Ultimate Strat, Wolfman's Heartfelt Goodbye Message, Part I
Published: Tue, 10/17/17
-- Part I of my Goodbye Message to express my gratitude for our Time Together,
special memories and thoughts with the greatest members in the World!!
,
Dear Member of the Ultimate Strat Baseball Newsletter,
Wolfman here again, your editor - I just wanted to share some personal thoughts
and feelings with you all before I and you move on - thank you so much ...
It is always a sad thing when a great project has to end but nothing can go on forever. It was a real pleasure and joy to work with Marc and all the other people who supported our newsletter in various ways over the years. As usual, as you have grown accustomed to my style of writing, I have some special things to share as I head out into the old SOM Baseball sunset. I am dividing this final message of thanks, gratitude and acknowledgements into several messages. In Part II, I will be acknowledging all the special individuals that were a part of our newsletter in some way .... without all these people, the newsletter would not be as successful as it was~! And Part III are the direct links to each issue I promised.
For myself, the greatest joy as your editor was talking with our members directly at times and all the amazing people I had a chance to speak to for the interviews or reports. I think my favorite series I did was linked to the movie and baseball field connected to "Field of Dreams" and also a chance to talk with W.P. Kinsella, the author of "Shoeless Joe" (which the movie was based upon) before his untimely passing as well as the chance to visit the baseball field itself and pitch from the mound. Also, and this was a pretty difficult task was to find ex-Major Leaguers open to be interviewed, I probably invited fifty to a hundred ex-players, these lucky individuals who got to play baseball at the highest level. But it was well worth it listening to their stories and learning about what happens behind the scenes in the baseball world.
Then again, Watching the video of Billy Sample playing SOM against Brian Swank was amazing including the stories he was sharing during this play. The chance to challenge Tony Brizzolara on Netplay, an ex-major league who loves SOM - playing in a tournament using Skype and losing in 7 games to the ultimate champion - challenging Pete Nelson at his house following his club's rules since he is one of their World's champion plus, a chance to reconnect with Del Newell, the editor of the SOM Review are all treasured memories for sure.
In addition thanks to Bruce Foster for my only league championship in what is now called Baseball 365, and also thanks to my old friend Tom Nahigian for a chance to look at the very first SOM Baseball cards ever done. To those who supported us with their articles, Bruce Bundy, Marc, Doug Brunet (and his help with our first guide), Chuck Tinkler, John Dewan - who changed baseball stats forever and working with Bill James being open to talk to our members - Larry Braus for his insightful and colorful contributions, Harris Jessop's help with the newsletter, and all the others who made a special contribution, thank you so much (listed in Part II of this message).
Now, if any of you wish to continue to stay in touch, please feel free to email me, our friendship need not end. I will always be connected with SOM of course. Some of you might be curious about the current non SOM-projects I am currently involved with right now which has also been taking much of my time this year. I think for a 62 year old hoot, I still have a lot of fire inside which makes my life always very interesting. So briefly here goes ...
Well, I am hoping next month to release my first action-adventure novel which I am very proud how the story came out. This is actually Book number #1 of a three part trilogy called, "Journeys into the Unknown and Back Again, Book 1". I will be using createspace on Amazon to have the printed version ready. Just very briefly, this story is about a world explorer and paranormal researcher and author who mysteriously gets invited to make the ultimate journey through a dimensional portal (aka Star Trek and Star Gate SG1) located high up in the Andes Mountains of Peru. When he passes through this mysterious dimensional door he will be visiting what has been called "the other-side" involving other dimensions of reality. When he comes back (Book #3), he will have a full video recording of everything that happened to him in these other planes of existence which will include answers to every question humanity has ever had about who we are and where did we come, and what is our purpose in life. And thus, these answers will eventually become a key catalyst to bring world peace to our world. A great undertaking you might say and one which couldn't be done without the help of my friend Karen in England who is a novelist.
If any of you are curious about this novel, just send me a private email to know more and when the book is ready. I am very excited about this project, its like the birth of a new child into the world (which if you are an author in your own right - you will know what I mean). And if I have my wish, I see this story turning into a movie one day - a person can wish!
One other thing I have been exploring for the past six months which is absolutely fascinating and is involved with big changes coming into our world has been learning about bitcoins and other digital currencies and actively using these currencies in meaningful ways -- I have been working with a mentor and due to the activities he has recommended that I have become involved with, we had seen, how can I say this, a financial prosperity the likes of which I have never seen before! Several countries now are accepting bitcoins as a legal currency, and many companies (rumored Amazon is coming soon, Microsoft already accepts bitcoins, Subway and more, even saw on the internet a McDonald's sign saying they were accepting bitcoins at this store for their payments) - will be coming on-line soon. There are no banks or governments controlling this currency (which has no paper bills or physical coins, all transactions are via the internet) and it has been exploding this year as it is an easier way to send others money almost instantaneous and without so many fees. It is revolutionary, its coming and the handwriting is on the wall this will be as common in our lives as our cell phones, our computers and the internet. I even have a free class you can watch if you might be interested to learn more - anyway not to keep going on about this, if you are curious please please feel free to email me, this can be very life changing!
Ok then, watch for Part II of my final message as I would like to acknowledge everyone who contributed to our newsletter, quite a few people in fact (hope I don't miss anyone) -- and then in Part III - I will give you the direct links to each main page of the 26 issues of our newsletter in case there are certain or specific articles or reports you wish to save on your PC.
Once again it was my honor and pleasure to act as your editor. It was a great ride and I will never forget this experience and all of you. Thanks for giving me this opportunity to challenge my writing and organizational skills to use and share about the "Game We Love". Long live Strat-o-matic and our SOM family.
Be well, happy holidays and hope 2017 ends on a positive note for everyone,
thank you - thank you - thank you - here comes Part II ....
yours in SOM always!!
Wolfman Shapiro
(aka Joshua Shapiro, or Rick "Wolfman" Shapiro)
your former editor of USBN
email (Wolfman): [email protected]