On a picture perfect Cinco de Mayo morning, 9 SABR members and friends gathered in Tom and Matt Monito’s backyard for grilling, chilling and the playing of Strat-O-Matic Baseball with vintage teams.

 

On hand were Joe Runde, Larry Howard, Stan Dziurgot, Ray Sikora, Bryan Sovinsky, John Garcia of Strat-O-Matic, Tom and Matt and myself.

 

When the games were done Tom and Matt grilled dogs and burgers for all. Thanks to our gracious hosts we all had a great time.

 

Here are three game write-ups:

 

HOF’ers 2, 1949 NY Giants 0.

 

At Monitto Stadium in Bristol CT on Saturday 5/5/18, the Hall of Famers , managed by Stan Dziurgot and Larry Howard defeated the 1949 NY Giants squad, managed by Ray Sikora. Greg Maddux shutout the Giants  2-0 with an impressive 4 hit game, along with 7 K’s and only 1 BB. Maddux retired the side, facing the minimum Giants batters, in 5 of the 9 innings. In the first inning, Hank Thompson singled, Johnny Mize later doubled, but the Giants failed to score when Sid Gordon lined out to third. The Giants could not muster any real threat to score for the remainder of the game as Maddux faced only 3 or 4 batters in innings two through nine.

 

Although Sheldon Jones only gave up 5 hits in his 7 innings of pitching, his control issues led to 4 walks. In the second inning, walks to Dave Winfield and Bill Dickey along with a 2 out single by Tony Gwynn loaded the bases. Frank Frisch’s single drove Winfield in with the 1^st run. The second run scored on an error by Wes Westrum with George Brett batting.

 

-Ray Sikora

 

 

1925 Yankees 11, Senators 1.

 

On the morning of May 5, the clock was turned back to 1924 for a Strat-o-Matic game between the Washington Senators and New York Yankees. To the surprise of players and observers alike, Washington starter Walter Johnson was knocked out of the box in the third inning, giving up seven runs en route to an 11-1 Yankees victory.

 

After Johnson gave up a single and triple to the first two batters of the third, Curly Ogden entered and pitched five-plus relief innings, keeping the Yankees off the scoreboard again through the seventh. But New York’s bats got to him in the eighth, as Ernie Johnson led off the inning with his second triple of the game before Wally Schang belted a two-run home run. By Speece finished the game for Washington; despite allowing two more runs to score, he stranded the bases loaded.

 

Offensive stars for the Yankees included Babe Ruth, who went 4-4 and ended a home run shy of the cycle; Johnson, 2-5 with two triples; and Schang, 3-4 with the game’s only home run. Herb Pennock pitched a complete game four-hitter for New York, allowing only one run in the seventh when Roger Peckinpaugh’s fly to center brought home Earl McNeely, who had tripled.

 

-Matt Monitto

 

 

2012 Tigers 4, Giants 0.

 

 

In a game that matched the 2012 WS opponents, Justin Verlander allowed zero runs against Buster Pose and friends, facing just 26 batters over eight and delivering a 4 – 0 win. A bases loaded single by Prince Fielder drove in Quintin Berry and Austin Jackson in the third. Delmon Young singled in Miguel Cabrera for the third tally of that inning. Young would later drive in Brennan Boesch (who had tripled) with a groundball in the fifth for the final run scored in the game. Verlander was so dominant that he faced the minimum 3 batters six times in the white washing.  He also struck out the side in the fifth. Were it not for Gregor Blanco and Brandon Crawford, the 6’5” Kitty Kat might have hurled a no-hitter. Blanco singled and Crawford had a double and a bingle.  Those 3 were the only hits against the tall fireballer this day.

 

The managers were Joe Runde and myself. The game was played using the super advanced version in which ballpark effect and effective-innings-rating came into play.

 

-Karl Cicitto