PAD Circus - 042 - Let's get DRAFTY! And, let's rip some wax while we're at it!

Hello, everyone!
  Oh yeah, I can feel it. Can't you? That feeling that we haven't had a free agent draft in a while... I think it is time. Now, before we do, I want to rip open some Goodwin Champions and Americana and see if we can add some flavor to the free agency. I really wish I had some A&G. I'll get some ordered so we can have more crazy free agent categories for a later draft!

Link to the draft: http://goo.gl/forms/THxVagabpq4fncpp2
Remember: The draft is open to EVERYONE/ANYONE! You do not have to be a current participant to get in on the action! Welcome aboard! Draft ends FRIDAY, JUNE 10 11:59p Central.

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2014 Goodwin Champions (3 packs):
Dan Gurney - Auto Racer - Dawgbones (Wahoo!!)
Earl Campbell - Football - Ventura County Royals (Wahoo!!)
Shani Davis Mini - Speed Skater - Play at the Plate (Wahoo!!)
Mike Gartner - Hockey - Hockeykazi (Wahoo!!)
Rory McIlroy - Golfer - Jacksonville Jobu (Wahoo!!)
Tedy Bruschi - Football - Ventura County Royals (Wahoo!! x2)
Eugen Sandow - Bodybuilder - FREE AGENT
Ron Cey - Dodgers - Night Owl (Wahoo!!)
Jerry Rice - Football - Ventura County Royals (Wahoo!! x3)
John Huh - Golfer - Jacksonville Jobu (Wahoo!! x2)
James Worthy - Basketball - Enamel Rods (Wahoo!!)
Giannis Antetokounmpo - Basketball - Enamel Rods (Wahoo!! x2, Back-to-Back!!)

Wow! What a way to end that series of packs! Congrats to Enamel Rods! Also congrats to VC Royals and Jax Jobu for hitting the "x2!" We did manage to add one to the free agency, but I have to say that it is a lot of fun seeing folks get non-baseball cards. Of course, having a ballplayer come out of these packs sure is nice, too. Congrats to Night Owl on that one!

2011 Americana (2 packs):
Josie Davis - Actress - Buckstore Cards (Wahoo!!)
Brigitte Nielsen - Actress - Buckstore Cards (Wahoo!! x2, Back-to-Back!!)
Grayson Boucher - Basketball - Enamel Rods (Wahoo!!)
Lenny Krayzelburg - Olympian - Captain Canuck (Wahoo!!)
Eileen Dietz - Actress - Buckstore Cards (Wahoo!! x3)
Robert Carradine - Actor - Jafronius (Wahoo!!)
John Snyder Prime Time Stars - Actor - Jafronius (Wahoo!! x2, Back-to-Back!!)
Katie Hoff - Olympian - Captain Canuck (Wahoo!! x2)
Ami Dolenz - Actress - Buckstore Cards (Wahoo!! x4)
James Duval - Actor - Jafronius (Wahoo!! x3)

Holy smokes! Buckstore Cards grabs FOUR card, including a b2b, for actresses then Jafronius jumps in there with THRE actor cards! Oh, and while we're at it, we managed to add ZERO free agents to the mix. Wow!!

2013 Goodwin Champions (4 packs):
Domink Hasek - Hockey - Hockeykazi (Wahoo!!)
Rory McIlroy - Golfer - Jacksonville Jobu (Wahoo!!)
Jimmy Collins - Beaneaters - Thoughts & Sox (Wahoo!!)
Nicklas Lidstrom - Hockey - Hockeykazi (Wahoo!! x2)
Nick Buoniconti - Football - Ventura County Royals (Wahoo!!)
A.C. Green - Basketball - Enamel Rods (Wahoo!!)
Belle Starr - Old West - FREE AGENT
Cobi Jones - Soccer - FREE AGENT
Mario Lemieux - Hockey - Hockeykazi (Wahoo!! x3)
Meyers Leonard - Basketball - Enamel Rods (Wahoo!! x2)
Bram Stoker - Author - FREE AGENT
Theoren Fleury - Hockey - Hockeykazi (Wahoo!! x4)
Bryan Trottier - Hockey - Hockeykazi (Wahoo!! x5, Back-to-Back!!)
Alonzo Mourning - Basketball - Enamel Rods (Wahoo!! x3)
Mookie Blaylock Mini Green Lady Luck - Basketball - Enamel Rods (Wahoo!! x4,Bk-to-Bk!!)
Carly Patterson - Gymnastics - FREE AGENT

WOW!! I mean W-O-W!! Hockeykazi and Enamel Rods going head-to-head for cards! It's funny to me that in a baseball pack giveaway, we just busted more hockey and basketball players than baseball players here! Granted, I am VERY loose with the definition of "Baseball Packs." Congrats to you two and to everyone else that snagged up some cardboard here. Collins played the most season for the Beaneaters, so was assigned to that team. And, we pulled FOUR free agents!

Strat-O-Matic 2016 - First Look, First Review

Adam at Strat-O-Matic and I emailed back and forth a few times and at some point, I was offered a code in order to try out Strat-O-Matic Baseball 2016 (SOM16). To be clear: I received a free code in exchange for a review. My review is unbiased and is based on my own personal experience and may not reflect the experience, quality, etc of anyone else.

After downloading and installing the game (it is roughly 960MB download), I was asked to input the game code. Easy enough. I was then greeted by a screen that has all kinds of menus. I referred to the instruction PDF to try and figure out what to do next. So, it appeared I needed to install rosters. I clicked the League menu and selected Install Rosters.

I was given a code for "2015 Baseball Season Roster." That specific name was *NOT* in the list of rosters. I had no idea what to do. So, I clicked "2015 Deluxe Season Rosters *PHC*" and that didn't seem to do anything, so I clicked a few other 2015 rosters. Nothing seemed to be happening. Each time, I clicked "Install" and was warned about overwriting current data or something, but I was not presented with a code entry field. Honestly, I don't even remember how I got the entry field. When it popped up, though, I pasted my roster code from my account. It seemed to work.

I then clicked FILE > NEW UNSCHEDULED, figuring this would create a game tantamount to an exhibition game. I was then asked to enter the Hi-Res Stadium Code (which I had as well). After that, I chose two teams to play each other, opting for the computer to do most of the work. I was then greeted with what looked like a photograph of PNC Park:

The image above does **NOT** do the game justice. I mean, I know the image above looks good. But, when you see the shot in-game...whoa. I've been to PNC Park. This was like being back there again (though I had MUCH better seats when I went - HA!).

The game itself lets you click on players, menus, etc to make changes to the game itself (ex: crowd noises), to players (Ex: shift defense, sub in player, etc), and other options that allow the game-player to get into the minutiae of running a simulated baseball game. I opted for the big "SWING AWAY" button to get things rolling.

The brown box in the bottom center is where the game unfolds. A play-by-play text rendering of on-field antics scrolls by, pausing after each play (though you can change that, if you wish). The field is full of various in-game animations as things play out.

Under the "SWING AWAY" box, there are nine little boxes that let you set up for a steal, hold a runner, shift defense, intentional walk, hit-and-run, bunt, and more. It was fun playing with the different options - which are greyed out if not available for the current field situation. My attempt for Chisenhall to steal home did not go well.

After an inning or so, I went back to the main menu and played with league settings (in which you can create your own fictitious league, if you want) and ultimately chose to play the next scheduled game. The games are set to AutoPlay by default, but you can jump in to manually play any of the games (before they start).

I also played with "Social Media." This needs work. First of all, setting up the connection to, say, Facebook, was not intuitive at all. I typed some info in the text box, and clicked the Facebook icon. I was asked to login to my account. I messed up my password, and the login box closed but with no error, no message, nothing. I tried again. This time, I put in the correct info and the window closed - again with no confirmation, no message, nothing. I clicked the icon again and was greeted with a screen that said something like "Proceed as David." I clicked OK and the window closed. Click the FB icon and the screen said - "Your post was successfully completed." or something like that. I checked my FB page - nothing. I checked the SOM FB page. Nothing. I have no idea where my Facebook post went, but I can't find it anywhere.

The looks like it will be great fun once I get into it and figure out how it all works. And, that, in my opinion, is the problem. A newcomer to this game would most likely dismiss it long before they had a chance to explore the intricacies. That's unfortunate. The complex, convoluted menu system is enough to scare away newbies. Frankly, it looks like a baseball stat-loving computer programmer made the game. It lacks the user friendliness that something as complex as a baseball simulation of this depth and caliber needs to welcome first-time (or long-between version) users. And, the whole social media thing needs to be worked on.

I will play this again during the season, possibly tying the game play into some giveaway or something. I just hope I remember how to get around in there.

PAD Circus - 041 - Big Chrome Heroes

Hey, everyone! Today, I am ripping open three packs of cards. Let's look at Topps Big, 2013 Heroes, and 2014 Chrome Update. Er, maybe I should change the order to match the title...

Company Store Topps T-Shirt - Fillers - Ventura County Royals (Wahoo!!)
Bobby Bonilla - Pirates - Brian C (Wahoo!!)
Ozzie Guillen - White Sox - Dominc FDNY (Wahoo!!)
Ron Guidry - Yankees - BoRosny (Wahoo!!)
Jeff Musselman - Blue Jays - Hockeykazi (Wahoo!!)
Kevin Bass - Astros - Raz (Wahoo!!)
Dale Sveum - Brewers - Jacksonville Jobu (Wahoo!!)
Lance Parrish - Phillies - Dawgbones (Wahoo!!)

Wow, talk about stepping back in time! These players instantly transport my mind back to being a kid and collecting cards with my friends. Congrats to each of you that pulled one of these blasts from the past.

2014 Chrome Update:
Mookie Betts - Red Sox - Thoughts & Sox (Wahoo!!)
Jacob DeGrom - Mets - Buckstore Cards (Wahoo!!)
Justin Morneau - Rockies - Infield Fly Rule (Wahoo!!)
Grady Sizemore - Phillies - Dawgbones (Wahoo!!)

Awesome, pulling a Betts shortly after his amazing 5HR in 7ABs! I'll be honest and admit I did not know that Morneau played for the Pirates for part of 2013. The back of Sizemore's card reads like the history he's lived - Slow rookie season, kick serious butt, fall victim to injury, miss two seasons due to injury, try to start again with new team...or three or four. Ouch. Congrats to each of you that pulled a card out of here. Dawgbones is 2-for-2 in packs. Let's see if he can get another.

2013 Hometown Heroes:
Joe Charboneau - Indians - Tribecards (Wahoo!!)
Denny McLain - Tigers - Ryan G (Wahoo!!)
Jim Abbott - Angels - Angels In Order (Wahoo!!)
Alex Gordon - Royals - Ventura County Royals (Wahoo!!)
Stephen Strasburg - Nationals - CaptKirk42 (Wahoo!!)
Mike Schmidt - Phillies - Dawgbones (Wahoo!!)
Dickie Thon - Astros - Raz (Wahoo!!)
Eric Davis - Reds - Nachos Grande (Wahoo!!)

3-for-3! Congratulations, Dawgbones! That is so cool! Also sending out congrats to everyone else that added some cardboard to their stack, including yours truly! Wahoo!!

PAD Circus - 040 - Stars and Stripes, Worn and Signed

Hey, everyone! This post was SUPPOSED to go out on Monday. You know, Memorial Day.  Instead, well, it didn't happen. So, today I bring you a few packs of 2015 Stars and Stripes Longevity:

Tyler Jay Longevity - Twins - gcrl (Wahoo!!)
Trenton Clark Longevity - Brewers - Jacksonville Jobu (Wahoo!!)
Taylor Ward Longevity - Angels - Angels in Order (Wahoo!!)
Thomas Burbank Longevity Game Gear (141/299) - Free Agent (Class of 2018)
Kristofer Armstrong - Free Agent (Class of 2018)
USA Baseball Filler - Fillers - Ventura County Royals (Wahoo!!)

Congrats to the managers who pulled cards out of this one. We also pulled some free agents that won't even graduate until 2018. Holy smokes. Well, I don't know what to do with them. I could create a new category called "Class of 2018" or "HS Players" or something. I could just draft them individually. I dunno. What are your thoughts? How would YOU like to see these guys offered up?

While you ponder that, here's another pack:

Blake Paugh Longevity - Free Agent (Class of 2017)
Andrew Moore Longevity - Mariners - Cool Breeze (Wahoo!!)
Albert Almora Longevity - Cubs - Sons of Diagoras (Wahoo!!)
Addison Russell Longevity - Cubs - Sons of Diagoras (Wahoo!! x2, Back-to-Back!!)
Luke Weaver - Cardinals - Wilson (Wahoo!!)

Congrats to the Sons of Diagoras for the B2B! Also congrats to the others who pulled cards from this pack. We also managed another free agent. Same as above, I have to figure out what to do with him for drafting.

And, as before, ponder those things while we rip a third pack:

Dillon Tate Longevity - Rangers - Play at the Plate (Wahoo!!)
Courtney Hawkins Longevity - White Sox - Dominic FDNY (Wahoo!!)
Chris Okey Longevity - Padres - Marcus (Wahoo!!)
Lucas Sims Game Gear Auto (03/25) - Braves - Jafronius (Wahoo!!)
Gray Fenter - Orioles - Pedersej (Wahoo!)

Wow! That Sims Game Gear is SWEET! Congrats to Jafronius there! Congrats to everyone else that pulled a card, too! We had no free agents in that one. Sometimes, I see that as a sad thing. After two packs with free agents, I am pretty excited to see a pack where you guys take 'em all!

PAD Circus 039 - More packs than even I realized! So, let's get ripping!

What you see in the image at the top of the post is a picture I took of the packs that are in the big ol box of wax as of today (May 29, 2016). When I set out to have a major pack break this weekend to try and clean up some of the stuff I had, I did not realize just how many packs I have - nor the variety! 

This little experiment forced me to reassess the manner in which the packs are drawn from the box. You see, I had just sorta thrown in the packs willy-nilly, thinking that would give me a wonderful bit of randomness. In truth, there are so many packs, many brands/styles were buried at the bottom and wouldn't see the light of day until further in the season. That's not bad, but it also means that the variety of packs each day was sorely lacking. I've taken care of that now. The pack draws will still be random, but the new "organized chaos" method should mean a bigger, better variety day-to-day. We'll see!

The biggest thing I learned? I have a LOT of packs. I have more packs than I even realized. Heck, I even "discovered" packs that I didn't even remember having. When I start to question my own sanity in doing these breaks, it is times like this that brings it all home. I love the hobby. I love the thrill of busting open packs to see what's inside. In my own twisted way, I get to have my own "Christmas" every time I write a pack-break post.

I can't wait to start ripping into these!

In fact, let's rip into some variety.

2011 Americana:

Ami Dolenz - Actress - Buckstore cards (Wahoo!!)

James Duval - Actor - Jafronius (Wahoo!!)

Luke Goss - Actor, Singer, Author - Jafronius (Wahoo!! x2, Back-to-Back!!)

Randal Kleiser - Producer - Free Agent

Peter Vanderkaay - Olympic Swimmer - Captain Canuck (Wahoo!!)

Wow, these multi-talented folks are giving me a run for the money. Goss is going in as an actor. I see that I messed up when I created "Olympians" as a category. we have a free agent as "Speed Skating" separate from Olympians, and I almost listed the Swimmer as its own thing. I think my thought process is this: if the card specifically mentions Olympics, then it is an olympian. Otherwise, it goes to the sport. Sound good? Sounds good.

2014 Goodwin Champions:

Bill Guerin - Hockey - Hockeykazi (Wahoo!!)

Dan Gurney Mini - Auto Racing - Dawgbones (Wahoo!!)

Frederick Douglass - Activist - Free Agent

Sammy Watkins - Football - Ventura County Royals (Wahoo!!)

Hey! More Free agents for the next draft! Wahoo!! Congratulations to the folks who snagged some non-baseball cards from the pack.

2013 Chipz:

David Price Glow-in-the-Dark - Rays - TSHenson (Wahoo!!)

Matt Kemp - Dodgers - Night Owl (Wahoo!!)

Andrew McCutchen - Pirates - Brian C (Wahoo!!)

Michael Morse - Nationals - CaptKirk42 (Wahoo!!)

Nationals Vinyl Logo - Nationals - CaptKirk42 (Wahoo!! x2, Back-to-Back!!)

Playmat - Fillers - Ventura County Royals (Wahoo!!)

Haha! I bet Ventura County Royals are regretting the "Fillers" category about now. Remember, I bought an unopened box of these Chipz and EVERY pack has a playmat. Awesome! Congrats to everyone that snagged a Chipz out of here.

2014 Topps Update:

Chris Colabello - Twins - gcrl (Wahoo!!)

Daric Barton - A's - dayf (Wahoo!!)

Joaquin Arias - Giants - Arpsmith (Wahoo!!)

Logan Forsythe - Rays - TSHenson (Wahoo!!)

Jeff Francoeur - Padres - Marcus (Wahoo!!)

Adam Jones Mini Die Cut - Orioles - Pedersej (Wahoo!!)

Scott Hairston - Nationals - CaptKirk42 (Wahoo!!)

Mike Trout All-Star Game - Angels - Angels In Order (Wahoo!!)

Congratulations, everyone! That Jones mini die-cut is very cool! I am pretty sure, when I was younger, I cut out plenty of those 1989 Topps apart for the "die-cut" look. I know for a fact I did it to the 1981 (what my brother and I called "the hat kind").