A Strat-O-Matic Baseball Memoir

The Best Baseball Board Game of Them All

In the beginning, I learned, there had been The Disc Game.

Player cards were cardboard discs that slipped over a spinner. Each disc was divided into numbered sections, with each number representing a strikeout, walk, single, out, home run, and so on. Players who had hit more home runs, or struck out more, in real life had bigger home run, and
 strikeout, zones. I never heard it called anything but The Disc Game.

You could play a more or less realistic game of baseball. But there was no strategy; no hit-and-run, stolen base, or sacrifice. The pitcher wasn't part of it. There was also the problem of having the spinner come to rest precisely on a line separating two sections of a player's disc.

One of the guys in The Disc Game league no doubt saw the advertisement in a sports magazine: PLAY 1968 BIG LEAGUE BASEBALL GAMES. The ad, for a company named Strat-O-Matic, promised realistic action. Ferguson Jenkins and Bob Gibson would display pinpoint control. Hank Aaron would catch line drives other outfielders would fail to reach. Frank Howard would be among the leaders in both home runs and strikeouts. The same ad I remember seeing in baseball magazines years earlier; same copy, with only the players' names changed each season.

The 1968 cards were ordered, and arrived, as they still do, early in the spring following the baseball season. During the moon landing / Woodstock summer vacation of 1969, when I was taking driver's ed, while the Cubs were blowing their big lead in the NL East, the four Disc Game league guys -- acquaintances of mine since kindergarten -- passed the time playing Strat-O-Matic baseball.

One morning that fall, while waiting for American Government class to begin, I overheard baseball talk and asked what was up. I ended up asking to join the league. It met, almost every night during that senior year of high school, in the basement belonging to a patient and understanding set of parents.

Related information
  • Strat-O-Matic official website
 
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I remember that Skip Lockwood card. I had a similar experience with a Steve Howe card. I can't recall the year, but he had practically nothing (hits or walks) on the left handed batter side of the card. He was my ace reliever that year.

Posted on 09/22/2008 at 7:09:37 PM

Skip Lockwood was my "Ace in the Hole." Ha had appeared in 27 games as a reliver for the Mets in 1980, racking up a 2-5 record with 9 saves and a great 1.49 ERA (Strat-o-Matic had his ERA at 1.50, if I remember correctly) in 42 inings. In the summer of 1981, I drafted him and he was my ace reliever. There was nothing in the Strat-o-Matic rules limiting the number of games you could use him, so even though relievers like Mike Marshall would appear in 90-100 games, Bill Campbell 70-80, and Goose Gossage 70+ and my guy had appeared in only 1/3rd as many, I could haul him out practically every day. It was sweet! P.S. Skip was one of the original Seattle Pilots!

Posted on 06/25/2008 at 9:06:12 PM

Great piece. I'm adding you to my favorites.

Posted on 06/25/2008 at 8:06:08 PM

Wow, what a great story. I never heard of this, but your writing is absolutely thrilling and compelling to read. Thanks for the great article.

Posted on 05/11/2007 at 9:05:00 AM

Tom, this was the most fantastic memoir I have ever read. This was literally reminding me of Stand By Me, The Sandlot, and The Wonder Years. By the way, I love SOM games. I was in a SOM league about 5 or 6 years ago with a guy at work. Similar situation to yours, this guy had played with high school buddies for years and one of their buddies split when he gave me an opportunity to play. I only played for a week or two, but it was a blast for those couple of weeks.

Posted on 05/10/2007 at 4:05:00 PM

I share your absolute love for Strat-O-Matic baseball as well. I began playing in 1978, and other than a few absences during my travels in the Navy - I have played religiously since. It is the absolute best baseball simulation ever created. Rob

Posted on 12/16/2006 at 10:12:00 PM

It was my dream to own a Strat-o-matic game, but alas I never got one. My best freind in HS Clint Shields taught me how to play basebal w/ a deck of cards. He combined two old decks, made line up and kept score. the game was scored as follow A= HR K=2B Q=3B J=WALK 10=K 9,8,7,6,5,3 outs 4=W 2= single You could play an entire season in the summer. I still have my specail set of cards in the attic/

Posted on 07/21/2006 at 5:07:00 AM

Rings so true, Tom. Thanks for bringing back some memories. Our Frank Fernandez was Mackey Sasser, the Mets catcher. I should have ripped that card up the day it arrived.

Posted on 06/06/2006 at 10:06:00 AM

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