A Giant Strat-O-Matic Contest

My first contest! The Strat-O-Matic game company has sent me three copies of their baseball game. Two of the copies are the full computer version complete with the 2009 rosters and Card Image (which allows the player to see the players' card for that season). The third copy is the board game version with the 2009 cards.

I am going to give away one game per week for the next three weeks. All you need to do is to fill in the form below. Make sure you indicate whether you prefer the computer version or the board game version. The first two winners will get his/her preferred version and the third winner will get whatever version is left. Each week a random entrant will receive one of the games. Contest rules are here.

Here is the release from the Strat-O-Matic company:

Since 1961, Strat-O-Matic has created the most realistic simulation of statistically accurate baseball. Every player is rated by Strat-O-Matic’s unique rating system with statistical precision in each phase of the game – batting, pitching, defense and running.



Strat-O-Matic Baseball is played with the exact same rules as professional baseball. Each major leaguer has his own Strat-O-Matic Player Card based on his overall stats from the 2009 season. The gamer controls every aspect of each play from determining the starting line-up, stealing, hitting and running to replacing the starting pitcher. Instead of a bat and ball, the gamer uses dice, player cards and charts to play the game.

I have played tabletop and computer baseball games for about as long as I can remember. I've played several games but Strat-O-Matic is my favorite by far. You'll have fun with the game. In the coming days I'll be posting some articles about the games and things you can get to enhance your enjoyment of it. Good luck!

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Card Tribute - Willie McCovey

This will be a long post due to Willie's long career with the Giants. I don't have some of these cards but thanks to Topps website I was able to get images of all of the cards. Here goes:

1960 Topps #316

1961 Topps #561

1962 Topps #544

1963 Topps #490

1964 Topps #350

1965 Topps #176

1966 Topps #550

1967 Topps #480

1968 Topps #290

1969 Topps #440

1970 Topps #250

1971 Topps #50

1972 Topps #280

1973 Topps #410

1977 Topps #547

1978 Topps #34

1979 Topps #215

1980 Topps #335

It's interesting to see what Topps thought of Willie during his career. When he wasn't doing so well he didn't get a "0" or "5" number.

Vote in the poll on the right side of the blog! :)

Thanks Baseball Dad!

One day last week some good things came in the mail. Baseball Dad sent me some 2010 Topps Heritage off of my recent Giants want list:

He also sent some other Giants goodies (Topps Opening Day, Allen & Ginter, Upper Deck).

Alas, the other thing in the mailbox was:

Yes--I've been summoned to jury duty. The last time I was summoned (about 2-3 years ago) I was excused since they had enough people for a jury pool before they got around to me. I've never served on a jury before -- the other times I've been summoned were when I was out of town taking summer classes or when I had some health problems and couldn't make it. We'll see how this goes. It's a bit of a drive for me to get down there. :)

Thanks again Baseball Dad!

1992 Topps Giants - Part 5 (more pitchers)

Scott Garrelts (#558) didn't pitch for the Giants in 1992.

Kelly Downs (#573) was 1-2 with a 3.47 ERA in 19 games (7 starts). He was released by the Giants on June 22. Downs was signed by the Oakland A's on June 30 and pitched for them until his retirement at the end of the 1993 season.

John Burkett (#762) was 13-9 with a 3.84 ERA in 32 starts.

Bud Black (#774) was 10-12 with a 3.97 ERA in 28 starts in 1992.

Others who pitched for the Giants without receiving a 1992 Topps card:

• Bill Swift (10-4, 2.08 ERA)
• Michael Jackson (6-6, 3.73 ERA)
• Dave Burba (2-7, 4.97 ERA)
• Francisco Oliveras (0-3, 3.63 ERA)
• Jim Pena (1-1, 3.48 ERA)
• Kevin Rogers (0-2, 4.24 ERA)
• Larry Carter (1-5, 4.64 ERA)
• Gil Heredia (2-3, 5.40 ERA)
• Steve Reed (1-0, 2.30 ERA)
• Pat Rapp (0-2, 7.20 ERA)

There are also a few Topps Traded cards that I haven't posted yet. I can't get to the set, so I can't get them scanned. :(

1992 Topps Giants - Part 4 (pitchers)

Bryan Hickerson (#8) was 5-3 with a 3.09 ERA in 61 games (1 start) in 1992.

Dave Righetti (#35) was 2-7 with 3 saves and a 5.06 ERA in 54 games (4 starts).

Trevor Wilson (#204) was 8-14 with a 4.21 ERA in 26 starts. On June 7, 1992 Wilson became the only Giant (NY or SF) to strike out three batters on nine pitches. He did it against the Houston Astros to complete a 2-hit shutout. Trevor didn't pitch after August 30.

Paul McClellan (#424) didn't pitch for the Giants in 1992. He pitched his last major league game on . Paul pitched for the AAA Phoenix Firebirds and then for AAA Denver in 1992. He didn't pitch in 1993 or 1994, then tried to come back with AAA New Orleans in 1995. McClellan went 0-3 in three starts and retired at the age of 29.

Jeff Brantley (#491) was 7-7 with 7 saves and an ERA of 2.95 in 56 games (4 starts).