Strat Opening Day

The 2023 Strat-O-Matic opening day was about the fifth one I've attended. The excitement about the new cards was palpable. While it's always exciting to get the cards the day they are released, and not have to wait a couple of weeks for shipping, the most fun part for me is to meet the other fans. The Strat-O-Matic community is friendly, outgoing and always ready to strike up a conversation about the cards, their favorite team and where they are from. I met some who had traveled from Texas and Toronto.

This year was different for me. It was the first year that I was going with the thought of pitching my new creation, Strat-Mag. I made fifty flyers and samples of the Team Information Cards to distribute. My hope was that I could find fifty people willing to take them. As I walked the line, everyone took a flyer and a sample card. Some had already read the first issue and others were excited to hear about its existence. The comments were all positive. When the line had wrapped around the corner, I had blown through the flyers I had and unfortunately many didn't get a chance to hear about the magazine.

I printed out one copy of the magazine and had it in a manila envelope to give to a Strat-O-Matic employee. My goal is to unite the Strat-O-Matic community with thoughts and ideas to make their enjoyment of Strat better. To do that, I believe that Strat needs to be aware of what I'm doing and hopefully will embrace the idea like they have done with Strat Review and Strat Fan newsletters. One of the employees, Joe I think his name was, passed by and I handed him the envelope. "It's a new Strat Fan publication. I wanted you guys to have a copy." He graciously took the envelope and said, "I've already read it." Wow. Mind blown with that tidbit of information. He didn't say anything else and continued on with his duties, but at least the magazine was in the hands of Strat.

Thank you to everyone who took a flyer, listened to my elevator pitch for the magazine and for your words of encouragement and praise for the first issue. The second issue is due to be released on March 1st and I'm excited to see how the community responds. If you want to write an article or submit ideas for future editions, please let me know! It's for the community, not me.