or computer image for from the 1870's through present day (including Negro League ballplayers). You play three games a night (54 days to complete a season) and the top teams qualify for the playoffs till a champion is discovered.

In an interview we did in May of last year, we spoke to a gamer named "Bruce Foster" who had just won the popular on-line tournament called "The Barnstormers Tournament" that sees about 200 participants go through a number of leagues over a year's time to qualify for the playoffs and tournament title. Really this tournament is one of the most grueling and testing that has every been devised linked to any version of SOM Baseball. I actually played in one of the leagues that was a part of the Barnstormers tournament  last year and our team (the Skokie Wolfmen) didn't do so well using the set called the "All Time Greats" which have the finest players who have ever played baseball of all time.

At the end of this new story, please find the interview we did in May of 2014 with Bruce Foster, shortly after he won the 2013 Barnstormer's Tournament where he discussed his strategy how he did it.  Then in September of 2014, you can read about my experience with one of these on-line leagues using the All Time Greats and how our team did as well.

However, after I did the interview with Bruce, I asked him a very simple question. This question was based on his consistent success in every league he has played in basically using the on-line version as almost always his teams qualify for the playoffs including being one of the finalist for the "Barnstormers Tourament" consistently.  My question was, "Bruce, if I used your system, could I duplicate your success?"  I promised Bruce that I would not reveal any of his key strategies (or what we call using a non-disclosure) so that another person would know exactly what he was doing. Of course, via the "Barrnstomers Tournament", the commissioner keeps a history of each tournament so you can see what players formed any team.

Bruce agreed my proposal and I told him I would write an article about how my team did in a league following his system for the newsletter. However, it took quite a few months before both Bruce and I had time to connect and for him to explain his system and help me in the selection of the players we drafted in the league that eventually I joined.

Thus at the end of February, following the instructions I received from Bruce I went through the draft process in the Great Salt Lake League, which is a league that uses the "All Time Great Players" with a DH and you have 100 Million Dollars to spend on inquirying your players.  In the first part of the team building process you bid on the players you wish to have and most of the players recommend by the Foster system I did receive in the first pass. But still I had to go through waivers, where we exchanged or picked up 7 more players and finally I let go and exchanged at the end, just before the season started another 3 or 4 players.

Here is our roster for this league  (numbers shown are from their performance in the year indicated):

Starting Pitchers:  Greg Maddux (1995) 19-2 1.63 ERA
                               Dutch Leonard (1914) 19-5 0.96 ERA
                               Pete Alexander (1915) 31-10 1.22 ERA
                               Johan Santana (2004)  20-6 2.61 ERAa

Our other pitchers are not so important as we hardly use them in relief but included
Mike McCormick (1962, R - only because you must have a fifth starter)
Frank Linzy (1972) (RHP 9R); Mark Clear (1979) (RHP 7R); Joe Klink (1990) (LHP 5R) and;
Bob Shirley (1986) (LHP 8L)

Catchers:  Alan Ashby (1987,S) .288 with 14 HRs;  Willard Hershberger (1940, R) .309 (in a platoon)

1st Base:  Wes Parker (1965, S) .238 1b-1e5; George Burns (1929, R) .224 (in a platoon)

2nd Base: Nap Lajoie (1901, R) .426, .463 OB, 2b-1e17

3rd Base: Ed Delahanty (1894, R) .407, .478 OB, 3B-3e29, LF-2(-2)e11

Shortstop: Bob Wallace (1901, R) .283, SS-1e21

Leftfield:  Ty Gainey (1986, L) .300 LF-2(+2)e16;  Tony Phillips (1988, S), .203 LF-4 (in a platoon)

Centerfield:  Earle Combs (1927, L) .356 CF-1(+3)e10;  Mike Kreevich (1941, R), .232 CF-2 (platoon)

Rightfield: Cristobal Torriente (Neg, L) .354, .434 OB, OF-1(-4)e7; Terry Harper (1982,R) .287 RF-2 (platn)

DH:  Gates Brown (1968, L) .370 .442 OB; Jose Cardinal (1980, R) .263

Ball Park: Petco Field (2005), Singles L -1 R -1; Homeruns L-1 R-1

Note: Tony Phillips in 1988 played every non-pitching position, Only Lajoie, Delahanty and Wallace play againt all types of pitchers)

At the time of the publishing of this issue of our newsletter this team, a reincarnation of the Skokie Wolfmen had a record of 29-22, with a team batting average of .263 and an era of 3.26.  We were in First place in our division by 3 games and tied 2nd overall for best record.

Pete Alexander is our best pitcher at 9-1 with an ERA of 2.66 which is pretty good to be playing and pitching against the best hitters in the history of baseball.  Our best hitter is Nap Lajoie hitting .363 with a .400 OB. This team is definitely a small ball team. 

Each night we play a 3 game series. The season began on March 2nd.

If you would like to keep up how the Skokie Wolfmen are doing in this league you can visit our team page on the Strat-o-matic website at:

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/sim/1395025

To read the Interview with Bruce Foster from last year, where he discusses to some degree the strategy he has used to have consistent success in the online gaming environment visit:

http://www.ultimatestratbaseball.com/USBN-5-2014/BruceFoster-May2014.htm

To read my report how I did in my first 162 game league on the online SOM Baseball system playing in one of the leagues for the Barnstormer's Tournament please visit:

http://www.ultimatestratbaseball.com/USBN-10-2014/SOMBaseballOnline-TheWolfmen-September2014.htm