Baseball Reviews

Years before "fantasy baseball" became a fad, Strat-O-Matic was giving youngsters the opportunity to manage their favorite major league baseball players. Only those who are baseball fans can appreciate how much fun it is to play a tabletop dice game that accurately re-creates major leaguers' performance so well on so many levels.

The original version of Strat-O-Matic Baseball, which is still around as the game's "basic" version, is pretty simplistic. But beginning in 1972, when the "advanced" version was born, the company has continually added rules and made improvements that make the game more challenging and realistic. The game today also has a "super advanced" version, which re-creates just about every variable that means anything in a baseball game.

You can still play the basic game if you want. But those who grew up with the game, or left it and returned, will find the super-advanced version a fun challenge. Alas, the "fantasy baseball" mentality has robbed the game of some of its innocence; many SOM draft leagues and their general managers take this game a wee bit too seriously.

All teams come with 27 players plus perhaps one to three optional "mixed players" who didn't finish the season with the team. (All 30 major league teams and the mixed players come with the game sold here.) In the bad old days, teams came with only 20 players each, or 24, if one bought the optional "additional players." And if a key player was traded from his original team to the other league, he may not have gotten a card at all. Fortunately, that's no longer the case; in the 2003-season set, for example, Ugueth Urbina has two cards, one each for the Texas Rangers and Florida Marlins.

Gripes about the game are minor. The perforated player cards come on giant sheets that you have to break apart yourself, and this is a real chore. The six-sided dice are small and cheap, and the super-advanced fielding charts are on flimsy, decidedly nondurable paper. (Cardboard charts are available from Strat-O-Matic.) The game rules are long overdue for a new printing; the separate list of rule clarifications, corrections and additions is two pages long, mostly single-spaced.

Despite these complaints, the game is well worth the money, especially through Amazon.com, where the price is surprisingly a bit less than what the game company itself would charge for exactly the same thing. This is all the more reason for baseball fans of virtually any age to give SOM a try.

i loved this game. Especially being a very true baseball fan i was glad to see something other than a video game capture the real spirit of baseball.
in this game you get to call the shots like a major league manager. Cant wait for 2004 to come out.

I've been playing this game since 1970 and have every team that has been issued since. You can't call yourself a true baseball fan without playing it. You get to be a big league manager, make out your lineups, choose your strategies: sacrifice, squeeze, hit and run, steal, position your infielders, hit the cutoff man, its all in there and more. Every player rated and simulated. Play any fantasy lineup you choose. Set up any matchup in history. Its all in there.

This game is so kool, even for how old it is!
Sometimes I think they make bad calls. This
game is so fun. It will keep you busy for a
long time. That is unless you get really
mad because you are losing big time.

This game rules,dude!!!!!!

This game is fabulous! Every inning packs in more excitement! The music is terrific and it's a very simple game to grasp. When you play an official game you can proceed to play better and better teams. But, at the same time, if you don't have much time to play you can play less than 9 innings. I definitely reccommend this game!

My wife and I purchased this game to play with our nephews and nieces when they visit. The kids have enjoyed it very much, and I like it a lot better than some of the other children's games because of the baseball references. It's been a lot of fun for all of us to play.

This game is educational fun for youngsters. It teaches them about primary colors and numbers, and introduces them to some of the basic terms of baseball (doubles, home runs, etc.). They also learn the names of today's baseball stars. Since there is no strategy involved, youngsters have as much opportunity to win as do adults playing against them. I also appreciate that the game parts are quite sturdy, and can easily be cleaned when the inevitable peanut butter or jelly gets on them. I highly recommend it.

I purchased the game for my son's 4th birthday and he likes it very much. It's a simple game (as it should be for 4 year olds). Basically, it's a race around the bases. It plays quickly so he doesn't lose interest before it's over - in fact we usually have to play twice. The board and game pieces are very bright with the primary color scheme that appeals to 4 year olds.

Most importantly, he is learning baseball terms and players. For his birthday I took him to his first game (Expos at the Phillies). We played the APBA game the next day and when he drew the Scott Rolen card, I pointed out we had seen Rolen play. Now every time he draws Rolen or Vladimir Guerrero, he points out that we saw them in the game we went to. He can even pronounce "Nomar Garciaparra"!

Good job by APBA. I think the game is well designed for the 4-7 age group.

I recommend this one over the smaller model made by the same company. This one is much more playable.

THIS TOY IS VERY DURABLE AND CAN PROVIDE MANY HOURS OF FUN. I HAVE HAD IT FOR 7 MONTHS AND IT IS GREAT. I RECAMEND IT FOR A BASEMENT OR FOR ANYWHERE!!!!

Who'd thought that pinball mixed with basball could equal this? This is an antique "Piseball" game where players take turns batting, the object is like baseball! GET THE MOST RUNS! Teams can be 1-9 players long and should prove to be a grand-slam game for any audience! The Japanese have a game on the Super Nintendo that's based off of this exact game! This is a great game for all ages.

i've never had any trouble with this. It likes me, and i like it back. Don't buy the sony brand ones unless you have an extra 8 bucks to burn. And i don't know why you would want to buy a sony brand one because this works just fine. Now heres the bad part. Just Pray that your Play station never breaks down , because if it does, and you call sony techline, then they'll probally go on for hours saying how bad it is to buy other brand memory cards. and they'll probaly invalidate your warrenty as well. other then that.. this is an awsome memory card. To tell the truth, i never use this for sport games. it just looks kewl and very cheap.

This is a way cool memory card! I use for my Triple Play 2001 and my MLB 2001. Plus it's cheap to! If you're a sports game fanatic and you love collecting memory cards, then this the one for you.

Amazing packs always get mostly expansive packs except for like 2-4 which is ecpected great buy P.S. I have so far gotton Jason Giambi base card numbred to 50, Stan Musial bat card and so many more i can't even list them ( if anyone has a favorite player they want a card of or auto or jersey email me dovidd@gmail.com and no the dovid is not a typo) you should defintly buy this product

I've played many statistically-based sports simulations in my time, and this was the first. This great game is playable solitaire, and is perfect for father (or mother)and son interaction. I think the Hall-of-Fame discs will have more appeal for adults, but what a great way to teach a youngster some baseball history. Still a realistic and fun game after all these years. Highly recommended.

I was really excited to see this game after non-stop playing of last years Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball. Let me start by saying, this isn't just a better than FTBHB, it's amazing. The gameplay has kept me hooked since I first got it. The graphics are good. The sound effects are really good, Jon Stirling is the announcer, it's just like listening a live broadcast. If you bought FTBHB then you just have to buy this game, its significantly better and even more fun. All in all, All-Star 97 is the best baseball game out there.

Hi i got the cards today for my nephew and im sure he will love them. However i thought they would come in a package instead they came together in a long white box. Since it is a gift I would of liked to have had the regular packaging. But other than that he is going to love them.

I have enjoyed HE (Humongous Entertainment) On my computer And It's fun for All ages. All My friends have been talking about it so I decided to get it. With Pete " Speedy" Wheeler and Pablo "Secret Weapon" Sanchez and the rest of the crew. It also includes 10 MLB players (Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez etc.

This game takes some getting used to. When I first played it, I didn't score a run until the 9th inning, and even then Barry Bonds had to hit a home run with one on. After a while you get used to it. The graphics are ok but on the replay after a home run, the ball disappears after going over the fence. If you change the difficulty level from allstar to pro or rookie, the number of innings changes from nine innings to six and if you have rookie with nine innings of play and change it to pro, same thing. But if you have changed the difficulty level and you're in the fifth inning, simply change it to allstar until the top of the 7th. Other than that, 5 to 12-year-olds should love this game.

My 5 year old son is addicted to this game! We got a Gamecube for Christmas and my son has really enjoyed games such as Mario Double Dash but he is also a big fan of baseball so we picked this game up. We started off with batting practice to get the hang of it and after a day or two he migrated into game mode and started playing the computer. He has mananged to figure out many of the various features of the game without my help and is now regularly beating the computer. He has learned which players are best and picks his team accordingly. He has also learned a lot about the workings of baseball just by playing this game. We went to a KC Royals game the other night and he was mesmerized-watching the play like never before. This game has been a real hit in our household!