Baseball fans...a little help

[rowech]

Debating picking up a strat season during their holiday sale. Trying to decide between 1992, 1993, or 1996. Any thoughts?

[vtbub]

'93 featured the great race between Atlanta-SF. I think that would be fun.

If you are a Yankee fan, well no doubt on '96.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Off-hand, I say '96.

You've got some good pitching (Smoltz, Brown, Maddux), a couple of 50+ HR guys (McGwire & Brady Anderson), you've got 3 of 6 division decided by 5 games or less, you've got at least a couple of WC contenders in each league, and you've got one awful team (Tigers) to try to avoid 100 losses with.

'93 isn't bad, with 2 of 4 division at <5 differences, three guys within range of 50 HR and a pair of 100+ loss teams (I'm thinking 2 is 1 too many though).

'92 just doesn't seem to have the possible "oomph" of either of the others to me. Only one race within 5 games, and not (comparatively) much hitting. About the only reason I can see to pick it from the bunch is if you're a pitching oriented player & prefer the 2 division system/no WC.

[cougarfreak]

93 was the first season for the Marlins and Rockies as well.

[dime]

93 was the last year of psuedo-baseball...in 94 it officially became softball.

I'd pick '91 over any 90s season, but of the ones you listed I'd go with 92. it was the last hurrah for oakland and pittsburgh, with atlanta and toronto both surging for their first title.

'93 has a nice race in the NL west but some awful teams, and the san diego firesale makes replaying it interesting (if you can do the trade right) or just annoying, depending on how you handle it.

[CraigSca]

where can I find out more about their holiday sale? There's no reference to it on their web page (which doesn't really surprise me). Are you talking about cards or disks here?

[Ben E Lou]

'93 is a great season. I can't tell you how many different ways I played that one out in S-O-M.

[rowech]

Craigsca....sale is cards only. Various seasons for sale...if you go into their products and card sets, it'll show many sets at $10 a piece. All sports.

[CraigSca]

Ah. Thanks. Now I wish I was a C&D player.

[Booj]

I just bought the 2003 set... My game is from 96, so I wanted a little bit of variety and '03 was the year where the NL wild card race had 5 teams tied for the lead going into September (including the Expos), so that will be fun.

Do you guys have any ideas of how to play the game? I always had trouble getting into SOM, so I was wondering what options I'd have to play.

Thanks in advance

[AgustusM]

I bought 93 for myself for Christmas (had my wife have the kids "give" it to me.)

as a Giants fan 93 was one of my all time favorite seasons, with a true down to the wire old fashioned pennant rave down to the last game. even though we missed out by one game it was still on of the most enjoyable seasons I have ever experienced as a fan.

[SackAttack]

I bought 93 for myself for Christmas (had my wife have the kids "give" it to me.)

as a Giants fan 93 was one of my all time favorite seasons, with a true down to the wire old fashioned pennant rave down to the last game. even though we missed out by one game it was still on of the most enjoyable seasons I have ever experienced as a fan.

Belated Merry Christmas! (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=199310030LAN)

[CraigSca]

I wasn't sure where to put this. Some of this deserves to go in the Ethics: Delphi Advertising thread, but I think I'll put it in here because it's about Strat-o-matic.

Here goes:

Is there a more captive audience in American than a Strat fan? Especially the computer baseball Strat fan. Let me count the ways...

1) Strat has the gall to accept pre-orders for its version 12 baseball game, set for release in late January. Is there any mention of the new features in V12? No. However, you can pre-order, and the lemmings continue to do so. If you don't pre-order you won't get the game in the initial shipment, causing a delay of 2-4 weeks.

2) the AWFUL authorization process. Mind you, this has actually IMPROVED (if you can believe that). Up until a couple years ago, playing the game required a key disk (3.5" floppy). Now, it's "upgraded" to an authorizatin process that takes place over the internet. The problem? There are a couple. First, you are allowed only one authorized copy of the game at any one time. Have two computers? Tough noogs! You need to transfer authorization from one PC to another. The same goes for any disk like the old time ballparks or color ballparks (oh yeah, you get B&W ballparks for free, but if you want to see ANY color, you need to spend additional $$$) AND any season disk. So, let's say I want to transfer my replay from one PC to another - I need to transfer the authorization codes from my one PC (and be unable to play Strat there until I transfer them back) to the other). Some people have resorted to storing their files on a USB key-fob in order to be able to play on more than one PC. Is there any other game you've ever heard of that allows only ONE license at one time? The second problem is, Strat clings to 19th century snail mail to send you your codes. No, they're not set over the internet (which is uses for the actual authorization process), they send them via SNAIL MAIL. UGH! Please wait 3-5 business days for delivery! Oh, and they also charge you a $4 handling fee for sticking your authorization code (pre-printed on a computer label) into an envelope. Cha-ching!

3) Personally, I've never had to deal with it, but I've heard many a story of their technical support department having a chip on their shoulder. They also are open 4 hours a day, to meet your needs.

And yet, here I am. Every year, I call out and wonder to myself, why does Strat make it so hard to do business with them? Yes, I know they're a small company, and their profit margin is rather low, so they can't do the glitzy things other can (updating baseball from a Windows '95 interface would be nice). I like the game engine in DMB much better, but I like the immersion that Strat gives you with it's newspaper-like boxscores, it's probable pitchers for the next day.

So, I guess I'll just "stick it" for another year, get frustrated with the authorization process and table the game, and then come back 4-6 months later. It's like the circle of life :D.

[Ksyrup]

Once I found the wonderful world of career sims, I completely lost interest in S-O-M. However, during the 80s and very early 90s, I was a S-O-M geek. I can still recall keeping detailed stats by hand for every season I replayed, and being thrilled when the first computer versions came out.

And I can recall, before the days of the internet, how hard it was to order new seasons. They were open the same customer-friendly few hours a day, except back then, they only accepted orders during particular times of the year, as I recall. So trying to hunt down their phone number, get a hold of someone once I called, and place an order was incredibly difficult, time-consuming, and frustrating.

I'm sad to see some things never change...

[rowech]

I actually at one time had tons of start computer seasons. I eventually sold them all for much of the reasons CraigSca outlines. Since then, I've gone back to the boardgames and for computer games I stick with the career sims. It's a nice balance for me. However, I don't have any seasons from the '90s for Replay baseball (my game of choice) Leaves me with Strat or Dynasty as an option. $50 for a season of Dynasty or $10 for a copy of Strat.

[Booj]

I remember the first (and only) time I got the CD version... I also remember the floppy not working anymore so I couldn't play...

At least with the C&D, I can put it on my closet, forget about for five or so years, then when cleaning my closet, take it out again... and then spending $5 on replacing the parts that disappeared in my closet.

But, just by looking online the past few days looking for info on Strat, I was amazed at the dedication of the STrat fans... and how many there were...

[CraigSca]

But, just by looking online the past few days looking for info on Strat, I was amazed at the dedication of the STrat fans... and how many there were...

But they all seem to be aging..in their 40's, 50's and 60's. Tabletop games in general seem to be a dying breed. I played Statis-Pro growing up and it gave me a huge jumpstart when it came to my math skills, something I'd like to instill in my son (though he has no interest in baseball beyond "Yay team!" at this time :( )

[AgustusM]

Belated Merry Christmas! (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=199310030LAN)

yes, I remember the day well - damn Salomon Torres - you had so much promise!

[AgustusM]

as for Strat as a company I agree.

I spent my youth playing strat for hours - but as an adult have mostly moved onto things like FOF and OOTP.

However when I stumbled across this book http://www.amazon.com/Strat-O-Matic-Fanatics-Unlikely-Success-American/dp/0879462809/sr=8-2/qid=1167409048/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/105-0106627-9871621?ie=UTF8&s=books I got nostalgic and brought out the old cards. Played a game of baseball with my 8 year old son (who is a lot like me and knows all the players even at age8) and we had a blast. Which led to more nostalgia and a $200+ order from strat for various things.

Sadly, this experience has mostly shown me why I have moved on - the ordering process on the website was tedious and outdated. the things I ordered took forever to get here and once here I was disappointed in the football and basketball PC games - that seem to have made little progress (although I did like the football animation) Then my son and I sat down to play the football board game and it was really bad. the pace and strategy of it simply don't measure up anymore, and even though football is my real life favorite sport, it is simply not that great on the board game.

all in all I still enjoy the baseball game and I will always have fond memories of strat growing up - but I think it is safe to say the cards and dice will spend the vast majority of their time out in the garage.

[rowech]

Then my son and I sat down to play the football board game and it was really bad.

I'm assuming you played the basic version. The advanced version, for my money, is still the best head-to-head football experience for tabletop football.