Vol. II, Issue #3 - May 2014

** SOM Baseball Online - The Barnstormers Tournament**
Part II - Who is Mighty Moose and how does this Tourney Work?
(Interview by Wolfman Shapiro with Rick Johnson, Barnstormers' Commissioner )

(Notes from the Wolfman: I had received a credit with the purchase of the 2012 MLB cards to play in a league with this online gaming system, but which league should I try? I had some brief experience with this form of playing when Strat-o-matic offered this system with The Sporting News. I wanted to try something different as a birthday present for myself in April.  As I started to read about my options and about all the different leagues based on the Player Sets, I saw an ad about the Barnstormers' Tournament, what was that I asked?  So doing my editor/reporter thing, I found how to contact the commissioner, Mighty Moose and probably drove him crazy with all of my questions on how his tournament worked. But finally I got the idea what was needed to prepare to participate in Barnstormers and joined what he called Event #1.  So to better explain how it all works in Barnstormers let me introduce you to Mighty Moose.)

[ Please Note, I did ask Mighty Moose to explain some aspects of the online gaming that were explained in
Part I of this series of articles, to expand on how these parts of the system work. ]


Wolfman:  Today we have with us Sir Mighty Moose (Rick Johnson) who is the coordinator for a very unique on-line tournament which has been going on for a number of years (since 2001) using an on-line version of SOM Baseball. Anyway the name of this on-line tournament is called Barnstormers. Rick has been the commissioner of this long standing series of tournaments since 2003.

As you all know so far for each issue of the newsletter so far, I have been focusing on the various types of tournaments that have been played using the baseball game. Now we must learn about a totally different way that has been offered since 2001 which many gamers are not even aware of. So without further adue, I would like to introduce you to Mighty Moose, the commissioner of the Barnstormers Tournament.

Rick welcome to the Ultimate Strat Baseball Newsletter.

So Rick, lets focus a little bit on yourself first. When you were younger were you a baseball fan? What team did you root for and who were your favorite players?

Mighty Moose:  I've always been into sports, although growing up in Indiana I liked going to the Hockey Games of the local sports team, the Ft. Wayne Komets. Later when my parents moved us all to Phoenix, I watched the Phoenix Roadrunners hockey team, but then as I got older - I got into Baseball and spent a lot of time watching the Phoenix Giants, a AAA team before Arizona got a real MLB team.  I got to know the scoreboard lady and she would let me go with her to sit with her and watch the game from behind it through the slats. We would put up the "number" at the end of each inning (0) etc. - she would actually watch each pitch, watch the umpire and try to see what he called so she could turn on the ball or strike light. But also I had a prime spot to get the home run balls that went over the fence near my position at the scoreboard.

Wolfman:  Did you play baseball yourself (like in little league or high school) and if so what was your best position?

Mighty Moose:  Yes, I played little league in Phoenix in my youth. I was a pitcher for my 9-10-11 year old group, but then they had a rule that 12 year olds could not pitch (this was way back) so for that year I was the catcher. My father who did not normally participate in such things, decided to be a volunteer manager that year and so sons of managers had to play on their fathers team. That year we went 14-2 and won it all. My Dad retired and never did anything like that ever again. I'll never forget that year.

Wolfman:  Now you told me in our live chats on Skype that till this day you have never play the SOM Baseball Table Game or Computer Game, you have only played the on-line game version. How did you first hear about the on-line version?

Mighty Moose:  Since I liked sports a lot, I spent a lot of time on the Sporting News website and they just had an advertisement once way back in 2000-2001 about the online version of strat-o-matic starting up so I decided to give it a try and play a team. I guess I just got hooked on it. Back when it first came out, they used to offer a $50 prize if you won your league so the thought of playing a game and winning real money was exciting. In the early days, you could find a lot of value players and build really strong teams. But also, playing 3 games a night meant that for a single team, getting 7 weeks of fun out of it meant good value for your money. It still does.

Wolfman:  What is there about the on-line version that you like and has kept you as a participant in the on-line leagues that are offered?

Mighty Moose:  The early players in the online game also hung out on the online forums, a message base system where you could share information. Many of what we call "veteran" players got to know each other very well there and so a camaraderie developed and eventually even turned to meeting once a year in Las Vegas for a face-to-face tournament using the computer version of strat-o-matic. There were some 20-30 online game vets that came to the Vegas annual event -- so now we could put the face onto the message base "handle".

I guess I liked the fact that I was well known by this group and that I spent some very enjoyable moments being a part of it. It may sound corny, but being a part of something bigger than yourself and being highly regarded among my "community" was something I was proud of back then and still today. Due to changes in the online game (takeover by SOM) and just the passage of time, many of those vets have moved on, but a few stragglers from early years still remain.

Wolfman:  Now can you explain to the members of our newsletter how the "Player Sets" were determined? Do this individual or league commissioner or coordinator decide which set of cards to use and why did you choose the All Time Greats (ATG) set?

Mighty Moose:  TSN (The Sporting News) before and now SOM owns the online game franchise and so I can only speculate rather than speak for them that it's a business and so the large number of player sets is strictly to generate more business for them. Thankfully, the All-Time-Greats set was the first one they came out with and it still has the largest following among all the player sets. It's the only set I play with regularity.

Wolfman:  Can you explain to our members just the basics how a league runs on the SOM online gaming system? Specifically how does the draft work to build your team and how the games are played?

Mighty Moose:  In the ATG game, the number of actual players offered is now over 4200. You can play
any of several years of some of the greatest players of all time, such as the '20, '21 or '27 version of Babe Ruth. Each version will have a different dollar value based on the strength of that year relative to other cards. The online game also has different leagues based on salary caps, so you can play in a league where your maximum cap is only 60 Million, or even up to 200 Million. 80 and 100 Million have generally been considered the "standard" or beginner caps. You choose your players and build a team with 25 players, rank them by priority, and choose your stadium. Once a league fills up with 12 players (the standard league) then the draft happens.

If others in your league are trying for the same player, then the rankings decide by a random method, who will get the player. So of course, you may not get everyone you wanted. But with 4200 players, it's not hard to find a substitute for the one you didn't get or accept the one given to you by the draft. This topic isn't quite so easy to give details on. A lot of us veterans have spent much analyzing to uncover how the "autodraft" works. I would say on average, you will get at least 20 out of your 25 selections. This "preseason" can actually be up to 50% of your enjoyment of building and managing your team as once your seasons starts, there isn't much to tweak once your team lineups and rotations are set.

Wolfman:  Now we also discussed Rick a bit about this special tournament you run called Barnstormers.

1) How did Barnstormers get started and when - who created this idea? When did you become the coordinator?

Mighty Moose:  Back among our 2001 closely knit group of vets was one known as Dobak (we all have handles) - he created the Barnstormers Tour and it still to this day, largely follows his format. Multiple salary caps, requiring the use of different "TYPES" of stadiums for each event, and playing 6 events and dropping your lowest scoring event. He ran the tournament for a couple of years and it was wildly popular. At some point, Dobak dropped out of playing and since there was no one that seemed interested in continuing it, I decided that I was too much a part of our group to lose it and so I took it over. It's continued to evolve and build over the years now to a point where we have over 150 players on the 2014 Barnstormers Tour. And so I would say we are now in the 13th year of the tournament, with myself running it for at least the last 11.

2) how is this tournament organized - what do the six events or aspects to the tournament you have, represent?

Mighty Moose:  Back in the early years, we didn't have as much flexibility in the different salary caps as we do now. I've tried to incorporate as many of the different card sets and subsets of card sets to make it interesting, yet still keeping to the card set that has the greatest popularity among those who play ATG.

3) Which player set do you use in Barnstormers and why did you select this set?

Mighty Moose:  For this year, we are using all of the standard salary caps, 60-80-100-140-200 Million and of those, two of the 100 Million - one is with a DH and one is without a DH. As far as card sets, we ONLY use the ATG (ALL-TIME-GREATS) card set. It's an exclusive ATG tournament.

4) What type of teams have former champions of your tournament selected - were they hitting or pitching teams? How well do the players mix in this set who played in the dead ball era vs. the modern players who have more power with a focus on good closers?

Mighty Moose:  Barnstormers requires that you play in a different stadium "type" for each event. All of the stadiums offered are ranked according to their ballpark stats. Obviously some parks are hitting parks and some are pitching parks. Others may be known for being a lefty or a righty park.  We want our champion to be able to field a winning team under all different types of stadium.  I cant speak on most of your question. Different strategies work for different stadium types. It's your job to determine what works best for each stadium type. Also, I'm not considered a "top" player, so nothing seems to work for me. My teams are the ultimate in mediocrity. Wink.

(Note from the Wolfman: In our next interview speaking to Bruce Foster we will focus on a strategy that help make Bruce the 2013 Barnstormer champion.)

5) What is involved in the role you play - as the coordinator? What do you have to do to setup the tournament? Are you getting basically the same group of people joining you or are new participants coming in?

Mighty Moose:  We do get a large percentage of the same people returning year after year. I keep spreadsheets and e-mail addresses of all players who every played in Barnstormers and send them an invite year after year or until the e-mail address bounces. It's invitational for any and all players.  In an effort to legitimize it, I also choose several veteran players and invite them to participate on the Barnstormers "Board of Directors". This is four players plus myself and during our offseason we kick around any and all changes that we might want to make for the next year. If something we tried didn't work, we build a consensus and come to an agreement for what we want to introduce to the tour, while still staying true to it's heritage. This year, we are doing a 200 Million salary cap event for the first time. This was a direct suggestion from a board member. All players know who the board members are and can always contact them by private mail. I also use the board to settle any disputes or interpretations of the rules that may come up during the tournament.

6) Do you have any assistance with the tournament from the SOM Game Company?

Mighty Moose:  SOM helps to promote the tournament by advertising it in a banner at the top of the game interface and works with me to setup a main web page to track all of the teams and the points earned.  SOM (then TSN) came to me some years back and seeing the popularity of the tournament, came forward to donate some great prizes. They turned the tournament from being nothing but a novice running it on a home brew home based amateurish web site, to something much more polished and professional. We work together now to make it the best it can be. SOM has been very kind over the years to support our group and to see it flourish.

Wolfman:  Now back to the tournament itself, what is there about this tournament that you believe makes it exciting and challenging? Can anyone win this tournament or do you have to know what you are doing?

Mighty Moose:  I do see some new faces in the Top 9 that go directly to the finals each year, which it's also not uncommon to see the same people rise to the top. To make it possible for the average Joe to also succeed in the tournament, I also was responsible for creating the semi-final round. The top 10-45 players in total points get to compete in one more event where the world series winner in each of three leagues gets one of the final 3 spots in the Championship League. So you can finish as low as #45 in the tournament and still win the title. But it's still going to take using the right players with the right stadium and using your expert managing of your team settings and lineups if you want to do well over a grueling 6 event tournament.  We like to say that the Barnstormers is the premier SOM online ATG tournament. Someone just the other day called it "the Olympics, where all religion, politics, and animosities can be put away" Not my words.

Wolfman:  Because you have a salary cap to each event, if one of our members wanted to join a future tournament, is there some key strategy a person uses to select players since you can only have maybe 3 or 4 of the top rated hitters or pitchers before your money you have allocated is exhausted?

Mighty Moose:  Lot of things work for different people. I've seen people copy teams that won 110 games and could only manage 70 wins when they played the same players. Lot of people try to match up against their division mates since you play more games against them than the rest of the league. We do keep links readily available in the Barnstormers forum to all teams in all leagues. It's easy enough to get a good look at successful teams of the past to get your own ideas out of them. Also, lot of players like to use this valuable resource that crawled up called Diamond Dope - http://www.diamondope.com/ - this fantastic tool developed by a veteran ATG player is used for team building and card evaluations. There, the secret is out !

Wolfman:  Rick is there anything else about the Barnstormers Tournament you wish to share that was not already covered in the previously questions that would be important for our members to know about?

Mighty Moose:  The 150 players we have this year is our best year thanks to SOM promotion of our tournament. I hope it continues to grow each year, but also - I'd like for SOM to kick in some bigger and better prizes too. As we do well, they do well. I also have no connection to the SOM company, I am not employed by them. I am strictly a volunteer to run this tournament.

Wolfman:  If someone had some questions to ask you, is there a way they could directly contact you?

Mighty Moose:  My full time job is a computer and IT professional. As such, I need  a domain name to have a place to learn about such things. My primary tournament contact is moose@sirmightymoose.com - anyone can contact me there.

Wolfman:  Rick thanks for sharing this time with us - and to educate our members about one of the most interesting yearly tournaments being offered in the SOM Baseball World.

Mighty Moose:  Please send people my way, let them know to tell me that Wolfman sent them.

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(NOTES from the Wolfman: To read a bit more about the Barnstormers tournament and see how this amazing tournament is organized, here are some other key pages you want to check out:

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/tournament/19
(This is the home page for the 2014 Barnstormers Tournament, this will present you with some more information and how to view the ongoing 2014 tournament which at the time of this newsletter was just beginning Event 3 of the tournament.)

ATG Barnstormer Tour Forum
(For the online gaming system, SOM has a fully functional forum system where people can make posts and share information. ATG Barnstormers has its own Forum dedicated to itself where a great deal of insights and key information is shared by other members as well as links to the results of the tournaments conducted in previous year. To go to the main page of the SOM Community Forum, head over to:

http://forum.onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/community/  (look up ATG Barnstormer Tour)

Or if you wish to view the stats and teams drafted for the entire 2013 tournament, all the leagues that were run for all six events and the championship league and playoffs, there is a link to the entire story by clicking on this link in the forum below at:

LINK for 2013 BARNSTORMERS TOURNAMENT FULL HISTORY REPORT

(Wolfman: Although you won't be able to join the current Barnstormers Tournament for this year, by studying the teams drafted and their stats, this could either help you to create a powerful team in a normal ATG SOM baseball league or prepare for the grueling 2015 Barnstormer tournament and how to survive playing in six leagues.)

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Support the Cause If you are enjoying the content and information our newsletter shares with you, why not support us with your helpful donation for our minor expenses and time?

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 RALPH POLUMBO, 2013 GUSSOMO league champion.

♦  INTERVIEW  with BILLE DEANE, MLB statistician, researcher and author.

♦  SOM BASEBALL WORLD NEWS, the current status on the Strat Tournament Players Club and SOM Tours, a final farewell and honoring of Hank Smith.

♦  INTERVIEW with CARL KIDWILER, sports photographer and collector
(Special photographs of old NY Yankee players in his collection.)

♦  QUESTIONNAIRE with HANK SMITH, former Star Tournaments Commissioner and Ambassador -- Hank was one of the most beloved individuals in the SOM Baseball World
and a key for the success of the Star Tournaments. In this questionnaire which Hank and Wolfman developed in 2007, Hank shares his secrets and keys for winning in tournament play based on drafting your team. If any member is so inspired there is a blank form of this questionnaire you
can fill out and send back to us to help us collect more data we can share at some future time.

♦  SOM BASEBALL ONLINE REPORT with WOLFMAN SHAPIRO -- editor of "The Ultimate Strat Newsletter" and 2012 CBA Champion, the "Wolfman" explores a whole new world of playing the SOM Baseball game through the online gaming system which Strat-o-matic Offers. In 2001/2002, Strat-o-matic agreed with The Sporting News to offer a version of their game which could be played completely on-line using a web browser. In 2012, SOM told full charge of this system and there is
a whole community now of people who are involved in all type of draft leagues including a unique style of holding tournaments. In this issue, "Wolfman" explains how the gaming system works and you sign-up for a league plus he interviews the commissioner of the Barnstormers Tournament and the 2013 Champion of this tournament.  To view this three part report, click on the links of the articles to read shown below:

ARTICLE: Introduction to SOM Baseball Online (the online gaming system)

INTERVIEW with BRUCE FOSTER, Barnstormers Tournament 2013 Champion

♦  COMMISSIONER's CORNER with MARC WASSERMAN -- commissioner of the Cyber Baseball Association (CBA) continues his column about what it is like to be a League Commissioner. In this article, he continues to focus his discussion on his own league the CBA and shares the websites of other special baseball leagues linked to the Strat Alliance.

♦  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.

 

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Contact Us for Questions or Submissions:

Wolfman Shapiro
Founder/Editor, the Ultimate Strat Baseball Newsletter

email: wolfman@ultimatestratbaseball.com
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