The "Z" chart was the name of the unusual plays and it was great. Strat had nothing like it, and it added a ton of realism. . .rainouts, brawls, suspensions, etc.
The game had a built in fatigue (reduction). Each player was rated and you lowered by one for baserunner (something like that). At the point of zero, your PB had no effect, and all results came off the batter's card.
My FAC barely lasted through the year. I always had to reorder them. Playing outside, in the car, on the beach (how many times I had to chase Jim Rice down before he took a dip.)
Strat seemed better statistically, but I didn't have the Z-chart and you can't roll dice very well in the backseat of a car.
The best board game out there now, I think, is dynasty league baseball. It has all the "intangibles" of baseball made into tangibles. I bought it last year, when I was craving the days of sitting at the kitchen table surrounded by charts and things. Replayed part of the Red Sox season, using ScorePad on my Palm to track the stats. . .man that made a difference. I can remember Sunday evenings when I tabulated a weeks worth of boxscores.
-Palko