Strat-O-Matic Baseball is based on statistical probability.
The card and dice board game often seems very realistic, but I cringe when a pitcher hits a home run.
While pitchers hitting a long ball is not a completely foreign concept, last year two things happened during my 1975 Cincinnati Reds Replay. Jack Billingham hit a homer and tossed a no-hitter in two different contests. Neither one happened in real life. Although the game is based on real life, baseball like many sports has odd occurrences.
This leads me into the most recent game of my 27 * 61 Yankees Replay as Catfish Hunter and his 1972 Oakland A’s teammates beat the 1961 New York squad.
Hunter went the distance in the 7-5 victory, but he also hit a two-run homer off left-hander Whitey Ford.
After the Billingham situation, looking up pitcher and their home run total has become a routine for me.
Although Ford never gave up a homer to Hunter in real life, Catfish did blast six in his 15-year career. Ironically, all of Hunter’s homers were against lefties.
At the plate in real life, Hunter batted .226 with 51 RBI on 149 hits including 16 doubles and three triples. His best year was in 1971 as he hit .350 and knocked in a dozen runs. He also hit his final homer in Detroit against Tigers southpaw Mickey Lolich.
Hunter’s other homers were against Barry Moore (Washington 1967), Frank Bertaina (Washington,1967), Dave McNally (Baltimore 1968), Mike Cuellar (Baltimore 1969) and Sam McDowell (Cleveland 1970).
In replay simulation, Hunter hasn’t been good with the bat with an average of .067. His only hit in 15 plate appearances is the homer.
On the mound, Hunter is 2-4 in six starts against the two great New York squads with an ERA of 3.91. the right-hander has one win against each team and both were complete games. He won his first game against the 1927 Yankees and then lost two straight.
Hall of Fame
Hunter was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987 after ending his career with a 224-166 record from 1965-1979 with the Kansas City/Oakland A’s and New York Yankees.
An eight-time all-star, Hunter started on the mound for the American League in 1973. A year later, he was the AL Cy Young Award winner with a 25-12 mark as the Oakland A’s won their third straight World Series title.
Joining the Yankees in 1975, Hunter was 23-14 as he topped AL in victories for the second straight season. He would help the Yankees win world championships in 1977-1978. Overall, he was 9-6 in the post-season with a 5-3 mark in World Series outings.
The North Carolina native also tossed a perfect game on May 8, 1968. Hunter added three hits and drove in three runs in the 4-0 win over the Minnesota Twins.