Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

After checking on the final vote count. Here is MY 2 cents on the vote ins and the ones that are missing.

1896 Hughie Jennings 38 His best season nice choice.
1911 Sam Crawford 33 His best season nice choice.
1953 Al Rosen 32 His best season nice choice.
2003 Gary Sheffield 25 Great Addition.
1993 John Olerud 24 About time his best season added.
1949 Vern Stephens 22 Nice Addition.
1929 Lefty O'Doul 18 His best season nice choice.
1948 Joe DiMaggio 17 Personally not needed. We already have 2 of his best.
2005 Mariano Rivera 16 Nice Addition.
1968 Pete Rose 15 We now have 4.Really! This could not wait to be added?
1951 Bobby Thomson 12 Nice Addition. But we now have 4 of his cards.
1997 Edgar Martinez 12 Nice Addition. But NOT his BEST card.
2008 Chipper Jones 12 Best BA/OBA Season. Comes with an injury.
1955 Richie Ashburn 11 We now have 4. See Pete Rose.
1957 Willie Mays 11 We now have 5. Really!
1917 Heinie Groh 10 OK choice.
1995 Mo Vaughn 10 OK choice. NOT his BEST season.
1998 Andres Galarraga 10 Nice addition.
1962 Don Drysdale 9 Not so sure. 6th best WHIP season.

Write in choice of Carlos Delgado is a GREAT addition.

What was missed. These players would have helped each of their Franchises they represent.
Rick Wilkins
Todd Hundley
Steve Finley
Armando Benitez

I do look forward for the NEXT round of voting.

I think SOM should have added Finley and Horlen, who were tied with Drysdale for 19th. Drysdale already has 2 cards in the set. Horlen has 1 card in the set that NEVER gets used. From 1964-68, Horlen had successive ERAs of 1.88, 2.88, 2.43, 2.06 and 2.37. He was as consistent as any pitcher in baseball during that period. He wasn't a big winner because the White Sox had no hitting. He led the league in ERA in 1967 and led the league in WHIP in 1964 and 1967 with .935 and .953, respectively.

Finley deserves a card as well, as he was one of the best CFers in baseball for 10 years and one of only a handful of players to hit more than 300 Hrs and steal more than 300 bases in a career. 1996 was Finley' best season, when he hit a career high .298, belted 30 HRs and had a .354 OBP, while adding 22 SBs and a gold glove while playing in always pitcher friendly Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Plus, he's bullet proof. While I realize that Finley's numbers are not likely difference makers, he would be a valuable addition in low cap leagues and franchise leagues, where San Diego does poorly.

Both Horlen and Finley should be given cards, if for no other reason than there are many players with far less accomplished careers who have more than 1 card, often their best seasons. Plus, they did finish in the top 19. What's wrong with issuing 21 cards when there's a tie at 19?

The same can be said for 1923 Ruth. He tied for the write in lead with 4 votes. To deny arguably the greatest hitter of all-time, the man who singlehandedly ushered baseball into the modern era, a 4th ATG SOM hitter's card, on an arbitrary make up the rules as you go along decision, when a cheat like McGwire has 6 cards, is not only unjust, it's ludicrous.

Here's hoping SOM does the right thing and issues new cards for Horlen, Finley and Ruth. Not only did they get the requisite number of votes, but they deserve new cards. - Bernie

hopefully this is the beginning of a trend to add 20 or so cards every couple months or so

Don't hold your breath...

STEVE F wrote:hopefully this is the beginning of a trend to add 20 or so cards every couple months or so

To which visick responds:

Don't hold your breath...

I am cautiously optimistic that this will be a real trend. Here's my reading of the situation:

1. The rollout of ATG8 went over like a lead balloon. Not only was there massive complaining on the Boards about the rollout, but I believe, based on observation, that there was an actual decline in leagues formed following the rollout. Clearly, a top-down large-scale addition of a randomly selected set of cards (many unwanted / useless)—while totally ignoring our own requests— was not a success.

2. This new approach seems to be designed to update the card set from an entirely different angle. It creates community participation, anticipation, and suspense.

3. The fact that some cards almost—but didn't quite—make it in this round creates further anticipation. Fans who wanted Horlen, Finley, Ruth 1923, etc. will be re-engaging when the next round of voting comes along, with a fair chance that their favorites will win this time. (This building of anticipation is one reason--IMHO-- why SOM didn't just add the whole 40 in this round).

4. The promise for further updates to review the lists of wanted cards we've already created also builds anticipation and supports participation.

5. So, it will be to both SOM's and the community's benefit if they follow through on their promises. In new leagues, we'll be playing with the cards we voted for, and waiting for more that we want.

6. Not even Petro is complaining! In fact, he started a thread headlined "YES!!" The value of this cannot be overestimated.

Now, I realize I'm giving SOM credit for recognizing community unrest and responding to it in a rational way with an approach to updating the set that is not only effective but downright appealing. Of course, I realize such a rational and appealing approach has not been consistent at all with SOMs recent past performance.

But...given the total washout that was the ATG8 rollout, and the fact that ATG has been a steady cash-cow for them that threatened to dry up and blow away, it think it's quite possible that SOM got the message that they had to act in a positive way or loss the ballgame.

And if that is true—and if this new updating proves a success in terms of leagues formed— then, again, I think there's room for cautious optimism that this approach might continue.

Nice summation Leftfield. Yes, the fact that they didn't just add all 40 was my main reason for having hope. I know it's the "thing to do" to be negative here, but I think the writing is on the wall for some more additions in the near future.