From the time he was a young boy growing up in New Jersey, Doug Glanville's future was mapped out for him.  Doug's brother, who was seven years older, had a plan. Doug would become a major league baseball player.  That meant getting Doug interested in the sport by playing Strat-O-Matic baseball.  Even at the age of 5, Doug was great with numbers, and was able to comprehend the intricacies of Strat. (He would go on to earn a degree in Science and Systems Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, while also starring in baseball there.) So his love of sports and Strat grew in a complimentary fashion. Today, even though he's been a major leaguer for the past six years, Glanville still plays Strat.

But Glanville hasn't been playing a whole lot of real baseball this season. In the middle of the season, he lost his job as the Phillies starting centerfielder, and has been relegated to occasional starts ever since.
Most Strat players don't have any problem figuring out why.  Glanville's on-base percentage is too low, especially for a guy who's not a power hitter. Singles hitters with the ability to steal bases need to get on regularly to take advantage of their speed.

Back in 1999, when Glanville was having his best season, I would sometimes talk to him about his free-swinging approach. And Glanville insisted that it wasn't necessary to be a prototype leadoff hitter, a la Rickey Henderson, to be successful.  Since he ended up hitting .325 that year, I stopped asking him about it.

But major league pitchers are known for making adjustments. The following year, those chest-high pitches that Glanville had successfully turned into base hits started creeping up a few inches. Glanville kept swinging, but those pitches became outs instead of hits. His batting average dropped fifty points, to .275.

The decline continued in 2001, when his average was .262, with a mere .287 on base. Midway through the current season, when his numbers were even worse, Phillies manager Larry Bowa began sending Glanville to the bench, and moving Bobby Abreu from right field to center. Bowa loves Glanville's defense in center, and knew that it would hurt the team defensively to put Abreu in his place. But Bowa needed to generate some offense, and he felt he had to get Jeremy Giambi's bat into the lineup. Bowa didn't say it this way, but the trade off meant putting up with Giambi's shaky glove in right, and Abreu's slow reaction time in center.

It struck me, the day that Bowa first announced the move, that what he was doing was similar to my own Strat draft league team.   I have Glanville, but I start Vladimir Guerrero in center, moving him over from right field despite losing a point on his defensive rating, while Moises Alou, a "4" fielder, plays right.  So when I sat down to play Strat with Glanville one day, I gave him my team.  Would he play himself, or would he bench himself and move Guerrero over?

"If you know Vladimir Guerrero,  Vladimir Guerrero doesn't play center," Glanville said as he sorted through the cards. "But being that this is myself, I'm right here," he said as he placed his own card between Lance Berkman's on the left and Guerrero's on the right.  Moises Alou ended up on the bench.

Interestingly, Glanville expressed great admiration for Berkman's card, which has a ton of walks.  "Oh, you like those on-base guys that draw walks?" I asked.  "In this game, " Glanville, replied, "there's no question.  You roll the dice and Berkman's going to get on."

(It's true there are other Strat-O-Matic players who think walks are more important in Strat than in real baseball.  I disagree.  I think that Strat has taught us to be more aware of the importance of walks than most baseball fans, and certainly more than fantasy players for whom walks are usually of no value at all. Guys who draw walks not only get on base, but also they are going to get better pitches to hit. Often, a young player who draws lots of walks will eventually develop into a good hitter, even if his early batting averages are low.  I can recall a young catcher who hit .232 his first season and .246 the next.  I planned to draft him, though, because he walked in almost 10% of his plate appearances, an indication of a disciplined hitter who would make pitchers throw strikes. But I neglected to take him, and now someone else is benefiting from Paul LoDuca's .320 batting average and 25 homers.)

As Glanville and I prepared to play our game, I approached the same subject from a different angle. "The only problem is there's no walks on that Glanville card," I said. "Nah, there shouldn't be any walks," he said. (I was implying that he should draw more walks, but Doug thought I meant Strat-O-Matic should give him more.)   "I only had…"-he turned the card over to check the stats-"19 last year."

Despite his low on base, Glanville decided to bat himself leadoff.  He rolled a 3-8.  Groundout to the pitcher.
But playing against Glanville was fun. He's a great guy, and the atmosphere was the same as anytime two Strat players get together.  He let out a squeal of delight when the next batter, Rich Aurilia,  produced a homer/double split off of Greg Maddux.  "I'm taking Maddox deep already," he shouted. He pumped his fist in the air when he rolled the 20-sided die for the homer.  "Ooowee, four bases for Mr. Aurilia."

He was into the fantasy of the game as much as anyone. You wouldn't think this was a guy who actually faced Maddux himself on regular occasions.

In fact, Doug Glanville is so much into the game of Strat-O-Matic that he actually met with the game's inventor and President, Hal Richman, to complain about his defensive rating.  Glanville had been communicating with Richman all season to express his unhappiness over being a "2" in centerfield.  Finally, the two men met and talked on the field before a Phillies-Mets game at Shea Stadium in July. Glanville argued against the policy of generally giving a "1' to Gold Glove winners.  He compared his stats to those of Gold Glove CF Jim Edmonds.  "He (Edmonds) had 300 something put outs and I had 400. So I had 100 more than he did. That's a lot,' Glanville said, summarizing the point he made to Richman. "He (Edmonds) is a great defensive player, and he won the Gold Glove. And he's a "1." And clearly, I think I'm in the same area."

Glanville told Richman that the ratings should be based more on those kinds of numbers, versus reputation. "We talked a little about that. He (Richman) said there's, I think, six centerfielders that are top ranked. I guess I didn't fit into that top six. He said I was the highest-rated "2." But it still says "2" on the card. It doesn't say "2-plus". It says "2."

Glanville also argued against what he called "the flash factor."

"Edmonds is an exciting player. He dives for balls. People tend to see that as better defense. I'm not a good diving player. If I have a chance to be in position to catch it, and be able to throw, I'd rather do that. For me, I feel better standing on my feet."

And it is true that whenever I talked to Larry Bowa last year about Glanville's offensive struggles, the Phils manager would say, "Yeah, but he saves us a ton of runs with his defense."  And Benson's A to Z Scouting Guide 2001 said, "Glanville covers more ground than almost any other outfielder."

(At the same time, it's hard to figure why the same publication, in 2002, said, "Glanville is an average defensive centerfielder.")

As the result of Glanville's campaigning, Hal Richman presented Doug with a specially made Glanville card with a "1"rating.  It was a nice gesture because, obviously, Strat-O-Matic can't allow anyone to have undue influence on their ratings, including players.  "I told him he is an amazing fielder, but not quite a "1," Richman said. He compared Glanville's comments to the many times that people try to get him to change ratings for players on their draft teams. "People will lobby me for a rating for a player on their team.  And because we're located in New York, many people think we show favoritism to the New York teams.  If anything, we're more difficult on the Yankees and Mets players," Richman said. 

As for Glanville, he's got bigger worries than his Strat rating.  The Phillies seemed to be showcasing him in the final week leading up to the trade deadline, but no deal was made.  Despite his struggles this year, Glanville believes he can still be an effective everyday player in the majors, and that Bowa gave up on him too soon.  "I have a lot of confidence in what I've accomplished in this game. And in what I'm able to do when I get a chance to play and have the opportunity to go out there everyday."
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P.S.  Glanville tells a funny story of how he was standing in centerfield several years back, and Gregg Jefferies was in left.  And some fans were screaming at Jefferies.

"And they said, 'Jefferies, you're a "5." You're a"5."  And Jefferies was looking around, he had no idea what they were talking about.  But I knew," Glanville says, " "and I was cracking up."

P.S.S.  During the recent Strat-O-Matic convention, a guy from New York, Mike Cohen, told me that it was him, and a friend, Eric Ruskiewicz, who yelled the famous "You're a '5," insult at poor Gregg Jefferies.  They were in Philly to take part in a Star tournament that weekend.