Through the years...

Anthony Pisano, formally known as "Anthony Pisano" on the OLD Strat boards (I was not very original back in 2001 or 2002).

Been playing since the 70's and on here since almost the beginning. Miss some of the old names but made many new friends on here.

54 (55 next week). Work from home post-Covid but previously was a Long Island RailRoad commuter for almost 30 years.

CPA but currently work from home as the CFO for a designer dress company - Badgley Mischka. (if your wives ever need a dress, lmk).

Primarily play ATG. Dabble in Mystery and Football but suck at both. I don't play regular SOM anymore, stopped around 2012 or so.

Hosted the first ever "LIVE IN PERSON" TSN Strat Draft at the TSN offices in NYC. (thanks to the original Bernie).

Was an annual thing for a few years. Had Jeep Driver flying up from NC, penngray flying in from Tenn. ..but mostly just NY guys. We used to have a draft then dinner at a nice steak house.

Bernie made a special league with NO SALARY and was a lot of fun.

Finally getting around to adding to this thread - or maybe I already did - can't remember!!! Anyway - I played Strat back in the 70's graduating from the Coleco (?) game with the spinners that my Uncle Bardill had. I played in one of the first Strat leagues and I won it - and they sent me a check for $50! So that was quite a while ago!! I play here and there mostly on ATG - I like the low caps - $60 or even less - and I like to have "Mr. Baseball" on my teams. If the cap is low enough I even platoon Bob Uecker vs. L! Always been fun, I plan to keep on playing!

Cheers dinsdale!

My name is Tom Barchfeld and I live in Homestead, PA, near Pittsburgh. I first played the board game with the 1968 set after finding an ad in a baseball magazine. My brothers and some from the neighborhood and I would play which was a suburb in the south hills of Pittsburgh. We also had the Old Timer teams, and I would use Early Wynn 1956 as my best pitcher against my brother Chuck when we would choose players from The Old Timer set and play a 7-game series.

I'm 65 and will be 66 in only 3 days. Currently retired, I was a computer specialist and before that a computer operator when I lived a little west of Harrisburg while working on a large Navy base.

First played online with ATG3 in 2007, after my brother Chuck who uses Chuck1234 as his SOM username told me about it. I also enjoy walking and bowling. My favorite team has always been the Pirates.

My online team names were named for where I lived at the time, and currently use Homestead Grays for the negro team from here. There is a bridge named Homestead Grays between Homestead and Pittsburgh over the Monongahela River. On the bridge there are banners attached to the light poles with pictures of Homestead Grays. Right now, Jud Wilson, Cumberland Perry, Sam Bankhead and Ray Brown have banners still hanging up. More were up last year but some were taken down due to winter. A 27,000 square foot mural of Josh Gibson was painted on the side of the Voodoo Brewing Co. building and unveiled May 21, 2021 in Homestead at 205 E 9th Ave near Amity St.

My favorite players were Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell and Bill Mazeroski.

The online teams I like to make are small ball teams using Steve F's very good idea of having 4 asterisk 9 inning starters. I build my team to compliment the pitching with good defense, stealing and good running speed. My current semi-final team built like that is doing very well. I used to make righty ballpark teams mostly but what I'm doing now is better. My brother Chuck1234 would always pitch Ed Farmer against my usually all right-handed lineups and beat me. My preferred cap is 80M with no DH. Some helpful managers have been my brother Chuck, Chompsky, RiggoDrill, The Last Druid, FrankieT and Steve F. The Last Druid would send league email even in Barnstormer leagues with good thought-provoking comments about my team and other teams. I was saddened last week to hear of his passing and was shocked. He won the very first league I joined in ATG3 and in the last Barnstormer league semi-final we were in together, his team beat mine in game 7 in 13 innings.

Tom

Tom,

Great post and now more than ever is the humanizing aspect of a username appreciated.
Heck I just left the Poconos of eastern PA for pastures south in search of a so-called retirement roost, and Harrisburg is probably my favorite major city in PA and I now understand your team names with Monongahela.

You always have tough teams and that is even with knowing your preferred strategy. You are still always in the thick of it.
Chuck is a really good manager to play with too. I enjoy the league banter.

I am also not adjusted to losing Bruce. We were in contact almost every day on many things besides strat. It really sucks.

Good to know you Tom--
Cheers
Frank

I saw this post just a few days ago as I don't follow the boards much anymore, and with the passing of the TLD/Petrosian I thought I should chime in.

I'm not an about me guy, I play this game because it gives me some enjoyment. I started playing strat with the board game when I saw an ad in a comic book many years ago and saved my money to buy the game. When it came, if my mother were alive today she would say it was the best thing that happened to the house. I played that game all the time and and left my sisters alone, so much so when I was trying to play a whole season and document every game and every at bat they were so used to me bugging them they would come in and watch what I was doing. There was peace in the land....

I post this not to let people know about me per se, but in a nod to the Druid who started this post with the intent of bringing every one together by letting each of us get to know each other. We all come from different backgrounds and experiences, yet we all are the same in so many ways. We are in a divisive time now unfortunately but we all share the same experiences. Being from New England, and very close to where The Druid comes from I too am a bit stoic and maybe a bit acerbic, however, in those parts we accept folks for who they are and let them be who are they are.

I'm 58, got married late in life and patience paid off. I'm in the wine biz, have faced bankruptcy, pulled myself out of it and am no worse for the wear. We all have had challenges, the quality of your life is dictated by how you handle adversity. We make our mark, hopefully in a positive way. TLD made his mark, that is all you can ask for in our time here. I post this in his honor, it is his thread. I can only hope to make a mark as strong as his.

Good luck in all you do
B.B.

i have already posted my "About Me" blurb which isn't anything special.

But I am glad we can keep TLD's thread open for as long as we can.

I wish to comment that he was around as I recall "from the beginning" or the earliest phases when it was ATG I. To acquire the skill level that he did, he had to have loved and cherished playing this game. The hours he must have spent on it I am sure brought him great joy. We all had our battles with him both on the virtual field and on the message forums.

I will miss reading what he had to say and the wonder I felt with the continual success of his teams.

There is only one player who has won Barnstormers twice. I sincerely hope that he relished his visits to the MLB games WITH HIS FAMILY that he won with his skill. There will never be another one like him.

MM'

Nice Rick. Yeah it was uncanny how well he performed considering how many teams he had running at all times and the competition he sought. It is one thing when you cherry pick leagues that lack known SOM experts, but he cherry picked the leagues that had all the experts and was still usually in the thick of things.

B.B.--glad that you saw the post and gave it some new life.
I also grew up in the NE and in fact ran in the same circles as Bruce back when he was running around on Long Island just a few miles from where I lived.

I know you're a long timer here, but good to see you poking around again.

Frank

We have new champs here -- MaxPower is certainly No. 1, and other notables as well. Please tell us about yourselves and when or how you got into SOM, if that's OK. I'm impressed with how well some of our new players can beat the system -- and the old-timers. Always encouraging of newness, enjoy learning about people and their approaches. Tip of the hat!