Strat-o-Matic remembered
Chad Finn, of the always readable Touching All the Bases, writes an article about Strat-o-Matic baseball, a game that dominated most of the ’80s for me.
The guys at Goodwill Park taught me Strat-o-Matic [SOM] back in the summer of 1980 or 1981, playing with cards from the mid-seventies. I started Catfish Hunter, and he cost me the game when he gave up a dinger in the ninth. “He does that a lot,” they consoled me.
I got my first copy of SOM with the 1982 card set. I was the only one in the family interested in sports, so I created elaborate leagues and draft scenarios to keep myself amused. I would kill off two teams (Toronto and Seattle were generally the victims back then), allow each team to keep five pitchers, a catcher, three infielders and two outfielders. I’d then distribute the rest of the players. The Red Sox occasionally had a thumb on the scale during this distribution — hello Bruce Bochte!
I played SOM for 10 years or so, carrying the cards around the house and down the cape. I still have fond memories of it. Thanks, Chad, for bringing them back.
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