I'm Keith Hernandez and I play Strat-O-Matic Baseball

[batmagadanleadoff]

Strat-O-Matic: Not the real thing, but an incredible simulation


The venerable game remains determinedly old school and revered for its accuracy, whether in traditional dice-and-cards tabletop form or newer computerized version.

You'd think a guy who played in more than 2,000 major league games and broadcast nearly 1,000 more would be tired of baseball.

Not Keith Hernandez.

The former National League MVP can't get enough, often firing up his laptop when he gets home from the ballpark to play Strat-O-Matic, a game he first tried in high school nearly four decades ago.

"I like to play the schedule as it happens," he says. "It's a complete reenactment of the season. I'm playing 1962 right now because that was the Giants and Dodgers."

He has plenty of company. Since Strat-O-Matic was launched in 1961 by Bucknell University mathematics student Hal Richman, the game has sold millions of copies, given birth to hundreds of fantasy leagues and inspired an online community of nearly 6,000 hard-core players.

It's even been featured on the big screen, getting a cameo in the 1994 Spike Lee film "Crooklyn."

In an era when sports simulation games have moved from the tabletop to the laptop and beyond, Strat-O-Matic and its older old-school rival APBA have remained popular because of their unrivaled realism.

In both games, the performance of every major leaguer is subjected to a mathematical formula and then rendered onto individual cards for each player. Toss the dice, cross-reference the results to the numbers on the card, and you get the outcome of each at-bat. Advanced versions of the games factor in the probability of balks, rain, injuries, a pitcher's stamina -- even trades and the intricacies of ballparks.

And because the basics of Strat-O-Matic haven't changed over three decades, game players can match ballplayers from different eras, batting Hank Aaron against Roger Clemens, for example.

Hernandez says the game is so realistic he uses Strat-O-Matic cards to guide him during his work as a TV analyst for the New York Mets.

"It's remarkable how it works out," he says. "I like to see the ratings defensively, arm, speed. Are they good hit-and-run guys? Stolen base guys? It's always good for me to brush up on that."

In recent years, Strat-O-Matic has added a computer version and it can be played against distant opponents on the Internet. Yet even those versions are tame and antiquated -- if far more statistically accurate -- compared to what's available for Xbox and PlayStation.

Richman, 73, concedes his audience is growing older, but fans of his game remain loyal.

"I've always enjoyed it," says Hernandez, 56. "I don't come from the generation that needs a visual."

kevin.baxter@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-strat-sider21-2009dec21,0,1864875.story

[Guest Edgy DC]

Wow, I just posted that!

Other pool threads that mention Strat:

http://archives.cranepoolforum.net/400/f1_t491.shtml

http://cranepoolforum.qwknetllc.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=10737&start=0&sid=d1ca4ac1a623c0a6100d44eca788ab5b

http://cranepoolforum.qwknetllc.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?p=131677&sid=9b8c886d4c2bf3551205c8b3bfca1d3e

http://cranepoolforum.qwknetllc.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?p=248493&sid=c7923eb8d24850135f45231c5f282d8d

http://cranepoolforum.qwknetllc.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=11295&highlight=&sid=45f76d431b4c0816d0a16ecee654ada1

Grand-daddy of them all: http://archives.cranepoolforum.net/2000/f1_t2017.shtml

[seawolf17]

Just won a contest on the White Sox Cards blog; I will soon be a proud owner of the 2010 SOM board game. Cancel the summer plans, Wolfette! Strat-O-Matic is coming!

[Guest themetfairy]

WTG Wolfie!

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

seawolf17 wrote: Just won a contest on the White Sox Cards blog; I will soon be a proud owner of the 2010 SOM board game. Cancel the summer plans, Wolfette! Strat-O-Matic is coming!

Congratulations on the achievement, and on whatever new things life sets in your way after the divorce.

[Chad ochoseis]

Congratulations, Wolf! Link to the contest?

Strat-O-Matic was launched in 1961 by Bucknell University mathematics student Hal Richman

How have I managed to spend the past 24 years of my life as an alum of Bucknell's math department without knowing this?

'Ray Bucknell, 'ray Bucknell
'Ray for the orange and the blue
'Ray, 'ray, 'ray, 'ray
'Ray for the orange and the blue!

[seawolf17]

A rather quick contest, really. Good to follow folks on Twitter sometimes.

http://whitesoxcards.blogspot.com/2010/05/contest-time.html

[ashie62]

I am replaying the 2009 Mets season on Strat-O-Matic limiting AB's to what they were..Not doing well

[smg58]

I got some Strat-O-Matic cards from some classic teams (including the 69 and 73 Mets) last Christmas. Now all I need is an opponent.

[seawolf17]

Well, Ronkonkoma IS right down the road from my office, you know.

[smg58]

Good point. I'm really not sure when I'll be free right now (between proposal writing at work and an assortment of family-related issues, I'm seriously overbooked), but I'll let you know.

[seawolf17]

Game came in today's mail. Figured I'd christen it with a game, but the problem is... the 2009 Mets kinda sucked.

Johan Santana pitched 7 2/3 gorgeous innings, bringing a 3-0 lead into the top of the eighth before yielding to Bobby Parnell, who came in and struck out Ryan Zimmerman with runners at first and second.

Brought Frankie in to pitch the ninth; he walked Adam Dunn, then struck out Dukes and Willingham. Josh Bard doubled, which brought Cristian Guzman to the plate. No way Guzman hits in that spot, so I pinch-hit Austin Kearns... who whomped a three-run game-tying home run. (Off the pitcher's card, and it would NOT have been a home run for Guzman. Fuckin' hell.)

Thankfully, Reyes homered in the bottom of the inning to salvage the W.