Seems like a lot of new guys are playing...............

[durantjerry]

because every other time I try to jump in a league close to filling it's a "Newbie Only" league. Not complaining, just sayin'. The two closest leagues to filling in 2009 and ATG V both don't want me.

[Stoney18]

DJ, it's not just those leagues that don't want you. :D :D

There does seem to be quite a few new players out there. That's great!

[Jeepdriver]

Just my 2cents, but I think requesting 500 points or less in a league is a bit much. If I was new I'd want to play against the best. Sure I'd have to suffer a few knocks on the head, but the experience is invaluable.

[The Godfather]

I'm not sure that people pay that much attention anyways. Even though it's been debated on the boards a few times, someone with 3,000+ points just joined one of those leagues.

By the way, even with my robust "85" rating I typically throw my hat into the ring with leagues that are at least 50% veterans. I did create one "Under 200 Pts" league awhile ago but none since then.

And I think theme leagues (with drafts conducted on the boards) are a GREAT way for newbies to get used to the salary cap as long as veterans are ok with letting them join.

Continuously getting schooled in an auto-draft is not something that most newbies want to deal with. Playing against other newbies gives us a chance to tweak our initial auto-draft strategies before venturing into deeper waters. I just joined one of those 500 Pt leagues and this will be my first auto-draft so I'm hoping it goes well.

[Melangez]

As a newbie, I can say, I didn't even pay attention to the "experience" in my first league. I simply bought a team, and joined a league. I have played the Diamond Mind version, and wanted to try something different. I'm not even that familiar with the Strat-O-Matic board game, as I was more an APBA guy growing up.

I expect my team may not fair very well, as there's much about the play-engine I don't know. For example, is it era-regualted? If a guy hit .300, does it matter if he did it in 1968 vs 1930? Does having an ERA of 2.50 mean more if it was done in 1995 as opposed to 1915? You know, all that sabermetric stuff.

What I do know is if I'm going to learn the game, there's really only one way to do it. I look forward to seeing how it goes.

[durantjerry]

It does not matter when someone did something as much as where they did something. For example, Orlando Cepeda's HR's in 1962 SF mean much more than say Vinny Castilla's big HR seasons in Coors because one park is difficult to hit HR's in while the other is relatively easy. Same logic applies to pitching and BA to a lesser extent.

[KEVINEHLE]

Hi Melangez--welcome to the Strato world. I also played some APBA back in the day. Oddly enough, I preferred APBA football over Strato Football.....but preferred Strato Baseball over APBA baseball.

I think the key difference is that Strato has evolved so much over the years and really digs down into the intracacies of baseball. It's been awhile since I've seen the APBA baseball, but I'm thinking they still don't have really solid Passed Ball ratings, Closer rules and ratings, Clutch hitting, fatigue, base stealing restrictions/holding on, runner's discretion based on where ground balls are hit, etc. I also don't recall stadiums and weather coming into play. However, again, it's been a long time. Perhaps APBA has done some of these things as well as other features.

However, in the end, give Strato a chance online with the rest of us. I've been playing for the past 8 years and looking at boxscores every morning has been worth the lofty price per team. But then again, if you can get some free credits by dominating some leagues....all the better.

Kev