STRAT-O-MATIC FANATIC

I just got finished reading Strat-O-Matic Fanatic and it brought back all kinds of memories for me. Even though some people would say, I’m still living my childhood at fifty by playing APBA Baseball. The two games are different and similar at the same time, and just like Cub fans and White Sox fans, the players don’t seem to cross over to the other game. Richard Seitz invented APBA Baseball and came out with it in 1951, his Philadelphia Phillies won the Penant in 1950 and the cards were based on that year. Hal Richman invented Strat-O-Matic in 1948 and came out with it shortly after APBA hit the market. The cards are based on the previous season, games are replayed using dice, and stats come out pretty darn close to what the individual players actually did. In APBA dice rolls are either good or bad, and even Cy Young himself couldn’t do anything about a really good roll. Strat-O-Matic on the other hand has its results split up into either rolling on the batter’s card or rolling on the pitcher’s card, so it’ll be really hard for a good hitter to get a hit off a good pitcher if he ends up on the pitcher’s card, but will have pretty good luck if he ends up on the batter’s card. I started playing Strat-O-Matic with cards based on the 1967 MLB season. Then changed over to APBA for the 1969 MLB season when my cousins made the switch. I’ve purchased the APBA cards every year from 1970 to the present. I’ve been the manager of the Chicago Champions since 1976. The Champions are one of ten draft teams in the Illowa APBA League. The Champs have been fortunate enough to win the League Championship a record ten times, behind such stars as Mike Schmidt, Jim Rice, Gary Carter, Joe Carter, Cal Ripken, Jeff Bagwell, Dennis Leonard, Dave Stieb, Orel Hershiser, and Greg Maddux. The league was formed in 1975 and each year when players retire, rookies are drafted to take their place. Some alumni who have played the games include Spike Lee, Jon Miller, Ken Singleton, Doug Glanville, & Len Dykstra for Strat-O-Matic and David Eisenhower & George W. Bush have played APBA.