Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

For the first time Vizquel is eligible for the HOF. He was good enough to at least warrant some consideraton and discussion. One segment I watched on TV this week compared him with Ozzie Smith, presumable because they were assuming Ozzie made it because of his defense and defense was what Vizquel was known for.

They tossed up a graphic that reported the difference between defensive WAR for Vizquel and the Wizard. Then they dropped a bomb and moved on so fast it took a minute to soak in. The graphic said Ozzie had the highest defensive WAR of any player in the HOF. No, the graphic did not say he led all shortstops. It said he led everyone regardless of position.

Needless to say his Strat cards do not reflect that. I doubt the Strat method of implementing fielding could even come close to reproducing those defensive skills that set Ozzie apart.

Ozzie played most of his career on Astroturf, so he knew where that ball was going 99% of the time. That's not a knock, he was a fine shortstop, Just not as good as Aparicio, who played on a recovered garbage dump and had a little more range. <ducks>

I hope Vizquel gets in.

I hope he does too, The game has changed so much over my lifetime [65] years, The great middle infielders are obscured by all the launch angels , exit VELO, and Home Runs. The game is about Home Runs and Strikeouts , its become almost boring to watch. No bunting , forget about the suicide squeeze , no moving runners over , its all about the long ball. I remember as a kid having arguments about who turns the DP better Maz. , Fox or Richardson . Shortstop was a glove position and the double play was the pitchers best friend. We still see great infielders but the guys like Ozzie and Omar are not valued the way they once were. When I first started playing STRAT it was great because it closely mirrored real life baseball . Now when I watch a game I can say it closely mirrors a 200m cap Strat game played at Fenway 67. Bill