In This Month’s Newsletter
Fundraiser for Prostate Cancer Awareness
We recently learned that a valued member of our Diamond Mind Online community, Michael (Stauf44) Staufenbiel, has Stage 4 prostate cancer. Michael wanted to do some leagues to give him something to do while fighting this disease, which led to a conversation between DMO founder, Dayne Myers, and Michael, during which he urged folks to get tested early and often.
Michael’s message about testing really resonated with Dayne and inspired a fundraising idea. Given that a large number of DMO customers are males of prime age for prostate issues (50 and older – you know who you are!), we’d like to raise awareness of prostate cancer and encourage you guys to get tested. Michael even inspired Dayne, whose last test was nearly 3 years ago, to schedule one.
So, here’s the deal. Michael and Dayne are going to do some leagues to raise money for prostate cancer research and to encourage testing. Everyone who donates $50 or more to one of the prostate charities listed below gets a free credit to join them in leagues where Michael will choose the rules (details to follow).
In addition, anyone who’s male over age 40 who shows proof of scheduling a test (or the test results) also gets a free credit. And, so as not to be biased, the promo also applies to our women in the community who sign up for a mammogram.
Note: You do not need to use your freebies to join the leagues with Michael and Dayne – you can use them for any league, but they do hope that some of you will join them.
TO MAKE DONATIONS:
Prostate Cancer Research Institute: www.pcri.org
American Cancer Society: www.cancer.org
TO SUBMIT PROOF OF EXAM AND/OR DONATION:
email support@imaginesports.com
In conclusion, Michael would like to add this personal note:
Don’t know if you’re like most men, but there are certain things we avoid. Prostate exam? Forget about it.
I had an incident 4 years ago where I had 4 different medical issues going on at the same time. The one that got addressed last was difficulty peeing. By the time the doctor checked my prostate, it was too late. I already had cancer in the prostate and it had spread to my pelvis. It’s in my spine now and various other places as well. After chemo and pills, then more chemo and pills, my oncologist said there’s nothing else that can be done.
If you’re at the age where you need a prostate exam, I urge you to get it done as soon as possible. I initially told my urologist that my dcotor was doing it, and told my regular doctor the urologist was doing it. I was only fooling myself. I was told at the outset that I had 16 months to live, and as many as 32 if all went well. October will mark 24 months. I can’t think of anything less manly than someone sticking their finger up my rear, but regular check ups could have saved my life. I urge everyone to take care of themselves and get this done on a regular basis. Catching this early could save your life.
— Michael Staufenbiel, aka “Stauf44,”
With COVID-19 wreaking havoc, the last thing each of us needs is to get a cancer and find out too late! And, coincidentally, September was prostate cancer awareness month. We’re late on that, too. LET’S GO!
Join the Message Board Conversation Here
New Podcast: Turnbuckle Brothers Talk Diamond Mind
The Turnbuckle Brothers – Matt Huett and Steve (Lemay Ripper) Mutzu – talk all things Diamond Mind in their regular podcast, Turnbuckle Talk, which kicked off with an interview with Dayne Myers.
In subsequent podcasts, they delve into strategies and tactics with panels of DMO owners, including Chris Baud, dvd Avins and Tylor Ensor.
It’s Halloween!
The last day of October is Halloween.
Until recent years, with the World Series finishing later, the only noteworthy baseball events on October 31 were things like trades, firings and retirements. Perhaps the most memorable and Halloween-worthy event of this kind was Theo Epstein announcing his resignation as General Manager of the Red Sox on October 31, 2005, after which, to evade the media, he snuck out of Fenway Park disguised in a gorilla suit.
(Sadly, it does not appear that Epstein’s hairy departure was captured on camera. So we’ve brought you another “baseball gorilla” instead: Mr. Go, from the Korean movie of the same name.)
October 31 also is noteworthy as the day all players whose contracts have expired become free agents.
And, finally, October 31 also is the day our Prostate Promotion finishes.
Tournament News
Diamond Mind Online’s two biggest tournaments are the Grand Open and the Masters.
The Grand Open has reached Round 3, which will be comprised of six 12-team leagues, with the four playoff teams from each league advancing to a 24-team championship final.
The Masters has reached the fourth and final round, which also will be contested by the 24 top-scoring teams from Rounds 1-3.
The Masters champion is not the winner of the final round, but the contestant with the highest cumulative point total from all four rounds.
This year it looks like the final round has come down to a three-way contest between George Kreiner, Steve Storkamp and Tom Waldman. Kreiner, who holds the narrowest of leads, is a past Masters champion (2019).
Register Now for Season 37 of The Ladder Leagues Random 600 Association
Registration is now open for Season 37 of the Ladder Leagues Random 600 Association.
For those unfamiliar with them, the Ladder Leagues operate like European soccer, with a ranked leagues structure. At the end of each LL season, the top teams from that season are promoted to higher leagues and the bottom teams relegated to lower leagues for the season to follow. The promotion/relegation system ensures competitive leagues with similarly-skilled owners.
Unlike the Ladder Leagues Standard and SSG Associations, which are comprised of autodraft leagues, RA600 leagues draft manually from random limited pools of 600 Classic (career-rated) players.
Season 37 will be set in the Moneyball era of play with the DH and all other Standard League defaults in effect.
Why not give it a try? Register Here
No-No? Oh, No!
There have been many near no-hitters in baseball history. The most crushing are those that aren’t merely broken up in the ninth inning, but where the pitcher has completed nine no hit, or even perfect innings, but his team has failed to score, and the no hitter is lost in extra innings.
No doubt the most heartbreaking example of such a game occurred on May 26, 1959, when Harvey Haddix had a perfect game for 12 innings against the Milwaukee Braves, only to lose it in the 13th inning.
As rare as it is to take a no-hitter into extra innings, only to lose, even rarer is a complete game nine-inning no-hitter that nonetheless is lost. This has occurred just once in baseball history: Ken Johnson of the Houston Colt 45’s threw a no-hitter against Cincinnati on April 23, 1964, but lost, 1-0, when the Reds scored a run in the top of the 9th on two errors. (There also have been two combined nine-inning losing no-hitters, and two eight-inning complete game losing no-hitters.)
Jim Hardin matched this dubious feat for Bad Idea 107 in the Jay Bruce League. Hardin had no hit the Terminators for eight innings in a scoreless game. When Bad Idea scored twice in the bottom of the 8th, it looked like the only question was whether he could finish off his no-no in the top of the 9th. Instead, the Terminators scored three times after two were out without the benefit of a hit, on an error, two walks, and then, with two out, two more errors. When Bad Idea failed to score in the bottom of the 9th, Hardin had achieved the mind-boggling distinction of tossing a complete game no-hitter and losing 3-2!
The Tipping Point
Each month we’ll offer a few tips in this space that may come in handy for the beginner as well as the experienced team owner.
The Diamond Mind sim engine is, without doubt, the most sophisticated baseball simulator that has ever been created. It is so detailed and complex that there are aspects of its programming that can sometimes take even those who have worked with it for decades by surprise.
A question recently came up on the message boards regarding why Rickey Henderson routinely attempts more stolen bases than Eddie Collins, even though both are rated Ex/Ex for Steal/Jump. Yours truly blithely posted that “Ex is Ex”, but, in the absence of any other explanation, pursued the question with Tom Tippett, the creator of the Diamond Mind sim engine. And, as it turns out, with regard to the Jump rating, Ex is not the end of the story.
For the most prolific base stealers, even with a jump rating of Ex they would not attempt to steal enough. For these players, the sim engine does a calculation that, on an individual (player-by-player) basis, will increase the likelihood that they attempt to steal even further.
The adjustment is based on the % of times the player attempted to steal out of opportunities to steal. An Ex jump rating is assigned to players whose attempts exceeded X %. The adjustment kicks in if their attempts exceeded Y%, and is variable based on how much their attempts exceeded Y%.
Tom also offered the following insight into the factors the computer manager takes into account in deciding whether to attempt a stolen base, in addition to the player’s Jump rating:
In the sim, the actual attempt rate for a player is also adjusted for many other factors — team and player tendencies, innings, outs, score, ball-strike count, whether a pitcher is batting, runner locations, and whether there’s a power hitter at the plate. So the composition of the player’s team and league can also affect attempt rates. For example, a good stealer on a very bad team probably won’t run as much as you would expect because his team would frequently be down by a few runs when he gets on base.
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