SnapJolt

A few weeks ago, the late Steve Moyer’s ex-wife contacted me to let me know that his extensive memorabilia collection had finally been put up for auction. This was a big deal. See for yourself.

For those who did not know Steve, he was one of the pioneers in the fantasy sports industry. He wrote for STATS Inc. back when they provided the only fantasy content for the pre-internet America Online. He wrote for Rotowire.com back when they were known as Rotonews.com. He was instrumental in building Sports (nee Baseball) Info Solutions, publishers of the Bill James Handbook.

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As I wrote in my historical memoir, “Fantasy Expert,” (coming out later this year!) Steve was a personality who shaped this industry. He was a consummate contrarian from the very beginning. Growing up in a part of Pennsylvania populated by fans of the Phillies, Yankees and Mets, he became a Cardinals fan “just to screw with everyone.” He loved his beer and his punk rock, but he also taught Sunday School.

When he was invited into the League of Alternative Baseball Reality (LABR) experts competition in 1996, he quickly established himself as a fierce competitor who took no crap from anyone. LABR commissioner John Hunt once asked him what his strategy was, and Steve replied:

“I don’t pay attention to that Roto strategy nonsense. Don’t draft closers, flood the market, starve the market, blah, blah, blah. Who cares? Draft guys who the others aren’t paying enough for and pay attention during the season. That’s my strategy.”

He won and lost as often as any of us.

Steve was a regular fixture at the LABR and Tout Wars draft tables for over two decades. When he was a no-show for the LABR draft in 2018, everyone knew something was wrong. He had made it to the hotel, but did not make it to the next morning. He was 57.

Stories about Steve’s memorabilia collection had become legendary in fantasy circles. He claimed to have thousands of items and rented a massive storage unit to house them. It has taken four years for his family to get those into sale-able condition. But they are available to bid on now. All the proceeds will go to support his two daughters.

Scanning through the artifacts, one item in particular caught my eye, an Ethan Allen All Star Baseball board game from 1941. This inaugural version of the game predates me, but I did own a later edition. This was the game that taught me about baseball statistics, probabilities and the Major League player population of the early 1970s.

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All Star Baseball was a spinner game where each player was represented by a circular card. The odds of a player getting a hit or making an out were represented by a proportional space on the card, so when it was placed in the spinner, probabilities took over in determining the result of each spin.

I don’t need to look at the photos to remember the numerical designations. A space with the number “1” was a home run and was always at the top of the card. A “5” was a triple, always a sliver at the 2 o’clock position and “11” was a double at the 7 o’clock spot. There were two singles spaces: “7” at the 8 o’clock position and “13” at 4 o’clock. Strikeouts (“10”) were scattered in several spots, and there were other numbers for ground outs and fly outs.

I remember that Willie Stargell’s “1” space was huge, and my kid brother and I would fight to own that card each game. I also remember that Dal Maxvill had no home run space at all. Still, if the spinner landed exactly on the line at the top of the card, we’d give Maxvill his due, even though he had only six lifetime homers in nearly 4,000 plate appearances. Oddly, the spinner seemed to find that line more often than you’d expect, and always by my brother.

The game was only about hitting – there were pitching adjustments that had little effect – so the pitchers had cards just for their batting stats. I remember that Dean Chance’s card was almost entirely covered by three huge “10” spaces. Fourteen-year-old me never thought to check those stats, but looking him up now, it’s no surprise to see that he struck out 420 times in 662 career at bats – a 63 percent rate. Add in his 44 lifetime hits – a .066 average! – and you’ll know why his player card never got much use, even though he was a pretty good pitcher in his day.

Playing those games was fun, but after a few years we got bored. So we decided to take the decomposing player cards and match their skills to those of our stickball and softball buddies. I crossed out Dave Kingman’s name and wrote in “Richard Grossman,” the power-hitting first baseman who struck out a lot. Ron Guidry became “Dave Heller,” the lefty pitcher I could never hit. In an attempt at some realism, I became second baseman Doug Flynn.

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Those were desperate times.

Eventually, we graduated to APBA and my education continued. But All Star Baseball was where I cut my teeth on a hobby that became my career.

The set that my brother and I played on is a pile of ash in a landfill somewhere. So, I’ve placed a bid on Steve’s old 1941 game because it represents a reminder of my history that I’d like to own again. If you plan to outbid me, prepare for a fight.

But if you do win that piece of nostalgia, I have my eye on some other items. There’s a signed Brooks Robinson baseball (Lot 51), a 1915 Spalding Official Baseball Guide (Lot 136), a wooden baseball board game from 1912 (Lot 101), a 1962 Strat-O-Matic board game (Lot 185), a 1941 Street & Smith Baseball Yearbook (Lot 548), a bunch of old Sporting News newspapers from the 1930s (Lots 250-263) and a New York Times article from 1927 with the headline, “Record Falls as Ruth Hits 60th” (Lot 483). Pretty cool stuff.

(Images via Kitson Auctions)

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