The Shabotnik Retort

The Shlabotnik Retort...get it? Clever, yes? I sent Joe Shlabotnik something, he sends something back..a retort. I've been wanting to use that title! Woohoo.  OK, so much for that, let's look at what Joe sent me. 

Yes, that's the 1970 Carl Yastrzemski. This is one of a couple of needs Joe filled from this set build. It's moving along nicely. And one less star is on my needs list thanks to Joe!

This LBJ card comes from a 1976 Rainbo Bread set that was new to me. Doing a bit of checking sent me down a rabbit hole in which I discovered that Rainbo sponsored two separate but similar sets. One was this Presidential set and the other honored 'great' Americans. I now own the later but the Presidential set will have to wait for some free time.

5 Tool cards...the Topps subset. A natural for me. I don't have a checklist for them (though it would be simple to find it) but I do put them in my 'keepers' box when I get them.

Joe knows Score and sent me this Cal Jr. Was he ever this young? It's a great photo.

Modern cards of Orioles past and present, mostly Brooks!

The Heritage card (lower left of the four) uses the photo which was used on Brooks' 1957 rookie card. A question arose not long ago (in a comment on my blog I think) concerning the orange-ish background of that card. Did Topps pose Brooks in front of an orange backdrop? Did they re-color the sky for some reason? Looks like now we know.

Next come three UH athletes. I haven't added to my Cougar binder in awhile. Maybe this will motivate me.

You never see 'Clyde The Glide' in Cougar gear on a card so this is pretty cool.

And now for something totally unexpected. A Strat-O-Matic game Billy Pierce! I played Strat for decades and still have boxes of player cards from the 60s thru the mid 80s. Every once in awhile I'll pull out the game and give it a whirl. I'm not sure why it never occurred to me to add a Strat card to my Pierce collection. 

Stratheads will note that this card and the others Joe included (most of the '62 Giants team set) are from the basic version that doesn't include the advance version on the reverse. Leads me to believe that these are original cards and not from a reprint set. I only played the basic game, btw. 

I put the Giants (except for Billy Pierce of course) in my free agent Strat box. I use them when playing for fun. I just dig in and build teams from whatever comes out in my hand.

The rest of Joe's envelope was stuffed with Orioles, shiny and new and otherwise. 

Never knew that Bowman produced two-sided cards. Here's one. The back side is above. Hunter Harvey graces the front.

2017 Bunt. Heaven's light shines on Zach. Hurry back!

One of the great names in the game, Storm Davis. And one of my favorite 80s sets. Cards like this make me nostalgic for Memorial Stadium.

Foursome of Bowmans including an Adam Jones.

A Chrome Jones.

Next card is from when Machado was just a gleam in Orioles' fans eyes.

I don't know much about Jake Lemoine but his card is bright enough to light up a small city. Scan doesn't do it justice.

I think that wraps it up. A great group of cards from a great blogger! Thanks again, Joe!!

Games People Play

I wish I had back all the hours I spent playing sports (mostly baseball) board games. What you see above are the games I still have on a shelf high up in a closet at home.My game of choice, as you can probably tell, was Strat-O-Matic. From my first purchase of the game in 1967 until I finally put it away in the mid-80s I wasted more time playing Strat than I care to remember. But it sure was fun.

The box in the lower right, the one with the stickers on it, is more or less my original Strat game. Through the years I purchased a couple of replacements but I kept (and kept repairing) the top cover of the original box.

Here is my view of baseball as I knew it for almost 20 years:

That playing field with all the glued-on pics is original as well. I had a cardboard 'platform on the right where the stacks of teams are now but other than that, it hasn't changed. I saved a piece of the original box bottom, that's the 'Hot Corner' taped to the right front of it.

The Strat box at the top of the picture is one of many 'replacement' games I bought and that box know holds spare charts, game cards, playing pieces and scoresheets. The white Strat box is my 2011 50th Anniversary edition. It's a replica of the original 1961 edition. I haven't played it.

I played 'season' after 'season' with a six teams playing 80 game schedule. My teams I used were almost always American League clubs. The Orioles were always included of course The other teams were usually the Red Sox, White Sox, Tigers, Senators and Twins. If you look at the charts in the pic you can see that over time I felt I knew more about the game than the folks in Glen Head, NY and I modified them somewhat. The one on the left was my 'Injury Chart' which covered thing like rain delays (I would go get a soda if that occurred), rain outs, ejections and injuries to defensive players. That wasn't something found in the actual game.

I always played the basic version, I couldn't be bothered with the advanced or super advanced versions. Mostly I played to accumulate stats. They were kept by hand and calculated with a slide rule. That's the object you see below. Only the more senior of you will remember them.

(Note: that photo and most of the others below are from the internet)

After a few years of that I wanted more accurate numbers and discovered the Sporting News Averages Book which contained page after page of charts which allowed you to find batting averages and ERAs. Eventually I got a pocket calculator and life was perfect.

Strat wasn't my first game though. When I was about ten I got a copy of Cadaco's All Star Baseball, the famous game with the spinner and player disks. It's the game that started me down the path of board gaming.

A bit later it was Challenge the Yankees. Game play was pretty basic and the players available were pretty limited. I only wish I still had the player cards. They can pull in big bucks nowadays. I played this one a lot with my Dad. He was always the Yankees, I as always the All Stars.

When I got my first desktop computer I thought I'd try computer baseball. APBA's version made by Miller and Associates for DOS (youngsters should look "DOS" up) was the most popular at the time. I found it boring and cumbersome. I hated not having those player cards and dice in my hands. Here is a screenshot from the net:

Then I gave Earl Weaver Baseball a shot. It was more of an arcade game. I bet I played it twice.

About five years ago I came across a copy of a book written about the Star-O-Matic game company (it's much better than it sounds LOL) and I got the game playing itch once again. 

But I knew I didn't have the time for setting up a dice based game so I did a bit of homework and read really good things about Diamond Mind Baseball. It was pretty costly but I really enjoyed it. I've been on a break from it for about a year but I played 15 'seasons' in the four years I have owned it. I have hundreds of teams and I even 'homebrewed' a few. I'll get back to it one of these days.

I've owned and played a few other sports-related board games over the years. My dorm buddies got caught up in Oscar Robertson Basketball one semester. We skipped a lot of classes for this one.

I had All-Pro Football which was a combination of checkers and football strategy. I remember it but I don't think I played it very often.

Up top in the original picture you see Strat-O-Matic Football. I think I played it with my Dad once. The box is beaten up by time (and repaired using pieces of Strat baseball boxes) but the game parts are pristine. I don't even remember buying the APBA Football game. I'm sure it's never been opened. And that Pursue The Pennant game box is untouched. The game parts are still wrapped as they were when I bought it. I was attracted by the hype but about the time I bought it my game playing interest was evaporating.

Finally here is my own Strat-O-Matic card. You sent them some cash and your 'stats' and info and you got back a card to put yourself into the game. I bought it for fun. I never used in in my 'league'. I'd pretty much quit playing by the time I bought it. I only 'enhanced' my running ability. In no way was I a 1-14. 1-9 would have been more like it.