A true baseball fan loves statistics. The depth and history of statistics are truly what separate baseball from other sports. You don't see the thousand page stat perspectives for other sports as you do with baseball. Statistics are also what make games like Stratamatic Baseball so much fun.

The funny thing about stats and those types of games is how you can really mess things up by those enigmatic players who seem to put up great numbers every year but only in small doses.

One of my early favorites in that category was Ron Bloomberg of the Yankees. Besides being a great trivia question (who had the first hit as a designated hitter?), Bloomberg and a couple of great seasons with the Yanks where he only had 300 or less at bats. He was a free swinger from the left side who was never really given a chance to hit lefties. He was also a terrible fielder which is why he was perfect for the DH role. In fact, he once dropped the third out of a triple play attempt as a first baseman because he was so excited about the possibility.

Anyway, Bloomberg was a great Stratamatic player because YOU are the manager in that game and you can run him up there for 600 at bats and he would have 140 RBI for you.

Pitchers can do the same thing. Take a pitcher like Dennis Lamb a few years ago. He had a season where he went 11-0 or something in long relief with an ERA in the low twos. You could pitch him as a starter for 35 starts and he's win 25 games for you.

There have been a lot of players over the years who made you wonder what would happen if they ever got a chance to play full time. Some of those in today's rosters include Bill Mueller (now with the Red Sox), Jeremy Giambi (also with the Red Sox) and Buddy Groom. Ron Coomer used to be in the same category.

It's fun to speculate with Stratamatic players but you have to wonder what would happen if the real managers would ever give these star part-time players a full time chance.