1st VIRTUAL BASEBALL CLASSIC - TOURNAMENT BY ERAS - FULL!

Please refer to the main tournament thread. Here again are the themes by era and league name:

1. The Signs They Are a Changing: 1960-1969 - 296 hitters & 212 pitchers – Now playing
2. Willie, Mickey and The Duke: 1947-1959 - 312 hitters & 213 pitchers - Preseason
3. Giants of Every Color: 1935-1946 + NEL - 307 hitters & 199 pitchers:80M No DH: Draft starts MARCH 26
4. The Sultans of Swing: 1920-1934 - 319 hitters & 196 pitchers:80M No DH
5. Small Ball Kings: Pre 1920 - 351 hitters & 249 pitchers: 80M No DH
6. Tear Down This Wall: 1986-current - 337 hitters & 222 pitchers: 80M with DH
7. Billy, You’re Fired: 1979-1985 - 307 hitters & 218 pitchers: 80M with DH
8. Henceforth and Forever Free Agents!: 1970-1978 - 303 hitters & 225 pitchers: 80M with DH

First pass through will have these league names for each successive era's league. Second tournament (i.e. next year, or whenever we get to it) will carry a Roman numeral II behind each of these, the third a III, etc.

Only players from their repspective eras will play under their respective league names, but successive tournaments (we talked about an annual event)will carry II, III, IV, V, etc. behind these 8 unique league names.

Next league draft starts MARCH 26!

BTW, the numbers stated for each era's leagues were just the initial totals that were posted that I copied over. There may be a difference in totals between unique players (i.e. negating multiple card players) vs. total cards in that era (which is probably what is stated here).

Has anyone else done a count of unique players per era?

Current Rankings

OWNER / Points

RJNEWMAN 167
RICK SMITH 156
GORDIE HOWE 151
LMBOMBERS 149
EHLEKEV 143
ALLSTARINC 140
GFDWARF07 133
RISDEN 130
KRAZYKAT 128
KENHUTCHINGS 125
MUSIAL6 119
DOUG TUCKER 117

Well, in three weeks the final tournament's regular season will be completed.

Many thanks once again to Dan for commissionering and to Randy for grouping the players. Although there were complaints from some quarters regarding the limited selection of players, I believe the only time that I ever felt that way was for the 79-85 player pool.

When the concept changed from a one time league of 60s players to an eight league tournament, I was a bit hesitant, but decided to participate. Until the current 70-78 league, my teams' performances hadn't been much to talk about. In my first league, my team was 77-70 after 147 games, and then I only won 2 of the remaining 15 games. I did not finish above 0.500 in any of the previous seven events (it looks like that should change, but I won't count my chickens until I get my 82nd win).

At one time, there seemed to have been some interest in repeating the tournament, perhaps with some modifications. I indicated some weeks ago that I would not be participating. In addition to the 8th event team, I have one other team, a 70s mystery league team, that I am currently managing, and then I'm planning on taking a breather from SOM Online for a while.

You've been a great group of players to compete against. I've had the opportunity of personally meeting Rick Smith, who lives a couple of hours from me, and whose city (Bakersfield) I pass through when I have the opportunity of traveling to Southern California. At one time, there was some banter about all of us possibly meeting altogether. I believe Las Vegas (which I affectionately call Lost Wages) was mentioned as a gathering place. I really don't care for LV all that much, but I would consider a get together there if it worked into my schedule. If I could suggest an alternate location, I would suggest my neck of the woods, particularly if you were bringing family along. You see, even though I live in the Central Valley, I am only a two hour drive from Yosemite Valley, one of the most gorgeous places on the planet. Given our common interest in baseball, and the fact that I've wanted to go there but never have, perhaps a get together at Cooperstown would be appropriate. This tournament has sure been a fantastic learning experience about baseball history.

Good luck during the remaining three weeks....

Ken "the Tournament Doormat"

Never been to Cooperstown. That would be great. I am a fan of Vegas and would do that in a minute. Would love to do another live draft tourney even if just one year league at at a time. Do they still do the national stratomatic tourney get togethers they used to do in Indiana years ago? Gordie Howe and I went to a few of those in the early 80's I think.