credmond@watmath.UUCP (Chris Redmond) (01/20/86)
I thought I'd post excerpts from a few e-mail messages I received
asking for comments on baseball books and table games to while away
the snowy season:
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I read desperate plea for anything to do with baseball in the
off-season. I read The Sporting News every week. It is not
really much more than baseball gossip during the off-season,
but it is better than nothing.
I also play APBA baseball, a table top baseball game. If you are
interested, you can write the game company at this address:
APBA Game Company INC.
1001 Millersville Road
POB 4547
Lancaster PA, 17604
They have recently released a computerized version of the APBA Baseball
Game (for MS-DOS machines only so far).
I am a member of a league. The group of us drafted a team, and we
supplement our teams with the rookies every new season. It is quite
fun actually.
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If you're looking for a tabletop baseball game, the best on the market
by far is Strat-O-Matic Baseball. It is a company based in Glen Head, NY,
and almost all of their business is mail-order. Sorry, I don't have the
address here but the "Imperiums to Order" store downtown carries some of
their stuff.
The game goes something like this. Every major league player (hitters &
pitchers) gets a playing card representing his abilities. Batters are
rated on their ability to hit, run, steal bases, bunt, field, throw, etc.
The accuarcy is quite impressive. For example, on the Jays, Ernie Whitt
will draw quite a few walks and hit a fair number of Homers, but his
batting average won't be very high. On the other hand, Damaso Garcia will
have a reasonably high batting average, but will seldom walk. Tony
Fernandez will be a slick fielder and will be quick on the bases but
don't expect Cliff Johnson to steal any bases and if you put him in the
field you'd better hope the ball is never hit towards him. The pitchers
are all rated similarly
The other impressive thing about this game (am I starting to sound like
a huckster?) is how simple and fast it is. A 9 inning game usually takes
about 30-45 min to play. Each at bat is decided by a single roll of three
six-sided dice.
PS - If you're looking for baseball reading, try anything by Roger Angell.
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A table top baseball game that I enjoy playing is a game called "Statis
Pro Major League" made by The Avalon Hill Game Co. This game is based on
individual player statistics from a certain year. Included in the game are
player cards for each teams' 25 man roster plus that teams' "fringe" players.
Just about every statistic imaginable is used to manufacture each player's
card, plus "intangibles" are included (such as outfielders' and catchers'
throwing ratings, or each players' base running ability, or a players "clutch"
offensive or defensive abilities, etc.)
Basically, a line-up is selected (this generally takes the most time to
do) and play begins. Before each "play" (generally one batters' appearance)
you can select all sorts of different "plays" like hit and run, a base runner
to attempt a steal, a sacrifice, bunt for a base hit, suicide squeeze, etc.
or just have the batter swing away. The result is taken from either the
pitcher's card (it is harder to get a hit from the pitcher's card) or the
batter's card. This is selected from a stack of random number cards and the
result is then read from the appropriate card. The result is then found and
implemented and on to the next batter you go.
I realize the above is rather sketchy, but it gives a somewhat simple
idea of the game and how it is played. This game seems to track the individual
ball player's season statistics fairly well, even in the limited amount of
games that I have played. It also makes a very enjoyable solitaire game,
where you make the decisions for both teams. The game can also be updated
either by buying the team's player cards for each year (cards for 1985 should
be ready for purchase by March of 1986) or you can compile the player cards
if you have access to the statistics used by the game (instructions for doing
this are included in the game).
As net readers know, quite a number of other responses were posted
direct to the net.
Many thanks to those who made suggestions in either channel!
Chrismykes@3comvax.UUCP (Mike Schwartz) (01/22/86)
I own all three table games mentioned in a previous article: APBA, Statis-Pro, and Strato-matic. APBA and Statis-Pro are both very good, but stratomatic is the best!! Stratomatic is the only one of the three that accurately reflects lefty vs. righty. I have played in play-by-mail leagues for all three (I own several years worth of cards for each game), and given the choice, I would play Strato-matic every time. The other games are real good, though. I also own APBA football, which is probably the best football game around. However, I used to own a game called TSG football which was incredible - a card for every player, lots of small realistic details. I have not seen it advertised in years, though (anyone know anything else about it?). I also owned a game called "World's Greatest Hockey Game" which lived up to its billing - players were even rated for Intestinal Fortitude (how easily they were intimidated) and for putting fear into other players.
foonberg@aero.ARPA (Alan Foonberg) (01/24/86)
I've been playing a game called Sherco, which I have found to be quite realistic in some senses, though probably not as much as Stratomatic, which I also own. Sherco assigns ratings to each player - separate ones for batting average, homeruns/hits percentage, stolen base/atbat percentage, fielding percentage, arm strength, fielding range, and for the pitchers - ERA, avg. numbers of innings pitched per appearance, percentage of games completed, walks/batters faced percentage, and strikeouts/batters faced percentage. The only lefty/righty adjustment that is made is that the pitcher's rating is upped one (or the batter's is dropped one) when facing a batter "of the same hand." The above rankings determine which dice rolls produce a walk, a strikeout, a possible hit, a possible out, or a "special play" (rare occurrences). For the possible hits and outs, a chart is consulted based upon the locations of the baserunners, where the ball is hit. Fielders throw and runners run alternately. So, placement of fielders is important, as well as arm strength and baserunning speed. I won't bore you with any more details, but it is a fun and realistic game. I just replayed the 1960 World Series, and interestingly enough, Bill Mazeroski singled in the winning run in the bottom of the 12th of the 6th game to win the Series for Pittsburgh. Alan.
pete@umcp-cs.UUCP (Pete Cottrell) (01/31/86)
In article <367@3comvax.UUCP> mykes@3comvax.UUCP (Mike Schwartz) writes: > >I own all three table games mentioned in a previous article: APBA, Statis-Pro, >and Strato-matic. APBA and Statis-Pro are both very good, but stratomatic >is the best!! ... given the >choice, I would play Strato-matic every time. > I would agree with this appraisal. BTW, I just got the latest flyer from SOM and they announced a version of their baseball game for the Apple IIe, IIc and II+, with a version for the Commodore 64 to follow. I am certainly not an agent for them, but I can supply details if requested. PS. Here are some changes to the game for the 85-86 player set: Optional clutch hitting and ballpark effect have been added, there are now 8 pitcher's hitting cards, and injury readings will not occur for players who played in all of their teams games (I see this last one as a small improvement to a neglected feature of SOM. They have never, in my humble opinion, been very good in terms of intangibles or environment: injuries, weather, ball park, and others things like player ejections. I realize that several of these are hard to do). -- Call-Me: Pete Cottrell, Univ. of Md. Comp. Sci. Dept. UUCP: seismo!umcp-cs!pete CSNet: pete@umcp-cs ARPA: pete@mimsy.umd.edu