Here was some ink I got highlighting my mom's intro to Strat-O-matic
http://www.strat-o-matic.com/community/glenn-guzzo-column/great-moments-strat-0/great-moments-strat-january-2010
Strat-O-Matic’s Ageless Appeal
My 81-year-old mom was here for an extended Thanksgiving stay. She is a lifelong baseball fan (heck she married a ballplayer) and she knows about my 40-year love affair with SOM baseball, so two days ago I showed her some cards and we did a basic batter 1-2-3 column pitcher 4-5-6 column walk-through with a few rolls so she could get the hang of it. Today I talked her into a game and asked her what team she wanted and she said Giants. I said well pick a team AND a year and she said 1938 Cubs. I said I don’t have that team, pick another team. She said Red Sox 1941 because Ted Williams hit .406. I talked her into taking the 1935 Cubs. I took the 1924 Senators and pitched Zachary (not Walter Johnson). She pitched Bill Lee. I let her roll all the split chances and let her find all the results for all rolls in the game. She did great with no mistakes. She managed well.
The game was scoreless for two innings, and then she broke through with a leadoff triple by Stan Hack in the third and a groundball B fielder’s choice RBI a few batters later for a 1-0 lead. Meanwhile I could not get a runner on, having the first 12 go in order.
In the 5th, Ossie Bluege got a Flyball RF (X) chance and Chuck Klein played it into a triple. Roger Peckinpaugh then drove home Bluege with a clutch, two-out single. In the 6th, Zachary lined a single off his pitcher’s hitting card to start the 6th and McNeely singled him to second. I had Bucky Harris bunt the runners to second and third, but Sam Rice grounded out -- Mom had the infield in. She then walked Goose Goslin intentionally and got Joe Judge to ground out leaving the bases filled. Zachary had a 1-2-3 6th. In the 7th, Bluege led off with a double and Phil Cavaretta botched a ground ball chance giving the Nats runners on first and third with one out. Muddy Ruel lined out, but Zachary coaxed a walk off Lee loading the bases. McNeely then drilled a sac fly to give the Nats a 2-1 lead.
With one out in the 8th, Judge tripled but a strikeout of Bluege by Charlie Root and a groundout by Peckinpaugh ended the threat. Mom got to the point (in her first game) of saying, “This is exciting,” and “I can’t look at the rolls” as the tension mounted.
In the Cubs 8th, with one out Phil Cavaretta rolled a 2-10 for a HR 1-9, 2B 10-20 chance. Opportunity #1 for mom (I was hoping she would get the roll). The roll was a 13 for a double. With two outs Bill Jurges got his third hit of the game and mom faced a big decision to send Cavaretta in or not. Cavaretta was a 1-13 and with 2 outs his chances of scoring and tying the game were 1-15 (75%) ... opportunity #2 ... finally mom decided to send him and rolled a 17 (darn!) to nail Cavaretta at the plate.
After a 1-2-3 top of the 9th, the Cubs come up for their last chance. 2 quick popouts and the Cubs are down to their last out. Stan Hack walks, and the winning run comes to the plate. DeMaree rolls a 6-6 Single 1-19 and lineout 20. Opportunity #3. A single would have the winning runs on base, two outs and the Cubs best hitter up. Can you believe she rolls a 20!!?? Game over. Ouch!
Game over. Mom had three big opportunities in the last 2 innings, a 45% chance for a game-tying HR, a 75% chance for a safe attempt to score on a single, and a 95% chance to have the winning runs on base with the Cubs best hitter in the 9th. The 20 sided die rolls went against her. But she really enjoyed and said the game is super realistic!
1924 Senators 000 010 100 - 2 8 0
1935 Cubs 001 000 000 - 1 10 1
Zachary and Ruel
Lee and Hartnett
WP Zachary
LP Lee
(Mom’s first game 11/27/2009)
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