Shortly after their exodus from Setauket, the Agostino brothers introduced Strato to their new friends in their new hometown.  Mike Aquilina and John Deodato had spent the previous years playing All-Star Baseball, riding their bicycles around the streets of Holbrook, and buying candy and sodas at the corner store.  The Agostinos quickly put an end to all this.  In no time the boys were drinking beer, smoking cigarettes, skipping school, and learning a game called Strat-O-Matic baseball. 

The league began and the veteran Agostino brothers quickly pulled away from the rookies. About half-way through the season, feeling they had no chance against their experienced friends, Mike and John decided to break away and form their own league.  There was plenty of talent in Holbrook, they reasoned, who needs Joe and Lou anyway?   Mike asked for and received his first Strat-O-Matic game, complete with the 1978 season, for Christmas 1979.  The ground-work was set for Mike and John’s secession from the league. 

With the likes of Bob DeRosso, Chris Grismar, and Pete Pappas available, quantity did not appear to be a problem.  Quality obviously was a different story.  Grismar was never much of a sports fan.  As a matter of fact, years earlier when challenged to name as many Major League players as he could, Grismar produced but one name: Elliot Maddox.  DeRosso’s sports knowledge did not surpass that of his lumbering friend by much.  It seemed that the most enjoyment he got from Strato was making up lurid names for his players.  One that comes to mind is Eric “Sodomy” Soderholm.  Needless to say, the new league had barely gotten under way, before two fifths of its members were gone.  Suprisingly, Pappas learned the game rather quickly and was hooked in no time.

Of course there were also bumps in the road concerning the man who broke Strat-O-Matic’s Greek barrier.  In the new league’s inaugural game Pappas had Nolan Ryan on the mound against Mike.  Ryan’s pitching was masterful and he shut down Mike’s team rather easily.  Mike had lamented throughout the game about his propensity to roll nothing but 5-7’s against this guy.  And Pappas’ response of “Strikeout” seemed to be innocuous enough when one considers that, in those days, the 5-7 strikeout was the rule rather than the exception.  After the game Mike requested to take a gander at the card of pitcher who seemed to be the steal of the draft.  And there it was, in the middle of the card, in capital letters: a 5-7 WALK. When confronted with the evidence, Pappas laughed and accepted the fact that the game would have to be replayed.  Mike went on to win what may be the only successful appeal in Strat-O-Matic history. 

Pappas did improve after this and the league went on for a few years.  However, the seasons that were played to their completion were outnumbered by those that were not.  The biggest reason for this was Pappas’ love of the draft.  He was prone to forfeit the remainder of his games in order to get to the next season’s draft.  And on one occasion, the impatient Greek even forfeited the playoffs to achieve this end.