(The Wolfman has returned to SOM Land!!!
Can his newly acquired baseall team become
a contender?  Read his reports as he renters the world
of SOM via his 1st computer based internet league.)


May 27th, 2005 -- PART I
 { updated October 6th, 2005 }
 

Hi everyone – this is Joshua Shapiro, formerly known as Rick “Wolfman” Shapiro or the Skokie Wolfman, writing to you direct from the southeastern part of Holland.  As part of a birthday gift I bought for my 50th birthday (God can I be that old, where did the years go???) the computer version of SOM baseball (vers. 10) and now I find myself involved in two computer-based leagues, the CBA and the EABL.  God, it’s good to be back.  I even found out that Glenn Guzzo mentioned some of the antics of my early days with the game, back in the 1970’s-1980 and also the various SOM conventions we organized back then in his book on SOM.  Well being mentioned in a book is nothing new as during my hiatus from the game we all love (thank you God for making Harold (a) Richman!!) I did write a few books (but these books have nothing to do with Strat or sports).  The missing "Wolfman" years (as I call them) is a whole other yet to be told story that if one of our major projects goes well, you will all know about for sure, by 2007.

Anyway, being that I am very active on the internet communicating with people from all over the world, I found Steve Berens (the President of Empire State Strat-o-matic Leagues {ESSOM}, one of the oldest leagues founded by Larry King in 1974) on the on-line mailing list called the Strat-BB Digest (or I should say he found me) and we resumed our old friendship via emails and chat.  Steve in addition to running the above league also coordinates the ESSOM LDK FRIENDSHIP CUP which is a tournament that managers from other computer-based leagues can participate in.  Actually Steve started this type of tournament in 1978 when he organized the Gold Cup Challenge Series.  This is how I met Steve as I participated (and according to the Strat-o-matic Review, I came in second -- I just don't remember it, it was so many years ago. This tournament was done by sending in your team's instructions via regular mail.

So Steve and I are not strangers and we renewed our old friendship.  Then Steve asked if I would write an article about my experiences (or I volunteered, not sure which) being involved with my first computer league.  So being that I make a portion of my income from writing books – I thought why not give ya all an update on what is happening as I have sure learned quite a bit about the computer game and what kind of teams will do well since I have started playing again in this new incarnation of SOM.

But first, I have to dispel a rumor I heard about related to my disappearance for about 25 years (has it been so many?).  Some people told me they heard I got religious or something like this (involved with a cult or something crazy like that).  Well, gentlemen and ladies, this was not the case at all.  I will admit that I am involved in some of the most controversial subjects of study known today that we could say border on the esoteric or mystical but definitely not involved in any traditional religion I know of (or you know of for that matter).  Its ok, because this journey has taken me all over the world, met some of the most incredible people you can imagine (besides the books written), appeared here and there on some shows on TV and radio programs and in 2000 eventually brought me to Europe where I now live and continue to offer my unique form of lectures based on the non-traditional subjects I study and research. Again another whole wild story that must be told at another time.

So even though I am living in Europe, its not so bad.  Thanks to Mr. Richman, who had the wisdom to move our most beloved game onto the computer, I am able to still play against worthy opponents via these internet-computer leagues or using the Netplay feature { Speaking of Netplay -- if you click here, you can download an instructional Microsoft Word document, stored as a zip file that I have written about Netplay which you might find helpful }.  I would be a bit lost as there aren’t too many other players here in Europe (although there is a member of the EABL, an American like myself living in Germany and Steve just introduced me to one of his league members in Italy) so you need to keep your skills sharp by competitive play (plus the best way to learn all the new super-advanced rules and computer-only rules).

Now how I came back to Strato (you guys still call it this yes?) is via the Sporting News.  I am still a big baseball fan, coming from Chicago, so I was following all the news about my Cubbies, and what players they were signing and trading before the current season started (who knew the Chicago team of choice for this season is the White Sox, glad we have Hernandez on one of our SOM league teams!!!!).  Anyway I saw on the Sporting News website, a way to play SOM Baseball online via a 21 trial game league. And to be honest gentlemen and ladies, I kind of missed being connected to the action, as I did make a name for myself as the Wolfman in my younger days for some of my managerial feats and all the national conventions we organized in Illinois from 1974-1979 at the good University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana and at Northwestern, near Chicago.

So, I played in three trial leagues (using the 2003 based season of cards), to try to see which type of team would do the best using the computer game.  The first team I created was called; yes you guess it, the Skokie Wolfmen. This was the name of the very first team I managed when I played in my very first league by the regular  mail (do any of you remember those days – a Mr. J G Preston was the commissioner, does anyone know if he is around?).  Anyway, our boys went 14-7 – which was based on drafting a 25 man team. We had some pretty darn good starting pitchers (Prior, K. Brown, Ortiz, B. Kim) with a good defense and a bit of speed and hitting.  Then I tried two more trial leagues.  The next team I drafted had exceptional hitting but not such good pitching and I won’t mention our record for that one.  And finally, the best team we fielded had exceptional starting pitching (Prior, K. Brown, Zambrano, Ponson) with Gagne (the unhittable) as our closer and an all “1” defensive team (except a 2 in RF).  I called this team the “Chicago Bums” (and we were playing at Boston’s Fenway) and they finished at 16-5.  So now I was hooked and I had to buy the baseball game, but which version to choose from?

About a year or so ago, I had downloaded once a demo of the computer game (I think it could have been release 4) and I wasn’t very impressed.  And there is nothing to beat that feel of the dice in your hands playing face to face against a real live opponent – staring at him (or her) in the eyes as your team makes mince meat out of them (or so you hope, but in a friendly way of course).  But unfortunately as stated before, there aren’t many folks here in Europe who know the baseball game (but perhaps we will change that!!).  So really there was no choice, the computer game seemed to be the best way to go if I wanted to participate in a league and get back into the action. 

And before I get more involved in this series of articles and so I don't forget, there were a whole group of special folks that I met via the Strat-BB Digest and various on-line forums or mailing lists who came to my aid as I was trying to learn more about the computer game (and even remembered me from the old days).  They really helped to convince me that the computer game was the only way to go and told me about the Netplay feature (At first I had difficulty getting Netplay Home to work but again if you read my article you will see what you have to do).

Well, as you all know, when you come to the computer game for the first time, you have to learn a whole new jargon of terms like CM (Computer Manager), HAL, Pitcher Fatigue, Ball Park Homers and Singles and so on --- thank god by now I have had a chance to touch most of it and have a pretty good feel for what I am doing!!  Yee-ha!!!.  Anyway I just would like to recognize some old and new special friends who were very supportive in answering all my questions (I am known for asking a lot of questions, being an Aries and all) and helping me to feel very comfortable as I returned to the special world of SOM Baseball.  From the Strat-BB Digest and other online forums besides the help from Steve Beren, I would like to publicly acknowledge Dean Armhein, Bart Ewing, Drew Kennedy, Dick Hunt, Gary Simonds, Glenn Guzzo, Jack Spellman, Ken McKnight (Commissioner of the EABL), Marc Wasserman (commissioner of the CBA), Mike San Clemente (SOM Strategists) and Daryl Ludwar (who started as the co-manager of both of our new acquirely computer-based teams but got busy later on in the year) … Thus I really had no other option, and to re-connect to participate in one of these high flying – super leagues, I decided to go with the Computer Game. 

So I decided to buy my birthday present early {Again, all of this reconnection with Strato was happening in February and if I did join a league -- providing someone wanted to have an old-timer for a member  -- I needed to have the cards of the players.} as my birthday was in April. So, I ordered immediately on-line with a credit card, the 2004 based cards with the computer game including the card image and colored stadiums so I could come back to the SOM World and boy had I missed it!! 

So with the game on its way, now I needed to find the right league or leagues.  So I answered a few ads I saw on the various mailing lists, leagues that had existing openings so I could get some practice with the game, learn the ins and outs of the computer version and all the new rules that have come up over the past 25 years.  I enjoyed drafting teams on the Sport News, so I was leaning toward a new draft league (rather then taking over an established team). 

Well as it turned out, I found two leagues to join which I initially co-managed with my buddy Daryl (I met Daryl in one of the Sporting News league and we decided to do some co-managing as he hadn’t played in a computer league yet either), but Daryl got busy into the year, and winged it myself.  One of the leagues was a newly established draft league and the other one that was offered to me, was an established team.  Anyway, the team I intend to focus upon on in this article is the pre-created squad called the Montreal Royals which is a member of the CBA (the Cyber Baseball Association).  For this league, I was directly contacted by the commish, Marc Wasserman who remembered me (called me an old timer, can you imagine that) and saw my posts on one of the mailing lists about joining a league.  They had an opening which he offered to me, again the Montreal Royals which actually was one of the founding teams from the start of the CBA in 1997. 

The CBA was started in Canada but now is comprised of members living there and within the U.S.  Well I thought to myself, how the heck am I supposed to learn the computer game, if I only play it myself.  Also the team he had offered me had never made the playoffs and had a poor season the year before (78-84) and didn’t really have too many good players.  But Marc is a really nice person who is very devoted to this league.  He told me that  if I wanted to, I could do it on a temporary basis.  The best way to learn a game and hone your skills is to jump into the fire.  So I spoke to Daryl, to see if he would co-manager with me, so that when I was ready to move on, he could take over the squad, and he agreed. Thus upon reviewing my emails, it seemed that on February 28th I officially agreed to become the new Royals skipper and let me tell you, I had no clue what would happen to me next or even how I was going to do this.  I thought well if we could play .500 ball, with this squad if should be fun.

Well you all know the excitement that comes when you have a team – you want to check out everyone’s card and start planning your strategy but when the CBA 10 round draft started, I didn’t have the game and I could only decide my draft picks based completely upon the player statistics.  You all know that the cards always have surprises that you can't tell from the stats but this was what we had to do.  So, Daryl and I worked together on who to draft by chatting online.  But as I said, our first few draft picks came without actually seeing the cards so I did make a few mistakes. 

Now I would like to acknowledge some of the beloved new family that has adopted me at the CBA and given me this chance to once again take the reins of a SOM Manager.  Besides Marc (or Wass as we affectionately call him), helping to oversee the league is Dennis Concepion and Cory Light (both Wass and Dennis live in Brooklyn or nearby, so they can visit the game company – those lucky guys – and they go to "Opening Day").  All three of these fellows were of tremendous help and assistance as I tried to catch up.  Also I wish to acknowledge a few other managers, our trading partners (we made 10 trades during our first season and I ain’t done yet for the next one in 2006) who have helped us to create the Royals as they are today:  Our first trading partner Rob Hite who has won a championship in the league and is always competitive (2 trades), Rich Schneider (2 trades), Cory Light, Jack Frost and John Derek Adams plus just prior to the writing of the first version of this article, we initiated three more trades with  Bob Fidler, Ryan Wyckoff, Malachi Nellum.  About half of the managers now we have had dealings.

For Part 2 of this article, I am going to take the reader through the process of taking the lonely Royals from a forgotten team to a contender (Yes, you heard me write, our boys came alive and were very competitive).  I will explain which players we started with (of the 25 we inherited only 9 of the original players are left) – what trades we made and why and how we managed our club to give to the Montreal fans something to be excited about.  It is my hope from my personal experiences (as I know there are some managers don’t like to share their strategies) that this might help you to improve your game and enjoy it more.

So this is the Skokie Wolfman, writing to you live from Holland over and out for now – if you like what you have read so far, click on the link below to head-on-over for Part II and find out more about the CBA and the challenge of the Royals to bring a championship to Montreal – who would have thought?
 

Wolfman Shapiro
 

To Continue Reading
Part II
(click above)
 

To correspond with the "Wolfman" feel free to send him an email at:
wolfmanshapiro@gmail.com

To go the Wolfman's Home Page, click here
To view the leagues that the "Wolfman" is competing in, feel free to visit:

 THE CBA (www.cba-bb.net  -- check out the Skokie Wolfmen)
THE PSBL  (www.psbl.us ---- check out the Skokie Cubs)

To read his article about his first experience at the Star Tournaments in Chicago (August 2005), please feel  free to visit this page at:

http://www.v-j-enterprises.com/startournament_chi1.html


Good luck everyone with your Strat-o-matic Seasons


................ the Skokie Wolfman