The 1947 Strat-O-Matic Yankees

The 1947 Strat-O-Matic Yankees

by Paul Semendinger

February 27, 2022

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Yesterday, I gave a quick rundown of the newest Strat-O-Matic cards for the New York Yankees.

For 2022, Strat-O-Matic also created a new series – cards for the complete 1947 season. I had to get them.

As I looked through the 1947 Yankees, I noted the following:

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Joe DiMaggio’s career was winding down, but he was still great defensively. The best rating positionally a player can earn is a 1. He’s a 1 in centerfield. DiMaggio’s error-rating is just about as low as it can be. He’s also, an e1. This means he’s get to every ball and hardly ever (if ever) make an error. DiMaggio’s arm (+1) is weak. A great arm (like Aaron Judge’s) can be as amazing as -5. That means one would take away five running points from a player trying to take an extra base. Runners in 1947, probably took some extra bases on the Great DiMaggio.

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DiMaggio also had good speed (1-15). The best players rate as a 1-17.

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In 1947, DiMaggio batted .315 with 31 doubles, 10 triples, and 20 homers.

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Yogi Berra wasn’t the GREAT YOGI BERRA yet. He also had a +1 throwing arm.

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Phil Rizzuto was a 1 at shortstop.

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Tommy Henrich was a 1 in right field.

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Some lesser-known Yankees in the set are Jack Phillips, Lonny Frey, Frank Colman, Sherm Lollar, Butch Wensloff, Karl Drews, Don Johnson, BoBo Newsom, and Allie Clark.

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Future manager Ralph Houk has a card as a back-up catcher.

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The fastest Yankees are Phil Rizzuto (1-17) and Snuffy Stirnweiss (1-16).

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Tommy Henrich, Snuffy Stirnweiss, Phil Rizzuto, Don Johnson, and George McQuinn are all rated as A bunters

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Spud Chandler and Spec Shea are both rated as 9-inning pitchers before getting tired. Bill Bevens and Allie Reynolds can go 8 innings before possibly tiring out.

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Vic Raschi would start to get tired in the 6th inning.

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The great Joe Page was the “closer” and he could pitch four relief innings before getting tired. Four innings!

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He wasn’t a Yankee, but I have to learn more about a player named Gil Coan. (An article on him will come one day in the future… and that’s all I’m saying for now.)

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Other fun players names from 1947 (not Yankees that year) are: Taffy Wright, Skeeter Webb, Jimmy Outlaw, George Binks, Bama Rowell, Nanny Fernandez, Elmer Riddle, Hooks Iott,

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Joe Schultz of Ball Four fame has a player card on the St. Louis Browns. He can’t hit at all so I can only imagine what he might say. (This is a family blog so please don’t let me know in the comments.) Schultz’s position that year was as a pinch hitter. Imagine that, a pinch hitter who can’t hit!

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Some other former (or future) Yankees abound on other teams including

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Johnny Murphy and Bill Zuber on the Red Sox

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Red Ruffing and Ed Lopat on the White Sox

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Joe Gordon and Bob Kuzava on the Indians

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Buddy Rosar on the Philadelphia A’s

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Jerry Priddy on the Senators

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Hank Borowy on the Cubs

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Johnny Mize on the New York Giants

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Nick Etten on the Phillies

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Tiny Bonham and Gene Woodling on the Pirates

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Enos Slaughter on the Cardinals

It’s all good fun.

There’s nothing like learning baseball history and playing a game that honors baseball’s great traditions.

There’s nothing like Strat-O-Matic!

#JoeDiMaggio #PhilRizzuto #StratoMatic