Strat-o-Musings
Michael J. Rivet, Jr.
July 1, 2001
“ ‘All of Fame(rs) Disk . . . “
I
(finally) received my HOFers disk from SOM.
Very interesting. My first
replay of the set had the “Deadball Era” team won the league with 90 wins. Willie Mays won the homer title with 48
homers (Ruth finished with a distant 38.)
Walter Johnson had 23 wins and Nolan Ryan lead with 223 K’s. Next up for the set for me is to con about 5
more guys to run a short season draft league.
I
can only hope in the coming years that updates are produced for this set as new
players are added to the HOF. The
dedicated fan of re-playing past performances are creating the “dream”
match-ups will enjoy these opportunities – even it is only as solo play late at
night.I myself have as yet to fully plum the depths of possibility of this set,
to pour over the stats and their implications.
As a student of the history of baseball, I welcome his new and unique
opportunity to learn more about the players I revere and those I have yet to
fully discover. I also can’t wait to hear what other players experience with
the set, their stories of the games played with the best of the best, and who
measured up and who didn’t. Does this
change your opinion of who you think the best player ever is?
Personnally,
I feel even if he isn’t still considered the best Babe Ruth was the first great
superstar of the sport excelling both as a pitcher and as a position
player. Players since have equaled or
exceeded one two aspects of his game but not the total package or the
uniqueness of his accomplishments. He
loved the kids and infected in them the love of a sport that before then was
the purview of there parents – mostly the white, man, businessman establishment. It took thirty more years before the great
black players were allowed to play and bring their game to the masses that
hadn’t seen them play and further expand the game. Willie Mays was perhaps the most complete position player to ever
play this game and no his god-son aspires to eclipse even him.
“Look Ma, No Hands!”
I’ve
talked, in past ‘musings, about SOM’s Netplay.
Netplay, for me, has brought some aspects of the game to me I’ve never
had before. I came to Strat-o-matic in
a nebulous period for the game. Most
players came to the game in one of two ways, 1) as a youngster playing in
face-to-face leagues against their siblings and friends – maybe even their Dad;
and, 2) more recently, say last 5 seasons, as the internet and the computer
version have spread the popularity to players that don’t personally know most –
or any – of their opponents. Sure we
passed letters, e-mails, and phone calls amongst these peers and maybe even
planned trips to me them. But it was
the game that brought us together.
There
are those of us that a friend, later in life, may have in passing introduced us
to the game. And that lead to joining
a play-by-mail league. In the
arch-typical case these games are strictly solo using written instruction sent
by the opponent. That being the case,
you gain a different experience from the game: you always have a notion of what
your opponent will do and it is up to the cards and dice to surprise you. On
their own they rarely do. Though, that
is what small partials are for.
One
of the major issues with Net play is speed of play and many tips have
circulated on hold to accomplished quicker play times. One of them is to completely disable any
dice, play-by-play, and even the sound and animation – with the animation speed
set to the highest level. In this
state, you have results reported in only their purest form – no intermediate
steps, no splits, no leading play-by-play that gives you hints as to what
happened. I find that you can enjoy the
game, the interplay of two collections of cards and the two opponents matching
strategy decisions, indecisions, and lucky breaks. I suggest to everyone to remove some stress from your lives and
purify your experience of the game – especially when you use Netplay.
One
of my longtime opponents and fellow columnist brought up some very valid points
lately during the annual right of last minute deals before the trading
deadline. The art of the deal seem to
be lost in these days of ignorable e-mail. An offer goes out through the ether and just hangs there. No longer do you have to respond on the
phone to a trade offer and tactfully respond. Now, chat rooms do lead to earnest
and often impromptu trade-talk sessions but they are only just gaining in popularity.
Remember
folks the art of the deal is the negotiation behind it. Very rarely, though it does happen, two
teams will accept the initial offer put forth.
This usually happens when mutual needs come together with
desperation. However, detailed
communications of offers and counter-offers, feeling each other out as to what
they consider the value of their players – is there a diamond to be found in
the ruff? Is he a favored player that he’s holding on to long past their prime?
Do I have a player that’s fading that he covets?
All
too often an offer request is answered with “No, thanks, not enough, not
interested.” To be fair I have started
to notice a raise for a call for greater communication in leagues. This communication is vital to the success
and longevity of any league.
Competition drives us all but a sense of fair play should temper that
desire. Should it be simply to explain
why a deal wouldn’t work or why the offer does not have interest to you. Or, to question vague instructions (in PBM
leagues.) Long-lasting leagues will
naturally evolve to this point.
This summer I will continue to write about issues that come from my own elations, fustrations, successes and failures from playing SOM. Added to this will be any interesting stories I come across from MLB itself. Netplay is going to bring some truly great playoff series to leagues that had only dreamed of this up to now. I can’t wait.
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