** Entertaining Stories from our SOM Baseball Community **

 

Mel Williams (also met him on facebook ...) 
 

Mel: In 2010 I was working at a Notre Dame football game and I am called down to the field by the head of security ... He always called me down when a major league player was there ... Anyway, he says "do you know who this is?" and I say "Of course! It's Craig Counsell !" This appeared to make Craig very happy that I knew who he was...but then I blew it. We chatted a moment about the game and coming home to ND....then I said- "Have you been enjoying retirement?" UGH! His face turned sour and he said, "I played for Milwaukee last year and I am looking forward to next year too." I felt very bad. (Photo of Mel with his daughter attending a Chicago White Sox Game, he lives in South Bend, Indiana.)

Bryan Swank (son of the legendary Thomas Swank, personal friend, fellow GM in the CBA, a computer strat baseball league)

Wolfman:  We want to thank Bryan again for participating in this issue of our newsletter.  As some of our readers may recall, especially those of you who have been with us since our early days, we first met Bryan in the March 2013 issue when Marc Wasserman interviewed him about his father, Tom Swank, one of the most devoted SOM Baseball gamers ever before he passed away. Below is the link for that interview. 

In addition, more recently, Bryan was the representative of the members of our newsletter to face ex-major leaguer Bill Sample, in the early part of this year in a best of three game series.  I had a chance to speak to Bryan over the phone and asked him about any special or fun experiences he had with his dad that would delight our readers. Thus please find below some of these special memories.  To read the earlier interview done in 2013 and learn about "The Missionary", as Glenn Guzzo referred to Bryan's Dad, head over to:

http://www.ultimatestratbaseball.com/USBN-3-2013/TomSwank-March2013.htm
 

Bryan: (expanding on the face-to-face tournament his father ran in 1983 at a hall in NJ) When I was about 11 or 12, my father ran a Strat Baseball Tournament, where he rented a hall.  At this time there was no computer game so we used the board game.  My father knew like a 100 players at this time, he knew them all personally and by name. Each participant could pick their favorite team to play in tournament and the eventual winner, Jim Beecher selected the 1969 Mets which won it all. As I recall he was a young man who was very quite and stoic. He played against the 1970 Orioles, I don't remember that person's name but I remember he used small dice. (Photo of Bryan with his dad, before his father Thomas passed away in 2004.)

At this tournament were, what I would call,, two kids (note: Bryan mentioned this in his interview in 2013), myself and Bob Pronguay who was perhaps 12-13 years old at this time, a red head.  For this tournament I selected as one of my teams the 1977 Texas Rangers so I remember played the tournament with a plastic Texas batting helmet. My father had met Bob somewhere and invited him to play this day too.

As I mentioned before in my interview in 2013, my father started a local league called the Tri-State League which I finally joined in 2005, after his passing.  What I think was absolutely amazing, was after 22 years, I met once again that kid Bob, who of course was no longer a kid, and he had inherited my father's team.  At this time, he only had one player left from the original team he inherited, the pitcher Johanna Santana.  In this league, I did recognize one other manager who had been at the tournament so long ago.

Now, moving on to another story linked to my father - is before we had all the statistics we do today that are easily accessible via the internet. My father would always buy the latest edition of the Baseball Enclopedia which was published each year, and every year the size of this book would get larger and larger. My father would take hours and hours to go through this book taking notes which helped him with his ideas how to setup all types of new leagues and tournaments.  For example one year, using this book, and since he had copies of all of the cards ever printed by the game company he would make a team with players all who's names ended with Jones or Johnson.  I recall we used such teams in a tournament once. This was how he would keep himself busy and of course was very happy when doing so. Another time he created a team with players who had names linked with fruits, like Strawberry or Lemon, etc ...

I think one of the most important aspects of what motivated my father and his love of baseball, was the idea that this sport was an equalizer for any person.  It didn't matter what race you are, what nationality or religion, the game of baseball would bring all type of people together to enjoy and to honor and appreciate each other. I know if my father was alive today he would have been so amazed at what happened when I played against Bill Sample earlier this year.  By this I mean, that I had a chance to play against a person who had played in the major leagues who was rolling for his own Strat Card - think of this? (Photo of Bryan playing Bill Sample in his home during there epic best of 3 game match which Billy ultimate won .....)

Another kind of funny story I remember was how my father was able to recruit just about anyone to play strat-o-matic in the leagues or tournaments he setup. I think back in 1977 or so, why he even recruited a real Priest with his wife or daughter to participate. Plus my father always used very large dice when he played - this helped others in his league to know his mood because when he would get angry at how his team was performing, he would throw the dice across the room and then the other managers knew it might be time to quit that day.

Some other special memories I have, of activities I did with my dad. I remember when he first introduced me to Strat, he would play against me in a park at a picnic table, laying out the game and cards. In 2002, he took a liking to the Angels and the idea of the Rally Monkey hats the players would wear, so he bought himself an Angel Hat. Then in 2003, he had a Cubs Hat, which he was inspired when a Cubs fan interfered with a ball that affected their chances of the playoffs that year.  He would wear these hats when we watched baseball on the TV together and I still have these hats which I treasure. Finally one other memories is in 1995, we were watching a playoff game between the Yankees and Mariners (being Yankee fans at the time) and I remember we saw Don Mattingley hit a key home run verse the Mariners that gave the Yanks a chance to continue the series but then eventually lost to the Mariners that year.

Finally, one time I was playing a game against my father, who had music playing in the background. This music came from a CD he had made with various songs he liked.  For my team, Robin Ventura came up to the plate with the basis loaded, and as he did relatively often in his career, he promptly hit a grand slam which delighted me to no end. But just as Ventura hit his slam, the song by the band America, "Ventura Highway" started to play.  For both of this was so funny I remember my father cracking up and falling on the floor laughing uncontrollably.  I could imagine in my head Robin Ventura running around the bases with his head upturned just like the cartoon character Snoopy does.

Well I miss my dad, he was a remarkable person and I feel very lucky to have him as my teacher for SOM Baseball. I hope you have enjoyed hearing some more stories linked to him - he truly was a pioneer in how to play the game we all love. Thank you - Bryan.
 

Billy Sample (our new friend and supporter of our newsletter, ex-ball player and MLB announcer) 

Wolfman:  After all the stories that Billy was telling Bryan and partner Marc, when they setup the "Billy Sample Challenge" in February of this year, I figured Billy probably has many stories he could share so I sent him a quick message on facebook.  He already posted a story there from his early playing days in 1967 when he was very active in little league, so below is another example of Billy's story telling gifts. If you missed our report on the series between Billy and Bryan then head over to:

http://www.ultimatestratbaseball.com/USBN-3-2015/BillySampleChallengeReport-Intro-March2015.htm

Throwback Thursday from 1967 Billy: When I have a hankering for high fructose corn syrup, I still think about Dr. Pepper. It was the first year of desegregation in my area, and I was the first and only African-American player on the Little League team coached by the knowledgeable, tough task-master, Jr. Epperly. On the eve of our first game, Junior gathered the team in the dugout and announced that his team was different this year. What, more speed, more overall skill? Nope, "This year we've got us a colored boy!" A movie director couldn't have cued the actors better as they all turned to me. Caught off-guard, I had nothing to offer but a cheesy grin, 'Yep, it'd be me'. There were three other black players who played for another previously all-white team, but they didn't have to hear the abuse I did, and most of it from the black neighborhood. Heck, I wasn't getting any playing time in the black community, why would you care that I went out on my own?

Anyway, Sandy Hill was the best player on the team, and later, would be drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates and play minor league ball in our hometown. Sandy was the number one pitcher and would pitch against the better teams and I would pitch against the lesser teams as the number three starter. One night I had a no-hitter with two outs in the last inning, and a no ball, two strike count on Andrew Kelderhouse, a blonde headed righthanded hitter. My choices were to throw a fastball inside and tie him up around the hands or to paint the outside corner with a moving fastball. Probably because I had already hit a batter in the game, I chose the latter, released the pitch just where I wanted it, fastball, a couple of inches off the plate with movement away, might even get a strike three call with the expanded strike zone of the Little Leagues.

Well, before I could get the handshakes and the jumping up and down on top of me, Kelderhouse drove a single to right field, like he was Roberto Clemente or somebody. I doubt if he and I exchanged more than one nod in all the years of school since that moment, but like an echo from a Twilight Zone episode, I'll always remember the name, Andrew Kelderhouse ... I don't even know if he became an 'Andy' in latter years.


Pete Nelson (officer of the Strat Tournament Players Club, organizer of Portland tournaments) 
 

Pete:  I was playing Mike Meszaros in the Finals of a Portland Tournament a few years back when I completely ran out of relievers in a game that had gone deep into extra innings.  I think it was about the 16th inning when I personally had to take the mound for my team using the dreaded Hitter's Pitching card or Fodder card, as it is affectionately known.  (The rules have since been changed to dis-allow coach-pitch [i.e. - the manager/player becomes the pitcher] but, in the 'ol days, it made for great stories.)  Anyway, I gave up two hits in my first inning of work but managed to keep Mike away from the pay-station.  In my second inning of work, I again put some runners on but had two outs and was an out away from escaping unscathed when Mike brought his best hitter to the plate. I was ecstatic when Mike rolled the 4-5 strike-out.  "Not so fast", Mike said.  "You're weak!".   2-star single.  Game over.  Mike went on to win the tournament but we still talk about that game every time we play.  (Note: If you are not familiar with the STPC or formerly known as the Star Tournaments, they use the Pitcher's card developed by SOM that you must use (which is absolutely terrible) if you run out of relievers and need to use one of your hitters to pitch.)