SPORTS BUZZ: At Main Street shop, fantasy baseball is played with dice and cards

A few weeks ago, I threw on a hoodie and ventured inside an ice rink to write about curling. Two weeks ago, I sauntered up to Main Street to watch an indoor baseball game.

That’s right, an indoor baseball game. Or, I should say, an indoor baseball board game. Sort of.

Every week from April through October, a group of local baseball managers sit around tables inside the Days of Knights Clubhouse, or another agreed upon location, and play today’s version of fantasy baseball, only using yesterday’s means to do so.

The John B. Wockenfuss Strat-O-Matic baseball league was founded in 1981 when a couple of friends, J.J. Records and the late John Corradin, were wandering around a gaming store and spotted a version of the Strat-O-Matic Baseball game.

“We were just walking around, saw the game, and we both thought it might be fun to play,” Records recalled.

The friends talked, and shortly afterward, what is now considered the oldest Strato-O-Matic baseball league in the country, threw out its first pitch in the form of rolling red and blue dice down a dice tower. The rest is history.

The league, named after former Dickinson High and Major League Baseball player John Wockenfuss, traditionally consists of 20 teams, trimmed down to 18 this season due to the unforeseen passing of two of its managers.

Each manager also serves as the team’s general manager, drafting and acquiring through trades a lineup of cards (purchased from Strat-O-Matic) that represent actual players in the big leagues and their stats from the previous two seasons. Managers keep their teams intact year after year, just like in the big leagues.

There’s a draft in March, a 130-game schedule with playoffs, and even an All-Star game halfway through the season. Managers are responsible for arranging games against their opponents, playing a four- or five-game series depending on if it’s an intraleague or interleague game. All four division winners and two wildcard teams make the postseason.

The league’s rule book is 40 pages long and overseen by commissioner Eddie Eichholz, a Newark High graduate who makes the commute from Dover for his weekly game. Like most of the managers, he found out about the league from one of the other managers.

“I was playing in a baseball rotisserie league, and someone invited me to play, and I just jumped in,” said Eichholz, who has served in the role of commissioner for four years. “I lead the managers in determining the rules of the league that might differ from the Strat-O-Matic ones. I also settle any disputes, send out the schedule, gather votes for the league’s most valuable player and all-star teams, and anything else that comes up during the season.”

In a nutshell, managers choose their lineups from their roster and then roll the dice to determine the outcome of each at-bat by comparing the number on the dice to the same number on a player’s card. For hit balls, there’s a laminated “X chart” that determines if a defensive player gets to a ball or not, and if so, then a single dice is rolled to decide if an out or an error is made.

The strategy is more complicated than I make it sound, but the veteran managers quickly make decisions as if they’ve been doing it for years, mainly because most of them have.

“I started when I was 16 and a student at Newark High,” Jim Parks said. “My neighbor played and invited me to join and so I did. I then went to the University of Delaware and with the draft taking place in the spring around the same time as exams, I just couldn’t put the time needed into the league, so I had to drop out but then came back.

“I keep playing because I like baseball a lot,” he added. “It’s good camaraderie. I like all these guys. The part I really like a lot is the draft preparation. You learn a lot about who is coming up and it keeps you familiar with the players. It’s fun.”

Many managers mentioned that they enjoy preparing for the draft as much if not more than playing the actual games.

“My favorite part of the league is the draft,” said Steve Newton, a Christiana High graduate who, along with Records, is one of just two remaining original managers. “I like doing the research on the players so I can out-smart everybody.”

While there is strategy involved, it’s also the luck of the dice that often determines the outcomes of games.

“There’s a lot of luck to the games,” Eichholz said, smiling. “As a general manager you try to put together and build the best team you can to increase your chances of winning.”

I went to watch the all-star game on a Sunday morning at the Days of Knights Club. Records managed the American League squad and Gus Conklin the National League. The game was scoreless for much of the game as several other managers hovered around the table donning their team’s jersey, hat and in one case, socks, watching every roll of the dice down the dice tower. A late rally gave the National League the win, 3-0, with Juan Soto named the most valuable player.

Despite suffering a loss, Records was all smiles.

“I enjoy the challenge of competing against the other managers,” the McKean High graduate commented after the game.

Records’ son, Andrew, started attending JBW league games when he was 4 years old when he would tag along and roll the dice for his father. He’s now a manager himself and shortly after the final out of the all-star game had a special announcement.

“I’d like everyone to know that my wife and I are expecting a baby boy,” he said with a huge grin on his face.

Someone immediately yelled out, “Another manager is born!” Everyone laughed, but also realized that in order for the oldest league in the country to continue, it’s going to take a new generation of managers to carry on the tradition.

“Look around the room, we aren’t getting any younger,” Eichholz said with a laugh.

There’s no cost to become a manager and the prize for winning the championship is a simple one — bragging rights until next season.

“We play for the love of baseball and competition,” Eichholz reinforced.

For more information about the league visit www.jbwleague.net. Anyone interested in inquiring about becoming a manager can contact the commissioner at straightflush27@comcast.net.

Have a sports tidbit to share? Email JonBuzby@hotmail.com and follow on “X” @JonBuzby.