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Ranking the Strat-O-Matic Past
Seasons
Will Kolodzie
Typically, the Strat-O-Matic baseball past season sets are the biggest
sellers in the company catalogues. Hal Richman once told STRAT
FAN that he'
d be embarrassed to tell us the volume of sales for the products.
This is
rather surprising given the quality of the efforts in this area.
The past season sets are what truly separates Strat-O-Matic from its
competitors. Over 1,500 man-hours are required to create a
single season.
Much of the work is done by Strat-O-Matic's Steve Barkan, who studies
old
boxscores and data in order to produce player cards that accurately
reflect
a player's ability for a given season. Hal Richman also
contributes a
tremendous amount of time with the primary and supplementary ratings.
Some
of the company's work with the past seasons is extraordinary, enough
so that
they have caught errors and omissions in official baseball records.
Each season is available for the computer baseball game at $20.
That's not
a bad price at all considering what you get for your money. The
Strat-O-Matic past seasons offer hundreds of hours of valuable
insights and
fantastic gaming experiences, especially if you don't know much about
baseball history, or some of the Hall of Famers of the past.
My Top Ten Favorites
1. 1964 - released in 1996
2. 1950 - released in 1986
These are two of the better seasons for replayers. Both sets
contain
incredible pennant races in both leagues. 1964 features the last
World
Series of the Yankees during the Mantle era, not to mention Mickey's
last
great season. The National League race is the heart of the set.
There is
no way to tell what the outcome of the season is going to be until you
get
to the last week of your replay. 1964 is a full super-advanced
set except
that it doesn't contain individual pitcher fielding ratings.
For whatever reason, Strat-O-Matic customers haven't embraced the 1950
set.
The AL pennant race featured solid performances from New York, Boston,
Detroit, and Cleveland. Any of these teams is capable of coming
up with the
prize. One wonders how well Boston would have done if Williams
hadn't
missed almost half of the season with an injury. Boston hit .302
as team,
with solid performances from Billy Goodman, Walt Dropo, and Dom
DiMaggio.
The NL race is almost as good. Both Philadelphia and Brooklyn
had very
solid teams for that era. In my opinion, I happen to think
1950 one of the
best sets that the company has produced. If I was on a deserted
island, and
could only take one set of cards, 1950 is my choice.
3. 1920 - released in 1999
The 1920 set is groundbreaking in many respects. You'll want to
replay the
AL season because of the amazing pennant race between the Indians,
White
Sox, and Yankees, separated by only 3 games at the end of the season.
What
will really grab you is Babe Ruth's card. Most people considered
it the
greatest Strat-O-Matic cards until a few months ago. Shoeless
Joe gets his
first and only "official" Strat card. George Sisler
also gets a nice card
for hitting .420. In the National League, the Brooklyn Robins
don't look
like much, but they're a pretty good ballclub, one that holds its own
against any American League team.
4. 1961 - released in 1983
5. 1969 - released in 1985
Historical overtones dominate the 1961 and 1969 sets. It's a
blast
replaying the 1961 Yankees and seeing if Mantle or Maris can top Babe
Ruth's
record. Eight players hit over 40 home runs in the set.
Interestingly
enough, Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson aren't included in that group.
The
1969 NL East division race between the Mets and Cubs is also a thing
of
beauty, although Pittsburgh is a much stronger team that imaginable.
Don't
be surprised if Pittsburgh outlasts both teams! Atlanta and San
Francisco
also make for a pretty good NL West affair.
6. 1941 - released in 1992
The story of the 1941 set, for me, is not the fact that Ted Williams
hit
.400 for the season or that Joe DiMaggio hit in 56 consecutive games.
Williams is never close to .400 in any of my replays. His best
season, I
believe, was .393. The highlight of the set is the amazing St.
Louis
Cardinals. This team is a lot better than I thought they were.
They replay
very well and usually beat the Dodgers for the N.L. pennant.
Brooklyn's
Pete Reiser has one of those amazing Strat card that does a little bit
of
everything. It's a shame that injuries ruined his career.
In 1941, this
guy is a hero.
7. 1927 - released in 1990
1927 is the first super-advanced season. Although time has
diminished its
impact, the 1927 represented a new level of achievement for
Strat-O-Matic.
The New York Yankees are an incredible hitting team with Babe Ruth (60
home
runs) and Lou Gehrig (54 home runs) powering an incredible offensive
attack.
Just sit back and watch the Yankees mow down every challenger.
The rest of
the set isn't as interesting, but not to worry, the Yankees are too
fascinating to worry about the other teams.
8. 1975 - released in 1992
This past season set features an incredible World Series between the
Cincinnati Reds and the Boston Red Sox. As much as I enjoyed
watching the
"real" thing, replaying it over and over again is even
better. The "Big Red
Machine" - Tony Perez, Joe Morgan, Pete Rose, Johnny Bench and
George Foster
vs. the Red Sox led by ageless wonder Carl Yaztremski and rookies Fred
Lynn
and Jim Rice. It doesn't get any better than this.
9. 1978 - released in 1991
My first Strat-O-Matic set. The playoff race between the Yankees
and the
Red Sox is the reason you'll want to buy this one, although there are
some
terrific teams in the National League with Philadelphia, Pittsburgh,
San
Francisco, Cincinnati, and Los Angeles capable of winning the pennant.
Powerful performances by Ron Guidry (25 wins - incredible card vs.
left-handed batters), Jim Rice, and Dave Parket make this a set to
remember.
10. 1955 - released in 2002
Perhaps it's too early to really include the 1955 set in my top ten
list.
There are a number of other worthy candidates, including the 1956,
1967, and
1968 seasons. But I think I'm sticking with 1955 because of its
historical
significance. After replaying dozens of Yankees/Dodgers World
Series, I'm
tired of seeing the Yankees always win. This season gives me a
chance to
finally get the Dodgers over the top. The thing that really
strikes me
about this set is the strength of the Brooklyn team. This is a
far better
group than I expected them to be. Roy Campanella's
2-column vs. LH
pitchers is incredible, as is Duke Snyder's entire card. Snyder
had trouble
with lefties in his career, but not in 1955. He's a good bet to
do damage
against any pitcher he faces. Both Mickey Mantle and Ted
Williams have fun
cards, too, especially since the latter rates a "5" in left
field. That's a
tough one for late-innings situations. Do I keep Ted in the game
or put in
a defensive replacement?
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