APBA and Strat-o-Matic

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DOUGHBOYS
Posts: 13088
Joined: Sat Feb 05, 2005 6:00 pm

APBA and Strat-o-Matic

Post by DOUGHBOYS » Fri Mar 20, 2020 6:52 am

For a time,when I was a kid, I lived up in the Sierras. Now, living up in the mountains might mean bad cell reception.
In the 60's, it meant having few radio and tv stations.
It was the only time in my life that comes close to now....Isolated from baseball
At least then, I had the Sunday newspaper. It was filled with all the stats of the players.
I couldn't wait for my Dad to get done with that paper.
I would pore over every statistic.
A few times, I would forget how many homers a player had. I would then sneak out of Church and go into the car and pull out the paper.

Before moving to those mountains, I lived in the City of Livermore.
It was there that I met kids that had the same interest in baseball that I had.
One of them introduced me to Strat-o-matic and another to APBA.
Loved 'em both.
Playing 'baseball' with those friends are some of the best memories of my childhood.
The move to the mountains meant that I had to be a one-man league.

I would pay my little sister to painstakingly print (by hand) my stat sheets.
Then play seasons of baseball with those cards and dice.
My favorite was a 162 game schedule of 'Old Timers' vs 'All Stars'
The old timers were Ruth, Gehrig, Cobb, Wagner, etc. vs the All Stars of the day, who were Mays, Aaron, Robinson, etc
The old timers would usually kick their ass with their ungodly stats from back in the day.
It was just crazy how good those stats were back then.
Seriously, who hits .400 and steals close to 100 bases?
Ty Cobb was just the lead off hitter.
With Ted Williams, Ruth, Gehrig, Foxx, Hornsby, Wagner, Hartnett, and Walter Johnson behind him, that lineup would just kill.

That clinking of the dice and cards from those games would last into my adulthood.
Back in the day, folks didn't live together before getting married.
I met my wife while in College.
It started out as a friendship that grew into love.
We married and went on our Honeymoon.
Coming home from the Honeymoon, I couldn't sleep one night.
I went to the closet, pulled out the APBA cards and started a game.
She was awoken by the dice.
"What are you doing?"
"Playing baseball."
She shook her head and went back to bed.
It was soon after that I gave up on those games.
Whenever I see the words, 'Strat-o-matic or APBA though, it puts a big smile on my face.
Now, if I can just remember where I put them....... :D
On my tombstone-
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!

Thurman15
Posts: 158
Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2018 6:27 pm

Re: APBA and Strat-o-Matic

Post by Thurman15 » Sun Mar 22, 2020 6:29 am

Cool memories Dan. Back in the mid 70s I played Strat-O-Matic all the time. I loved it. If we have no season this year, I might have to invest in Strat-O-Matic again. Thanks for reminding me.
Rogers Hornsby, Hall of Famer with the Cardinals was once asked " You love Baseball Rogers, but what do you do in the winter ? " His response......"I stare out the window and wait for spring "

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