Through the years...

My name is Paul Beebe... I am from New Orleans, La. I am a High School Football and wrestling coach, though Like Rich I have coached almost every sport except basketball. I currently am the Offensive Line Coach at Lakeshore High in Mandeville, La.

Grew up here, left for the Air Force (1984)...spent time in Denver, Bitburg Germany, and at Langley AFB in Virginia. Joined the Louisiana Air National Guard (1991-2009). Graduated with a P.E. Degree from the University of New Orleans and currently teach an introduction to careers class. I am 56 years old.

Found Strat online a few years ago...saw an ad about Bill James Strat o matic baseball or something, explored it and passed because it seemed expensive. Started playing for the 1st time last March (pandemic). Love the game a lot. Named my team the Misfit Squadron, partially after the Black Sheep Squadron TV show, and my early team disasters. Kept the name, hopefully improving and wanting to learn more.

Never played Strat, played Statis Pro Baseball and still have all the cards, even made my own, very different, very very different.

coachprbb

Name is Rich. I live in Pittsburgh but grew up in Cincinnati watching the Big Red Machine. I was fortunate enough to see a lot of great baseball growing up and it remains my favorite spectator sport.

I played a lot of board game sports simulations growing up (strato, Pay Dirt, All Star Baseball, etc) and as an adult I play fantasy baseball and football. I played baseball and football growing up, and continue to dabble in other sports, recently took up boxing for fitness.

I played online strato back when it was on TSN through from ATG I to about ATG IV so I have some recollection of the "good ole days" with the bullpen, etc. I took an extended hiatus and then resumed playing with ATG 8. It was interesting to see how many names I recognized. A lot of my team names are based on songs (mostly the Grateful Dead) but a few others as well.

I have a family of 5 in Pittsburgh and I work as a union organizer.

Not too difficult to figure out that my name is Andy Cummings.

I’m 55 years old, with a grown son and daughter, and a one year old granddaughter!
My wife Jan just completed her cancer treatments TODAY and is Now Cancer Free!
We live in Grenada, Mississippi, where I lead our church’s worship/music ministry and help to operate our gym/activities.

I grew up in the Mississippi Delta, so most of my teams are named Delta (Blues, Heat, Force, Mosquitoes, etc)
Huge Boston Red Sox fan; I got “drafted” by the Red Sox in our Little League in 1975, started following the Red Sox through that season and the World Series, and was hooked. 2004 made it all worthwhile!

I run a LOT of Franchise Leagues, which I really enjoy. I’ve made many good friends in these leagues, which is the best part.

I played Strat for a couple of years as a kid, then found All-Time Greats on The Sporting News and have been here since ATG1.

Steve Frediani here. I'm a 65 Y/O retired grocery clerk. I grew up in Orange County. Lifelong Dodger fan, which I got from my Dad (also, Orange County didn't have a team at that point). Collected BB cards until I got into music, then started collecting that. Played drums for several local bands. Also played Clarinet and saxophone.

Started playing Strat with the 1969 card set, so been playing about 50 years. Had a small neighborhood group of face to face players. Joined bigger keeper leagues when the computer game first came out. I was playing the Mac version then (which they haven't made for years). In addition to playing 365 here, I'm in 5 current day keeper leagues, and 3 retro keeper leagues, all on the windows game.

Moved to Spokane, WA in 1989 to be closer to family. Good thing, because with the cost of living in California, I'd still be working. Instead, I've enjoyed 10 years of retirement already.

Music and baseball have always been my passions. Jethro Tull is the most interesting and diverse band ever in the rock canon. I also enjoy jazz.

I wish Strat reflected pitching a little better. My favorite players were always pitchers.

Loved Tull when Mick Abrahams was on guitar, followed him over to Bloodwyn Pig another great band. With an iconic album cover.

I find biographies fascinating. So I guess I'll share mine...suitably edited.

My first name IS actually Freeman. I am 54. Named after my grandfather and uncle. No one knows why my grandfather was named Freeman. My dad is from Amesbury, MA and Massachusettans can be a little taciturn about such things...

I was very fast when I was younger but never made it as any kind of athlete. But I have played in innumerable sports leagues over the years in baseball, softball, basketball and street hockey. Currently I am down to old geezer baseball and ball hockey. I say currently but I havent played since Covid. Oh, and I'm a lawyer...

Anyway, on to the family bio. My Dad came out west to California for a cheap education after the Korean War and met Mom who came out to California from Louisiana for nursing school in a registration line at a community college. Yay! They agreed to look past the Civil War and eventually got married at a wedding chapel in Vegas...hey, theyve been married for 64 years!

Now how did I make it to the stratomatic website? Therein lies a tale...

So growing up I loved boardgames: Stalingrad, Third Reich, Risk, Midway, etc. I also liked sports games like Paydirt Football, whatever baseball game used a pb system for pitchers, etc. But I also really liked this game called Diplomacy. And they used to have these gaming conventions in LA every year. So when I was about 12 I went to one of them. And for some reason forgotten to time I signed up for Diplomacy. The guy who ran the diplomacy tournament was Russell Sipe. For my first Diplomacy game I played Turkey; Dave Manuel was Russia. I attacked Russia without mercy. Dave Manuel whined that I didnt know what I was doing. True enough...but ya going down Tsar! Russell Sipe and Dave Manuel will feature again in our story...

Anyway, probably about 5 years later my brother and I bump into Dave Manuel at a gaming/modeling store (of course; I think I was there though to get D&D figures) And he says, hey, we got this baseball league where we draft and run baseball simulations on the computer and we need another owner. Do you guys want to run a team? And we said sure. The commish of the league was Russell Sipe and we went at his office where he published Computer Gaming World to play the games. Our first team we had Julio Franco on it...he was a rookie. Ouch.

I forgot which simulation we used but eventually the guy who developed Earl Weaver Baseball had our league play-test it. I loved that game; the graphics were great. I keep waiting for a new game that has a good simulation combined with good graphics/playability. Eventually, we had to switch to diamondmind when Earl Weaver stopped being supported ( Russell Sipe also dropped out at some point). Diamondmond had no graphics, literally. The Strat Replay is a huge step leap forward compared to it. Probably played in that league for about 15 years. (Is this an opportune time to suggest Strat come up with a really good replay?)


THEN my other big gaming interest enters the picture. When I was in high school I played a lot of PBM Diplomacy. I stopped right before college because I thought it would interfere with the heavy responsibilities of college (you know, drinking, partying, carousing). And also the games are so friggin' long. But when the internet came to the masses...I decided to see about playing it on-line. (I remember playing a Diplomacy game on Compuserve in about 1984 but it was a pain) so I found this site Redscape in 1999 and started playing again. And in about 2013 someone on Redscape started talking about Strat on Redscape. So we played in a few leagues together. Then he stopped after a couple of leagues. I proceeded to play about 230!

Well, that's it I guess. Well, I'm also a big fan of UCLA football and basketball. The alma mater. That Final Four run was really fun and a Covid life antidote.

I put my brain to work earlier today, and figured that it has been 4 or 5 years since we last posted brief bios of ourselves. That would mean I was somewhere between 67 or 68 at the time.

My name is Doug and I was born and raised in the Great White North, in Toronto. Grew up with a hockey stick in one hand, and either a baseball bat or a golf club in the other, depending what season it was. Summer ran from July 1st to July 3rd! Currently living in a small North Carolina mountain community with my wife and pup!

Father of three children and five grand-kids. All of them being over the top fantastic. My eldest Son introduced me to the online version of Strato Baseball, a bunch of years ago, and we both continue to plug away at it till this day. Thought it would be the smart thing to do to say that all my kids are over the top fantastic, cause there is a good chance he might read this post.

I was a big fan of Avalon Hill board games and 3rd Reich was my favorite. Later got into face to face Railroad games of the 1830 type and its spinoffs. Was addicted to Civ from 95 until about 2012 when I swore off computer video games forever; just too addictive for me. Chess, SOM and online Bridge are my only online gaming outlets at the moment.

I played Panzer Blitz and Gettysburg from AH. Also play DnD. Recently taught it to my kids.

Not too difficult to figure out that my name is Andy Cummings.
My wife Jan just completed her cancer treatments TODAY and is Now Cancer Free!

All of these entries are very enjoyable reads, but certainly this sticks out--we have all probably been touched directly or indirectly by the c word--blessings and congratulations to you and your bride Andy