Memories! Wow, what I wouldn't give to have kept all of my Strat cards to be able to look over the teams I've assembled. I've never won a league - in fact, JKSA was the first league I've ever been a part of that actually finished.
Scott, Brian, or Chad will probably have to help me complete this, but I had been giving some thought to how many teams I've ever actually owned.
My first season was with the '97 cards. My top pick in the AL West was Ken Griffey Jr. for "Double Down on 11." I also had Dean Palmer, Rey Caruso, Damion Easley, and Tony Clark on a team that stormed into the playoffs and was promptly removed from them by Chad's Holy Rollers (the original). Sound familiar?
I'm pretty sure we never made it through to the NL season, so the next year, when Paul and Biv came aboard and I landed Larry Walker, it was the first time I had seen the senior circuit.
I've also played in small and abbreviated leagues with the 1927 and 1988 seasons. Biv, Eric Solomon, and I played the 1927 season and we were well on our way to finishing it when I accidentally left my Strat bag in seat A1 of Press Row at Carver Hawkeye Arena. Probably disgusted from watching Doctor Tom run the shot clock down to zero while Andre Woolridge tried to pull miracles out of his ass, I ruined my chance at greatness. I believe my AL team - Triple Phat Goose - was something like 35-10 at the time of the league's permanent interruption. As you might imagine, Lou Gehrig's card was not too terrible.
When I moved to Sioux Falls, I taught a couple of the interns the game of Strat and we drafted from the 1988 cards. Imagine my star-studded lineup that had Rickey Henderson (the only AAA stealer I've ever seen), Jose Canseco, and Mark McGwire. That league became tiresome with my dominance over the two rookies and we never finished.
Don't forget my brief foray into the world of football Strat, which I absolutely loved. My greatest memory is of John Riehl keying on Barry Sanders every play while Randall Cunningham threw nine touchdowns in one game, six of them to Qadry Ismail. I also always get a smile when I think of Biv's full house backfield that featured Terrell Davis coming off of his 2,000 yard season. To this day, you can mention TD's card to Biv and he will give you a pretty good rant.
The last memory I'll recant is of various players that have been torn up. My first permanent DL job was to AJ Hinch, but the most famous was when either Chad or I (memory is hazy now) tore up Ron Villone and threw him off the deck of our Coralville home. I also have very pleasant memories of Paul ripping up Ricky Watters' card.
A couple weeks ago when cleaning out the basement, I found a Skeffington's Formal Wear shoe bag full of old Strat cards. This discussion has inspired me to go through it.
Anyone else? This is fascinating. I am such a huge dork.
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4 comments:
Ahhhh, memories. It pains me that I cannot locate my past statistical spreadsheets from my days long ago in North Liberty. But I'm very glad that Greg has a steel-trap memory about this stuff, so I can remember shreds of great Strat moments in both football and baseball. Anyone remember the make-up of the league that included Steve Struble and Jeff Lynch? That was a failed experiment, and I seriously doubt if we ever finished the league because everyone was so difficult to schedule.
Of course. I played little Lynch in a park. His family had to really think I was weird - a married family man playing strat with a sophomore in high school.
How about the short-live strat life of Rob Mellett?
thats pretty funny...Dad failed to ever mention he played strat with a sophmore in high school lol...
Wow, I have NO recollection of Rob Mellett. did I ever play him or was that after my move to Des Moines? To prove that those little Strat sessions on the park benches did not scar young Jeff Lynch, he is now a married man and a medical doctor, doing his residency in Chicago.
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