Through the years...

Weird that the two teams with the best regular season records are names I don't even recognize.

That’s an AllStar division in the West. Sure do miss Kevin here.

This realization struck like a bolt from the blue just now.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the manager with the best record in the West, WS1967 has resurfaced, pun intended, as Watershark1967.

Cristano is apparently on at least his fifth name with ATG, a couple of Weinberg's and Cristano, Cristano1 and Grazoontite. Bet there are lots of other "newbies" will more or less illustrious atg pasts.

Well I messaged Watershark1967 in a league where he swept my 5-1 team last night. He said he only discovered SOM last year because of COVID. So another theory shot down.

My first sports heroes were Roberto Clemente and Johnny Unitas – years later, when I was 18, I actually met Johnny Unitas’ mother at a trolley stop in suburban Pittsburgh where she lived in a retirement home (Johnny U was from western PA). Bolt of lightning, wow! Anyhow, I started playing all types of baseball games when I was a kid, with Strat-o-Matic taking the lead. My favorite baseball season was 1979 when I was in high school and the “We Are Family” Pirates won it all.

Clifton's baseball biographies are awesome. I read his Al Simmons bio some years ago and am just finishing his book on Hack Wilson, "Fouled Away." Clifton is a great baseball writer whose books are well worth reading. The man can flat out write and he definitely knows baseball and also the historical contexts in which his subject's lived and is able to paint compelling verbal portraits of them that brought them to life for me.

It is also worth noting that McFarland is also the premier publisher of chess biographies and game collections. So the fact that they are Clifton's publisher also speaks volumes about the quality of his work.

Thank you, Bruce, for the kind words. As G.K. Chesterton once said, "“When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.” I take this with the utmost gratitude

What a diverse group of interesting, intelligent, high achievers! And most appear to be good family men as well.

There may be disagreements from time to time, which are to be expected among people who are passionate about this game, but overall, this is a good online community.

At the risk of stating the obvious, one common thread seems to be that we all love baseball, stats and competition.

No wonder it's so hard to win here!

Great thread.

I'm Sean, age 64, grew up in Austin, Texas, attended U. of Chicago starting in 1974 and have been in Chicago ever since. Most of those years were spent on the South Side so I'm a White Sox fan, but I like the Cubs too, and I will always love the Astros. I played Strat a few times as a kid, but did not really get into it until I joined a couple of face-to-face leagues in the late 90s. I've loved baseball ever since my dad starting took me to Austin Senators games in the early 60s and, not surprisingly, numbers are kind of my thing.

I'm a partner in a 'software as a service' firm and consider myself extremely fortunate to have been born at a time when something as squarely in my wheelhouse as computer programming is in demand. I've been married 24 years, no kids but I got an adult stepdaughter as part of the deal. Her daughter is my granddaughter, but really more like my little brother. She's 12 now and starting to move on a little bit from ol' grampa, but these last years have been amazing, and I'm so glad she lives nearby and I get to see her often. That's about it, but I do want to mention in closing that my wife was nothing short of saintly in her forbearance while I obsessed and agonized daily over the recently completed Barnstormers finals league.

Since you guys are already talking about me behind my back, I might as well introduce myself.

My name is Mark, but my friends all call me Shark. I've been a baseball fanatic for as long as I remember and some of my fondest memories are going to Cardinals games with my dad every summer (he grew up near St. Louis and got the see Dizzy Dean pitch against Carl Hubbell once).

I grew up in Normal, Illinois and currently live in Skokie (north suburb of Chicago). Discovered Strat circa 1978 and was quickly addicted. Found a few friends in my neighborhood to play with head-to-head, but mostly played solo games (such as replaying the 1981 Cardinals season and calculating the stats by hand).

I played in a Strat head-to-head tournament in Chicago circa 1992 and surprised myself by making the playoff (lost in the first round though). Then someone introduced me to Fantasy baseball and I have been playing in the same league ever since 1997. Strat kind of fell by the wayside after that until I "rediscovered" it last year during Covid lockdown.

I an Accounting Manager for a large, multi-national company that I've been with for over 20 years. The company was bought out by another large company last year, so I'm still waiting to see if I will be still be employed after all the dust settles.

I'm 53, married with 3 kids (2 boys and a girl), 2 dogs and a cat. My daughter is the only real baseball fan of the 3 kids (go figure) and a Cubs fan to boot (blame that on my wife), but I'll take what I can get.

Its interesting to get to know the people behind the user id's and I look forward to playing against (and hopefully beating) some of you in the future.

my wife was nothing short of saintly in her forbearance while I obsessed and agonized daily over the recently completed Barnstormers finals league.

Well I am comforted that at least you will get to go arm and arm with her to a real MLB game as your reward for Runner-up. And the three cards you get to pick will forever be "your" contribution to our community.

MM