SherCo GRAND SLAM Baseball

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Here's where you can find the latest, most frequently asked questions, about SherCo.

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Q:  How does the cut-off man work in SherCo? 

A:  Let's answer using the diagram below:

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OK, in the example above, the ball has been hit to 12-24, opposite field (we'll assume a grounder so as to not worry about whether the ball was catchable).  The ball is six squares from the CF, and five squares from the RF, so the RF will track this one down with his 9 arm.  

 

The runner on first ("R") moves down to second; the batter ("B") moves down to first.  The fielder now rolls and    gets a 6, so he gets his minimum of 9, which gets him to the ball (5, square 12-24) and 4 squares towards the infield.  The ball ends on square 12-20.

 

The offense now has a choice:  move the runner on second to third and the batter to second, hold the batter at first and move the runner on second to third, or hold both runners.  As the ball is 12 squares from second base,  a subsequent fielding roll of 6-6 will tie the batter going into second, but cannot get the runner going from second to third.  So, the offense will have to choose and, in this case, with a 1/36 chance of a tie requiring the Automatic Umpire, the offense moves both men up one more base.

 

Defensively, because the ball is now 12 squares from a base (second), the defense has to choose:  throw the ball into second, or to a cut-off man.  Let's run a couple scenarios:

 

1) Let the ball go to second:  On a roll of 12, the ball will reach second (you move the shortstop over as a "free" move) while the runner pulls up into third and the batter slides into second for a play on the Auto Ump.  On a roll of 2-11, the ball will go 9-11 squares, and end of squares 8-11, 8-10, or 8-9.  However, since the ball didn't reach its destination, the next throw MUST go there, and THEN may be directed to another base.

 

2) Cut it off:  Move the second baseman (assume he has a 9 arm) on square 6-10 to square 8-11, which is 8 squares from home, 8 squares from third, and you WILL reach either square  with the second baseman's 9 minimum.  Roll, and regardless (if a roll of 10, 11, or 12, the ball WILL stop at 8-11), the batter is safe at second, the runner safe at third.  Now, with the ball in the hands of the cut-off man, the third roll WILL get either runner if he tries to advance.

 

So, in this instance, cutting the ball off holds the batter to a double AND keeps the runner from scoring (except if the hit-and-run was on ... he would automatically advance on the initial "throw", then go home on the second.  Always remember that the movement of fielders to squares on the field is FREE (doesn't count against the result of the throw) and is part of the play happening on the field.

 

In some cases, you'll get the same end result whether you let the ball go into second, or cut it off, which begs the question, why have a choice?  Because there are many, many more cases where the result IS different, and we want the game to reflect that.  

 

Where there is no difference, the choice for you then becomes, what story do I want to tell ... that the runner was thrown out 9-4-2 on a great relay throw?  Or that the runner was thrown out on a 9-6-2 as the shortstop made a heads-up play to take the throw and then gun it home in time to catch the runner trying to sneak home?  And THAT is what makes SherCo the most fun to play ... the stop-action mechanic helps you live and tell the story of every game ...

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Q:  I'm confused about the mechanics for a sacrifice fly, what are they again?

A:  On a potential sacrifice fly, the normal fielding mechanics are replaced by a special fielding mechanic.  This has confused many a player over the years, as rules exceptions in any game often do.

 

First, you don't roll the usual first defensive roll to move to the ball.  Instead, automatically place the fielder in the same square as the ball.  Basically, the potential sacrifice fly "starts" with the fielder having already moved to the ball.  The defense then rolls and starts moving the ball back into the infield as you would for a grounder.  It is at this time that the offense decides whether or not to advance the runner.  This is another exception to the rules for grounders where the runners move first.  The offense gauges how many squares the ball is from home.  If the ball is 13 or more squares, the runner will automatically score; if the ball is 12 squares or less, the offense may choose to try to score, and the defense will have its usual choices:  1) let the ball go into home to try and get the runner, or 2) cut the ball off so that any other runners cannot advance on the throw home.

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Q:  I'm concerned about the wide ranges for batting/pitching ratings and the use of ERA for the pitching ratings.  Would you explain why this is?

A:  Steve addressed this in an issue of the ROSTER back in 1981, so we know many people didn't get a chance to see his answer.  The ranges indicate potential, and, over the course of a long season, batters will perform within acceptable ranges of their batting average.  One of Steve's comments, which has stayed with me these last 30+ years, centered on what a batting average actually is.

 

For example, in any given season, a .324 batter may have, over a 24-game stretch, hit .455 ... or he may hit .117 ... and everything in between.  Thus, the final batting average is the player's potential.  The range method allows all batters within the same 50-point band to have similar ups and downs within the season.  Speaking for myself, after literally hundreds of games of SherCo played, I don't find the ranges skew the results that much.  If anything, it's how well you roll the dice for any one or two batters that skews the results.  

 

As to the use of ERA, please bear in mind that, when SherCo was invented over 50 years ago, many of the stats we have today didn't exist.  There was no source for batting average allowed for pitchers as none of the stats necessary to compute that were available to the general public .  As ERA is, with 97% correlation, tied to batting average (especially for starting pitchers), the charts do have batting average allowed somewhat built into them.  Which is why I think the game gives realistic results, even though you might, at first glance, not think it would.

 

SherCo Plus expands the ranges, and uses batting average and batting average allowed in the rating systems.  The game also expands to a Base-36 system (11-66), from SherCo's current Base-21 system (where the lower die is read first, meaning that 1-2 and 2-1 are read as "12").  For those who still have concerns about the ranges, you may enjoy SherCo Plus.

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Q:  How does the pivot work? 

A:  The pivot on a potential double play represents a way to account for a fielder making the relay throw who has a weaker arm than the player who starts the double play.  In this way, the defense has to deal with the fact that they have a weaker arm on the middle infield, especially in late-game situations where you might have to bring in a weaker-armed player because of a pinch-hitting decision.

 

So, whenever the player making the relay throw has an 8 arm when the player fielding the ground ball has a 9 arm, you subtract 1 from the total throw.  So, if you get the minimum of 9, it becomes 8.  If you roll an 11, it becomes a 10, etc.  For the minimum, depending on fielder placement, that pivot penalty may mean the difference between a sure double play and the need for the Automatic Umpire to decide the issue.

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Q:  I remember when the game had a regular, booklet-style rule book and a folded, hard-back or mounted game board.  Why did you not provide these in the re-release?

A:  As with any game system, economics played into the decision when we re-released SherCo.

 

We could have gone the Kickstarter rout, raising funds and offering cool add-ons, which would allow us to negotiate the very best terms with printers for completing the project and providing the highest-quality components possible.  And that would have addressed the initial backers, and a handful of others who were purchasing the "leftover" copies of the opening print run.

 

The problem there is ... what do you do after that?  To get a great deal means printing at least 100 copies of a game and that requires a couple thousand dollars' investment up-front ... and hope that you can sell all 100 to re-coup your cost.  Steve and I decided that neither of us had that kind of liquid capital that we were willing to, essentially, put on the roulette table.  But, we could provide folks with updated graphics and a printed product similar to the original ... albeit one that required some assembly of the field and markers.

 

In the end, we wanted to make the game reasonably accessible, from a pricing standpoint, to other games available.  Given what you get in the printed package, when you factor in the stadium charts, results booklet, other charts and tables, the ratings of all 30 teams, and the rulebook, we think you're getting maximum bang for your buck.

 

And, given the creativity of you, the gamer, we know that you'll find lots of cool ways to get that mounted or hard-back game board that you remember at a fraction of the cost (especially when you factor in shipping weight).  We've also created single-sheet stadium charts that allow you to play right on the charts without the need for the larger game board ... so we're thinking about you at every turn.

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Q:  I remember that you used to give us the formulas to create our own teams.  Do you still do that?

A:  We ABSOLUTELY still do that!!  You can create any team you like as long as you have the proper stats with which to do so.  Of course, we do all of that work for you in the many season sets we offer.  And you can choose to let us do the work buy purchasing from us.  But, if funds are limited, but access to data is unlimited, we, as always, have no problem with you creating your own teams using our formulas.  And, that WON"T change when we release SherCo Plus ... you'll get those formulas, as well, when you purchase the variant.

 

We do need to remind you that the formulas are for the non-commercial use of our customers ... any distribution, for sale, of any derivative product, without the express, written consent of Steve LeShay is prohibited.

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Q:  Could you further explain how the mw-pw and mk-pk ratings work?

A:  Sure.  

 

You need to remember two things in order to make the walk-strikeout ratings work ... the first is that the pitcher's strikeout range is not changed until AFTER the walk ratings have been applied, and the second is that you apply the walk ratings first.

 

So, let's use a (12-15) pitcher, facing:

 

• an mw-mk batter:  First, apply the mw, which reduces the pitcher's walk range to 11.  This also changes the pitcher's strikeout rating (for a moment) to 14.  That's because the pitcher had a range of three (13, 14, 15), and that range didn't change except that the range of three now covers 12, 13, 14, instead.  Sceond, apply the mk, reducing the pitcher's strikeout range to two (12, 13).  This leaves us with a pitcher with an (11-13) BB-K rating.

• an mw-pk3 batter:  First, apply the mw, which reduces the pitcher's walk range to 11.  This also changes the pitcher's strikeout rating (for a moment) to 14.  That's because the pitcher had a range of three (13, 14, 15), and that range didn't change except that the range of three now covers 12, 13, 14, instead.  Sceond, apply the pk3, increasing the pitcher's strikeout range to six (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 22).  This leaves us with a pitcher with an (11-22) BB-K rating.

• a pw-mk2 batter:  First, apply the pw, which increases the pitcher's walk range to 13.  This also changes the pitcher's strikeout rating (for a moment) to 16.  That's because the pitcher had a range of three (13, 14, 15), and that range didn't change except that the range of three now covers 14, 15, 16, instead.  Sceond, apply the mk2, reducing the pitcher's strikeout range to one (14).  This leaves us with a pitcher with an (13-14) BB-K rating.

• a pw-pk3 batter:  First, apply the pw, which increases the pitcher's walk range to 13.  This also changes the pitcher's strikeout rating (for a moment) to 16.  That's because the pitcher had a range of three (13, 14, 15), and that range didn't change except that the range of three now covers 14, 15, 16, instead.  Second, apply the pk3, increasing the pitcher's strikeout range to six (14, 15, 16, 22, 23, 24).  This leaves us with a pitcher with an (13-24) BB-K rating.

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Q:  Does it cost anything on the throw to move my second baseman over to cover second on a double play?  How about when he moves to take a cutoff throw from the outfield?

A:  Nope.  Any "movement" by fielders other than the fielders involved in the throw may move to any square on the field for FREE; do not reduce the throw to account for their movement.

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Q:  What are those funky-looking beige/orange squares behind the wall for?

A:  When we re-designed the stadium charts in 2016, we decided to include the effects of some of the high walls and fences that some stadiums had to protect short fences from having too many balls hit over them.  The most famous today is the Green Monster at Fenway Park in Boston.  But places like League Park in Cleveland had a 60-foot high fence to protect one of the shortest right field porches in baseball history.

To handle these high walls, we designated a certain number of squares "inside the fence" as being affected by those high walls.  Instead of fly balls hit into those squares being home runs, they instead become ricochets, making optional Rule 27 mandatory for high fences.  The ball will ricochet an equal number of squares back towards home plate, measured from the wall.  When the fielder goes after the ball, he has to go to the square against the wall where the ball crossed into the stands, and then back to where the ball ricocheted.  So, he counts from where he is to the wall, then to the ball, using whatever of his initial throw is left to move the ball back toward the infield.

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Q:  Do you and Steve get to play SherCo very often?
A:  No.  In fact, not only have Steve and I never played SherCo against each other, we have never met each other in person!  We've had a few phones calls with each other since 2015, but I had only ever been a customer of SherCo from 1980 until that fateful day when Steve answered a completely unrelated e-mail about the SLOBS system ... the rest, as they say, is history.  I suppose with the pre-ponderence of Zoom, Teams, Skype, and all those online conference-call systems we've all used way too much in the last year, we could link up sometime for a game online.  That would be interesting ... 

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Q:  Could you explain the "two-out hit-and-run" rule?
A:  Sure can.  It helps if you think of the stop-action system as "turns" instead of "throws" (as they are referred to in the rulebook).  On a "normal" play (that is, one in which the hit-and-run is not on), each turn deals with everyone advancing just one base.  Taking a minute to explain, on a turn, every runner is advancing to the next batter while the batter is advancing to the next base in sequence.  That turn determines if everyone makes it safely.  If everyone gets to their base safely, and the ball has still not reached an infielder (thus ending the play), then depending on how far the ball is from the next base to which runners are going, everyone decides if they want to go to the next base.

But when the hit-and-run is on (whether called as a strategy play or automatically when there are two outs), the RUNNERS are assumed to have gotten enough of a jump that, instead of advancing just to the next base, they get to go two bases in one turn.  That's why it's tough to throw a runner out going from first-to-third unless the ball is hit in front on the right fielder or is hit to the shallow squares in left and left-center.  You only get one throw in a turn, but the runners can go two bases ... you might get lucky and need an 11 or a 12 to have a play, but many times, you'll need a throw of 15-16, which is impossible under the rules.

 

But back to your question.  With two outs, runners are always going with the pitch.  We might not call it the "hit-and-run" as it's been a part of having two outs since the game was invented.  But it IS a hit-and-run play (more accurately, a run-and-hit play) and so the same rules that apply to a regular hit-and-run apply, with the special rule about needing to roll just one die to get an advancing runner on a play in the infield with a minimum of two.

 

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Q:  So ... what does SherCo stand for?  And how do you pronounce it:  Share-co or Shure-co?
A:  I have always called it "Shure-co" and probably will until they pry my original 1980 version of the game from me.  However, as Steve pointed out to me the very first time we spoke on the phone and I called it "Shure-co", the name of the game is actually pronounced "Share-co".  Why?  Because it is an amalgamation of the name of Steve's wife at the time, Sherry, and the word "company".  I believe Steve did share that story back in one of the early editions of the ROSTER (past issues of which, by the way, are available here).

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