Issue #3, April 2013


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** SOM Baseball Cards Quiz **
      (answers to Quiz #2, new directions for this column, verified and created by Marc Wasserman)

(Comments from the Wolfman)

In January of this year, we introduced a quiz for our members related to specific question about the SOM Baseball cards, unique aspects related to performance of players over all the cards ever published by Strat-o-matic.  Our idea to do this was to introduce into our newsletter a bit of fun too.  Well in this issue we provide the answers to the two questions about the catchers in Issue #2 which unfortunately we did not have a winner.  Therefore we have decided to continue this column by not doing it as a quiz but to share with our members special and unusual baseball cards that have been released by Strat-o-matic over the years.

Also my good friend Tom Nahigian, one of our excellent members, has shared with us some images of the early baseball cards that were first published in 1961 (the 1960 All Star sets) and in 1962 (based upon the 1961 season). If some of you are familiar with Tom, he was discussed in Guzzo book because he has collected (as his own expense) the entire collection of Strat-o-matic Baseball cards every printed.  So perhaps for the future Tom will allow us to show some other early baseball cards in this column.  To honor Tom, and also as April is my birthday month, we have a separate interview with Tom so you can get to know him a bit better. 

So lets continue then with the answers to Quiz #2 by sharing the player's card images as well and also show the card images that Tom sent us.  Enjoy everyone,

Wolfman Shapiro

 

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How well do you know your SOM Baseball Cards?
(Answers to Quiz #2 winner: none)

Question 1
Which Catcher or Catchers has had the worse throwing arm rating in the history of the game? Give the name of the catcher, the year he played and team and what was his terrible throwing arm rating. To win this question you must name all of the catchers who held this dishonorable distinction - even if its the same player in different years.

Eric Wedge, 1992 Boston Redsox, +5 throwing arm
Pedro Feliz, 2007 San Francisco Giants, +5 throwing arm
Carlton Fisk, 1979 Boston Red Sox, +5 throwing arm
                    (thanks to Junu Kim for letting us know about Fisk)

Question 2
Which team had 5 catchers on their roster? To win this question you must name the team and year and the name of all five catchers.

1989 Pittsburgh Pirates:
Dann Bilardello (C-4 +2 arm), Mike LaValliere (C-2, +2 arm), Tom Prince (C-3 +3 arm), Junior Ortiz (C-4, +2 arm) and Benny Distefano (C-4, +3 arm)

(Note from the Wolfman: So this ends our quizes but we will continue to share in future columns other unusual and interesting cards that have been published in the past.  Hope you are enjoying this visit down memory lane - thanks!! :--) )

 

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What did the Baseball Cards Look Like in the First Years?
(submitted by Tom Nahigian, to read Tom's interview click here)
 

1960 Based Cards
(just two All Star teams, National & American)

(Notice there is no fielding ratings and no X results in this season's cards)
 

1961 Based Cards
(Maris & Mantle, Champion NY Yankees)



(Again in 1961, no fielding ratings or X chart, my god notice how
many home run chances Maris has 16.6 and Mantle has 15.15)

 

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